A Study Of The Book Of Romans Lesson #7 Series

Book of Romans Study

Lesson # 7

Romans 2:20 – 3:4

By Rev. James May

As we continue our study we must remind ourselves that the Apostle Paul is writing to the saints that are at Rome, in an epistle, or letter. As he sits and writes, the Holy Spirit is upon him, speaking to his heart, putting thoughts into his mind and guiding his hands as he writes. Thus, the words that Paul writes are not just the words of a man of God, they are the inspired words of Almighty God.

Paul’s writing contains some very powerful teachings which he hopes will set the groundwork for his planned visit to Rome. Since it will take some time before he will go, it is Paul’s prayer that the words of this letter will begin to impact the beliefs and practices of the church in Rome so that when he arrives, Paul can spend much more time winning souls among the lost than correcting errors in doctrine and wrong attitudes in the church.

How often do we come together with the same hope and prayer? We pray that our hearts and spirits are in tune with the Spirit of the God and that we come together, already on fire for God; already in the Spirit; already under the anointing of the Holy Ghost, so that we don’t have to spend all of our time getting everyone in the right frame of mind for worshipping God, and the right attitude for hearing and accepting the Word that God has for us in the services.

Our prayer and hope is that the Christians in the church are already in the spirit, so that the ministry that goes forth can be centered upon winning the lost who may be present!

So many times we have to spend half of the worship service just getting people to worship. And worship isn’t sitting around on our backside, looking like we’re half asleep! A lot of people, including me, close their eyes in worship because we want to focus only on God, not on the misbehavior of the kids, the disregard of God’s presence in their just sitting there and not joining in, or even in the little things that may be wrong or whatever that will serve only to distract us from truly worshipping. But some who close their eyes are using it only as an excuse to try and catch 40 winks. I know – I’ve been there and done that!

How can we expect a move of God; how can we say we’re hungry for revival; how can we see the blessings of God that come through true worship that is in the Spirit, if we don’t even try to enter in with all our hearts? That’s the worship God desires, and the only kind that he honors! Worship God in your own way, whatever that is as long as it doesn’t bring disorder and confusion! But – Worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth!

It doesn’t hurt to raise your hands, clap in time with the singing and music, move your lips and push air from your lungs across your lips and teeth to make real sounds come out. I know we can all do that because we all do the same thing just to talk. Talk to God in worship and praise! God is not fooled by our pretense at worship. He knows the heart!

I thank the Lord for those who will enter in; for those will just forget about themselves, concentrate on Jesus and worship him. But if there are those who are hindering the move of God by grieving the Holy Spirit, pretending to worship or just ignoring God altogether, then we will never see God really move in our services!

Paul’s letter is addressing the idea of the influence that the converted Jews are having upon the saints at Rome. It seems that there is some “Judaizing” going on!

What does “Judaizing” mean? It means that the Jews, who have accepted Christ, yet not reached the point in their faith where they fully rely on Jesus, but still rely upon the law of Moses as well, are trying their best to persuade the Gentile Christians in Rome that they have to adopt the ways of the law along with their faith in Christ.

Paul’s point in all of this is that the Jews themselves could not, and did not, keep their own law, and here they were trying to teach the Gentiles how to do so. In effect, by trying to get the Gentile Christians to obey the Law of Moses, they were nullifying the power of the blood of Jesus and saying that the blood wasn’t enough. Having Jesus as Lord was great, but they still needed to obey the law too.