016 Providing Clarity and Walking A Roman Road

This week The Old Watchman provides some clarifying remarks to the previous podcast "Did God Mean What He Said?" and takes his granddaughter down a Roman Road as a simple means of witnessing to others about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Transcript

016 Clarifying Remarks and Walking a Roman Road

Welcome to the Watchman Speaks. I’m your host, Lonnie Richardson.

Last week I posed the question, “Did God really mean what He said?”

I got a little feedback. Of the little feedback that I received, I was accused of implying replacement theology and salvation by works. I never said either of those things nor did I imply them. Those accusations came from people who simply did not want to hear the truth. I stand firm in what I said but I will offer some clarifying remarks just in case the water was a little muddy for some of you.

First, replacement theology is where one replaces Israel with the United States or any other nation. Never once did I say that the United States, any other nation, or the modern believer in Jesus Christ replaces the People of Israel as seen in the Old Testament. However, Paul states in Romans 11:16-21.

16. If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree,

18. do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. 

19. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”

20. Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand in your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear;

21. for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either.

22. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.

I also would like to direct you to Ephesians 2:11-13

11. Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcison” by the so-called “Circumcision” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—

12. remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

13. But now in Christ Jesus you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

It continues on to say that Christ abolished in His flesh the enmity which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so that the Jew and gentile be made into one establishing peace. Notice, if you’ll read that in verse 15 that it does not say that Jesus abolished the law or commandments, or ordinances. It says that abolished the enmity brought about the law, commandments, and ordinances. It appears to me that the Jew and Gentile are still holding onto the enmity.

However, it is clear that Paul’s intent is that the blood of Christ is the redeeming agent for both Jew and Gentile. So, while the law and the ceremonies therein provided for the salvation and redemption in the ancient days of the Old Testament, it is clear that it is no longer so. Our salvation and redemption are provided in the blood of Jesus. 

Galatians 2:21 “That I do not nullify the grace of God for if righteousness comes by the law then Christ died needlessly.”

So, I’m not attempting to teach salvation by works nor am I implying replacement theology because Paul clearly states that through Christ the Jew and Gentile are one man and that the Gentile is a part of the commonwealth of Israel. It’s not replacing Israel. It’s a part of Israel. 

So, what am I saying when I ask the question, “Did God really mean what He said?”

In the Old Testament, God said for the males to be circumcised. This is the circumcision of the flesh by the hands of man. Did God say that just to be saying it? No. It had to do with cleanliness of the body and as a deterrent of infections in sexual relations. However, it was the law of Moses.

In Acts chapter 15 there were Pharisees teaching salvation by circumcision. Paul and Barnabas corrected them by saying that people were saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus implying that the Gentile heart, as well as the heart of the Jew, had been circumcised. If we look all the way back to Deuteronomy 30:6 we read: “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.”

So, why did I point out what God said in 2nd Chronicles chapter 7 and Joel chapter 2? Well, first thing is that they are very simple instructions to the people who needed to turn back to God who had strayed away. There is nothing in those instructions that is detrimental to you, me, or anyone else. Now, do you have to follow those instructions to return to God? No, I don’t suppose so. Do you have to obey God’s instructions to keep from straying from God in the first place? No, I don’t suppose you do, although I highly recommend it. If you sincerely attempt to be obedient, it goes a long way towards prevention of any back sliding sin. 

Does it please God when you obey His instructions and remember the things that He said to do or the things He said not to do? Absolutely! But our obedience should not stem from the notion that if we don’t obey, we’re going to tick God off and He is going to destroy us all or lose our salvation for that matter. No, it should be a joy to obey the Father, as Jesus did, to please Him as we obeyed our earthly fathers. At least those of us who are fortunate enough to be blessed with earthly fathers who cared. Of course one has to consider the discipline of the Lord as taught in Hebrews chapter 12.

 John 12:47-49

47. “If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 

48. He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.

49. For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.” 

Plainly spoken, judgement is not in the present moment. However, judgment is coming, and all will be judged.

So what does this all boil down to? It all boils down to the fact that I am attempting to provoke you to get into your Bible and find out for yourself, “what did God say?” 

Let me put it this way. I love my pastor. I know him to be a studious man who prays diligently for understanding and wisdom. Do I trust him? Absolutely! Why do I trust him? Because I am a studious man who prays diligently, and I know what God said. I learn from the things he teaches. He listens and learns from what I share with him. We hold each other accountable. If he says something that I think I don’t agree with, I consult the Scriptures to see if he is truly in error or if he has said something that my flesh doesn’t agree with. 

To boil it down even further, if you get into God’s Word often enough and long enough, sooner or later God’s Word is going to get into you. That cannot possibly be a bad thing. Be warned however, that study should be combined with prayer for proper understanding and wisdom to be achieved. The motive within the heart plays a large part in that. And remember, proper context is always a key element in study and prayer.

Many pastors of mega congregations have their motives and sadly not all of them are honorable. I may step on some toes and hurt some feelings here. Some operate their churches as a business so that they can sell merchandise and books. Writing books is, of itself, not a bad thing. But the content of many books being peddled out there is preposterous. Excuse me, but if I can live my best life in this life, what do I have to look forward to after this life? If knowing Jesus didn’t change me and Jesus only revealed who I was all along, then what benefit do I have in knowing Jesus if I am not changed? How is it that so many pastors cite giving as a means of financial blessings? What about other blessings such as good health, solid relationships, emotional stability, food on the table, clothes on your back, a place to rest your head, or a job? No, God will bless you financially. And, He can. But no where in the Bible does it say that God exists so that He can give you what you want in abundance. 

In reality God will provide for your needs and give you life in abundance.

Truly, my mission is to provoke you to look into the Bible for yourself. It’s your responsibility. The day will come when you will be called upon, even when your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, to be held accountable for this life. “I didn’t know.” Will not be a suitable excuse.

Here at The Watchman Speaks I hope to inspire you to read the Bible so that you can connect the dots and put pieces of the puzzle together. Trust no one to do that for you.

Example. My granddaughter came home from Wednesday night youth meeting at the church and I asked her what they did. She told me that they paired off and practiced sharing the gospel to other people. One person was a solid Christian while the other was not yet converted. After each session the group would make constructive suggestions on how to improve. She admitted that most everyone in the group had some difficulty in sharing their thoughts about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She did say that she thought of, and made the suggestion, that they take the non-believer into the Bible to show them the gospel.

I seized a valuable teaching opportunity.

“Okay, that’s good.” I replied. “What verses in the Bible would you take the person thinking about becoming a Christian to?”

She thought for a moment and replied, “John 3:16 is pretty straight forward and simple.”

“Excellent!” I exclaimed as I handed her my Bible. “Show it to me!”

She fumbled around for a few moments because, truthfully, she wasn’t quite sure where the Book of John was in the Bible. She did however find it and showed it to me. I really was quite proud of her.

I said, “Okay, good! Now, what else?”

She admitted, somewhat ashamed that she couldn’t think of anything else. I assured her that she had nothing to be ashamed of. Then I asked her, “Would you like for Papaw to show you a neat trick?” 

Her face brightened and nodded her head.

I told her, “I’m going to show you the Book of Romans a road for sharing the gospel.” She nodded and drew closer.

Romans 3:10-12

10. as it is written, “There is none righteous not even one;

11. There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God.”

12. All have turned aside, Together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is Not even one. 

Romans 3:23-26

23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

24. being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

25. whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This is to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.

26. for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Romans 5:1

1.     Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:8-9

8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

9. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

Romans 6:23

23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:1

1.     Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

Romans 10:9-10

9. that 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.

10. for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Romans 10:13

13. for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

I went through each verse and passage, explaining what they meant to my granddaughter and she soaked it up like a sponge. She looked up at me with a tear in her eye and said, “Is it really that simple Papaw?”

I assured her that it was that simple and that there was more, much more.

“More?” she asked as she frowned.

I said, “Oh yes darling! There is so much more! We have an inheritance waiting for us. We will get to meet Jesus and usher Him into the earth when He returns and establishes God’s kingdom. There is so much joy to be had now and in the future.”

“That’s why you read the Bible and pray so much, huh?”

“Yes, baby, that’s why Papaw reads and prays so much.”

She thought for a few moments and wondered aloud if her Youth Pastor knew about this “Roman Road” to salvation. Then she asked, in case he didn’t, did I think that he would mind if she shared it with him.

I marveled at her maturity and her not wanting to seem like a know it all. I admitted that I didn’t know if her Youth Pastor knew about the Roman Road or not, but I didn’t think he would mind if she shared it with him whether he did or not. 

You see? It’s our responsibility to teach our children and our grandchildrenwhat God said. It’s not the responsibility of a youth or children’s pastor. We as parents and grandparents to teach, it’s the pastor’s responsibility to re-enforce that teaching. The same applies to us grown folks. It’s our responsibility to look into God’s Word for our well being. It’s the pastor’s responsibility to clarify or re-enforce. 

Let me say this about a pastor. If he is a pastor that cannot be corrected, if indeed he has need of correction, then his heart and motive is not in the right place. But notice that I said if he truly has need of correction. Don’t go flying off the handle until you gave genuine proof that he needs correction and then, with kindness.

Take me for example. I present my methods and means of Bible Study that I obtain studying and praying. Occasionally, I may get it wrong. I have no problem being wrong. Just show me chapter and verse where I’m wrong and I’ll apologize publicly for any misleading on my part. Thus far, I’ve not had to do that. However, should the occasion arise, I certainly am not too proud to say, “I’m sorry but I was wrong.”

Which brings me to my conclusion. All I’m presenting here on The Watchman Speaks is a Bible Study and how I approach Bible study. I believe that it has served me well thus far. My intentions are not to prove you or anyone else “wrong”. My intent is to provoke you, or inspire you, to delve into the Bible while setting aside what someone has told you about God and find out what God tells you about Himself.

This episode is what I’m talking about. I was accused of presenting replacement theology by someone who has no idea of what replacement theology is or the connection between the Jew and Gentile as a singular entity. When I mention obedience to God’s Word they immediately jump to the conclusion that I’m peddling salvation by works and righteousness by the law. I said no such thing. 

Did these accusations make me angry? No, they broke my heart because they took something that they read in a book by some famous pastor/author as the gospel without delving into the Gospel itself. 

Oh, and one more thing. This person would not even attempt to listen to my rebuttal of their comments stating, “I guess we just interpret the Scriptures differently.”

On that issue I had to agree. We do see the Scriptures differently. You see, the truth is the truth and truth does not need interpretation. When you interpret the truth you take objective truth and make it subjective to meet your agenda. That’s dangerous. 

How can I say that? Well, I’ve spent a lot of time digging in the mines that are in the pages of the Bible and a lot of time praying for wisdom and understanding. Like many, I had my own pre-conceived notions. But when I uncovered the truth I found that my notions didn’t hold water. 

So, to encourage you, to provoke you, or to inspire you to delve into the Bible was one element of this episode. The second was to lead you, as I did my granddaughter, through a simple path in the Bible to witness to others, leading them to Christ. That’s not just the pastor’s job, or the teacher’s job, or the evangelist’s job. That’s every Christian’s job. 

Jesus’ last recorded words on this earth are found in the Book of Acts 1:7-8.

7. He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;

8. but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Of all the things that Jesus could have spoken about, He spoke the Great Commission for all believers. 

In verse 8, “you will receive power”…What power? In the Greek the word power is “dynamis” which is where we get the English word dynamite from. It is a power not of your own. It is a supernatural power to achieve things that you, alone, cannot accomplish. When do we receive this power? When the Holy Spirit comes upon you. When does Holy Spirit come upon you? When you get saved and even a greater extent in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Okay, for what purpose do we receive this power?

To become His witness. In Greek the word witness is Martys. It’s where we get the word martyr from. To be His witness is to stand as a witness of our faith in Jesus even unto death. That means that we share the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus preached and the redemption Jesus provided on the cross even if it costs us something. That’s the truth.

You have been provided the “Roman Road to Salvation” as one of the means of sharing that Gospel. Go forth and use it. Go forth and teach it to others. It was the last commandment of our Lord and Savior.

I am The Old Watchman, Ezekiel. You have been warned.

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