Category: Scripture

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Scripture

Epistle- Romans 7

Romans 7

Released from the Law

7:1 Or do you not know, brothers1—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.2 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.3

The Law and Sin

7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Footnotes

[1] 7:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verse 4

[2] 7:2 Greek law concerning the husband

[3] 7:6 Greek of the letter

(ESV)

Categories
Scripture

Epistle- Romans 6

Romans 6

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self1 was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free2 from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Slaves to Righteousness

15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,3 you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Footnotes

[1] 6:6 Greek man

[2] 6:7 Greek has been justified

[3] 6:16 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; twice in this verse; also verses 17, 19 (twice), 20

(ESV)

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Saturday Study Scripture

Saturday Study

Saturday Study

Romans 1-5 (7.7.18)

I am very excited that we are now in Romans in our annual Bible reading plan. This has been considered by many scholars and historic theologians as one of the great pillars of the New Testament.

Paul starts in chapter one highlighting the sinful demise of mankind and that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. He then spends the majority of the next chapters making it abundantly clear about mankind’s condition apart from Christ’s saving work. This is what I want to highlight in today’s study: the spiritual state of mankind in our sin.

Then next week, we will turn to chapters 6-10 and highlight the good news of the gospel and our spiritual state in Christ.

Romans 3:10-12 speaks of our spiritual condition in our sin so well, so let’s start there:

Romans 3:10-12 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Scripture again and again points us to the overwhelming and damning reality that we are DEAD IN OUR SIN–not sick, not morally neutral–we are DEAD!

Three things Paul highlights here that lay this most important foundation for our utter need for God’s saving grace:

  1. No one is righteous.

We have NO righteousness of our own that is satisfactory for God’s utter holiness!

We cannot stand in front of a holy God and attempt to do what the prideful Pharisee did, saying, “Compared to that guy, I am looking pretty good.” 

The Bible says everything we do apart from Christ is sin, because it’s not done from a right heart to the glory of God, and that our best efforts at good deeds or righteous living is like fifthly menstrual rags.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23

UNDERSTAND THIS MOST CRITICAL REALITY:

One day, you will stand in front of a holy God inquiring about His acceptance of you.

Not anyone else’s acceptance of you! Only the holy God. WE MUST NOT MISS THIS!

We must see how absolutely GRAND the canyon is that separates us from God because of our sin.

  1. No one seeks God.

The Bible-revealed reality is what man seeks on his own is not God but some form of religion: a man-made, self-salvation based on self-merit. It’s a pursuit of a lifestyle that attempts to put God in debt to him.

The good deeds of man are ultimately not to honor or glorify God but are self-glorifying or self-satisfying. Without the gracious intervention of God, man only seeks to glorify man.

Spiritually dead people don’t tend to spiritual matters unless first “made alive or born again.”

  1. No one understands.

This is not in regards to our ability to think or reason or understand many things in this life.

It is in regard to our spiritual blindness, our utter lack of spiritual perception. 

We are totally absent minded to the things of God in our sin.

Ephesians 4:17b-18 in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

Later in Romans, Paul will say “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot” (Romans 8:7).

The Bible says that even the demons understand who God is, believe He exists, and can talk about Him; but the spiritual discernment required to know Him personally is not in them.

This is super important to understand. James Montgomery Boice says it so well:

“This does not mean that an unsaved person cannot have a rational understanding of Christianity or of what the Bible teaches apart from the illumination given by the Spirit. A scholar can understand Christian theology as well as any other branch of knowledge. A philosopher can lecture on the Christian idea of God. A historian can analyze the nature of the Protestant Reformation and describe justification by faith very well. But left to themselves, people like this do not believe what they explain, nor are they saved or changed by it.”

Please understand rightly: Because we are dead in sin and all we do is sin, we are not due any gift of God. Especially one that restores us to a relationship with Him.

A very important way to think about GRACE is that it is a gift that is undeserved.

We must fully and rightly see that God’s grace is undeserved. In its simple reading, “undeserved” means you did nothing to deserve it.

Undeserved is like showing up on the job site, and you just sit there your entire shift and don’t lift a finger to work at all. Any pay your boss might consider giving you in that case would be completely undeserved.

But it’s worse than this, because we didn’t do nothing; we showed up on the job site and worked our entire shift to tear apart the work the boss wanted done, to hurt his company and to work against him. Surely when that is the way we performed, as an enemy and anti-agent, we all the more don’t deserve any pay or reward.

So, what we must see is that undeserved here means we actively and holistically are against the giver.  

This is Paul’s emphasis in the early verses of Ephesians 2!

Our death in sin meant we were…

Following the course of this world: That means we are actively not obeying the law and commands of God.

Following the prince of the power of the air (Satan): That means we are actively not following the holy God; rather, we lived in anti-God unrighteousness like Satan.

The spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience: That means we are not righteousness unto obedience and honoring God.

Lived in the passions of our flesh: That means we lived for ourselves and for our flesh–not for God and His glory.

Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind: That means we were idolaters instead of worshiping and following God and His desires.

We were His enemies in every way! This brings up another foundational principle that helps us rightly understand that God saves by grace alone: Because we are all fallen in Adam, we deserve God’s wrath. And we have increased the severity of wrath due us in living as Paul describes here in our passage. 

This is what Paul says next. Look at verse 3:

Ephesians 2:3 … were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind

Most people, and sadly even many Christians, have a low view of the righteous wrath of God.

Please understand, at the end of human history, sin will be punished eternally.

     But this is so foreign, it seems like a fantasy to many.

Many simply cannot imagine God to be a God of judgment–a God who would impart His wrath on us or people we have loved in this life.

People like to see Jesus as a loving hippy who would not dare send anyone into eternal torment based on His sound judgment of them.

To correct this line of thinking, we simply turn to Jesus’ very own teaching, as He describes the judgment to come in Matthew 25 through three parables He shares:

-In the first story, the bridegroom returns suddenly, and the women who are not ready for his coming are excluded from the marriage feast (Matt. 25:10).

-In the story of the servants, the master returns to settle his accounts, and the evil, lazy servant is condemned, as the master says, “Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v. 30).

-In the final story, the king separates the sheep from the goats, sending the wicked “to eternal punishment” and the righteous “to eternal life” (v. 46).

According to Jesus Himself, there absolutely will be a future day of reckoning for all people.

But many people love to argue, “God is so good, He could never send anyone to hell.”

Yet, it is BECAUSE of God’s goodness that He MUST rightly judge and condemn guilty people to hell.

Exodus 34:7 says God “will by no means clear the guilty.” The principle in this Old Testament verse applied to final judgment is that all who stand outside of Christ will rightly be condemned and receive just wrath.

His perfect justice means He must declare the guilty “guilty!” And the sentence is death–eternal death.

If a human judge declared someone innocent who was clearly guilty, he would NOT be considered a “good judge.” In fact, he would be fired, because he is indeed a terrible judge.

It is because God is a God of love that He MUST send people to hell for the same reason that letting a guilty person go free is not an act of love; it’s an act of great injustice.

So, the presupposition that “God is good” is correct, but the conclusion that therefore, because He is good, means He won’t or can’t punish anyone is completely misguided, unbiblical, and dangerous.

The Bible proclaims the sentence for sinners in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death …”

Jesus declared it in Matthew 7:13: “… For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction …”

Hebrews 10:26-27 (NIV) says, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth … [there is] only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”

It is imperative that we note that none of our excuses will have any weight before God.

You might get away with giving excuses to other people—your boss, your parents, your friends.

But you cannot excuse yourself before God. The apostle Paul wrote that in the day of judgment, “… every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God” (Romans 3:19).

When the Judge takes the bench, there will not be a single protest.

In our current day, man is in love with human “rights,” and most people wrongly assume that God owes us something good—salvation or at least a chance at salvation.

God owes sinful man something; this is true. He owes unrepentant, sinful man His righteous and eternal wrath. YES, we are owed and we are deserving… of His eternal wrath.

But there is good news that Paul highlights in chapter five:

Romans 5:6-11 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

–While we were His enemies, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!

What does this mean for us?

It means we who believe into Jesus as Savior and Lord are:

“… saved by him from the wrath of God” Romans 5:9

He substituted Himself in our place. He died to pay our penalty.

Hebrews 2:17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Jesus Christ substituted Himself in our place.

This is the wonder and beauty of what Jesus accomplished on the cross of Calvary on our behalf. His bloodshed is the righteousness with which we who trust in Christ are covered. So, when God, in all His holiness, looks upon you and me to consider if we get to enjoy His glory and have communion with Him, He sees Jesus’ perfection and righteousness and declares us JUSTIFIED. We are justified by His blood.

  • “… reconciled to God …” Romans 5:10

This leads to the next huge point Paul tells us in Romans 5, verse 10: “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son”

There is not eternal life, there is no return to the garden of Eden, no all-satisfying enjoyment with God almighty, no being freed from sin and eternal suffering, NO RECONCILIATION TO GOD if not for the death of His Son, Jesus Christ on our behalf.

If you are reading this and are not yet saved, repent and believe in Christ alone for salvation, for reconciliation to God.

And finally,

Romans 5:11 … we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Habakkuk says it so well:

Habakkuk 3:18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Even while standing down stream of absolute physical ruin and abject famine, the prophet realized that inner peace and joy did not depend on outward prosperity but only on the God of his salvation.

Habakkuk did not state that he would merely endure in the hour of distress.

He said he would rejoice in the Lord and be joyful. God is the inexhaustible source and infinite supply of joy.

The phrase “the God of my salvation” is also seen in the Psalmist’s words:

Psalms 18:46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation

Are your feet firmly grounded on the ROCK of Jesus Christ, on the God of your salvation?

Praise God for the good news of Jesus Christ which sets condemned sinners free.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Categories
Scripture

Epistle- Romans 5

Romans 5

Peace with God Through Faith

5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we1 have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith2 into this grace in which we stand, and we3 rejoice4 in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Death in Adam, Life in Christ

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men5 because all sinned—13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

18 Therefore, as one trespass6 led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness7 leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Footnotes

[1] 5:1 Some manuscripts let us

[2] 5:2 Some manuscripts omit by faith

[3] 5:2 Or let us; also verse 3

[4] 5:2 Or boast; also verses 3, 11

[5] 5:12 The Greek word anthropoi refers here to both men and women; also twice in verse 18

[6] 5:18 Or the trespass of one

[7] 5:18 Or the act of righteousness of one

(ESV)

Categories
Scripture

Epistle- Romans 4

Romans 4

Abraham Justified by Faith

4:1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in1 him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:


7   “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
    and whose sins are covered;
8   blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

The Promise Realized Through Faith

13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness2 of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Footnotes

[1] 4:5 Or but trusts; compare verse 24

[2] 4:19 Greek deadness

(ESV)