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The Book of Romans is so rich in information that some Churches take a whole year to preach through it. This video is part six of our seven-part simplified overview, featuring Paul Ess, an international Bible teacher from Cyprus. Paul preaches chapters 12 and 13 from Romans, offering some insights into the Greek language. The emphasis of this episode is on those in authority who, like us, are subject to God, else their end will be like that of King Nebuchadnezzar. Let's learn The Bible together.
Romans is a solid attack on anti-Semitism! And this message is needed today more than ever. Many teachers dig into the minute verses and miss the reason why Paul composed the letter! The clues are in Acts. Acts 18:1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Claudius reigned from AD 41 to 54. This was about AD 54. If all the Jews left Rome, then the church in Rome must have become entirely Gentile. Nero, who succeeded Claudius in AD 54, invited the Jews back because they were good for business. And Romans 16 tells us that when Paul wrote (dictated) this letter, in about AD 57, many of his friends were back in Rome. The first friends he names are Priscilla and Aquila. Romans 16: 3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. 5 Greet also the church that meets at their house. It seems probable that Paul has heard that the Messianic Jews are being treated badly in Rome by the Gentile Christians. So, he composed this letter very skillfully to help his Messianic Jewish friends. The first 8 chapters are solid stuff, for Jew and Gentile equally. Jesus is for all. All sinned, all fall short, all have hope of eternal life in Jesus. And in Romans 8 it is clear that anyone who is not led by the Spirit of Christ is not a Christian. All cry Abba, Father, by the one Spirit. All are one in Christ Jesus, whether Jew of Gentile. THEN we come to the whole point of the letter in chapters 9, 10 and 11. Romans 11: 1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! Romans 11: 11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fulness bring! 13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Romans 11: 20 Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21 For if God did not
The Book of Romans is so rich in information that some Churches take a whole year to preach through it. This video is part six of our seven-part simplified overview, featuring Paul Ess, an international Bible teacher from Cyprus. Paul preaches chapters 12 and 13 from Romans, offering some insights into the Greek language. The emphasis of this episode is on those in authority who, like us, are subject to God, else their end will be like that of King Nebuchadnezzar. Let's learn The Bible together.
Romans is a solid attack on anti-Semitism! And this message is needed today more than ever. Many teachers dig into the minute verses and miss the reason why Paul composed the letter! The clues are in Acts. Acts 18:1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Claudius reigned from AD 41 to 54. This was about AD 54. If all the Jews left Rome, then the church in Rome must have become entirely Gentile. Nero, who succeeded Claudius in AD 54, invited the Jews back because they were good for business. And Romans 16 tells us that when Paul wrote (dictated) this letter, in about AD 57, many of his friends were back in Rome. The first friends he names are Priscilla and Aquila. Romans 16: 3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. 5 Greet also the church that meets at their house. It seems probable that Paul has heard that the Messianic Jews are being treated badly in Rome by the Gentile Christians. So, he composed this letter very skillfully to help his Messianic Jewish friends. The first 8 chapters are solid stuff, for Jew and Gentile equally. Jesus is for all. All sinned, all fall short, all have hope of eternal life in Jesus. And in Romans 8 it is clear that anyone who is not led by the Spirit of Christ is not a Christian. All cry Abba, Father, by the one Spirit. All are one in Christ Jesus, whether Jew of Gentile. THEN we come to the whole point of the letter in chapters 9, 10 and 11. Romans 11: 1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! Romans 11: 11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fulness bring! 13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Romans 11: 20 Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21 For if God did not
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00:00Jesus is Lord, our sin, the mighty conqueror. From death he rose, and on his foes shall own his name.
00:15Jesus is Lord, God sends his Holy Spirit to show our works of power, that Jesus is Lord.
00:31Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord. Praise him with hallelujah, for Jesus is Lord.
00:48Good evening, good evening to you all. Isn't it wonderful to have this opportunity to be together again, and not just be together again, but to be in the word of God together again as well.
01:06Thank you, and thank you for coming, and it's an interesting time preparing for two chapters of Romans. It's been interesting.
01:21So, Lord willing, I'm sure he's always got something for each of us in his word.
01:28Steve Lloyd, wasn't it, last week, did that truly excellent exposition, and challenging one in many ways, on chapters 9, 10, and 11, which I thought I had it bad with two chapters, chapters 12 and 13 today.
01:45But he had 9, 10, but he had 9, 10, and 11, and I'm following on from that, and continue in the word of God now.
01:59Obviously, we're not going to be able to have the time to read all the chapters, 12 and 13, but I will pick up on reading parts of them as we discuss them, and as we go through them.
02:15So, I want to start with those all-important and incredibly well-known verses from chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.
02:27Paul begins saying,
02:30Therefore, I urge you, brethren, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.
02:43This is your true and proper worship.
02:47Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
02:53Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
03:02You know, I love how he begins there with therefore, doesn't he?
03:06I mean, I counted when I was preparing this during the week, and there must be 50 therefores throughout, 50 or 60 throughout Romans.
03:17You know, because he takes us from step to step, from stage to stage.
03:24He reveals, God is revealing, the Holy Spirit working through his word.
03:29He's revealing more and more to us.
03:33And it's almost like a gear shift.
03:36Every therefore, I almost see it as a gear shift.
03:39He's going into another gear.
03:40Sometimes he goes up, sometimes he's going down, but he's taking us on further and further.
03:47And, you know, what is it?
03:512 Corinthians 3, isn't it?
03:533 and 4 comes to mind.
03:56Or 2 Corinthians 3, anyway, comes to mind.
03:59Where he says that God is taking us from glory to glory.
04:05He's revealing one glory after another.
04:08He's taking us one step after another.
04:13And he's making us more like himself with each step, Lord willing.
04:20I think that is just so exciting.
04:23And therefore, here, he's saying that therefore, actually, in Greek is barakalo.
04:30He says barakalo, which is please.
04:32It's what we say when we say, please pass me this, or please do that, or please will you do this?
04:38Barakalo, we say.
04:40And that's the word that he uses here.
04:44So, he's saying, please, I exhort you, therefore.
04:51I exhort you.
04:52Because, you see, he's beseeching and appealing to God's mercy.
05:00We know that we should be consumed by the wrath of God for our rebellion, for where we've been, what we've done, what types of people we are.
05:10And our indifference to him so often.
05:14But miraculously, he chooses to preserve us in himself.
05:21He preserves us in himself.
05:24And we see, for instance, in Lamentations, chapter 3, where he says,
05:30Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope.
05:34Because of the Lord's great love, when not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
05:42Then you, every morning, great is thy faithfulness.
05:46Can we say amen?
05:47Great is thy faithfulness.
05:49Absolutely, Lord.
05:51And we've seen the faithfulness of God in our lives.
05:54Over and over, we see it.
05:56As he takes us from one gear shift to another.
06:00He takes us from one degree of glory to the other.
06:03As he says, and we see more and more of him revealed.
06:08And as he reveals more and more of himself in us, we become more and more like him, Lord willing.
06:18You know, it's an interesting verse.
06:21Because all this talk about being a living sacrifice, a sacrifice in itself, and even in this modern day and age, doesn't even really sit comfortably with a lot of people.
06:39And I've heard even in churches where they shy away from the thought of a loving God sacrificing, allowing his son to become a sacrifice for the world.
06:54People find that even offensive sometimes, particularly the non-Christians find it an offensive thing.
07:02And yet we're being told, I beseech you, be this living, give up your bodies as living sacrifices.
07:12A sacrifice for a sacrifice, we can't offer up something that is dead, can we?
07:18You can't offer a dead sacrifice.
07:22That sort of defeats the object apart from anything else.
07:24And when people were bringing their sacrifices to the Lord, it were living lambs, living heifers, living animals there to be sacrificed to the Lord.
07:39And they couldn't just offer a leg or a head or a part of the animal.
07:45It had to be complete.
07:47It had to be whole.
07:48All of this tells us something of the sort of living sacrifice that the Lord wants from us.
07:59Leviticus 17 verse 11 says,
08:03For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I've given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar.
08:11It is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.
08:15And Paul goes on in Hebrews and says,
08:19Without the shedding of blood, there is no redemption.
08:23So that's why we need a living sacrifice.
08:29I think it's wonderful that the Lord sent his son to do the hard part for us in reality.
08:38He sent his son to do the bit that we could never do, apart from never being good enough to do it ourselves, to be sacrificed literally and end up as a dead sacrifice, as it were.
08:54Because the Lord Jesus Christ has died, we can live forever.
09:01We can have eternal life.
09:03Isn't that amazing that he would do that for us?
09:06The reality, however, unfortunately, is often our lives aren't living sacrifices.
09:17They're almost like sort of a dead sacrifice, one might say.
09:22We can waste much of our lives on meaningless, dead things, things which are not acceptable to God even.
09:31And we just occasionally, perhaps even as Christians, throw God this spiritual sacrifice here and there.
09:39It's not a constant living sacrifice day by day, moment by moment.
09:45It's wonderful again, Psalm 40, when I was reading this, Psalm 40, verses 6 to 8 came to mind, where it says,
09:57That's that sacrifice offered up, that living sacrifice, speaking of Christ there, of course.
10:27And Hebrews picks that up and continues with it in Hebrews 10 and says,
10:32Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said,
10:36Sacrifice an offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.
10:41With burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.
10:45Then I said, Here I am.
10:47It is written about me in the scroll.
10:49I have come to do your will.
10:50Oh, my God.
10:52So Paul there is taking on from Psalm 40 and explaining more and quoting more of Psalm 40 there.
11:03But he's saying, Burnt offerings and sin offerings, you're not pleased.
11:10Jesus, the Lord doesn't want burnt offerings.
11:14He doesn't want another altar in another temple in Israel because he sent us his temple, a living temple within our hearts.
11:24Every believer is part of that temple, is a living stone in Christ Jesus.
11:32And so we need to be living sacrifices day by day, constantly.
11:41And that is difficult.
11:44A body is required, the full body.
11:48Our place as living sacrifices to God are to be on the altar of God.
11:54We need to learn to serve him with his fruits of righteousness daily.
11:59We need to be constantly placing ourselves on the altar in all we do.
12:05And it can be painful and unpleasant on the altar as a sacrifice, but not as painful and deadly as it was for Christ Jesus.
12:18He took that upon himself.
12:20As I was reading about the altar and thinking about ourselves placed on the altar for the Lord,
12:32the picture came to me of Deuteronomy 27.
12:36I thought of immediately in my mind in Deuteronomy 27, where we read about the instructions which Moses and the elders of Israel received from God.
12:48And they're passing on to the children of Israel just before they cross over into Jordan to go into the promised land.
12:57They've been 40 years in the wandering and they're finally going to go into the land.
13:03And God instructs them.
13:07The first thing that you will do is when you arrive over the Jordan at Mount Ibal,
13:15once you've crossed over into that promised land, you will build me an altar.
13:21And that altar had very specific instructions as we have instructions throughout the Old Testament for what the altars must be like,
13:39what they can, how they can and can't be built.
13:42But here was Israel finally going to see the fulfillment of what generations before God had promised to Abraham.
13:55Way back in Genesis 15, God had promised this land.
14:00He had promised it all to Abraham.
14:03And finally, they were going to cross over.
14:06And the first thing, you're going to build me this altar.
14:10But look what Deuteronomy 27 says about the altar.
14:15It says from 1 to 8,
14:18Moses and the elders of Israel commended the people, keep all these commands that I give you today.
14:24When you've crossed the Jordan into the land that your Lord is giving you,
14:29set up some large stones and coat them with plaster.
14:33Or as it says in the King James, plaster them with plaster.
14:37Right.
14:39Then write on the plaster, write on them, all the words of this law.
14:44When you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you,
14:49a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
14:55And when you've crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal,
15:00as I command you today, and coat them with plaster or plaster them with plaster.
15:05Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones.
15:09Do not use any iron tool on them and build that altar with just field stones
15:16and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God.
15:21Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God.
15:27And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on those stones you've set up.
15:34You know, we forget, don't we, that the altar has the law written on it.
15:42It has the word of God there, the word of God that they had there.
15:48Because, you see, the altar was the picture of the judgment, as it were, upon the people.
16:01Because they had to sacrifice because of their sins.
16:05And what showed them that they had sins?
16:09It was the law.
16:10Without the law, the Apostle Paul tells us, there are no sins.
16:15Because they can't see that this is wrong and that is wrong and this is right and that is right.
16:21So, what they see there is in front of them on this altar is the law to remind them why these sacrifices have to be there, have to be undertaken.
16:39But we are part of that altar and our sins are part of that altar.
16:45And I love that picture where he says, you're going to take stones, just field stones, he says.
16:52Take the field stones randomly from the fields there, whatever stones you find, and build up this altar.
17:01So, he had a lot of higgledy-piggledy stones, different shapes, different sizes, all sorts.
17:09And that is such a picture of us, isn't it?
17:12We're all different.
17:13We're all, all over the place.
17:17And then what does he do?
17:19He plasters them over and he makes it one.
17:24He builds it up and then makes it one.
17:28They're not allowed to use any tools to make them fit.
17:32They've got to accept them as they are.
17:34Isn't that a wonderful picture of our salvation?
17:37We are accepted as we are.
17:40We don't need to get chipped away to fit something.
17:45We don't have to do things.
17:48We just have to be found in that field and taken up and added.
17:53Where all stones, what is it that Paul says, fitly framed together for the glory of God.
18:01And each of us are those stones.
18:04And then rather than having that, they then cover those stones in that plaster.
18:09And it's all smooth and it's all one because then he makes us all one, all one in him.
18:19And then he writes the law.
18:20The scribes had to come along and write the law all the way over the thing.
18:25These pictures that God gives us here, can we understand them?
18:32Lord, open our minds so we might understand these pictures that you're giving us.
18:412 Corinthians 3.2 says,
18:43You yourselves are our letter written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
18:51And Ephesians 2.21-22 says,
18:54In him, the whole building, all these stones are joined together and rise to become a holy temple in the Lord.
19:03And in him, you too were being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit.
19:09You see, we've moved from the altar to the temple, the temple of the living God that we become.
19:17But we're still those stones.
19:19And the temple had the same instructions.
19:22Just use the stones.
19:24Don't use any tools in the temple grounds where there are to be no tools used there.
19:30Just take those stones and build that.
19:34And I think that is just so wonderful.
19:36We have gone from what was the law right through to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
19:45Because in him, we're dwelling in him.
19:49And God lives by his spirit in us now.
19:55So living sacrifices.
19:58I rather went off on tangents there all over the place, because that's really the pictures that were coming to my mind.
20:07The things which I felt God was saying about these first couple of verses.
20:12He continues the theme, sort of.
20:15I suppose let's look at verses 4 to 8 in Romans 12.
20:21And here he's speaking about the gifts.
20:23And he says, as each of us has one body with many members.
20:27There's the stones again.
20:29And those members don't all have the same function.
20:34So in Christ, we, though many, form one body.
20:37And each member belongs to all the others.
20:41We have different gifts according to the grace given to us.
20:44If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.
20:49Yeah, interesting word there, prophesying.
20:52Because these days, we see it, it's become purely something about foretelling.
20:59Whereas the reality, and in the Greek, when we use the word prophesy, it is foretelling.
21:06Telling forth the word, right?
21:10As opposed to foretelling the word, yeah?
21:13And so we have to see these things as they were written, quite honestly.
21:19So prophesying, yes, there's prophesying.
21:23But then our prophesying needs to be from the word of God.
21:28It needs to be from the word of God.
21:30Even if somebody comes up with a prophecy in foretelling these days,
21:36the first thing I will always do is open up the word of God
21:40to see if I can verify what they're saying in accordance with the word of God.
21:44And if it's not in accordance with the word of God,
21:48then, of course, I know, I believe it may not be from the Lord.
21:53So I've got to question it.
21:56So if your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with the faith.
22:01If it is serving, then serve.
22:03If it's teaching, then teach.
22:05If it is to encourage, then give encouragement.
22:08If it is giving, then give generously.
22:10If it is to lead, do it diligently.
22:12If it is to show mercy, then do it cheerfully.
22:15So whatever we do as we're living, as he's living sacrifices for our Lord God,
22:23we need to be exercising what God directs us to.
22:30What God is doing for us.
22:33Where that stone, that ruffled stone picked up from the fields,
22:38it's been brushed off and added to the whole building, fitly framed to fit.
22:48And he carries on and speaks and says,
22:52also share with the Lord's people who are in need, practice hospitality.
22:57And of course, that is important because, sorry,
23:00I'm going through quite quickly because we've got two chapters to cover.
23:03So I'll focus on a few things along the way, but the rest of it,
23:08I just pray, as we said, that God opens our minds and our ears to understand
23:14what he's trying to say to us personally.
23:18And remember, with hospitality, I always remember Hebrews 13 too.
23:24Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers,
23:27for by doing so, some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
23:32Wow, that's sobering, isn't it?
23:36I remember once, it was a great lesson for me.
23:40I was still quite a young Christian, whereas Kathleen has been a Christian
23:44basically most of her life.
23:45She was born into a Christian family.
23:48I didn't become a Christian until I was 30.
23:50And we were out in the Middle East area.
23:58And we were, that's where I'd met Kathleen anyway, and we got married.
24:03And we were out and about, and we used to go, a group of us used to go into the red light area.
24:09And we'd speak to the working girls there.
24:13We would speak to the people going there, to visit the visitors, as it were, there.
24:18And into the bars, we would go into the bars.
24:21And we saw great, great, mighty works of the Lord.
24:24And I remember, we were doing it so regularly.
24:27We got to know the police.
24:28We got to know the people.
24:29And the police would actually come to us when there was a problem sometimes and say,
24:35Paul and the others, you know, can you come and just talk to these people?
24:40They're causing issues, but it's more your type of thing.
24:44I don't know what my type, our type of thing is, but they felt that we could pour oil on
24:50the things and so on.
24:51It was distressed.
24:52And there was this one family that had come from a long, long way away with two young
24:57children, wasn't it?
24:58And there they were.
25:01And the mother was really distressed.
25:05And so we sat with her and spoke to her and said, what are you doing?
25:09Yeah, well, what's happening?
25:10You're here with your husband and your two little children.
25:13Oh, well, we're selling goods.
25:15And they had this old van and they were selling out of the back of the van and so on.
25:20And she says, but she said, it's all too much.
25:24She said, we're here and we don't know where to go and what to do and everything else.
25:30And she was obviously just had enough.
25:33And these, the children were quite young.
25:37And we, and so we spoke to them.
25:40And then Kathleen said to me, Paul, she said, I think we need to invite them to our home for
25:47the night and I thought, well, oh, okay.
25:51I said, well, are you sure?
25:52And she said, yes.
25:54She said, she said, and she quoted this verse.
25:58Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers.
26:01For by doing so, some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
26:06And so we took them to our home that night and it was really lovely time we had and they
26:13were so comfortable with us and we were able to continue to talk about the Lord and so on.
26:20And then Kathleen took it even further and she said, you know, if these were angels, if
26:25this was the Lord coming here, I wouldn't have them sleeping on the sofa.
26:29She said, we've got to give them our bed, the couple.
26:34Well, okay.
26:35It's taking it a bit far, but okay.
26:38Of course, it's not taking it too far.
26:40It's taking it where it should be.
26:42And so we gave them our bed and we slept on the sofa and so on.
26:48But from that, for years after that, we had this wonderful relationship with those people.
26:54We could visit them at their homes.
26:57We could speak to them.
26:59We could, the children started to come to Sunday school.
27:02They came to the summer camps that were being held, all sorts of things going on.
27:07You see, show hospitality.
27:09We never know who these people, who people are that the Lord puts in front of us.
27:16The next verse is from 14 to 18.
27:20My note here with two exclamation marks alongside it.
27:24I've put so difficult because 14 to 18 says, bless those who persecute you and bless and do not curse.
27:35Rejoice with those who rejoice.
27:37Mourn with those who mourn.
27:39Live in harmony with one another.
27:41Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.
27:45Do not be conceited.
27:46Do not repay anyone with evil for evil.
27:50Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.
27:54If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
27:59Well, I can see why my note alongside there is difficult because it is difficult, isn't it?
28:06God doesn't call us to a life of ease.
28:12He calls us to a life of sacrifice because where those living sacrifices, sacrifices are painful.
28:20They're costly.
28:24So we have more instructions from the Lord, more advice from the Lord.
28:32And in 1219, it carries on to say, do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath.
28:40For it is written, it is mine to avenge.
28:42I will repay, says the Lord.
28:46He's quoting there from Deuteronomy 32.
28:48And the verse that came to mind there while I was writing this out was Isaiah 59, 17, which says he put on righteousness as his breastplate and the helmet of salvation on his head.
29:02He put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal in a cloak.
29:07You know, Ephesians 6, that draws from that in Isaiah 59, has the helmet of salvation.
29:18It has the breastplate of righteousness that the Lord put on, but it doesn't have the vengeance part.
29:27So Ephesians 6 doesn't have the vengeance in the armor, because vengeance is the Lord's, as we're told in Deuteronomy 32.
29:40It is mine to avenge.
29:43I will repay, says the Lord.
29:46So more difficult because in our natural selves, we want to strike back.
29:55We want to put up blocks.
29:58We want to do the things that our flesh tells us to do.
30:03And our flesh is contrary to our spirit always.
30:08If we're walking in the spirit, if we're as living sacrifices before the Lord and want to be holy and pleasing to him and acceptable to him, then these are the things that we have to be thinking about and be doing this.
30:25And this strikes me as being somewhat similar to the other side.
30:30Yeah, this it is mine to revenge.
30:32I will repay it.
30:33There's another side to that, of course, isn't there?
30:36Because Jesus said that if we do things for praise and we have the praise for men, we don't get it from God.
30:44And here we're being told if we avenge ourselves, then God's not going to do it for us because we don't need God.
30:57So we've got both sides, the good and the bad.
31:00But both of those we have to leave to the Lord.
31:04And I know that for myself in my flesh, you know, I want to strike back sometimes it gets too much or speak out, say something that I know I shouldn't have done and will regret afterwards.
31:18But I also know that I much, much prefer, prefer that the almighty God handles any and all issues of vengeance for me and that he's the one that gives me praise, not people as well.
31:35In.
31:37Let's go on to 2021 from chapter 12.
31:412021.
31:43Care for your enemies while looking out for yourself.
31:46I wrote up there.
31:48Because it says, on the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
31:52If he's thirsty, give him something to drink.
31:55In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.
32:00Do not overcome.
32:01Be overcome by evil.
32:03But overcome evil with good.
32:05You know, I'm somebody who was born into a military family.
32:08I was brought up around the world, traveling around the world, living on military bases in conflict areas from Yemen.
32:17To Malaya during the uprising in Malaya to Cyprus during the Oka.
32:23I lived in all of those places as a kid.
32:25We used to joke that by the time we had left school, we'd been shot at, bombed and attacked more time than most soldiers had been in their whole careers, which was quite true, quite honestly.
32:37But I was brought up in that sort of environment.
32:43And so, being in war zones throughout my childhood, I then later, it seemed natural, my older brother joined the military and then I joined the military.
32:53And so, we ended up with my father, my older brother and myself all in the military at the same time.
33:01Yeah.
33:01And I think here is something of what Steve Lloyd was speaking about last week on Romans 9, 10 and 11.
33:11What he was speaking about with Israel doing what it can do in all, sorry, doing what it can do in all of this.
33:21Steve rightly said that this war with Hamas must be singularly the most moral and ethical war ever fought in the history of warfare.
33:33And there's a general, a retired general now, who was head of NATO, a British retired general.
33:41And he is quoted as saying, and he's actually on, he's still on YouTube as saying the same thing.
33:50He said, I'm a general, I headed up NATO, and I have never seen an army fight such a one-handed war, one hand be tied behind their back, he said, you know, against people who want to do them harm.
34:09And yet, here we go on the bit earlier, where it said, if your enemy is hungry, feed them.
34:18If your enemy is thirsty, give them to drink.
34:24Care for your enemy.
34:25Don't give them harm for harm.
34:27Because it is for God to avenge.
34:32And God will pour coals on their head, as it were, if you're doing the right thing.
34:39God stands for us.
34:41God stands for us.
34:43Israel risk their own troops by doing all they can to warn people in each and every area they're about to attack.
34:51Even if they're going in as a snatch squad to attack an area district, to grab somebody out, what do they do?
35:00They drop leaflets and make phone calls beforehand to warn them so that people have gone or have set up booby traps and so on.
35:09Can you imagine such a thing?
35:11But that's because the Jews know their scriptures.
35:16They may not always do what the scriptures say in general, but in many things, in the general terms, they will try to do what they can.
35:31And that's why those who hate Israel need to lie continuously about what's really happening.
35:37But Steve Lloyd discussed all of that in his chapters last week, much better than I can do.
35:43But as a military person, as somebody from the military, I've never seen anything like this war.
35:50I've never seen anything like it.
35:53And I've never seen such a crazy way of fighting a war.
35:56It just goes against everything that I ever learned.
36:00So it's wonderful to see these things in action sometimes.
36:08Why do Israel do it?
36:09Well, quite simply, because the law of God of Israel, the law of the God of Israel commands them to.
36:16And now the next one, as we click into chapter 13, we're sort of going up a gear here into chapter 13.
36:25And my heading here, I've put really, really difficult with three exclamation marks, because it's about spiritual authority.
36:35And it speaks about let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.
36:45The authorities that exist have been established by God.
36:51Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted.
36:57And those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
37:01And it goes on through the seven verses.
37:04You can read them for yourselves.
37:05You know, spiritual authority is a greatly misunderstood and underused, I suppose, phrase, as it were, because we don't like the concept of authority over us.
37:22We don't like the concept of having to be under the authority of other people, particularly, as it lays out here, people that may be doing an awful job of things.
37:38But the authorities, these tools of God, even Starmer, Trump, you name them, God has placed them there.
37:46They're not there of their own free will.
37:49They may think they are, they may think they've arrived there, but God has placed them there.
37:55We see it very clearly in Psalm 75, don't we?
37:59He says from verse 2,
38:01You say, I choose the appointed time.
38:04It is I who judge with equity.
38:06When the earth and all its peoples quake, it is I who will hold its pillars firm.
38:12To the arrogant, I say, boast no more.
38:14And to the wicked, do not lift up your horns.
38:17Do not, yeah, that's your strength.
38:19Your horns.
38:19Do not lift up your horns or your strength against heaven.
38:22Do not speak defiantly.
38:25Because, why?
38:26No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt themselves.
38:33It is God who judges.
38:36He brings down one.
38:37He exalts another.
38:39In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices.
38:43He pours it out and all the wicked of the earth will drink it down to its very dregs.
38:49Isn't that sobering?
38:53Yeah.
38:54These people have been put into authority over us, even to punish us, it says in those verses in 1 to 7.
39:03And we can remember, of course, the outworking of this when we remember the godless Nebuchadnezzar that was used by God.
39:15God said, I raised up Nebuchadnezzar.
39:17I brought him from the east to take you into captivity.
39:24God used Nebuchadnezzar, one of the most awful, awful people, rulers of their time.
39:32He was a vicious man.
39:34And yet God raised him up to take Israel into captivity.
39:41But God also raised up Cyrus to release the people from captivity because he had promised, hadn't we, in Jeremiah 29,
39:50where he said, when the 70 years are complete, I will send for you to be released, for you to go back to your land.
40:01And exactly at the end of 70 years, Cyrus took over Babylon and he released the captives, exactly as God said.
40:13Cyrus wasn't a Christian, wasn't a believer, I should say.
40:17Cyrus didn't believe in this God, in the living God, but God had raised him up.
40:24And we see even 100 years before in Isaiah, what is it, Isaiah 44, isn't it, where he's speaking about Cyrus.
40:36He's speaking about Cyrus, my, as it were, my instrument.
40:44That's the word I was looking for.
40:45My instrument, Cyrus.
40:47He named him 120 years before anything happened.
40:52And when Daniel was there at Babylon, when Cyrus came to release the people from captivity or to take over Babylon,
41:05he wasn't out to release them from captivity, but just to take over Babylon.
41:11Daniel was there with this letter, Isaiah 44, 45.
41:17And he hands it to Cyrus.
41:20And Cyrus said, what's this letter about, as it were?
41:25And they see that it names him by name.
41:29It says everything that he did, all the things he had conquered, all the great and mighty things that he had done.
41:36And Cyrus at first wouldn't have understood that this had been written 120 years before until he was told,
41:44no, this is a letter, an epistle from Isaiah.
41:50Well, how can they name me by name and say everything I've done?
41:54It even said how he would conquer Babylon.
41:56It even said he'd lower the water for Babylon and they would get in that way.
42:03So God knows all things.
42:06God is in all things.
42:09God raises up the ungodly to do what needs to be done even.
42:13He wants us to do the godly things alongside, but he wants us to focus on what we should be doing in the spiritual realm,
42:27as it were, according to his word.
42:32And he organizes everything else round and about.
42:37But he will always ensure that his will is fulfilled no matter what.
42:45Spiritual authority.
42:47The Lord God is over everything and everybody, whether they understand and even whether they know God or not.
42:55So how does this knowledge prompt us to pray?
43:02Do we pray to God or with God?
43:07You know, strange question.
43:10But if we know that God knows all things, God is in all things.
43:18God is doing all things that we see around the world or he's over them.
43:24He's coordinating them, right?
43:27Very often we spend our time praying to God only.
43:34You go to prayer meetings and all you hear very often are people praying to God.
43:39And that is wonderful.
43:41There's a place for that.
43:42And there are prayers that need to be prayed to God.
43:45But the bit that we miss out on is praying with God, because you see, according to the knowledge of God,
43:55according to the will of God and that will of God we find in his word.
44:01If we pray according to his will, according to his word, how can he say no to something that he has already said himself?
44:14If it's come from him originally in his word.
44:17Our prayers with God are reliant on us knowing the word of God and getting a glimpse into understanding that God is at work around us in all things.
44:34It's a hard concept.
44:36It's hard for us to understand because we've made, we've focused so much as people on just the niceties of God.
44:48God loves you, right?
44:50But God is a God of judgment as well.
44:57And I really want to wrap up now.
44:59So I'm just going to skip over very quickly to the closing of chapter 13, because I think it's an important one.
45:09It's he says.
45:11And do this understanding the present time.
45:15The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber.
45:19Because your salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
45:25The night is nearly over.
45:27The day is almost here.
45:30So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
45:35Let us behave decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
45:45Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
45:54Wake up.
45:55He's saying, wake up.
45:57The time is coming.
46:01Do we really believe that there's still so many Christians that have fallen into the apathy, the apathy of, well, it's been forever and nothing's really changed at the end of the day.
46:15And surely there's years and years yet to come.
46:20Or how are we of the type that he's speaking of here who have woken up and are expectant of the Lord Jesus from moment to moment?
46:30Every morning when I wake, my first thought is, I'm still here, Lord.
46:37Yeah.
46:38And our expectation should be every day.
46:42We should live as though every day is our final day.
46:47And yet be mature enough to be able to continue to live when it's not.
46:55You know, so many people are afraid of these things and they're afraid of death.
47:03Even Christians won't talk about death and so on.
47:06Yeah.
47:07It's like saying, it's almost like saying, hey, you know, I don't want to go on this wonderful luxury holiday cruise.
47:16I'd rather stay in my little, you know, wherever it is here, my little home and so on and never do anything.
47:23Yeah.
47:23I'm looking forward to it.
47:26Lord, come, Lord Jesus.
47:28But while we're waiting for him to come, the day is near.
47:32We need to wake up.
47:34Wake up from your slumber, he says.
47:36You know, apathy often verging on and passing into, as it were, indifference.
47:44We see that in the church very often.
47:47We see it amongst Christians.
47:49In our eagerness to seem relevant, attractive and acceptable to the world, we've absorbed much of the world.
47:57Instead of our light overcoming the world and evil,
48:02our compromise has allowed the light of God to be dulled by the darkness.
48:08We have a social gospel in many places now.
48:15There's this social gospel about being nice all the time, not saying anything that will offend,
48:24not speaking out on what we know we should speak out on.
48:27And God says, no, wake up.
48:30You need to wake up.
48:32You are living sacrifices for me.
48:35You.
48:36This is your reasonable act of worship.
48:38You need to be speaking out.
48:41You need to be living for me, not compromising, not falling into apathy.
48:47God says in Ezekiel 44.
48:52In fact, this morning I was speaking in Watford and I touched upon this and finished off on this in Ezekiel 44 as well.
49:02And we were discussing the social gospel and so on.
49:07And Ezekiel 44, God is condemning the people and the priests for having fallen asleep,
49:16for having fallen down on the job, for having fallen into the world, as it were.
49:23And he was saying, look, you've got it all wrong.
49:29You've got to wake up.
49:31You've got to do what needs to be done.
49:35And we need to start by ministering onto me, says the Lord.
49:41It's good to minister to the people.
49:44It's good to do social things.
49:47It's good to get involved.
49:48But if we're doing those things at the cost of our time spent with the Lord in those quiet places,
49:58in the word of the Lord, speaking to the Lord just one to one,
50:02then we have a problem and God has a problem with us.
50:07So a living sacrifice overall.
50:10I think that those two chapters really covered both of covered all an awful lot of things that were pointing us towards being how to be a living sacrifice for God in a way which is pleasing to him.
50:30Jesus is Lord.
50:33The creation's voice proclaims it, for by his word each tree and floor was planned and made.
50:45Jesus is Lord.
50:48The universe declines it, for by his word each tree and floor was planned and made.
50:53Some moon of stars in heaven cry, Jesus is Lord.
51:01Jesus is Lord.
51:08Praise him with hallelujahs, for by Jesus is Lord.
51:17Jesus is Lord.
51:20Yet from his word eternal, in flesh he came to die and play on Calvary's tree.
51:33Jesus is Lord.
51:36From him all are proceeding, yet give his life a ransom, thus setting us free.
51:48Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord, praise him with hallelujahs, for Jesus is Lord.
52:05Jesus is Lord, praise him with hallelujahs, for Jesus is Lord, praise him with hallelujahs, for Jesus is Lord.
52:11The mighty conqueror from death he rose, and all his foes shall own his name.
52:21Jesus is Lord, praise him with hallelujahs, for Jesus is Lord, praise him with hallelujahs, for Jesus is Lord.
52:51Jesus is Lord, praise him with hallelujahs, for Jesus is Lord.
52:56Amen.
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