Romans 15:4a

"For whatsoever things were written aforetime (before he came along) were written for our learning,..."


Notice it says for learning not our doctrine! Like I said when we introduced Hebrews in our last taping, you won't find a Roman road to Salvation in the book of Hebrews, and you won't find a lot of the instructions for the Gentile Body of Christ in Hebrews, but it's loaded with things that enhance our learning. So now finishing this verse.


Romans 15:4

"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we (as Grace Age believers, we as predominately a Gentile called-out people), through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."


Now, when I read this verse, the first Old Testament personality that comes to my mind is Joseph. That young man was hated by his brethren, sold into slavery, taken into a foreign country, and sold again as a slave, and even though he had come out pretty good (working for his Egyptian master), and you know the account of how his masters wife turned on Joseph, and accused him falsely, consequently, Joseph ends up in the dungeon. As near as I can figure it out he was down in that dungeon for 8 or 10 years. Now a lot of people would have given up hope, and would have said, "Well, God has forgotten all about me," but Joseph didn't do that.


And all of a sudden Joseph comes out of that dungeon and becomes the second man in Egypt, and why? Because, as he told his brethren when they finally came together in Egypt, "You didn't do it, but rather God did." So that's where we can take comfort from the Scripture, that even when bad things happen, we know that God is in control. And sooner or later we're going to be able to look back on those bad things and see that God was in it as His purposes were being fulfilled. And I think that's exactly what this verse means. We go back to the Old Testament writers, and we can pick up all of these things that were written, not for our doctrine, as you won't find the plan of Salvation per se, but oh, we can see how God works in the lives of His people. So always keep that in mind even as study this book of Hebrews. The whole book of Hebrews is written primarily to Jewish people, to prove to them that this Jesus of Nazareth, whom most of them rejected in unbelief saying, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" And yet this book of Hebrews is proving that Christ, the Son of God, was better than anything that had come before. And as I've told you before, always look for that word "better" throughout the Book.