Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

May 29, 2019

by Pastor Hawtree

BIBLE READING: ROMANS 10

1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
3 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.

“THEY HAVE A ZEAL….BUT NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE”
It is normally good to have “zeal”, but if you are going to, make sure you are right. Adolph Hitler had zeal, as did Joseph Stalin, but even though they did, they were horribly wrong. Paul is making the point that an individual needs to get knowledge from the Word of God, and then have zeal to follow it.

Israel had begun to “establish their own righteousness”. They began to determine what was right and wrong, and what was Godly or ungodly. They did not need to determine that. God’s Word has already determined that. They had taken matters into their own hands and became zealous about their rules, their opinions, and their laws. Paul explains in this passage what the proper steps should be in the subject of what real “righteous” living is.

1. KNOW THAT YOU ARE SAVED
Paul says that his prayer and desire for Israel was that they would be saved. All the knowledge in the world will do nothing if you do not have a personal relationship with the Lord.

2. ACQUIRE A KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WORD
Get into God’s Word and study it. Don’t blindly follow what some man says about God’s word. Get into God’s Word and find out for yourself. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God”. You cannot have the proper zeal for God, until you get the knowledge from God. You get that knowledge from His Word.

3. SUBMIT YOURSELF TO GOD’S WORD
So, once you get into God’s word and study it, then it is time to submit to it. Israel had begun to try and establish their own righteousness because they refused to submit to God‘s righteousness. They were trying to make their own rules. They were trying to change God’s Word to fit what they wanted. That is happening a lot nowadays. Everyone seems to be re-writing the Bible. Why don’t we just start obeying it, instead of trying to re-write it every other day.

4. SERVE GOD WITH ZEAL
We need to receive the truth, learn the truth, submit to the truth, and then spread the truth with zeal. That, my friend, is righteous living.