This title is from an old commercial that Dr. Pepper put out years ago. They even had it as their logo on their bottles in the 1960’s. “Dr Pepper Time”, according to one promotion, was at 10, 2 and 4 o’clock. In the 1960s, the tune of the chorus of “The Glow-Worm” was used in ads, with lyrics which ended, “It’s Dr Pepper Time!”
I was sitting early in the morning, having some great Costa Rican coffee and looking out over the valley to the east. Nearly every morning the sun comes up and shines on the front of our home. The view from our hill is spectacular, revealing mountains and valleys all around us. This particular morning I was void of any inspiration or revelation of what to study. After listening quietly and resting in the developing morning sun, I heard Him say “It’s all about the 30’s”. That didn’t mean anything to me right away. At first I thought it was the 1930’s that I was to review and find inspiration. Then I thought it was about the over 30 years I’ve known my wife.
After many failed attempts on my part to understand what He meant, I gave up and went back into the rest mode. That’s when He said “It’s sort of like Dr. Pepper at 10, 2, and 4. The ad would encourage people to “be a Pepper”.
Now I’m really interested. That part about “be a Pepper” jumped out at me because we always teach we need to quit doing and just start being. So, as I sat in the “ready” mode the Holy Spirit guided me to the book of Romans and started me out in Romans 3:30. “There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.” (NLT)
There’s only one God. Abraham found this out years ago. He was a polytheist. He had wrong believing, but then He met the true God and believed Him. The God of Abraham made him right, because He believed God. Well, He’s the same God today. He makes people right with himself. Not by works. Not by performance. Not through denominations or church attendance. But ONLY by faith.
Next He took me to Romans 8:30 which reads “And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory”.
Who is He talking about here when he says “having chosen THEM”? Well, back up a few verses and lets see. Verse 17 says we are His children and we are His heirs. As you progress through the scriptures toward verse 30 you see that it is the believers that this verse 30 is talking about. It’s us.
Again we see that He gave us right standing, we didn’t have to earn it. He called us to come to Him by faith and gave us His glory. What glory. The glory He had before the world was.
John 17:5 reads “Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began”. This is Jesus speaking to the Father. He’s saying bring Him into the glory they shared before the world began. Then Jesus goes on to say in verse 22 that we have that same glory. Here it is – “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one”.
Now I don’t know about you, but that’s some great, good, almost too good to be true news. When Jesus says it, that settles it. Look at the operative words “have given”. That’s past tense. It happened before you even knew who Jesus was. He did it long ago, before we were even on this earth.
This was so great and I was getting really pumped up by the 30’s so far that I blurted out “what’s next, and what does all this mean”? He said “well jump to Romans 9:30 and let us see what is there”.
Here’s the scripture that was there. “What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place”.
I encourage you to go back and study Romans 9:1-29 to find out why the question “What does all this mean” was voiced in verse 30. As a matter of fact, God just spoke to me that He is going to give me revelation out of Romans 9 for a future teaching. Woo Hoo. Can’t wait. Another matter of fact, that’s confirmation of what I heard earlier this morning as I was getting up, brushing my teeth, washing my face and getting ready to come downstairs for my morning coffee.
That small voice was repeating Romans 9. Study Romans 9. It’s powerful. Look at Romans 9. By the time I made it to my morning sitting spot I had lost the direction to Romans 9. That’s because God wanted to confirm it here as I prepare this study on the 30’s. Pretty sneaky God. I like it when He does that.
It reminds me of when we were ministering in the prisons. I would spend hours preparing a teaching and to this day have never taught what I prepared. I would get there all set to open up the notes and God would direct me elsewhere. It was all Him and none of me. At first it used to un-nerve me, but after awhile I got very comfortable with it and even looked forward to it.
So, again in Romans 9:30 God repeats Himself by saying the Gentiles were made right and it was by faith this happened. The Gentiles were not TRYING to follow God’s standards and He still made them right. Why? Because they were not bound by the law. The law was not written for them, it was written for the Jews.
By faith they were made right or righteous. 1 Timothy 1:9 says “realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers…”.
Just look at that verse. It tells you who the law was made for and it’s not the ones who were made righteous. It is for the lawless person. Why did God grant grace to the Gentile who was not trying to follow His standards and keep it from the people of Israel. Look at verse 31-32 of Romans 9 below.
31 But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded.
Amazing. The people of Israel tried so hard and the Gentiles didn’t try at all. What happens when you try so hard to follow all the rules and edicts that are set down by the church police? You never succeed. Even if you get them all under control, man has a way of coming up with one more law for you to try and keep. It never ends.
32 Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path.
Why could they never succeed. Because they didn’t trust God, didn’t believe God, didn’t behold the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. Instead they tried to get right with God by KEEPING THE LAW. How many people are in the churches across America every Sunday and they are in bondage to religion, legalism, and the law. If only they would simply BELIEVE GOD, TRUST GOD, they could be set free.
Romans 11:30. Here comes another one of the 30’s. “Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead”.
This is an absolute confirmation of what we just discussed above surrounding Chapter 9 verse 30. I just couldn’t stop with just verse 30 here, so I went back to verse 28 and followed it through verse 32. Man I love studying the truth in scripture. Just look at this.
28 Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Imagine that. God’s chosen people are still enemies of Him. God practices what He preaches and still loves His enemies, because He chose them and does not give up on them.
29 For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.
This is a scripture we should all call to remembrance whenever we want to bash a ministry. For instance, Jimmy Swaggart. How did the so called “Christian” community treat him after his failure. Yes, he needed to be corrected, but not destroyed and cast away. Then there’s Jim Baker, Ted Haggard, Todd Bentley and others. Did they make mistakes? Yes. Did God remove their gifts and callings? NO. Look at verse 29. These men were kicked out of the “church”. Yay! Yet their lives are producing fruit today.
What if Jesus never spoke to Peter again. Peter, the one who denied him three times. The one Jesus had to say “get thee behind me Satan”. Just look at what the Angel of the Lord says about Peter in Mark 16:7 – “Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”
Peter is singled out even after his denial. Why? Because Jesus was looking ahead to pentecost and the sermon Peter was to preach after being filled with the Holy Spirit. 3,000 lives were saved in that sermon. Later on 5,000 more came to repentance. You don’t think God didn’t see that?
We'll end part 1 here, but will pick up the remainder of this teaching with a man by the name of Saul of Tarsus. Once again we will see that God did not overlook, cast aside, give up on, or reject a man who was totally religious and an enemy of the true gospel of God. Until then, Grace and Peace.
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