Gary Gleans

                                                                                       Romans 11:1-6 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin, God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?   “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”   But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”   So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.   But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.   Paul continues his demonstration of God’s continued dealings with Israel.  The previous chapter ended with the declaration that Israel had rejected God.  This chapter begins with the question as to if G

                                                                             Romans 10:18-21 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for  “Their voice has gone out   to all the earth,   and their words to the ends of the world.” But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,  “I will   make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a   foolish nation I will make you angry.” Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,  “I have been found by those who did not seek me;   I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” But of Israel he says,   “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” The main point of this section of Romans is to explain how the Gospel being expanding amongst the Gentiles impacts the nation of Israel.  The answer is that the only impact is one that as favorable to Israel.  Paul wants to demonstrate that Israel continues to be in the heart of God and He continues to reach out to them in grace and with patience.  The

                                                                        Romans 10:13-17 For   “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”   How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him   of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear   without someone preaching?   And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written,   “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”   But   they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says,   “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”   So   faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. In order for someone to come to faith, there is a process that involves the call of God, the obedience of believers and the response of those who are lost.  Paul explains this process and demonstrates that the Gospel is made available to all who call on the Lord, both Jews and Gentiles.  The only condition for salvation is faith.  Ho

                                                                                       Romans 10:5-13 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.   But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down)   “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).   But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);   because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.   For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.   For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”   For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing

                                                                             Romans 10:1-4 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.   For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.   For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.   For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.   The most important thing that anyone can know is how to be saved.  People have many different convictions about salvation and how they can attain it.  Unfortunately, there are many false teachings about salvation.  Paul writes to confront these false ideas about salvation and how it can be attained and then make the truth of the Gospel clear.   SALVATION IS NOT BY ZEAL FOR GOD: The nation of Israel demonstrated great zeal for God.  So much zeal that they were willing to crucify Jesus and persecute the followers o

                                                                             Romans 9:30-33 What shall we say, then?   That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is,   a righteousness that is by faith;   but that Israel   who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.   Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the   stumbling stone,   as it is written,  “Behold, I am laying in Zion   a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;   and whoever believes in him will not be   put to shame.” Salvation is only obtained through righteousness.  Righteousness is only obtained through faith in Christ.  Paul is striving to demonstrate the effectiveness of faith and the futility of striving to keep the law in order to be saved.  The key to salvation is a righteousness that is given to us by Christ through faith in His work and not our own.   GENTILES OBTAINED RIGHTEOUS

                                                                                  Romans 9:19-29 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For   who can resist his will?”   But who are you, O man,   to answer back to God?   Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”   Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump   one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?   What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience   vessels of wrath   prepared for destruction,   in order to make known   the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he   has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he   has called,   not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?   As indeed he says in Hosea,  “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people, ’and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”   “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not

                                                                             Romans 9:14-18 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.   Is God free?  Is God just?  Is God good?  Is God wise?  These and many other similar questions are very common for both theologians and people who are novices to the Bible to ask.  The answer all of those questions is: YES!! He is perfectly and simultaneously all of those things and many more.  It may be hard for us to reconcile these affirmations in light of the world in which we live

                                                                                  Romans 9:6-13 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”   This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.   For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”   And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,   though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”   As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”   Paul continues to defend the doctrine

                                                                                       Romans 9:1-5 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.   The argument that justification is by faith alone and not by the works of the law may be misinterpreted to seem like Israel is being rejected.  Paul’s teaching that Gentiles have the same opportunity to salvation may seem like a rejection of Israel.  Paul wants to make it abundantly clear that Israel has not been rejected.  Much to th

                                                                                       Romans 8:31-39 What then shall we say to these things?   If God is for us, who can be against us?   He who did not spare his own Son but   gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?   Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?   It is God who justifies.   Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God,   who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?   As it is written, “For your sake   we are being killed all the day long;   we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. ”No, in all these things we are more than   conquerors through   him who loved us.   For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, no

Romans 8:26-30 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.   And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.   The Trinity is at work in our lives to conform us to the image of Jesus.  Every member of the Trinity is working together to bring us in line with the will of God.  His ways of working in us may seem strange to us and may be confusing to us at times, but the

                                                                                       Romans 8:18-25 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.   For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.   For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope   that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.   And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.   For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?   But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.   Th