Knowledge Without Knowledge
Salvation is of the Lord • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction:
Introduction:
Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Whenever I study about the law and the way that the Jews interpreted the law, I am reminded of a passage in which our Lord said:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Jesus’ words rang loud in a society where the Jewish leaders has mounted such a hard burden on the people.
Because their very eternal destiny hinged on whether or not they kept the law; not as interpreted by Moses, but by how the law was interpreted by the Jewish leaders.
The Rabbis of Jesus; time could not rest with simple prohibition. ‘
Take, for example, the law of the Sabbath.
Now, what did God say was the law for the Sabbath?
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 20:8-
The command by God was to keep the day holy and rest; which is very good idea, but that command hardly at all enters into detail.
The Rabbis took that command and formed about 39 works that they said were forbidden by that law.
These thirty-nine prohibited works are: (1) sowing, (2) ploughing, (3) reaping, (4) binding sheaves, (5) threshing, (6) winnowing, (7) cleansing crops, (8) grinding, (9) sifting, (10) kneading, (11) baking, (12) shearing wool, (13) washing, (14) beating, (15) dyeing, (16) spinning, and (17) warping it, (18) making two cords, (19) weaving two threads, (20) separating two threads, (21) making a knot, (22) untying a knot, (23) sewing two stitches, (24) tearing to sew two stitches, (25) catching a deer, (26) killing, (27) skinning, and (28) salting it, (29) preparing its skin, (30) scraping off the hair, (31) cutting it up, (32) writing two letters, (33) blotting out for the purpose of writing two letters, (34) building, (35) pulling down, (36) putting out a fire, (37) lighting a fire, (38) beating smooth with a hammer, (39) carrying from one tenement to another.13
Let me give you a couple examples of what the Jewish leaders did to the people.
According to , ploughing and reaping were among the forbidden works on the Sabbath.
But the Jewish leaders had taken that prohibition and applied it to plucking ears of corn.
Remember whaat happen in .
At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
Well, first of all the law allowed permission for someone to go into another person’s field and get some food.
When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn.
But because they were doing it on the Sabbath that was the problem.
But Jesus continues in that account concerning the law.
But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
This is fascinating.
The account that Jesus is giving to the Pharisees is found in .
David and his men came to Nob and to Ahimelech that Priest.
David came and asked it there was any bread that his men could because they were hungry.
And Ahimelech said that there is no common bread here, “I mean this isn’t a bakery”.
But they had holy bread to eat.
The problem was that holy bread was only reserved to be eaten by the priests.
But Ahimelech, after David promised that his men had kept themselves free from women, gave to David the holy bread to eat.
Jesus’ point, that compassion and love is more important than ceremony.
The Jewish leaders burdened them with prohibitions about writing letters.
“He who writes two letters with his right or his left hand, whether of one kind or of two kinds, as also if they are written with different ink or are of different languages, is guilty.
Jewish History is filled with writings about this kind of thing.
And it was under this kind of burden that Jesus said:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Meaning that because of his perfect life and obedience to the law, we that are in Christ are seem as fulfilling the law.
The Jews could not accept that and that is where Paul is in his argument about the lack of salvation with the Jewish people.
They were determined to hold onto this ritualistic law obedience in order to obtain grace and Paul continues to argue that that is not how you get grace.
I. The Delight of Salvation (vs. 1)
I. The Delight of Salvation (vs. 1)
Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
With all that the Apostle Paul has said up to this point, I cannot almost see him speaking these words with tears in his eyes.
The intense desire and drive of this man of God for the salvation of people is seen very clearly in this text.
The Apostle says that his “heart’s desire”....
When Paul uses the word “heart” he uses the Greek word “καρδία” from which we get our English word “cardio”.
What the Apostle is referring to is the inner seat of physical, spiritual and emotional life.
In the language of the Greek speaking world the word was used to speak of, not the muscle that pumps blood through your body, but to inner feeling.
He is speaking about the source of the whole inner life.
The Apostle is proclaiming that from the very inner being of his emotions that he “desires”.
It is the word “εὐδοκία” and speaks about that which which brings pleasure or contentment.
It is speaking about a desire.
It is the same word that is used in and it is translated there speaking about God’s good pleasure.
It is the same word that is used in translated purpose, speaking about God predestining us to adoption according to the purpose of His will.
It was God’s pleasure and desire to predestine us to adoption.
It is the same word that is used in that is translated “purpose” speaking about how God makes known to us his will according to His “purpose” or “delight” or “desire”.
So you get an idea how these two words are used.
And Paul’s point is that from his inner being, the seat of his emotions, he delights in the thought of the salvation of His people, the Jews.
Their salvation is his desire, his wish, his will.
Here is the interesting thing; Paul did not let the knowledge of the Sovereignty of God in Salvation, stop him from having a genuine heart-felt desire to see his people saved.
Paul never had the attitude, “well, if they are predestined to be saved, then they will saved and there is nothing I can do to change it”.
And while that may be true from the divine side because we cannot change God’s predetermination, we operate from the human side.
And for Paul, the human side said, “I wish from the very inner being of my emotions that the Jews would be saved”.
This is where, as we spoke last week, that the tension between Divine Sovereignty (which the Scriptures absolutely teach) and Human Responsibility (which the Scriptures absolutely teach) has its greatest hold.
And we have to be careful that we do not emphasis the one over the other.
Because God is a God of balance.
A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.
Whether you are speaking about currency or you are speaking about Theology, God is a God that delights in balance.
And if we balance the attributes of God, in this context Sovereignty and Responsibility, we will find a delight in the salvation of people.
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. X Children Brought to Christ, Not to the Font (No. 581)
There is a way of preaching that doctrine, in which you make it put on a black and ugly face, and stand with a drawn sword, and say, “You must not come unless you know you are one of God’s elect.” That is not the way to preach the doctrine. The true way of preaching it is, “God has a chosen people, and I hope you are one of them; come, lay hold on Jesus, put your trust in him.”
There are a number of things that can be said about; not only our delight, but responsibility if giving the Gospel and having a hearts desire to see people saved.
Evangelism arises from a natural response to God’s grace that He has shown to us, it is the natural concern to see that sinners repent and to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
For the believer, preaching the gospel is by Divine Compulsion.
For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.
For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
Evangelism is a God-given responsibility that carries massive repercussions if not obeyed.
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.
If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.
But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.
Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand.
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Ezek.
Our evangelism is a direct response to the Grace that God lavished on us.
For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
2 Cor. 5:14
When we evangelize, we can have confidence that God’s elect will come.
We can have that confidence because when we evangelize the Gospel that we preach is God’s power.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
When we evangelize, we know that when we speak God’s Words they will be effective.
We do not need clever words or 28 verses of the invitation, all we need is the Word of God.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Whenever I pray I for the unsaved and this community, I also pray that I know that God has his people that have not yet some to faith and so when I preach the gospel to the lost, I know that the lost will come.
For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.
And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Acts 13:
Paul found delight is the salvation of his people so much so that inner being of his emotions desired so much that his people turn to Christ.
Not only The Delight of Salvation, but notice the second point.
II. The Declaration of Simplicity (vs. 2)
II. The Declaration of Simplicity (vs. 2)
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
The Westminster Confession of Faith Section 1
Good works are only such as God hath commanded in His holy Word, (Micah 6:8, Rom. 12:2, Heb. 13:21) and not such as, without the warrant thereof, are devised by men, out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of good intention.
Here, the Apostle gives to us one of the fears he has as to why the Jews are not being saved.
He says that “he bears record”, in other words he knew from his own experience as a radically zealous Pharisee that most of the Jews of that day were very religious but yet very far from God.
For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
As far as legalistically fulfilling the outward demands of the law, Paul was blameless.
Yet with the other Jews of his day, he had no understanding of spiritual truth and genuine godliness.
He not only not know and follow God’s way but vehemently opposed it, persecuting the Church.
The Apostle said of his own life.
I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews;
Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
By his own words, Paul had been a zealous member of the most zealous Jewish sect.
No one understood better the he what it was to have a zeal for God, but not in accordance to knowledge.
The apostle says that their zeal was not in accordance to knowledge.
In the Greek language, there are two words that are translated :know” or “knowledge”.
The first one is γνῶσις and that is an intellectual awareness of the outward demands of the law.
They had plenty of that.
But what Paul says that they lacked was ἐπίγνωσις, that kind of knowledge is an experiential knowledge that comes only from a saving relationship with God.
They had plenty of the religious superficial knowledge that causes pride and arrogance.
Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
So Paul declaration of Israel is that they have a knowledge, but it is a simplistic knowledge and it is not the true knowledge that brings humbleness and repentance.
In fact, many of the Catechisms will say that: corrupt, blind, and indiscreet zeal, is next to idolatry because it violates the first commandment.
And in our evangelistic efforts, we need to be discerning with people that have all the right answers, they know what you want to hear and they tell it.
This is especially true as parents evangelize their children, particularly those that have been raised in Church.
Do not allow the fact that they have all the right answers fool you into believing that they are truly born again, look at their life and make sure, discerningly, that their life is in line with what the Scriptures says a Christian is.
And here is a good way to tell; I do not care how much knowledge your children (or anyone that you are evangelizing) has, watch to see the level of their desire for the things of God.
Do they want to be where God’s Word is bring preached, do they long to communicate with God. do they long to tell others about Christ, do they do desire to live a Holy life.
Those are just a few things to look for in the ones that you are ministering too, no matter the level of their knowledge.
Israel, had the zeal, but it was not according to experiential knowledge and thus they were lost and their knowledge was simplistic and not salvific.
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
III. The Dismissal of Submission (vs. 3)
III. The Dismissal of Submission (vs. 3)
IV. The Disallow of Self (vs. 4)
IV. The Disallow of Self (vs. 4)