READING FOR MARCH 27, 2024: JOB 27, ROMANS 10, PSALM 24:1-6 JOB 27 In the first six verses, Job makes an oath on the name of the God who has allowed him to suffer, but whom he still lifts up as the ultimate authority. He accepts that God has allowed and maybe caused him to suffer yet doesn’t suggest that there is no God. Today it is increasingly common for people to jump immediately to the conclusion there is no God. Atheists are a fast-growing percentage of the population in the USA as the number of Christians decreases. The nature of the oath Job takes is that he is not guilty of any of the sins his friends have continually accused him of committing. It seems right not to admit to something that he knows to be not true. This would be like pleading guilty to a crime that was not committed. This sadly happens sometimes as a plea bargain in our flawed legal system.
Job then makes some of the same comments about the ungodly that his friends made before. The big difference is that he is not implying that a suffering friend is wicked because he is currently enduring suffering. That’s a huge difference. He observes that the ungodly will experience hardships or storms (vs. 20) at some point in this life or the one to come. The truth that Jesus communicated in his Sermon on the Mount is that all of us, not only the wicked, will experience storms. The question is, have we prepared for this inescapable occurrence?
“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts on them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and its collapse was great” (Matt. 7:24-27). JESUS IS THE ONLY ROCK UPON WHICH TO BUILD A LIFE.
ROMANS 10 Paul begins this chapter in much the same way as he began chapter 9. It is another expression of his deep desire for his fellow Jews to come to faith in Jesus. This counters two extreme views about the Jews, both of which this chapter seems to refute. One view, known as Replacement Theology, is that the Jews have no special significance in the New Testament, that anytime Israel is mentioned it means the church. The other is that the Jews really don’t need to be evangelized because they are already chosen by God: “It does not in any way follow that the Jews are excluded from God’s salvation because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the Son of God”(Vatican 2015). Not according to Paul.
Paul mentioned an interesting problem that Israel had that also really describes his own condition prior to Damascus. Israel was enthusiastically religious but did not understand correct doctrine. Could this describe some of us? Do we all know the basics of the Gospel? According to Paul, we are not saved if we don’t? Paul also suggests we are not saved by doing
READING FOR MARCH 27, 2024 CONTINUED: ROMANS 10, PSALM 24:1-6 good deeds in the community, singing in the choir, giving money, or serving on a church committee. How are we saved? If we only could choose one verse to memorize, understand, and obey, we could not do better than Romans 10:9: “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Are we all aware that we are all lost in sin and separated from God until we believe in the saving work of Jesus on the Cross? Do we all trust Him as Lord by constantly looking to His Word and obeying His commands as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit? Verse 12 says both Jew and Greek need to do this. Even Hoosiers need to do this. But Paul is concerned that some may not believe because they have not heard. Do we have friends or loved ones who have not really heard this message, at least from someone they trust. Who will tell them?
Paul concludes this chapter giving a tease or preview of chapter 11. As he frequently does, he uses Old Testament texts to explain how Israel’s rejection of Jesus was expected and how non-Jews will first come to faith in greater number, eventually making the Jews more jealous to know Jesus. The final verse emphasizes that the door is still open for the Jews. We learn about this in greater and glorious detail in chapter 11.
PSALM 24:1-6 The Psalm opens contemplating God’s earth and everything in it. On February 5, 2024 our study began with God creating a world that was perfectly fit for humanity (Psalm 24:1-2) and a garden where Adam and Eve related harmoniously with God. Since the fall, creation is marred but still reveals the Glory of God (Psalm 19). Since the fall, God still interacted, if not face to face, with humans. He originally focused on His chosen people Israel (children of Jacob), pointing to a time when fuller reconciliation could occur (2 Cor.5:17-21).
We know from Romans 3: 23 that all humankind has sinned, so who among us is worthy to stand in His holy place (Psalm 24:3)? Who among us has clean hands, a pure heart and has not lifted his soul to deceit (Psalm 24:4)? A similar question is posed in Revelation 5:2: “Who is worthy to open the book and to break the seals?” At first on one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth was found worthy. But then a song rang out: ‘Worthy are You (Jesus) to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have made them into a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth’” (Rev. 5:9-10).
When we place our faith in Jesus, who alone is worthy, we receive His righteousness (Rom. 10:3-6), along with fellow believers from all over the world. We will serve with them as priests who in some sense will reign on the earth. Maybe we have had a position of responsibility in our professional lives, but our biggest most exciting assignment is yet to come.
