Do you like baseball? I love baseball. Probably because my grandpa loved it. I remember sitting on my grandpa’s lap as he sat in his recliner, watching the Dodgers shortly after they moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Of course, I was too young to know that they were new to LA, and to me the Dodgers had always been here. Grandma and Grandpa lived just a little over 15 miles from the LA Coliseum, where the Dodgers played before Dodger Stadium was built, and the Dodgers were the home team. So my grandpa loved the Dodgers, and I loved my Grandpa, so I loved the Dodgers, and baseball.
Why am I talking about baseball? Because Major League Baseball has a Hall of Fame. In that Hall of Fame are some of the best players the game has ever known. Players who exemplified excellence.
If there were a Hall of Fame of the best chapters in the Bible, I would most certainly nominate Romans 8, with a Best Runner up being chapter 7. Chapter 8 is Sandy Koufax, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Lou Gehrig all rolled into one. And more.
Let me explain. In chapter seven, Paul talks about how the Law pointed out sin to us. It made us aware of sin. Then he showed us that we are slaves to sin. He said, “I want to do what is right but I do not do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate.” Does that sound familiar? If you are a believer, you know it does. If you are not a believer, then there is a good chance it does sound foreign to you. But believers are intimately aware of the struggle between the desires of the flesh and the promptings of the Holy Spirit and the teaching of the Word of God.
We know the feeling of despair when we fail. Paul ended chapter 7 with this: “There is no happiness in me! Who can set me free from my sinful old self? 25 God’s Law has power over my mind, but sin still has power over my sinful old self. I thank God I can be free through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Yes! Yes! A thousand times Yes! I thank God I can be free through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Listen again to Paul’s opening words in chapter 8: “Now, because of this, those who belong to Christ will not suffer the punishment of sin. 2 The power of the Holy Spirit has made me free from the power of sin and death. This power is mine because I belong to Christ Jesus.”
Home Run! Outta the park! “those who belong to Christ will not suffer the punishment of sin”. Them’s shoutin’ words, friends!
Now as long as we’re in this Hall of Fame chapter, let me repeat for you some of the best, most encouraging verses ever written:
He gave Himself to take away sin. By doing that, He took away the power sin had over us.
Home Run!
if the Holy Spirit is the boss over your mind, it leads to life and peace.
Home Run!
All those who are led by the Holy Spirit are sons of God. 15 You should not act like people who are owned by someone. They are always afraid. Instead, the Holy Spirit makes us His sons, and we can call to Him, “My Father.”
Home Run!
If we are children of God, we will receive everything He has promised us. We will share with Christ all the things God has given to Him. But we must share His suffering if we are to share His shining-greatness.
Home Run!
the Holy Spirit helps us where we are weak. We do not know how to pray or what we should pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays to God for us with sounds that cannot be put into words. 27 God knows the hearts of men. He knows what the Holy Spirit is thinking. The Holy Spirit prays for those who belong to Christ the way God wants Him to pray.
Home Run!
We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are chosen to be a part of His plan.
Home Run!
Since God is for us, who can be against us?
Home Run!
God did not keep His own Son for Himself but gave Him for us all.
Home Run!
It is God Who says they are right with Himself. 34 Who then can say we are guilty?
Home Run!
For I know that nothing can keep us from the love of God. Death cannot! Life cannot! Angels cannot! Leaders cannot! Any other power cannot! Hard things now or in the future cannot! 39 The world above or the world below cannot! Any other living thing cannot keep us away from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.
And that, my friend, is the Grand Slam Home Run!
It just does not get any better than that! There is nothing I can add. That’s better than any World Series victory.
And since there’s nothing more to say, there’s nothing more to say.
In chapter 44, verses 9 through 20 we saw how silly it is for men to create a god out of a block of wood. I think most listening would agree.
One of the things the fool in the passage does is to pray to the idol he created, “You are my god, save me!”
We agree with Isaiah when he says, “People like that don’t know what they are doing! They don’t understand.”
True.
But how do we know a god carved from a block of wood is not God? Because it is a created thing, right? By definition, God is eternal. He is not created. God is omniscient, He has all knowledge. He is omnipotent, He has all power. He is omnipresent, He is everywhere. There are other attributes that God has that a created thing does not.
It’s easy to see that a god made from a block of wood is not God. It cannot save us.
So why are so many people looking to a person to save us? Why are people expecting a presidential candidate to save us? Every person running for office is a created being. They have none of the attributes of God, yet millions of people are crying, “Save us!” They think that their candidate has the answers.
Friends, your candidate does not have the answer, I don’t care who he or she is.
Don’t expect salvation from any of them. Look to God. Only He has the answer, and only he can save this fallen world from the troubles it is in.
Come to think of it, comparing political candidates to blocks of wood is a good analogy, isn’t it?
Today I’d like to turn over the commentary to one of history’s greatest preachers. Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born in 1834 and went to his reward in 1892. He was a prolific writer, as well as a gifted preacher.
I hope you enjoy today’s little theater of the mind.
In Matthew 12:17 we’re told that Isaiah 42 is about the Messiah. After reading the chapter I’m sure you’re not surprised. As you probably know, the Old Testament is replete with Messianic prophecies.
The Jews for Jesus website lists 365 of them, and of those 365 prophecies, 132 are in the book of Isaiah. The vast majority of these prophecies were fulfilled during Jesus’ first incarnation, and only a small handful remain to be fulfilled at His second coming.
In chapter 41, God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah makes a point of asking how many prophecies the false gods and idols made and had been fulfilled. Of course, since they were only made made, the answer is none. God made a point of telling mankind part of His plan in advance so that we would know that He is indeed God.
Imagine the mathematical odds of just the Messianic prophecies being fulfilled in the life of just one man. The odds are astronomically high. So high as to be impossible, unless the one in whom they were fulfilled was, indeed the Messiah. I don’t know about you, but I’m satisfied that Jesus is who He said He is.
And if He is who He said He is, then every word He said must be true, because God is incapable of being wrong or lying. If I had to pick just one thing He said that every person needs to understand, it would be this, from John 14:6: I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one can go to the Father except by Me.
There is no other way to God. Jesus is the One Way. Think of it this way. There are millions upon millions of cel phones on the planet. Each one has its own phone number. If you want to phone me, you can only call the number associated with my phone. If you misdial even one digit, you will not get me. It’s the same with salvation. There are many purported paths to God, but only one way is the right way. It doesn’t matter if you’re a good person. It doesn’t matter if your intentions are right. It doesn’t even matter if you are sorry that you have wronged someone. All that matters is that you have a relationship with Jesus.
This is not me saying this. It is Jesus Himself. He is the only way to the Father.
Do you have a favorite place? Someplace on the planet that you think about when you wish you could just get away from it all? Someplace where you are both relaxed and excited at the same time?
For me, that place is a little campsite in the Yosemite wilderness. It’s a place nestled in where the Merced river takes a gentle 09 degree turn on its way down to the Yosemite valley. I love to sit, in my mind’s eye, just at that corner, amidst the pine trees, as the Stellar’s Jays call out and the occasional brown trout jumps out of the gently flowing water chasing a mosquito for dinner. Since it is in the wilderness, this spot is well away from the crushing crowds of tourists who never leave the paved paths of the valley. Only backpackers get to see this area. It’s a peaceful spot, and oh so exciting at the same time because so relatively few get to enjoy this place.
That’s how I feel about Romans, chapter four. Peaceful and excited. I love to read this chapter. The excitement comes first, for me. How can you *not* be excited to read, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Wait. What? All he did was believe God, and God credited him with righteousness??? Really? You mean old Abe didn’t have to go slay a dragon or kill 100 bulls or starve himself for a month or, or, or? He just believed God?
Yeah. That’s it.
You say that can’t be right. Surely he did something. Nope. Listen. “Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation. But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness.”
Abraham faith was credited as righteousness. Not his work, because that would have been a payment of obligation.
Well, you heard the chapter. Paul went into a fair amount of detail…all of it good. And it is all so exciting to see that it is not works that earns righteousness.
And that’s a good thing, keeping in mind what Paul wrote in chapter three. You know, where he said, “There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is on one who show kindness, not even one.”
But back here in chapter four, we get the good news that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. What’s good about that? The closing sentences tell us, “ But the statement it was credited to him was not written only for Abraham’ssake, 24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.”
This is the part of the chapter that gives me peace. I’m excited that God’s plan for man is so incredibly generous. Believe and be righteous. I find infinite peace in the knowledge that this lavish grace is extended to me and to you. When we really begin to grasp this truth, there is nothing that can steal your peace.
I am so happy that God saw fit to include the contents of chapter 38 in the Bible. Here is this good king Hezekiah, whom God had given a victory over the proud and arrogant king Sennacherib. He’s in the prime of a well lived life, and he falls deathly sick. And the Lord sent Isaiah to tell Hezekiah that he would not get well.
Now, I don’t know about you, but if a prophet came to me with that message, I would probably just resign myself to preparing myself to meet God. I mean, come on. God sends a prophet to tell me that I’m not going to recover. I’m going to figure that it’s a done deal.
But not Hezekiah. He rolls over in his death bed to face the wall, and he begins to pray. Without any boasting, without trying to bargain with God, he just says, “Don’t forget that I have been faithful to you, Lord. I have obeyed you with all my heart, and I do whatever you say is right.” And then he sobbed.
And what does God do? He tells Hezekiah that he will give him fifteen more years to live, and during that time He (God) will protect him (Hezekiah) and Jerusalem from the Assyrians.
Friends, here is a perfect example of one reason that living your life for God is a good thing. We can pray, and God will listen. It’s not that we gain points with God so that we can manipulate or bargain with Him. But when He sees that we have been faithful to keep our heart pure, through the blood of Christ, He hears our prayers when we cry out to Him. Of course He may not see fit to give us healing like He did Hezekiah, but He will hear us.
This account of Hezekiah’s sickness, prayer and healing is in the Bible for a reason. God wants us to know that we can approach His throne with confidence, knowing that He hears us. That’s important, because the gods of false religions don’t make any promise of a love relationship. Our God wants us to know that He cares about us, not as a group, but as individuals. He knows your name. He formed you in your mother’s womb. He knows everything about you. He knows your joys. He knows your sorrows. He loves you.
If you and I are friends, and I (with no malice intended) say something that hurts your feelings, but you don’t tell me that I hurt you, am I at fault? Let’s say that I really like, oh I don’t know…Burl Ives. Remember him? He was a singer many years ago. He narrated that animated Frosty the Snowman Christmas special that they play every year on TV. And let’s say that you grow a goatee that reminds me of Burl Ives. And I say, “That goatee makes you look like Burl Ives!” Thing is, you can’t stand Burl Ives. You hate his voice and you hate that stupid Frosty the Snowman Christmas special. The last thing you want is to look like him. So you’re hurt. But you don’t tell me. And every time you look in the mirror, you’re reminded of how much I hurt your feelings.
Whose problem is this? Who is at fault? Me or you?
Romans is God’s way of telling us what his expectations are for us. If He never told us, we could not be held accountable for our behavior. But He loves us too much to let our bad behavior go. Why? Because our bad behavior brings bad consequences to us. My bad behavior hurts me, it hurts you, and it hurts our relationship with God. He wants us to avoid those consequences, so He gave us the Law.
Paul, in the first few chapters of Romans tells the Jews that every person has broken the Law. Why lay a guilt trip on them? So that they can see that they need the forgiveness made available through Jesus.
If I knew that you didn’t like Burl Ives, but I still told you that your goatee made you look like him, I am at fault. And if I am truly a friend, I’m going to apologize for being a jerk. I’m going to ask you to forgive me.
You know that there’s no such thing as a self made man, right? Whatever heights a person ascends to, God enabled. Nothing comes into our lives but that He either allows them or causes them. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that God causes every calamity that happens to people. We do live in a world cursed by the effects of sin.
But when an apparently evil person accumulates great wealth or power, it is because God allowed it. He would be a pretty weak God if that were not so.
In the case of Sennacherib, who boasted that he had routed every other king, God said, ““Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone.”
Sometimes those who seem to have the most power really have the least. This Assyrian king thought there was no one who could stop him. He thought he was in control of all he touched. But in reality, he was God’s pawn.
As we look at the people clamoring for wealth and power, let us remember that God has a plan, and He uses the proud and arrogant to bring it about.
It is up to those of us in the trenches to do as Hezekiah did and pray to God, acknowledging Him for who He is. “Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.”
And when the world attacks us, let us remember what God said to Sennacherib, “Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel! 24By your messengers you have ridiculed the Lord.”
It’s not you and me they attack. It is God. And He will deal with them justly.
Let’s take a quick look at the end of the the last chapter of Acts. If you’ve been listening to the show for the last few weeks, what Paul quoted to the Jewish leaders should have sounded familiar. He quoted from the book of Isaiah, which we are reading on track one. To be specific, Paul quoted Isaiah 6:9 and 10.
When God gave that message to Isaiah, it was a message to the Jewish people. It was one of the times that God had had enough of their rejection of Him.
And now, Paul is quoting these verses to the Jewish leaders in Rome because the Lord wants them to know that the message of the Gospel which has been presented to them, and which they rejected, will be taken to the Gentiles, where it will be embraced and accepted.
You see, God is patient, but there is a point at which He draws the line.
As I record this, it is Sunday afternoon, June 12, 2016. Last night, an Orlando, Florida nightclub which reportedly was known to be popular with the homosexual population was attacked by an avowed ISIS radical, who killed at least 50 and injured as many.
Listen very carefully. I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings of my next statement. I believe we are getting very close to the time when God says, “Enough. You have rejected my Son long enough. I have offered you forgiveness through His shed blood, and you have chosen your own way. You refuse to listen to my Holy Spirit as He tries to speak to you, and your ears will not hear and your eyes will not see. Your hearts are hardened. Therefore you cannot turn to me and let me heal you.”
Just as this message in Isaiah was not directed toward a specific sin, other than the rejection of God, I do not believe God’s displeasure with mankind today is directed at a specific sin other than the rejection of Christ. Any sin you want to name can be traced back to man’s pride and wanting to be his own master. Adam and Eve’s sin was the pride of wanting to be like God. Every sin is a rejection of God.
As our nation and our world falls deeper and deeper into sin and farther and farther away from God, we are seeing more horrendous acts. It’s no wonder, because without God, man is unable to govern himself.
Now is the time for each of us…you and me and every believing person on the planet…to get on our knees and pray. Pray for God’s hand in the affairs of the world. Pray that people would open their eyes. Pray for your unsaved family and friends. Time may be short, beloved. Don’t let them be left behind. Be bold. Don’t be cowed by those who will not hear. You have the message of life. Don’t be afraid to share it with those dying around you.
And pray for the families who lost loved ones in Orlando.
Our reading was short today because the next chapter of Isaiah, chapter 36, sort of shifts gears and begins a different kind of writing.
In our chapters today, chapter 34 talked about God’s judgment on the nations. It is severe because of their defiance of God.
Chapter 35 shows what can happen when the nations turn from their wicked ways and God’s grace begins to heal them.
I’ve said it before, and I think it bears repeating. People talk about the wrathful God of the Old Testament and the loving God of the New Testament, almost as if God is a schizophrenic or manic-depressive. I just don’t see that. What I see is a long-suffering patient God who does His best to tell His children in very specific ways how they can have everlasting peace, abundance and sweet fellowship with their creator. Over and over again He tells them (and us) that if they will only do what is right and acknowledge Him, all will be well with them.
God’s laws never were about keeping them from having “fun”. They are to keep us from harming ourselves. A loving parent tells his child to stay away from fire or not to run out in the street, because the child will get hurt if he does those things. Sometimes a parent has to give a swat on the behind if the child continues to ignore the parent. That’s what God sometimes has to do.
Of course, this is a very simplified way of looking at it, but I think the analogy is accurate.
Once the child learns the lesson and obeys the parent, a good mom or dad will reward the child with hugs and kisses.
Now, Paul tells us in Romans that mankind is unable to follow the law. We are hopeless sinners because sin has infected all of creation. Because of that, God made a way for us to be healed of that infection. Jesus is the cure, and His treatment is free to us, even though it came at a great cost to Him. If we accept Him, God sees us as free from sin and He lavishes His grace on us, as was we read about in chapter 35.
This is the God of grace in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. He loves you. He wants nothing more than to lift you in His arms to hug and kiss you like the loving Father He is.
Do you like baseball? I love baseball. Probably because my grandpa loved it. I remember sitting on my grandpa’s lap as he sat in his recliner, watching the Dodgers shortly after they moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Of course, I was too young to know that they were new to LA, and to me the Dodgers had always been here. Grandma and Grandpa lived just a little over 15 miles from the LA Coliseum, where the Dodgers played before Dodger Stadium was built, and the Dodgers were the home team. So my grandpa loved the Dodgers, and I loved my Grandpa, so I loved the Dodgers, and baseball.
