Romans 5- Greater Grace

 “so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭21‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Eternal life is not just for our life in heaven, but it is today when we begin to know God and His Son, Jesus!  We have the ability to know Him intimately today.  Sins power is strong, but God’s grace is greater!!!

Romans 1 - Evidence for God

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” 

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

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God has placed the evidence of Himself not only all around us in His creation, but inside of us as well.  Everyone of us has known the longing for that "thing" that is missing in life, but only the Gospel has the answer.  The missing piece is a relationship with God, the Creator of the universe.

Sin, which we have from the beginning of our lives, separates us from God.  He cannot have anything, other than perfection, in his presence, including us... But God desired us to have relationship with Him so much, that He made a plan to remove the problem of sin from us.  He send Jesus to live a perfect life, be unjustly murdered on the cross, in our place...He took on the punishment of our sin...and gave us in exchange His record of a perfect life.  All that was accomplished as a gift, something free to take, with nothing in exchange but our sin.  All we need to do is stop trusting in ourselves to fix the sin problem and rely solely on Jesus as our ticket into relationship with God.

That is the Gospel, the Good News!  Jesus paid it all...and God created us and the world around us to remind us that we need HIM!

Romans 16- Beware of Dissension

17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.

18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

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Romans 15- Our Blessed Hope

13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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We do have hope, an incredible hope! One day we will spend eternity with Christ... ETERNITY! In a perfect Kingdom without fear, pain, sadness or disappointment. God has placed on earth and in each Believer the Holy Spirit to encourage, strengthen convict and remind us of the Hope we have.

We will go through trials, temptation, and painful times in this world but we trust completely in God's sovereignty, we can endure these times with supernatural Joy and Peace. God is faithful if we only trust.

Are you questioning God for the trials he has allowed in your life? God controls every event in your life, big or small... Trust that He has a perfect plan and you will enjoy Peace and Joy!

Romans 14- Don't Make Your Brother Stumble

13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this-not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.

14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

15 For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

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Paul's reminder here is so important as we evaluate the activities in which we participate. There are sinful activities which we need to avoid, even run from! But there are also areas which are scripturally permissible, but socially considered sin. It is my believe that in most cases we need to live to the highest standard to avoid causing confusion to unbelievers. After all, the unsaved are the only reason we are still on this earth...

When we prominently proclaim our "Christian Liberties" we will cause confusion among unbelievers as well as new believers or even just less mature believers. Jesus states in Mark 9:42 and Luke 17:2 that it would be better for anyone who causes fellow believers to stumble to be "thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck"! He would be better DEAD!

Definitely something to consider the next time we are considering participating in a "Christian liberty"... Are you living above reproach?

Romans 13- Put on Christ

14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

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In previous verses Paul was reminding the Believers that our salvation was near. Christ could return any moment. What a glorious thought!

To be continued after work...I had to clean up the milk from the floor. (Connie just spent all evening last night cleaning it!)

Romans 12- Be Transformed

1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

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What an incredible, humbling, perfect statement! Paul was speaking to the Romans encouraging them to see themselves as Christ see them... to view their actions through the eyes of God. Because of Christ's work on the cross, God sees us (believers) as perfect! However our actions are viewed for what they are, one of two things: Pleasing God or SIN.

Paul reminds us "do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed" into the image of Christ! How do we do that every day? Be in the Word! Pray, asking God to reveal the hidden sin in our lives. Then, depend on the power of God to change you. We cannot do it on our own... We will always fail.

If we do not think about our sin through God's eyes, if we do not compare ourselves to God's perfect will, if we think about our sin in terms of our culture, we will miss our calling! "[P]resent your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." God only accepts perfection, and so should we.

Perfection is impossible on our own, but through the work of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit we can be transformed into an acceptable sacrifice. Thank God for my salvation!

Romans 11- God's Unsearchable Ways

32 For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

34 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR?

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Romans has been a wonderful reminder of the incredible Grace and Mercy of our God. Salvation is mind-blowing in itself, but in this section Paul speaks of God's plan to allow us (outsiders, not His chosen race, the Jews) to take their place in part. Because of the Israelite's rejection of the Messiah God uses us to draw them in.

How amazing are God's plans? How incredible are his mercies? I am thankful that God has control in our World! Though I often do not understand his plans, or the reasoning behind what is happening, I take joy from this passage knowing that God is Soverign, and has perfect wisdom.

Romans 10- God's Mercy

21 But as for Israel He says, "ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE."

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Although this verse is talking about Israel it is amazing how true it is even of us believers. He is continually reaching out to help us... Yet we continue to be disobedient, stubborn and unruly people.

God help me to be obedient! And thank You for Your mercies...

Romans 9- Called

21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?

22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?

23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

24 even us, whom He also called,...

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Although I do not fully understand the workings of our Holy God, I am so thankful to be one of His chosen children. The entirety of Romans 9 talks about the will of God to bring salvation to His people and how incredible it is that He will accept us (outsiders, non-jews). In fact, God is clear here in his writings through Paul that God has chosen us before the foundation of the world to be saved and to enjoy Him forever.

I encourage you to read more of this Chapter it is amazing how clearly God spells out the predestination of Believers, which in turn gives us eternal security.

If God chooses whom to save, can he make a mistake? Can we be saved one minute and loose it the next? NO. We can destroy our testimony. We can destroy our witness. We can destroy our relationship with the Father. We can fight against God, but we will not win... However, we will not want to do any of these things if God has hold of our hearts!

Romans 8- Live by the Spirit

5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

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This is a great reminder on Monday morning of what we should be focused on in this life. Our lives and the things that occupy us are important in the moment, but they only take our attention off of our mission: to Share Christ.

My pastor made a great comment about God's intentions for our lives: If God wanted us to have perfect lives as believers, He would have immediately pulled us into heaven when we believed. If God wanted us to just learn all that we can about Him as believers, He would have immediately pulled us into heaven when we believed. When we get there we will have perfect knowledge and perfect lives, but we cannot Share Christ in Heaven.

So while we are living our lives in this hectic world, we must live by the Spirit. Paul tells us if we do we will have "life and peace". Isn't that really what this world is searching for?

Romans7- Inner Struggle

22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,

23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

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This passage has always been both encouraging and discouraging to me. Encouraging because I can relate to the struggles Paul is describing, but discouraging because Paul was the cornerstone of the early Church and had maturity beyond what I will likely ever have, yet is still struggling.

Paul's last question "Who will set me free from the body of this death?" however brings be to the true joy, one day God will set us free and we will spend eternity with Him in perfection. No sin, only adoration for a Matchless God!

I am so ready to go home... Obviously, God is not ready for that yet, so I must do His will and fight the inner struggle against sin. Are you fighting hard enough?

Romans 6- Alive in Christ

9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.

10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

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As believers we have the undeniable privilege of considering ourselves free from sin. The moment we accept Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, we have died to the sin. We have the new ability to choose to serve God with our actions instead of ourselves.

Paul uses the term "even so" as the beginning of vs 11... Christ was raised from the dead, never to die again. It is a death died once, not over and over. It is however a daily struggle to depend on the Spirit to supply the strength, power and will to serve Christ and not our sinful passions that will hold on until we are glorified with Christ.

Are you living like you are dead to sin? Are you a slave to Christ?

Romans 5- Growth

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;

4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

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This incredible passage is such an encouragement. It lays out the life of every believer; starting with salvation, goes on through growth and reminds us we have the Spirit to guide us through it all.

It is hard, really hard, to go through Trials. But God will not give us more tribulation than we are able to bear with His grace. It seems like it at times, but He has promised us deliverance.

One of the biggest trials I face while gaining perseverance is being Christ-like in every situation. What is difficult for you? Are you thankful for the trials? After all, you desire to grow right? Try to enjoy the process

Romans 4- Our Faith

16 For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

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Paul was very clear in this passage to the Romans that we are justified by faith, not works. Works are the evidence of our love and adoration for the our Heavenly Father, because He saved us.

We as sinful human kind do not have the capacity to believe without the faith being provided by God. Eph 2:8-9 lays this out very clearly... For by Grace you have been saved, through faith, and that [faith] not of yourselves, but it is a gift of God so that no one can boast.

Romans 2- Hypocrisy?

21 you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal?

22 You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

23 You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?

24 For "THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU," just as it is written.

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In this passage Paul is trying to establish the sinfulness of sin. First he tackled the overt sins (adultery, murder, debauchery, etc) but in chapter 2 he is looking at the "religious". These people tend to be self righteous because they are not typically committing the overt, but more hidden sins. That is were I picked up this section of scripture...

VS 24 is striking to me: "THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES [unbelievers] BECAUSE OF YOU". This is exactly the opposite of what we are called to do. We are in this world to share the Gospel with unbelievers and live our lives in such a way that people see the difference. God has changed you, if you believe!

Are you living like a changed person? Or do people see your actions, associate you with God and think poorly of Him? Even more damaging, do your actions allow unbelievers to downplay their own need for a Savior?

Romans 1- Power of Salvation

16(b) For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes...

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This incredible section of Scripture points out the fact that God did some serious work in saving our sin-sick souls. The Gospel show the immense power of God, by concurring death; not only for His Perfect Son, but each of us who believe. His plan was strong enough to break the "laws of nature" that were set up before the foundation of the world. We read all over in scripture that the consequences of sin (the failure to act perfectly according to God's standard) is death and separation from God.

Our salvation, the Gospel, is God's most powerful expression of love. AMAZING! I am so thankful for my salvation...

Are you awestruck by Gods gift? Do you take salvation for granted? Take a few moments to think of everything God has done for you... All that is because of salvation...