THE BOOK OF ROMANS Tuesday – June 25, 2013 – Romans 9:22-24 “What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” God hates sin! And why wouldn’t He? Life on earth began when God created it. He created a man so perfect that he could talk to animals and had no idea what sin even was. Along came the serpent and introduced sin to the world, sin which ultimately resulted in the gruesome death of God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. As if that wasn’t bad enough, that Christ should die for the sin of all mankind throughout the world, some of those He died for really don’t care. The do not believe in Him, do not believe in salvation by the grace of God, forgiveness of sin, or eternal life. Everything that God sent His Son to accomplish is thrown back in His holy face by some. He has, I would say, every right to hate sin. What if God, willing and able to show His anger and to make His power known, put up with people who sinned and deserved destruction? What if He decided that He could make known the riches of His glory by showing mercy on sinful man and redeeming him from the pit of hell? Does He not have the same right to exercise mercy and He has to exercise His anger? I believe Paul is speaking of the years following the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt. Time after time after time, the people turned their backs on God. Having witnessed the awesome power of God ten times over, and being spared the results of each plague when they followed the instructions of God given them by Moses, they still didn’t trust Him. Even the tenth plague, the death of all the firstborn of every family that lived in Egypt, citizen and slave alike, who did not have the blood of the lamb on the doorpost and lintel of their homes, was not sufficient to impress the Hebrews. A cloud to follow by day and a pillar of fire to protect them at night as they left Egypt for the ‘promised land’, and they could not see God. As they approached the Red Sea, many wanted to turn back and surrender to Pharaoh feeling it was better to be a slave than to die in the wilderness. I am afraid that if I were God, I would throw my hands up in disgust with the Hebrew people. He got them across the Red Sea on dry land and destroyed their enemies while they watched, then made golden idols at the foot of Mount Sinai while Moses received the Ten Commandments. Moses lost his temper at them, and many of them were destroyed when faced with a choice of who to follow (as so many millions have done since and continue to do). But God ultimately forgave them and continued to lead them through Moses to the ‘promised land’. God fed them in the wilderness, gave them water when they thirsted, defended them against the elements and their enemies, but when it came to crossing the Jordan, they again did not trust Him. What else could He possibly do to show them that He was God and He loved them? And they still did not trust Him. All of those who originally left Egypt died in the wilderness and a new generation was raised up to enter the promised land, with hope that they would love and worship God in Spirit and in Truth, but they were really no different than their parents. God spared some of those people, and the Hebrew nation, the nation of Israel, is here today. God spared some of them, and He has spared some of us (the Gentiles) for the new heaven and the new earth. I trust His judgment, His decisions, for He is Holy and cannot make a mistake. Those He has saved will serve Him while those who would not serve Him have never asked for His forgiveness, they don’t think they need it. We have been ‘called’, separated to serve, and only He knows why one is saved and one is not, but it is no mistake. Remember, God doesn’t send anyone to hell, those that go to hell will go by their own choice. My prayer for today- I am grateful for Your mercy, Lord, for Your wisdom and Your grace. I am grateful that you do not give up on us at the first sign of resistance, for heaven would be a lonely place if You did. Thank You for Your love, for Your Son and for His blood. For these daily devotions/studies to truly apply to your life, you must first belong to God. He will welcome you because He loves you, even before you love Him. He loves you so much that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Scripture tells us that if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation, (Romans 10:9-10). Won’t you confess today and ask Jesus to forgive your sins and be your Savior? He is waiting with open arms…
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 13:00:09 +0000