Hebrews 11:32-12:13

In class this week we briefly discussed the lives of David and Samuel. David's life was marked by many remarkable events, too many to mention here. He died in the faith and was commended by God as a man after His own heart because he did what God told him to do.  

Samuel was the last man to serve as judge of Israel. He anointed Saul and then later David as king. Samuel was faithful to the Lord throughout his long and eventful life.

11:33-40 God accomplished many remarkable feats through the men and women of faith listed in this chapter. In verse 35 the author begins to describe the suffering that was endured by many of the faithful. They were taunted, beaten, murdered and despised by their persecutors. Some were impoverished and homeless, wandering in remote wilderness regions because there was no place they could live in safety. The author says, "the world was not worthy of them." All of them were commended for their faith though they did not receive what God had promised them. God was waiting until all the faithful had lived and died before He would give them their full reward. Notice that all the individuals mentioned in chapter 11 died before Jesus was born. None of them would have heard the name of Jesus, yet they all had genuine faith.

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Romans 2:17 - 3:31   

We saw last week that Paul describes the Romans chapter 1 people as obviously immoral and openly rejecting God as their God. They worshiped idols and lived an increasingly depraved lifestyle. The chapter 2 people looked pretty good on the outside but their reliance on the Law rather than Christ was akin to idolatry. They didn't reject the true God and worship idols like the Gentiles did but they rejected the Son of God and clung to the law of Moses as though it could save them. They were also hypocrites because they frequently broke the law they claimed they were observing.

2:17-20 Some of Paul's readers were calling themselves Jews and bragging about their relationship with God through the law of Moses. They thought the law was "the embodiment of knowledge and truth" but in reality, only Jesus is the embodiment of knowledge and truth.

v. 21-24 Paul goes on to accuse them of breaking the law of Moses, the same law that they were hiding behind and thinking it kept them safe. The law cannot and will not shield them from the wrath of God. Paul shows them their hypocrisy in that they claim to honor the law but continual break it. He quotes Ezekiel 36:22 saying, "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." We read Ezekiel 36 to understand the context of this quote. Because of the Israelites' disobedience to the Lord and subsequent captivity, the Gentile nations looked at God as being unable to help His people. Israel's sin and unbelief caused Gentiles to disrespect God.

v. 25-29 Jews were not safe from God's wrath just because they were physically circumcised. Rather, circumcision must be of the heart, done by the Spirit of God, not by the written code. If the readers were doing a few outward things to gain the praise of men, Paul was reminding them that a circumcised heart receives praise from God.

3:1-2 So what good is it to be a Jew? God has spoken through the Jewish prophets and His words have been written down and preserved for thousands of years by Jews. It's a great honor for them to have been entrusted with His words.

v. 3-4 If some Jews do not have faith does that mean God is unfaithful? No. God's faithfulness to His promises is not dependent on the Jews or any other nation. Paul quotes Psalm 51:4 to remind them that when David sinned with Bathsheba he acknowledged God as a righteous judge.

v. 5-8 Paul now addresses an argument he'd probably heard many times. Some people thought that God should not be angry with sinners because the more people sin the more righteous God looks. They went so far as to say that doing evil actually brings about something good. Paul has no patience with this ridiculous line of reasoning and says of them, "their condemnation is deserved."