JC Blog

I started out this Romans Blog with stressing the importance of knowing God and through Him your life would be successful. You are loved by God, called by Him and offered the free gift of eternal life through His son Jesus. The only thing you must do is believe and accept this gift.

Paul starts out the first few chapters of Romans building his case as to why we need a Savior. Paul was obligated to everyone to preach the good news of the kingdom of God because He knew it was the power of God for the Salvation of everyone who believes ( Romans 1:16 ). In the past few verses, Paul is simply building foundation to support this argument. Belief and acceptance of this gift is the one thing in this life that will determine our outcome of success.

However, in Romans 1:28, Paul tells us that mankind did not retain God in our knowledge and what resulted was a depraved mind. The King James Bible calls it a reprobate mind and the Amplified Bible says that it is a base and condemned mind. Meaning that they are void of judgment and unable to discern or distinguish the truth. At some point the a long the way, when one is completely reprobate, the Spirit will no longer draw this person unto himself.

Becoming base and condemned in your thinking is an issue that starts with the heart. It is a step by step process. The first step is not recognizing God even though He has revealed himself to us. The second step is not giving Him thanks or glorifying Him as God. ( Romans 1:21 ) Once on this slippery slope we abandon ourselves to the degrading power of sin. Over time that sin hardens our hearts to the truth of God, His Spirit of conviction and His gift of grace. Once our hearts are hardened and our minds base and condemned we are past the point of hope.

Many people are afraid that at some point they have been guilty of this sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. However, in the same way as becoming reprobate is a process, so is being drawn towards the Lord. It starts with a heart that is willing and ready to accept the drawing of the Holy Spirit. It is opening your heart to know Him and choose him. Today, I pray that you consider Him worth knowing and set your face towards that end. Jeremiah 29:13 promises us, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Like the Israelites many people are passionate for and about God but have no regard for the truth of Jesus Christ. We use our religions and doctrines to umbrella God into what we want him to be or what we think he is. But Paul said in yesterday passage that there is laid in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and fall and that stone is Jesus Christ ( Romans 9:33 ). If you remove Jesus from His deity and worship God without regard to him then your worship is in vain and it is not based upon truth or knowledge.

This is an incredible reality to understand. Worship is misguided and meaningless unless it is based upon the truth of God's word. Jesus said the same thing in John chapter 4 when he was speaking with the women at the well. She had been questioning him about an age old argument between the Jews and the Samaritans and Jesus revealed to her an amazing thing. He said, "You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth" ( John 4:22-24 ). He tells her plainly that they do not know the truth. The truth is that true worshippers have to worship God in spirit and truth. This can only happen through Jesus. God is a spirit and to communicate with him on a spiritual level we must be born again. Born not naturally but supernaturally from above.

The world is okay with religion and okay with talking about God, and the world wants you to think that many roads lead to heaven. It is acceptable to talk about Buddha and teach about Allah but at the mention of the name of Jesus the world gets hostile, because there is power in that name. Peter said, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" ( Acts 4:12 ). So as long as we can be deceived looking outside of Jesus for salvation and meaning in life then we are no threat to the world. Just like Paul said in today's passage, "I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge" ( Romans 10:2 ).

Jesus is the vital piece of information that we must have in worshipping God as he desires. Even as Christians we can be well meaning in what we do, but what good is that? Hosea said, "my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge" ( Hosea 4:6 ). Unless we understand the truth of God and his word we will destroy ourselves in our well meaning ignorance. God's word is full of the person of Jesus Christ, what he has done, what he has provided in his redemption package and what he will do for you once you come to him. He is the way, the truth and the life and no man comes to God the Father except through him ( John 14:6 ). This is the knowledge that Paul desired the Israelites to have. He knew Jesus was the missing link in their devotion to God.

Jesus said in John, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" ( John 8:31-32 ). The truth is the truth, but to be free, you have to know it. Religion does not want you to be free, that is why it keep you bound up under the power of the law. But it was John who said, "the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" ( John 1:17 ). Today, it is my prayer that you understand the grace and truth found in Jesus alone and fully trust in him as your personal savior. This is the knowledge that Paul desired for the entire world to grasp. Jesus is the rock laid in Zion that many stumble over, however to those who fall upon Him they will never be put to shame ( Romans 9:33 ). Today, be blessed by this truth in Jesus name, amen!