Romans 4:1-8 We Are Not Orphans!

Romans 4:1-8  What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter?  If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.  What does Scripture say?  “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.  However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.  David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:  “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” 

Are you declared righteous without working for it?  Who justifies you, puts you in right standing with God?  In today’s verses, we understand that God creates a work of righteousness within us.  No effort on our part other than faith in God’s work through Jesus Christ can cleanse us of ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.  No police, governing authority, organization, or person can reliably know everything about us as God does.  People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.  (1 Samuel 16:7) The stamp of absolute approval comes from him, not man.  We might even believe we are behaving rightly before God at this present time; however, we cannot really predict our future behavior and attitudes.  We cannot say for a surety that we will always please God in everything we do, never erupt in a way that is contrary to God’s will.  At this time, we might be as a placid stream of water meandering through the valley of life, safe, refreshing to everything around us, but our future might hold circumstances difficult for us to handle.  Then we might become a roaring flood, overflowing the banks, the parameters of goodness in our lives, destroying everything and everyone in sight.  God knows the inclinations of the heart.  He is aware of the triggers for destruction in our lives.  He knows when we will not treat our neighbors or acquaintances well, when our love for others will fail and darkness rather than goodness will inhabit our lives.  God made us, He knows us.  Many men and women have fidelity towards each other when they marry.  With good intentions, they desire to stay with their selected mate forever.  Their vows were not said lightly, but often with tears in their eyes.  Nevertheless, for too many marriages, the dissolution of the relationship comes far too soon, even in the first couple of years.  Rather than abiding in love forever, rather than keeping their vows, the couple develops a coldness that turns to disdain.  A destructive flood, causing irreparable harm replaces the sweet stream of their union.  Hatred and bitter feelings move in to encapsulate the marriage in divisiveness.  The angel of darkness crept into their lives, destroying the love, unity, and fidelity.  Given the erratic flow of life and the unpredictable environment in which we live, we must depend on a power higher than ourselves.  Our rightness, our holiness, is not dependent on our determination, for we cannot control all the variables in our lives.  Our place of righteousness, goodness, wellbeing, depends on God’s work, his ever-loving mercy and grace.  We depend upon his stability, not upon our erratic behavior.  We do that by believing in Christ’s work, not our work.  With Father Abraham, we believe God, our righteousness.  

What law can bring this righteousness to us?  Paul wrote: I consider them (all things) garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.  (Philippians 3:9)  Perfection in God’s eyes comes only through the work of Jesus Christ.  He alone ALWAYS did the Father’s will.  As Christians, we attempt to do good, to be a quality ambassador for God.  Our intentions are admirable, but we often fail to fulfill the laws of God, the laws of man, and the laws we place upon ourselves.  We tend to rebel against laws and we tend to stray from what is right in the pressure of the moment.  If you are a parent how many times have you done or said something with one of your children that you said you would never do?  You may have said your mom or dad shouted all the time, so you would never raise your voice in anger to your children, and then there comes a time when you find yourself yelling.  As the Bible says, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?  (Jeremiah 17:9)  True righteousness is a gift from God that we do not earn through work.  We inherit the gift because of God’s mercy and grace.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  (Ephesians 2:4-5) From the beginning of the Bible, we see God’s desire to have a people, made in his image, that he could fellowship with, known as his children.  In the story of Adam and Eve, to the patriarchs, to the Jewish kingdoms, through the prophets, and finally to Jesus Christ and his church, we find God’s desire and design is to make children who are righteous, who can claim him as their Father.  Following the resurrection, God gave his people the Spirit who will keep them in constant communication with him.  We are those children.  We are the blessed ones.  Our place in the family of God did not come through our works or efforts.  For we are not that consistent in following laws; we are not that predictable in being good.  We are like that stream of water, sometimes within the banks and sometimes outside of the banks.  But God has not left us alone to battle this nature of ours.  The Holy Spirit came to lead us.  Yes, we are completely righteous in God, but we are still in the flesh.  Consequently, God has asked us to hear his Holy Spirit.  His Spirit in us wants to direct our lives in the flesh.  He is to be the priority in all of our thinking.  He is the first one we talk to when we awake; he is the last one we talk to before we go to sleep.  We consciously allow him to speak to us during the day.  He is the song in our hearts, the warrior to fight our battles.  He goes before us and behind us.  

We know that voice because we have been changed, made new through the transforming power of the cross of Christ.  We are a new creation.  Our spiritual DNA is no longer the same.  We have been adopted into a new family.  We were orphans, lost and alone, searching for our parents, wandering, yearning for a lasting home.  Jesus said, I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  (John 14:18)  This was the will of the Father, to lead us home, to make a way for the lost ones, for his sheep.  When the Israelites first left Egypt, God set a trap for Pharaoh and his army.  He told Moses to go back towards Egypt to camp.  Pharaoh erroneously thought the Israelites were confused about the wilderness, for if they knew the area, they never would have gone back towards Egypt to set up camp.  Thinking that, he gathered his army to chase down the Israelites to kill them.  He had murder in his evil heart.  But God had made plans for him.  When the Israelites realized Pharaoh was coming to kill them, they did not react in faith.  They hysterically blamed Moses for their predicament.  Moses told them to be calm and to see God’s deliverance.  The Holy Spirit, manifesting himself by a cloud in the day and a pillar of fire at night, departed from being in front of the Israelites to the rear of the assemblage, separating the Israelites from Pharaoh’s army.  Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them.  The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel.  Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.  (Exodus 14:19-20)  The Holy Spirit separated them that day from their enemy.  As we know, the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, led them to the Promised Land.  God did not leave them as orphans.  Likewise, the Holy Spirit will lead us through this wilderness to the Promised Land.  He will protect us when Pharaoh’s armies come to overwhelm and defeat us.  The angel of God will be there to aid us in the battles of life.  The battle of righteousness already has been won because we have been redeemed and brought to life through faith in Jesus.  The blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed us of all sin and placed us in right standing with God.  As sons and daughters of the Most High God, we are now free from the slavery of this world, but we need the Spirit of God to lead us through this life as God’s ambassadors.  

Romans 3:27-31 Live by Faith

Romans 3:27-31 Where, then, is boasting?  It is excluded.  Because of what law?  The law that requires works?  No, because of the law that requires faith.  For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.  Or is God the God of Jews only?  Is he not the God of Gentiles too?  Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.  Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith?  Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Through faith IN CHRIST and his works, we substantiate the law.  Every jot and tittle of the law is completely satisfied in and through Christ.  Paul and Barnabas were accused by some believers, who belonged to the Pharisee sect, of not preaching the true gospel of Jesus.  These believers wanted Paul and Barnabas to preach the necessity of following the law and being circumcised.  At the council of Jerusalem in 50 AD, this dissension within the church was discussed by the apostles.  Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”  (Acts 15:5)  After much consideration, Peter points out to the leaders of the church that they and their ancestors have never been able to satisfy the law’s holy requirements.  Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe.  God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us.  He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith.  So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear?  We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”  (Acts 5:7-11)  Peter asks the council to reflect on their ability to fulfill the law in their lives.  If they were honest in their reflection, he knew they would agree with him that they had failed to live up to the law in their lives.  So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear?    The law’s requirements on the actions and attitudes of humans have never been completely satisfied by any man, for the Bible says, all sin and fall short of God’s glory.  None of us will achieve perfection in living our lives.  We are of Adam’s seed, but Christ cleansed us with his blood and made us his own by substituting his works for ours.  He made retribution to God for our sins.  As surely as the Jewish slaves in Egypt were released from their bondage to Pharaoh by the blood over the doorway, so are we released from our slavery to the prince and power of the air by the blood of Jesus.  He freed us from the bondage of sin, so we no longer receive the wages of sin: death.  Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we no longer follow a written code, but we follow the voice of God from our innermost being.  God gave us his blessed Spirit to lead us through the wilderness of life to the Promised Land: heaven.  For no matter how much determination, strength, and discipline we have, Adam’s nature still exists in us.  Knowing this, Paul did not want the church of the living God thinking they could find deliverance through their own works.  Holiness, perfection, and a life in harmony with God are the result of putting our complete trust and faith in Jesus.  He alone fulfills all the requirements of the law.  Consequently, Paul reminds the Romans that they are justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 

Jesus is the way, the gate to eternal life.  He said, I am the gate.  Whoever enters through me will be saved.  (John 10:9)  God gave the law to us, much like a fence that surrounds us, to control us, our Adam-driven lives.  The law is good, but it cannot change our hearts or transform us into new creatures.  It cannot deliver us from the bondage of sin.  All the law can do is to corral us and to make us aware of our sins.  Humans need a Savior, a Way, a Gate that will lead them to the favor of God, to the freedom of complete acceptance by God.  We no longer need a fence to corral us, the law: we need an intimate relationship with the one who is holy, pleasing to God: Jesus  Of course, this relationship comes by faith.  We become new creatures IN HIM, our Savior.  We are changed by the blood of Christ from those who are held in bondage to those who have passed through the Red Sea to freedom.  If we are changed by God’s hands, by his work, there is no difference between the Jew or Gentile, freeman or slave.  We know someday we will be changed into celestial beings after our demise.  But we know now by faith, Christ’s work in us has transformed our spirits into new creatures.  We presently are changed!  We who belong to Christ are of one tribe, one nature, one people: So in Christ Jesus you are all children through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.  (Galatians 3:26-29)  Circumcision of the flesh identified people as being Jews.  Following the law was central to the Jewish culture.  But Christ has come to save the whole world.  As we know, The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.  (2 Peter 3:9)  Laws, rituals, and customs cannot change the nature of man, but Christ can.  He plants his love and consideration for others in our hearts.  He makes us willing servants to the world.  Faith in Jesus is the transforming power in our lives no matter who we are or what we have done.  He alters our lives towards God and his will: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  (Matthew 6:9-10) 

Yes, is the answer to Paul’s question: Is he not the God of Gentiles too?  Anyone who has trusted in Christ has also died to the law and its restrictions.  We no longer follow the law of Moses, for we have been freed from its demands upon our lives.  Not that we do not fulfill the law, for IN CHRIST we satisfy the law’s requirements.  By living IN CHRIST we have been changed into new creatures, born again through the shed blood of our Lord.  Our old, sinful creature is not recognized by God as worthy of fellowship, but our new creature formed IN CHRIST has an intimate relationship with God.  We serve God in a new and living way, through the Spirit of God, not through the written law.  My brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.  For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.  But now by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.  (Romans 7:4-6)  We are dead to the law; the corral of the law does not bind us.  The Son has set us free, so we are free indeed.  Paul wanted the church to know that the new work within us does not answer to the law and its obligations; instead, the new creation answers to the Spirit within us.  God works directly with our hearts and minds.  He changes us from within and constantly talks with us as we walk through life.  Dear friends, hear the voice of God within you today.  Obey his leadings, and do not boast in your own works or abilities.  Do the work of God by loving and serving others, all in the name of Jesus Christ, for all honor and praise goes to him.  He has called you with a holy calling.  We leave you with Paul’s beautiful admonition to the church at Philippi: Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.  Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.  (Philippians 2:14-16)  Amen!  

Romans 3:21-26 Justified by Faith

Romans 3:21-26  But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.  He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Mankind since the fall has been like Alice in Wonderland who after entering the rabbit hole found herself falling uncontrolled until she hit a world of fantasy.  She hit bottom but mankind has not hit bottom in his waywardness and never will.  His wickedness knows no end.  He constantly creates more ways to control others, to hurt them; making dangerous weapons to harm or to destroy.  Mankind is untamable, his sin unrestrained.  Sadly, in our present age, we have devices that can destroy everything on earth with nuclear bombs hundreds of times more powerful than those dropped on Japan.  Even in our daily struggles to be good, to follow society’s rules, we often fail; such as on the highways where we disobey the speed laws.  In our area, we have a camera on one stretch of the highway to the city of Tacoma.  When they might get caught speeding, everyone obeys the speed limit.  When the radar was first installed, hundreds of speeders were caught in a few weeks.  The public complained about that fact, making the highway department put up a sign warning that this stretch of the highway is monitored by radar.  People tend to speed when they think they can get away with it.  A camera removes this freedom to break the law.  As natural lawbreakers, we have problems following society’s rules and the internal rules we have established to govern ourselves.  “I will never lie again.”  “I will never gamble again.”  “I will never look at pornography again.”  “I will never hurt my spouse again.”  “I will never abuse my children again.” The list goes on.  As Paul says, I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  (Romans 7:15) 

Some people postulate that we have less violence now than we have ever had.  Through most of history we did not have nation states or countries as we do today.  Law enforcement was scarce in most places.  When traveling to Judah from Persia, Nehemiah needed a letter from King Artaxerxes, giving him authority to travel through the different territories.  The governors who controlled these lands knew not to disobey the king of Persia.  This letter was taken seriously for the Persian King’s armies had already devastated the land all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.  They did not want his fearsome power levied on them again.  We live in an era of nation states: organized governments.  In the United States we have a variety of police powers to keep people from taking advantage of others: our federal military, state military, Homeland Security, State Patrol, city police, county sheriffs, and many other security officers.  All of these organizations exist to keep men and women from taking advantage of others, to interfere with the free fall of sinful man.  Given our propensity for destruction, where will we land?  If we wipe out every specie on this island called earth, then will we land?  Sin leads to death, to extermination.  Sin is a cancer on God’s creation.  As the verses in Romans 3 tell us: There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.  Man rebels at this notion that no one is righteous.  He believes the right genes, conditions, upbringing, and nurturing will create a better man, a more sane, less violent person who is less likely to break the cultural norms or society’s mores.  We are literally telling God: “Instruct us how to behave and then we will take it from there.”  We tell him we are capable of following the laws of righteousness.  To destroy that notion, God gave us the law.  Obedience to God’s law would bring harmony and peace into mankind’s interactions.  But what the law actually did was to reveal man’s inability to be good.  The law manifested mankind’s desire to dominate, to rule, to be godlike.  The law requires subservience to God, to honor parents, not to covet, not to harm others.  Simple rules but impossible to follow for obedience runs against our fallen nature.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God represents the foundational understanding of the human condition.  We are all under the same brush stoke in the painting of humankind: There is no difference between Jew and Gentile.  What is the solution for our fallen state?  We need a Savior, someone who can pay the complete price for our waywardness, our tendency to corrupt behavior.  Of course, we know this price has been paid by the blood of Jesus Christ.  He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.  (1 Thessalonians 5:10)  He was resurrected so that we too might be resurrected into eternal life.  We are justified by our faith in Jesus Christ.  We live IN HIM AND HE LIVES IN US.  The mystery of eternal life has been solved by receiving the Creator of life by faith.  Peter tells the Jews, You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.  We are witnesses of this.  By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong.  It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.  (Acts 3:15-16)  Jesus is the author of life: He alone brings life to everything that exist.  We who are finite can find that eternal life through the eternal one, Jesus Christ.  To find that life in God we must believe in Jesus Christ’s work on the cross, and we must identify ourselves as Jesus’ followers through confession and baptism.   We then will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”  Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”  (Acts 2:37-39)  The world rejected the holy, righteous Jesus, but we who are saved place our complete trust in him.  He is the way, the truth, and the life for us.  We are no longer identified as being merely lawbreakers, contaminated by Adam’s nature; now we are new creatures, born again, righteous before God’s eyes.  We are a set apart people, a holy people, no longer condemned to eternal destruction.

Beloved friends around this breakfast table, rejoice for you are new creatures.  You live off of every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  He has placed his blessed Spirit within you to lead you through this wilderness of life.  He has placed in you the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Of course, sometimes our Adam nature fails to respond to the light of the Lord.  But as Paul wrote a little later in Romans, In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  (Romans 6:11)  We will not let our sinful nature bring us back into condemnation; instead, we will focus on Christ’s work, not our own.  The world has no answers to eternal life; they have no answers to the sin within the human nature.  Governments, organizations, alliances, even altruistic leaders have tried to find an answer to mankind’s waywardness, selfishness.  Laws have been made, constitutions created, police forces marshaled to marginalize wickedness; but none of these attempts to control violence and harm have been very successful.  We can look back into history and see the shame of sin, the killing and maiming of countless millions of people.  Whole racial and ethnic groups have been wiped off the face of the earth.  Even now, at this point of history, we boast about our strength and ability to hurt others, to dominate others as a wrestler would do in the ring.  We want others to see our greatness, to raise our hand in victory. There is no end to mankind’s nature of violence, of dominance.  People will continue to hurt others until Jesus Christ comes to rule.  Without God in the picture, we will continue to abuse others in and outside of our families, communities, and nations.  We will continue to destroy our habitat, our environment.  We have a rapacious spirit about us while God has asked us to love others.  We who are IN CHRIST know we should love others as we love ourselves.  He has asked us to be servants to the world.  Christ has asked us to be gentle and generous with others.  As we read in the Word: Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  (Philippians 4:5)  Christlike behavior runs contrary to our nature of self.  But God wants us to portray him to the world.  We are his ambassadors, so let us not try to follow him based on the rigidity of the law, for we will fail.  Instead, let us follow God by loving him with all our heart, soul, mind, strength, and by loving others as ourselves.  Let us fulfill all the law by first loving God through faith in his Son and then by loving others as Christ loves us.        

Romans 3:9-20 Peace on Earth!

Romans 3:9-20  What shall we conclude then?  Do we have any advantage?  Not at all!  For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.  As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good,not even one.  Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.  The poison of vipers is on their lips.  Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.  Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.  There is no fear of God before their eyes.”  Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.  Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. 

For Christians the Bible is the revelation of God, explaining that we have been created in God’s image to have dominion over other species and our environment.  Although we have been given such a powerful position in his creation, God sees us as disobedient, degenerate, and unthankful.  There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.  Out of this caldron of waywardness, God chose an ethnic group to receive his laws: his light on how to live, think, and gain acceptance with him.  The law illuminated God’s nature and his righteousness.  However, this knowledge makes us accountable to God’s demands, his commandments.  Rather than making us obedient to God, the law exposed our sins and our tendency to disobey his authority.  The Bible describes this disobedience and self-will as fleshly and describes the products of a fleshly life outside of Christ: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  (Galatians 5:19-21)  Since God is timeless, we know that any discordant or adverse behaviors in our lives are ever present before God’s all-seeing eyes.  As the Bible says, All have turned; there is no one righteous, not even one.  Obviously, a just God will judge sin, and the wages of sin is death.  (Romans 6:23)  The opposite of death is a life of harmony and peace in God with a harvest of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)  There is no law needed to control these attributes of God.  No judgment will fall on those who are in Christ and display the fruit of the Spirit.  We know Jesus walked this earth doing good.  He did the Father’s will at all times.  Even on the way to the cross, He submitted to God’s will, not his own.  Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)  Later, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”  (Matthew 26:42)  In spite of the excruciating physical and emotional pain, Jesus ignored his own inclinations and submitted to his Father’s authority and will.  Since we know that Jesus could have called down an army of angels from heaven to rescue him, his life and death should challenge us to live by his example of obedience to God.  Though we are not presently with him, and we often do not understand the trials of life, we do understand that Jesus is alive.  We live by faith, not by sight.  (2 Corinthians 5:7)  Even though our flesh is disobedient at times, we will not serve God through the law.  Instead, we will trust in the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit through the shed blood of Jesus.  

Just as Jesus did not trust in his physical senses to guide him, we cannot know God through our human awareness.  Even our knowledge and wisdom do not help us understand spiritual realities.  We might surmise there is a God or a reality other than the one we inhabit by our assessment of the detail and complexity in the world and the universe around us.  Our environment might awe us, but it will not bring us into relationship with God. In finality, we must accept the Bible’s view of God as Creator and designer of all we know.  We enter the door to the Creator’s dominion when we place our faith in the Word of God: Christ, the Son of God.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  (John 1:1-4)  When we discover God through faith in Jesus Christ, God becomes a reality in our lives.  We know him, for the Spirit of God comes to reside in us.  This step of faith, believing in Jesus Christ and his works, not ours, cleanses us from the consequences of sin.  Yes, the above scriptures indicate that no man has been able to please God, all have been contaminated by sin.  Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.  (Genesis 8:21)  But God did not leave us without hope.  Jesus said, we can be born again as new creatures before God’s eyes, no longer judged by our Adam nature but by the nature of Jesus Christ.  Yes, Adam is still part of our biological life, but we have a new born again life, under the grace and mercy of God.  Jesus has removed our sins as far as the East is from the West.  Never again will we be considered absolutely degenerate, for God has placed Jesus’ sinless life in place of our sinful souls.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.  We who are alive IN CHRIST are now considered precious, holy sons and daughters in the very family of God.  No longer are we enemies to God.  No longer strangers, but friends, blood-bought relatives to God.  Our knowledge, wisdom, and senses may fail us in our search to find God, but faith in Christ makes us new people, God’s people, made in his image; for Christ is the perfect representation of God.  In this world, we are a collection of the redeemed from every nation.  As we read in the Word: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  (1 Peter 2:9)  

Dear friends, during this Christmas season, give thanks for the precious gift of Jesus Christ.  He was sent to redeem the whole world from sin.  He came to bring peace to the hearts of all people.  We who are IN CHRIST should share this message with passion.  JESUS SAVES!  If you have grown cold in your belief, stir up the spirit of joy within you.  Discover again the Good News that a baby was born in Bethlehem who would restore people to God, to break down the enmity between man and God.  Jesus blesses all people, all nations, all ethnic groups, all races with his presence.  He can change any person from being a stranger to God, to a friend of God.  As Christians, rejoice, sing Hallelujah!  We have been given a holy gift that will never end.  Rejoice, for we depend on the efficaciousness of that gift.  And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,  “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”  (Luke 2:8-14)  From the beginning of time, man has struggled in recognizing the Creator God and his authority.  Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden.”  (Genesis 3:1)  Yes, God truly meant for us to rest securely under his authority as He rested on the seventh day, but we did not.  We tweaked God’s creation by eating of the tree of knowledge.  From that time on, we have been creating our own reality.  Sadly, this reality has been one of conflict, wars, and rumors of wars: unrest.  Christ Jesus came as the peacemaker, the day of rest.  No longer should we strive for our perfection; no longer do we need to compete with each other.  No, Jesus has come, and as the angel said, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on Earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.  (Luke 2:14)  With all that is within us, we can enter once again into that perfect rest that Jesus Christ has won.   

Note:  We will take a Christmas vacation break for the next 2 weeks.  God bless you.  Merry Christmas!

Romans 2:25-29 Circumcision of the Heart!

Romans 2:25-29  Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.  So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?  The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.  A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.  No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.  Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

Circumcision is a physical cutting away of the flesh.  God demanded that this surgery should be done as s sign of the Jews’ separation from the flesh.  He desired to set apart the Jews for his special people; consequently, circumcision became part of the Jew’s way of life.  Paul says, fulfilling this command of circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law you have become as though you had not been circumcised.  Otherwise, circumcision is not a permanent condition.  Yes, in the physical, it is permanent, but circumcision was an exercise to set oneself apart for God.  If one violates God’s commandments, his will for your life, then you are not really setting yourself apart to God.  You have rejected God’s authority in your life and replaced it with your own authority.  This accepting our authority, our will, is indicative of man’s Adam spirit because the spirit of Adam will not follow God’s will at all times.  Paul describes this desperate condition of failing God: What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  (Romans 7:24)  Sin and disobedience to God leads to death, not life.  Paul is saying that circumcision of the flesh did not save him from disobeying God.  His flesh was too willful, too strong, too demanding, too desirous of going its own way.  In his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes about confronting Peter on something that Peter should not have done.  Peter would not eat with the Gentiles when the Jewish brethren were with him.  Peter and other Jewish Christians were following the traditions of the Jews, believing eating with Gentiles was sinful.  Paul says, When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?  You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles.  Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law.  And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law.  For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”  (Galatians 2:14-16)  Paul reminds Peter that true righteousness comes only through faith in the sinless one, Jesus Christ.  Paul’s words were a good reminder for Peter because Peter had violated the law as much as any of the apostles when he denied Jesus in the courtyard of the high priest.  He not only denied Jesus, which is a lie, and no liars will enter the kingdom of heaven, He brought the spiritual into his denial: Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know the man!”  And immediately the rooster crowed.  (Matthew 26:74)  Where would the curse come from?  Probably, he intimated that God would curse him if he were lying. 

Paul understood that circumcision of the heart was very transitory.  We might desire to do good, we might attempt to be righteous, but circumcision of the heart or any dedication that we have established to please God will not last, for whether physical or the intent of the heart, we are of the flesh, with strong fleshly desires.  These desires will cause us to succumb to sin, to violate God’s authority and will for our lives, just as Peter did when he lied and when he discriminated between the Jews and the Gentiles.  He was wrong in both cases, consequently, under God’s judgment, which is death: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:23)  Paul, the chief of sinners, knew well that only faith in Jesus Christ could save him from certain judgment.  The Adam nature will be judged; therefore, the Adam nature must die, and it can only die vicariously through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.  He knew that he had to believe that Jesus’ death was a substitute for his death.  But praise God, he also knew that Jesus was raised to life, giving Paul an understanding that faith in Jesus brought new life to him, regardless of the Adam of the flesh.  Paul knew he was a new creature, born again, fulfilling the requirements to see the kingdom of heaven, as Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3.  The law could not bring about a new creature, but Jesus could through his works of salvation, not Paul’s works: circumcision and obeying the law.  My old self has been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless.  For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.  (Galatians 2:20-21, NLT)  Peter was a new creature.  Paul reminded him of that fact when he saw Peter attempting to place the law again on the back of the Jewish and Gentile Christians.  Paul knew the law would destroy the works of Christ, for people would start believing again that something other than faith in Christ could usher them into heaven.  He understood that Christ alone pleases God.  The Bible is clear: Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.  (Acts 4:12)  Other attempts to get to God, other gates, will be destroyed by God’s righteousness.  Christ alone is perfectly righteous and holy, for He is God.  No other attempt for eternal life will be accepted by God the Father.  When you look at cults and other religions, you always find man’s efforts in the middle of their attempts to find peace, eternal life.  People we have seen who follow these false pathways do not find what the heart of men and women long to embrace.  Only Jesus satisfies the soul.  As the Bible says, For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.  (1 Corinthians 3:19)

We find in Hebrews 13 that Jesus went outside of the camp.  He literally went outside the camp, and He figuratively went outside the safe encampment of the Jewish religion, the Jewish culture.  He was as the dead animals who bodies were dragged out of the camp after their blood was taken to be sacrificed in the temple, considered unclean.  He was hung on a cross.  In the society of his day, anything hung on a cross was considered accursed.  Jesus died the death of a criminal, a lost human being.  He died outside of the camp, and according to those who saw him, He was unclean and under a curse.  We have an altar from which the priests in the Tabernacle have no right to eat.  Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp.  So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood.  So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore.  For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.  (Hebrews 13:10-14)  He suffered outside of the camp so He could be the great deliverer of all people.  He no longer belonged to just the Jews; He paid the price for sin outside of the encampment of the Jews.  He was rejected by the culture of circumcision and law.  They saw him as a contaminator, someone who would destroy their religious culture.  But Jesus actually fulfilled every jot and tittle of their religion.  He satisfied the law’s requirements.  He brought absolute integrity to the circumcision ceremony.  IN JESUS, the law and circumcision are no longer needed.  As God, He was and is completely righteous, under the absolute authority of God the Father.  Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.  (Hebrews 13:15 NLT)  Consequently, today we remember that we are those who have been washed by the blood of the Lamb, and we now stand with hearts circumcised by the Holy Spirit.  We accept that we are powerless to lift ourselves from sin, and we rejoice in the work of Christ at the cross.  May the light and love of Jesus go forth anew and afresh in our lives today.  

Romans 2:17-24 Christ Fulfills the Law!

Romans 2:17-24  Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;  if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?  You who preach against stealing, do you steal?  You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?  You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?  You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?  As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

In the above passage, Paul addresses the Jews and their religious knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.  The Jews relied on God’s law to save them, boasting that the law revealed God’s truth to humanity.  Through the law they could understand God’s nature: his holiness, justice, and perfection.  For them, the law sketched out the profile and essence of the Creator, removing him from the darkness of the unknown into the light of their reality where they as humans existed.  By knowing these truths about God and his nature, they believed they could teach the world about this wonderful Creator who chose them as his people: For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.  The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.  (Deuteronomy 7:6)  God gave the Jews the law, his truth, in the wilderness.  However, Paul says, since you have this precious law and since you know so much about the law and claim that it is the only truth, why do you not follow the dictates of the law in your own lives.  Why are you still lawbreakers, knowing that the law condemns lawbreakers?  You who preach against stealing, do you steal?  You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?  You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?  You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?  He says, of course you claim to conform to the law, but your lives, your conversations, your attitudes reflect another story.  Your lack of adherence to his law is an affront to God, causing Gentiles to scoff at the Jewish God.  God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.  Paul believed the Jewish people were eloquent in describing the basic tenets of the law and in defending the law; however, they seemingly were unable to satisfy the law’s commandments because of their Adam nature.  The law is good; it revealed not only the nature of God, but the nature of mankind.  As surely as it paints God as good and righteous, it concomitantly paints Adam's nature as self-serving and wayward.  Paul emphatically states: the Jews are not able to fulfill God’s demands on them.  Paul understood well the contradiction between the flesh and the law, for he was a Pharisee of good standing.  He tried to fulfill every jot and tittle of the law.  Paul states: If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.  (Philippians 3:4-6)  He thought of himself as a righteous Jew, without fault in his attempts to follow the law’s dictates.  But as a Christian, Paul found in himself a spirit that ran directly counter to the law’s demands: We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.  I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  (Romans 7:14-17)  The law is good; consequently, it highlights sin’s hold on the corrupt Adam spirit. The law’s demands reveal why mankind without Christ cannot take hold of eternal life, for the law shows the cancer within mankind.  The law condemns man to death because the law cannot remove the cancer of sin or release mankind to serve God forever.

Paul speaks mainly to Jewish people in today’s scriptures, but he also talks to the Gentile, who has developed his own laws in his conscience.  We all have laws that we follow, even though they are not scripted, written down somewhere.  We try to follow these laws judiciously; however, we often break these personal laws as often as others break the written law.  “I will never treat my wife or husband like that again.”  “I will never again get that out-of-control.”  I will never lie again.”  “I will never gossip about him again.”  “I will never again envy someone else’s goods or lifestyle.”  “ I will never complain to God again about anything.”  “I will always obey the speed limits.”  Our list can go on and on.  The laws we establish in our minds are good: they are there to govern our behavior in positive ways, pointing to a better, more loving and caring life.  When we fail because our old nature goes its own way, we condemn ourselves.  We wonder why we seem weak and helpless to implement these good laws into our lives.  As Christians, we know our failings cause other people to discount the God we claim to serve.  Rather than harvesting people for God, we sow seeds of discord and unbelief when we fail to do what we and others know is right.  And we know these failures are sin: If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.  (James 4:17)  Sometimes we even lose our children and loved ones to the world’s ways of living because of our failure to follow our own laws of how to treat people.  Laws, whether in our conscience or written in God’s Word will never free us from the Adam nature and its tendency to go its own way.  Paul found this sin abounding within himself.  He cries out in Romans 7, who can free me from this bondage?  His answer is clear: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.  And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  (Romans 8:1-4)

Paul tells the Jewish people that they need to put their faith in a Savior who has fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law.  He also implies to the Gentiles that they too need a Savior who is completely righteous, who never failed to obey his own laws and the Father’s will.  Jesus always did what the Father wanted him to do.  From the time He was baptized in the Jordan River, He did the works of God as the Holy Spirit directed him.  We who are in Christ are free to do the will of God, free to love and serve people.  We are free to hear the voice of God within us.  We are free indeed.  When Paul wrote to the church at Galatia because they were going back to the law, he said, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  (Galatians 5:1)  We are no longer condemned by the script of the law or by the laws in our minds.  They will only condemn us, not free us because when we depend upon our own abilities we will fail.  Instead, when we live according to the Spirit, the Spirit gives us life and power to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil.  Jesus has saved us; He has made us part of the family of God.  Our nature has been changed.  We love people.  We care for people.  We try to be good.  Well, how is that different from following the law?  The law keeps us focussed on our failures and away from conversing with God.  When we feel condemned, we isolate ourselves.  We tend to work on being better, but when we follow the Spirit, we know we are in the family of God, and we have fellowship with God at ALL TIMES.  We know He will strengthen our souls through Jesus Christ.  We know Jesus will always be our advocate.  He will always defend us through his blood that He shed for our redemption.  Yes, we are perfect at all times because of Jesus.  We have eternal life within us because of Jesus.  We have a life of victory because of Jesus.  Sin we might.  As Christians, we are sorrowful and will confess our sins, but we can say as Paul told Timothy, I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.  (2 Timothy 1:12)  So, we will boast in Christ, not in ourselves, not in our abilities, not in our strength.  We live not by some code, either written or spoken.  May people come to Christ through our testimony.  We live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord and by the leading of the Holy Spirit.  


 

Romans 2:12-16 Jesus, Our Righteousness!

Romans 2:12-16  All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.  For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.  (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law.  They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.  This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

All our secrets, everything about us, will be known on the day of judgment.  How will we measure up to Jesus Christ, the perfect one, the sinless one?  If we fail to live up to his perfection, we will not exist with God forever.  God will not allow anything imperfect to exist forever in his presence.  God is holy; therefore, we must be holy.  We must be like God.  Is this possible?  Are we who live in an environment of sin able to live a perfect, holy life?  The Bible clearly says all of us have sinned, none of us are perfect, and we have all chosen our own way to live, under our own authority instead of God’s authority.  At the beginning of creation, we see Adam and Eve choose their wisdom and knowledge over God’s wisdom and knowledge.  They chose not to rest in God’s blissful domain, called the Seventh Day, the sabbath.   Instead of rest, they chose to work by going to the tree of knowledge and eating of its fruit. This work on the day of the sabbath brought in the storm of sin and disobedience.  Rather than following their holy God, they became free agents, doing their own thing when it pleased them.  In today’s passage, we see what disobedience to God’s authority brings to man: harsh judgment.  Failure to obey either our own laws, embedded within our consciences, or God’s laws, written in his Word, will bring us into disfavor with the Creator.  God’s judgment is based on the perfect template of righteousness: Jesus Christ.  Jesus in the flesh fulfilled the law; He alone satisfied the laws requirement: complete obedience.  He obeyed the Father’s will at all times.  He fulfilled God’s purposes for his life.  Because He was directed by the Almighty Holy One, his life on Earth was perfect, satisfying God’s requirements of him.  We who are locked in sin cannot fully meet the requirement of the law: perfection at all times, perfect obedience to God’s will for our lives.  We fail—all have failed, no one is perfect.  As we read in Psalms and again in a little later in Paul’s letter: There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.  (Romans 3:10-12)   Consequently, mankind needs another way to God, a way that will not fail.  In the New Testament, the preaching of the gospel was known as THE WAY.  Of course, every Christian knows that the way comes through the gate of Paradise, Jesus Christ.  He is the only one who saves us from judgment outside of the law or under the law.

The requirements of the law are written on our hearts.  Humans understand that they should treat others as they would want to be treated.  Humans comprehend that love brings harmony and peace while hatred causes disruption and chaos.  Humans realize that the will of God is for them to do good and not evil, but their nature is competitive, self-seeking, not willing to be subservient to others, or to serve others before they serve themselves.  As we see when delving into history or even the activities of our present day, the behavior of human beings has caused and is causing tremendous pain in the world.  Even in our modern day, we see people so degraded by sin that they sell members of their race as commodities or treat each other in abusive ways for their own pleasure.  We know that hundreds of thousands of our fellow human beings are killed each year.  Sadly, collectively and individually our human nature reveals rapacious, destructive, and hurtful behaviors outside of Jesus Christ.  Breaking our own understanding of what is right and wrong, or what our conscience tells us, we fall into darkness.  The Bible does not lie when it states, There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  (Romans 3:22-23)  Likewise numerous Old Testament verses confirm this truth: Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.  (Ecclesiastes 7:20)   We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each  of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  (Isaiah 53:6)  Many other verses in the Bible emphatically verify mankind’s wayward and sinful nature.  Without the saving blood of Jesus, we who were made in God’s image turn ourselves into a threat to the very existence of mankind.  With nuclear power we can obliterate life; we can cause the earth itself to be toxic to life.  How far we have strayed from that glorious day in the beginning when God proclaimed that we who were made in his image were very good.  But God had a plan and his answer remains the same through millenniums of time, mankind needs a Savior, a Redeemer, to rescue them from the stormy seas of sin, from their self-destructive nature.  Of course, we know this is Jesus.  

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.  Sin will be judged: sin will be counted unworthy to enter the portals of heaven’s domain.  As we have said before as Paul nails down this theme, sin is a cancer, whether it exists apart from the law or under the law.  The Bible is very clear.  People who try to justify themselves before God by their own righteousness will find themselves naked, exposed, without excuse for their wrongdoings.  All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.  (Isaiah 64:6)  God will judge every secret, every hidden thought, every activity that we did in the dark.  He knows everything about our lives.  Are there any righteous amongst us?  No not one.  Not one of us can stand before God completely justified by our own way of living on Earth.  We need a Savior.  We need an advocate before the righteous Father.  We need a high priest as an intermediary between God and ourselves.  Of course, Jesus Christ is that one.  He did miracles on Earth to prove that He was from God.  No man from the beginning of time had done such miraculous things.  He died for each of us, fully satisfying the penalty of sin for us.  We are special to God because we have been made in his image.  We are the biological specie that can hear his voice, know his love, and reciprocate by honoring him, by giving him our love and dedication.  He has given each of us a special name.  Each of us is unique, loved by him because of what He created in us.  We will be glorified: all creation will know us on the day He brings glory to us because we are his sons and daughters, bought by the blood of his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  Because of that sacrifice, we are very special people right now on Earth.  Lift up your heads, realize you are free from the constraints of the law, either yours or the written law.  You no longer live by rules but as Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  (Matthew 4:4)  You are free, free to be the daughters and sons of the living God without the fear and torment of the enemy.  Enter into God’s sabbath day of rest, the Seventh Day.  Adam and Eve failed: they worked on the sabbath.  You, dear friends, rest on this day.  Cease from your own efforts, know that Christ has made you free, free to live in the bountiful presence of the living God, awaiting the day when He welcomes you home.  Amen!