Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans. Tonight is study #5 of Romans 2, and we will be reading Romans 2:4:

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

In our last study, we were looking at the riches of God’s goodness or the riches of God, and we went to a few different verses. In Romans 9, we read of the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy. That is, as God saved His elect, the grace and mercy of God are the riches of His glory in His salvation program.

Also, we read in Romans 11:33:

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

And there is great depth to the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. We experience this when we study the Bible, and we dig into the Word of God, working with our fingers to uncover the mysteries that God has hidden. And what we find is that they go ever deeper, and we learn and grow in grace and understanding in the wisdom and knowledge of God.

We also looked at Ephesians 2 in our last study, and I want to go back there because this really gets into the riches of God, as we read at the end of verse 3, where it said we were the children of wrath, even as others. That is really explaining our spiritual poverty (before we are saved), and it is contrasted with what it says in Ephesians 2:4-7:

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

The riches of God will continue to be bestowed upon the elect in the ages to come in eternity future, and that is our wonderful expectation and our glorious hope as we look at what the Bible says concerning things to come.

Also, it says in Philippians 4:19:

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Perhaps we have thought of physical needs when we read this verse in the past, but it primarily has to do with spiritual needs. God will supply all spiritual needs of His people. Everything we will ever require the Lord will take care of it and provide it for us.

Then we went to 1Timothy 6:17:

Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

When God says, “Charge them,” He is saying to tell the people of the world that the things they are trusting in and relying upon – the money and the things of the world they are lusting after – are uncertain. They are not guaranteed. It is like when you have some (financial) dealings with an institution that is not certified. It is not guaranteed. It is an uncertain financial institution, and you have your money there, but one day you go down to their office to get some of your money, and you find they are closed. They are no longer there, and your money is no longer there. They were uncertain riches because the ones that you trusted to handle your money were deceitful. They were liars and thieves and, finally at the end, you are impoverished. and you have lost everything.

And that is how God would identify the world, and it is the reason why He said, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” The world is untrustworthy. The world is unstable. It is moveable, and that is one of the reasons that when we read of God’s judgment, we find language that indicates that the whole earth is “moving.” It says in Revelation 6:14:

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

How can mountains and islands move? They are so stable. They are rocks. People of the world use that expression, “He is steady as a rock.” It is something unmovable. And that is incorrect, as far as an earthly rock is concerned. Of course, Christ is that “Rock” that is actually immovable, spiritually. But as far as the rocks of this world – mountains and the continents, which are large islands – are unstable, and have always been so, and the Lord points this out, repeatedly. In Psalm 6, in another passage describing Judgment Day, it says in Psalm 46:1-3:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

This has always been the message of the Bible. Do not trust the world. Trust God. You cannot rely on the world, but you can rely on God. The world will pass away. It will be moved. God and His Word endure forever, and they cannot be moved. This is the reason that God is a refuge and a place of security and safety where the elect can go in time of trouble, and Judgment Day is certainly a time of trouble. We enter in through salvation, and no matter what storm assails us, or what chaos and evil are destroying the earth, God’s people are “above it and beyond it,” even though we are in it. We are still left in the world, and we are alive, and God is watching us and protecting us and bringing us through this whole period of time until the end. And that will give great evidence that we had, indeed, become saved.

So the Lord would have all people not to trust in uncertain riches, but the unsaved of the world have done so, and they continue to do so, and this is a large source of their trouble, anguish and experiencing of the wrath of God in the Day of Judgment, because the things they are trusting in are being destroyed right before their eyes. They are “moved,” and the world has always been “moved.” For example, there is a law of the land, and everyone agrees that this law is right. But given some time, then the law changes, and now everybody says that this new law is right. Which is it? You see, they have no true sense of right and wrong. They are not grounded in truth regarding what is good or evil. They have no true ability to discern, but God had kept mankind pretty much on a correct path regarding basic moral laws until this time of the end. You see, laws are essential to society. You cannot have any kind of decent functioning in organizations like government or in families without law. There must be laws that serve as guides to hedge and protect, and when you have no laws, there can be no life, ultimately, and this is what we are witnessing with the breakdown in human society regarding the division that God is permitting to take place with the casting off of the laws of God. It is really a horrible and grievous situation.

In 1Timothy 6:17, God speaks of “uncertain riches” and how we cannot trust in them, and this is the reason why it says of the fall of Babylon in Revelation 18:2:

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Babylon is a type and figure of the world. We can understand this declaration, which is declared a few times in the Bible when we read, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” to mean that the world is fallen. And when God doubles something, it is shortly to come to pass, and it has already come to pass in our time. So, here, it is speaking of the fall of the world which began on May 21, 2011 when the Lord started to pour out His wrath on Satan and his kingdom, the nations of the world.

Then we read in Revelation 18:9-11:

And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:

(The word “alas” is the same word as “woe.”) The merchandise of the world is its “riches.” It is the merchandise of gold, silver, and precious stones, and so forth. And the Lord gives a long list of goods the world would merchandise in, and then we read in Revelation 18:15-19:

The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

Again, it says, “Alas, alas,” and it is doubled. The “woes” are doubled. It is just like when it says, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” There are three sets of “woes,” and if you recall, back in Revelation 8 and 9, there were seven trumpets. The first four trumpets sounded in Revelation 8, signaling God’s judgment on the corporate church. Then in the last verse of Revelation 8, it mentioned that there were still “three woes” to come for the inhabitants of the earth. Then in Revelation 9, it began with the fifth trumpet (the first “woe”); the sixth trumpet (the second “woe”); and the seventh trumpet (the third “woe”). And, here, there are three “woes” and they are doubled. Every time we read the words “alas, alas,” it is the words “woe, woe,” and that is because it is tying in with the three last trumpet sounds that were each linked with a “woe.”

Again, it said in Revelation 18:19:

And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

Here, the Greek word translated as “made desolate” is #2049 in Strong’s Greek Concordance, and it is the same Greek word used in verse 17: “For in one hour so great riches is come to nought.” The words “made desolate” is a translation of the same word as “come to nought,” and it means that it has been made empty or ruined. Their riches have been destroyed and taken from them.

Just take a step back and look at the things going on in the world, and not just with the economy and the businesses that have been shut down, but even with the major corporations and brands. Their “names” are being muddied. The sports industry is linked to Communism, like Communist China. It is shameful in the eyes of many, and it is ruining their marketing (their merchandise). Also, the entertainment industry and the things they sell are being despised by people, more and more. And this is true of the news media and the things they sell; they sell “news,” and it is being labeled as “fake news.” You see, their merchandise is not being received in the same manner as before, and the riches of the earth are being destroyed, and this is very troubling to the world because these things had seemed so certain and so secure. But God is showing them, “No – none of them are certain. None of them have ever been secure. I had permitted them to exist, but they have trampled underfoot my holy day.” And all businesses, with few exceptions, have dared to tread upon God’s holy day, with bars being open; sports stadiums being open; movie complexes being open. Throughout the church age, the churches were the place to go on Sundays where the Word of God could be heard.

And at the end of the church age, God commanded His people to come out of the churches, but we were not to come out of His “Sabbath,” and not to leave off worshipping Him by spending time with Him in His Word. So the merchandise of the world involves “buying and selling,” and God also liked the merchandise of the Gospel to “buying and selling,” but the merchandising of the things of the world took precedent over the merchandising of the Word of God, the Gospel. Of course, God freely gave of His Gospel, but the world wants money and sells their merchandise for a price. And now their merchandise, which has usurped the Word of God, is now being ruined. Their riches are coming to nought and being made desolate, and this is the tragedy (for the world) that is unfolding all over the world today.

There is one more interesting thing about this Greek word, #2049, which is translated “come to nought” and “made desolate,” and was used twice here (and it was also found in Revelation 17). It is only used five times in the New Testament, but the other two places it is used are very important and very significant. It says in Matthew 12:25:

And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation…

In Revelation, it was said to be “made desolate,” and this is the same word. When a kingdom is divided, it is made desolate. And it was Babylon that we read about, historically, when after 70 years the king of the Medes and Persians and his army came in a night, slew the king of Babylon, took his kingdom and divided it. That is what “Persians” do, as their name relates to “dividers.” And that is what the Lord Jesus Christ does, as He said to the individual that wanted Him to assist him in getting his inheritance: “Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?” (Luke 12:14) So as God has judged the world (the kingdom of Satan, as typified by Babylon), He is dividing it. And as He is dividing it, it is made desolate and its riches come to nought. Do you see how it fits with Revelation 18 and with what we are witnessing out in the world today? Again, it says in Matthew 12:25:

… Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

This word is used the fifth time in Luke 11:17:

But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.

It fits so wonderfully with what we have been learning. The uncertain riches of the world are finally coming to nought because it is Judgment Day and it is the time of Babylon’s fall. And when a house or a kingdom is divided, it is made desolate and its riches come to nought. So we are witnessing that today.

And now we can also see why God’s elect that are left on the earth while the inhabitants of the earth are being burned up by the wrath of God, and the “few men left” are the elect that are not being burned, so we should not be troubled as are the unsaved. Therefore, it is not great tribulation for us because we have safety and security in the riches of God, and our riches are really embodied in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are taking on an even greater appeal. We should be savoring them and admiring them, and even wondering at them, as we think about how God has given us these riches that can never be taken from us, while the riches of the world are being taken from the unsaved people of the world. And we can say this at this time: the life that the unsaved people of the world have known in the past will be no more. It will never return to any sense of normalcy or stability. There will be no sense of security. There will be no riches that they can trust. It is gone, and they are now in unstable territory – the world is “moving” because it is about to pass away. And it is a progression. We are in the process of the world’s passing away, and on the last day, it will be complete, and this world will be gone for evermore.

In the process of this prolonged judgment period, the elect children of God will be weaned, in a sense, away from the world because the circumstances are perfect for that. If we had been drawn by the world’s sports…and I know that in the past, I wasted way too much time on sports. We might have liked a sport, and we thought it was good, harmless fun, and it could have been, but the world certainly perverted and destroyed it and used it as a means to trample over God’s holy day. But do you see how God has ended that right now? It is the perfect opportunity for someone that had struggled in that area to get away from it, and to not go back to it. Since it is all shut down, we cannot watch it, and we have gotten away from it, and we must stay away from it, because when we attach to these things, we can be troubled by it, just as God is troubling the people of the world. But when we come out from these things and “be separate,” then we are not going to be troubled in that area. And we are not just coming away from it for no purpose, but we are moving toward God’s Word and toward embracing the spiritual riches of God. And we can thank Him each day as we see the world losing their inheritance right before their eyes, and we are witnesses of that, and, yet, our inheritance is moving ever closer.