Romans 5:1-5 Confident and Joyful!

Romans 5:1-5  Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.  Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.  We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.  And this hope will not lead to disappointment.  For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.  The joy of the Lord is our strength.  His plan for us brings him great joy.  Jesus makes something new out of that which was not.  God had a plan to make us into his image when we were but dust, nothing.  We existed after creation, but we were not truly like God in our behavior in that created state.  Able to communicate with God, we walked in the Garden, fellowshipping with our maker.  Yet we find Adam and Eve failed to be like the God they imaged because of their wayward and rebellious hearts.  They rejected God’s authority and will.  But God’s heart held a redemption plan, not to salvage a fallen creation, but to bring them into his family.  He made that which was not into the form of himself, the Mighty God, with his own heart.  In the fulness of time, He would send his only begotten son, Jesus.  He knew we needed a Savior for us to be eternal, good, filled with his wisdom and knowledge, and revealing his nature.  The answer is, we needed a Savior who is God, who would place his heart into us.  Salvation means God has come to us in the nature of Jesus Christ.  But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.  (Galatians 4:4-5)  We who know Jesus, have seen God, for Jesus is the perfect representation of God.  When we look into the face of Jesus by faith, we see God, his nature.  We are hidden IN JESUS CHRIST, but not only are we hidden in him, He places the wonderful Holy Spirit within us.  Therefore, we have the heart of God in us: the dynamo, the Holy Spirit, functions in our lives.  His voice is in us.  In every way, we are God’s own, adopted members of his family.  He paid a tremendous price for us: the humiliation and death of his Son.  Now we know God’s plan from the beginning has been to make us his, as a part of his family.  We also know with confidence that the culmination of this plan will not lead to disappointment but to eternal life.  We cannot fully image this in our finite robes, but God has told us through Jesus’ words that we are new creatures, born again unto his plan and not the plan of the flesh.  Our lives are not defined by these old bodies that we carry around daily.  No, we have a new likeness, one that is made like Christ.  We are new creatures bought with the precious price of Christ’s blood.  As Paul goes on to tell the Galatians, Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”  (Galatians 4:6)  

There is great joy in God’s plan because we are constantly in his presence.  Ananias and Sapphira did not understand the reality of God with us at all times.  They thought as many religious people do that God is with us only when we do religious things, such as worshipping in the Temple.  But when they lied to the church, Peter reminded them that they could deceive people, but they could not deceive God.  But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property.  He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount.  With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest.  Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart?  You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself.  (Acts 5:3-5)  When the couple were struck dead by the Holy Spirit, the whole church knew that God’s presence was a reality at all times.  This new understanding of God brought great fear upon the believers, for they realized they were constantly in God’s presence: their lives were hidden IN CHRIST and HE was in them.  This new reality of dwelling in the hearts of men was integral to God’s plan from the beginning.  We are born again, capable of dwelling IN GOD and HE IN US.  This should bring us great joy and not fear, for He has made what was lost to him his own possession: members of his family.  God is with us: his righteousness and goodness are with us at ALL TIMES.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  (Ephesians 2:6-7)  Even if heaven and Earth disappear, we will not, for God exists beyond the realities of matter.  As limited human beings, our minds sometimes fail to comprehend God’s redemption plan, but the Holy Spirit testifies to us that we are the sons and daughters of God.  Likewise, as new creatures, we hold onto the faith of Abraham: he believed God could raise the dead and make everything out of nothing.  Consequently, nothing is beyond God’s ability to create.  He can make dust into his own children with his nature and his heart of love.  

Today, do our faces shine with joy with the knowledge of the Good News?  Or are we beset with gloom by the condition of mankind?  Are we looking at the sicknesses and sins of the world or are we looking at the magnificent face of God?  When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai, his face radiated with so much light that the Israelites feared him.  He had to call them to come near him, so he could speak to them about what God had given him.  As he spoke to the Israelites without a veil on his face, they observed the brightness of God’s glory reflecting from his face.  The astounding brightness of Moses’ face proved that Moses had been with the God of creation and was different from the rest of the people.  Their faces did not radiate God’s glory; their faces reflected the circumstances of their daily lives.  Moses’ continence, reflecting the glory of the Lord, verified that God was with him and that Moses provided a conduit for God’s words to the Israelites.  When Moses was not actively expressing God’s words to the people, he covered his face with a veil.  Moses had the Shekinah glory on him at all times, signifying God’s presence, but as he mingled with the people on a daily basis, he veiled his face, so they would not fear him.  For the many Israelites who did not know him personally, Moses, with his veiled face, was like everyone else, even though the fire of God reflecting on his face was still present.  We who are IN CHRIST, filled with the Holy Spirit, have the Shekinah glory within us.  We are the light of the world, we are the salt of the earth.  People should know us as who we really are: children of the Most High.  Jesus said, You are the light of the world.  A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:14-16)  Do we walk around with veiled faces or are we vibrant testimonies of God’s light on Earth?  We will only be the latter if we have the fruit of the Spirit evident in our lives, especially JOY.  We will rejoice if we truly believe the message of redemption: God has made us his children, created something so unimaginable that the angels could not anticipate the product: a born again child of God, created in his image, with his heart.   We are new creatures, alive forevermore because God can raise the dead and make something out of nothing through Jesus Christ’s work on the cross. 

Romans 4:16-25 God Will Provide!

Romans 4:16-25  Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham.  He is the father of us all.  As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”   He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.  Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”  Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.  Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.  This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”  The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.  He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. 

We who believe by faith in the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not are Abraham’s children.  We are his children because we are people of faith: For we walk by faith, not by sight.  (2 Corinthians 5:7)  Abraham did not waver in his belief of the God of enormous creative powers, even in raising people from the dead.  Of course, we know Jesus was raised from the dead, and by faith we believe in his resurrection from the grave by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Abraham’s faith in this God of enormous power did not falter because he did not doubt God.  Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.  What did God promise to Abraham?  God promised to Abraham: I have made you NOW a father of many nations.  By faith Abraham received immediate transformation from a person dead in his body unable to produce children to a father of many nations in the NOW.  God made Abraham a new creature by the act of faith that Abraham possessed in God’s creative powers.  Abraham did not have to wait to be the father of many nations: no, God said he IS the father of many nations.  Abraham was fully persuaded that God keeps his word, that God’s words create new things out of the old.  Of course, Abraham was very old; Sarah was very old.  In the normal turn of events, nothing new could come from Sarah’s womb.  The natural man with his or her knowledge could fully understand the reality of such a situation.  But Abraham believed God regardless of the facts of his life.  He could say with the psalmist: I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.  (Psalm 34:4)  Abraham believed in a reality beyond what he saw with his eyes. 

Despite their faith, sometimes the natural consequences of life doom people into believing they have no hope.  We see this often in the New Testament when Jesus deals with the blind, the deformed, and even the dead, those who have no hope.  For them, where is this God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not?  Where is the God who corrects what has been damaged or destroyed?  Human survival beyond a prescribed number of years is a condition with no hope.  Chronic or terminal health problems are situations with no hope. The condition of man’s wickedness and destruction is one with no hope.  Abraham faced the same difficulties of no hope because his body could not father children; yet God promised that his progeny would be as plentiful as the stars.  God said to him, now you are the father of many nations.  Not tomorrow, not the next day, but now you ARE THE FATHER OF MANY NATIONS.  Abraham believed God and never wavered.  In fact, he was strengthened in his faith as the years went by, even in the dire circumstance when God tested his faith by asking for Issac’s life as a sacrifice.  Abraham said, God will provide.  Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”  “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.  “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”  Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.  (Genesis 22:7-8)  God will provide the lamb, for God keeps his promises.  Abraham did not allow his natural knowledge or wisdom to mar God’s promise to him.  We often find faith difficult when adverse winds blow against the promises God has given us.  How awful it is when hope goes out of our sails, we sit in the doldrums, and life’s answers escape us.  That is when we must go to God’s Word to rediscover God’s promises for those who live by faith.  For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.  The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.  And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.  Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.  (Romans 8:14-17)  We are God’s children NOW, co-heirs with Christ NOW.  Regardless of our circumstances, God has provided a sacrifice, the LAMB OF GOD.  The mountains we are climbing might seem steep, the cost too much, but God is saying, my daughter, my son of faith, I have already provided for you.  Do not fear.  Look to Jesus, your loving Savior.  

Sometimes, life seems too difficult, too overwhelming.  The mountains in life seem too rugged, too high.  Where are you God?  I do not know where you are—I cannot find you.  I do not know how to live now.  That is when the faith of Abraham overcomes the world, when we believe God is the one who raises the dead, who creates everything out of nothing: no elements, no matter, nothing.  Yes, He is that God, the beginning and the ending.  We can trust him in everything.  As the Bible says, Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.  (1 Peter 5:7)  As our personal God, He keeps his promises.  What promises?  My child, you are mine.  I have given you life, and I will perfect MY WORK in you.  This is why we must believe God can use everything in our lives.  Abraham was prepared in the natural to fulfill God’s requirements of him: The fire and wood are here.  In spite of the circumstances, he believed God had made him a father of many nations.  He could see with his natural eyes that Issac was the first step in fulfilling that promise.  However, if necessary, Abraham was willing to give up the hope in the natural for the work of God in his life.  Sometimes, we need to give up on hope in the natural for the work of God in our lives.  When things do not turn out the way we want or desire, we need to turn back to God and say: I will trust you, Lord, for I know that it is your work, not mine.  I will let you make the decisions for me.  I will do everything possible to live the life you have directed me to live.  I will place myself under your authority, for I know you have made me your child.  You have revealed your great power through Jesus Christ and his righteousness.  I am alive because of that work.  Now, Lord, let your Spirit comfort my soul.  I need your help, oh God, to live this life.  Children of faith, at the top of the mountain, you will find that God has provided for you.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. ”NO, IN ALL THESE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS through him who loved us.  (Romans 8:35-37)  Knowing you have the faith of Abraham, rejoice!  

Romans 4:13-17 His Mercy Endures Forever!

Romans 4:13-17  It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.   For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, because the law brings wrath.  And where there is no law there is no transgression.  Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.  As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”  He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

Greater minds than ours have struggled with the law over the centuries, whether the law determines our perfections and imperfections.  Yet as we read God’s Word, one thing seems clear: mankind has fallen far from his once perfect state in the Garden of Eden.  We are prone to rebellion and sin.  Paul writes:  And where there is no law there is no transgression.  This is true because without the stated law, we do not have a consequence, but since we are in a state of sin, our hearts condemn us.  The law was not given to save us but to measure our imperfections, which are many.  These imperfections cannot be eradicated by obedience to rules, regulations, or anything else, for we have within us a rebellion that began with Adam and Eve and is a part of our human nature.  In the Old Testament, God tells the Israelites to build a tabernacle, a place where He could abide.  Yet, we know God does not inhabit temples made by human hands.  However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands.  As the prophet says, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.  Could you build me a temple as good as that?” asks the LORD.  “Could you build me such a resting place?  Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?”  (7:48-50)  However, in the wilderness, God asks the Israelites to build a place where He could dwell, a perfectly made place where He could settle in their midst.  Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them.  You must build this Tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you.  (Exodus 24:8-9)  By giving the Israelite these precise instructions on preparing the tabernacle and its contents, He taught the Israelites that He is a God of order, exactness, completeness, perfection, and holiness.  He informed them that if they built the tabernacle according to his exact standards, He would come down and abide with them.  His instruction for the tabernacle confirmed God’s exacting nature.  All of creation reveals God’s perfection, his rejection of disorder, confusion, or chaos.  The intricacies of life, of living organisms, reveals God’s exactness.  The Israelites could follow God’s demands precisely when building the tabernacle, carefully measuring and constructing a perfect tabernacle, as they worked with material and space.  Even though men can do such things, God chose a special person to head the construction of the tabernacle.  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Look, I have specifically chosen Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.  I have filled him with the Spirit of God giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts.  He is a master craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver, and bronze.  He is skilled in engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood.  He is a master at every craft!  (Exodus 31:2-5)  God insured the correctness of the tabernacle and everything in it by having Bezalel, a man filled with his Spirit to oversee the project, including the Ark of the Covenant, the furnishings, the beautifully stitched garments, and the anointing oils.  By the Spirit’s inspiration, Bezalel and his craftsmen could make a place of perfection where God could dwell.  

However, the spirit of man is not an inanimate object, for we are living entities made in God’s image.  The law, a measurement of righteousness, will not satisfy God’s requirements of perfection that He seeks from us.  When He demands that we provide a board of 32 inches in some area of our fleshly tabernacle, we often come up with perhaps 32 and a half inches or 31, never quite perfect.  As we see in the Israelites’ tabernacle, God will not dwell in inexactness.  He demands perfection, holiness.  Consequently, God cannot dwell within the imperfect.  We are contaminated by sin: our failures to achieve, to obey, to repent.  Well then, will paying better attention to the measurements demanded by God help us to be living temples of his Spirit?  This is the struggle of trying to serve God by obeying rules and regulations.  We are trying to satisfy the spiritual needs of our lives by measuring them better, more precisely.  Do this!  Do not do that!  Be nicer, kinder, more loving!  Avoid these thoughts, those actions!  Measuring up to God’s standards presents a struggle when we try to be a place where God can dwell.  However, we are never quite exact and holy for we are not inanimate material.  We are living, thriving human beings who are making hundreds of decisions every day.  Thousands of words and ideas are going through our minds daily.  How can we be perfect?  How can every word or thought line up to the perfection of God?  Later in this book, Paul writes: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.  (Romans 7:21-23)  How can we be holy?   Today’s scriptures reveals how we can be right with God, completely holy, perfect in his sight at all times.  We need the faith of Abraham.  Abraham received the promise of rightness before God by faith, long before the law was given.  What did he believe?  What faith did he hold?  Abraham believed two things that make every Christian alive in God.  First, he believed in the God who brings the dead back to life.  We believe in the Jesus who was resurrected.  We died with him by faith, we live IN HIM by faith.  Secondly, Abraham believed in the God who creates new things out of nothing.  We who are IN CHRIST ARE NEW CREATURES.  God has made us new, we are born again.  This was Abraham’s faith.  He believed God could do what He said He could do, that God would fulfill his promises to him.  This is the same answer Paul offers to the Romans as we continue our journey through his message to them.  When he asks who can deliver him from his bondage, he says, Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!  (Romans 7:25) 

Breakfast companions, God will fulfill his promises to you if you stand in Christ with the same faith that Abraham professed: believing God resurrects the dead and makes new things out of nothing.  We know Christ was resurrected from the dead, so will you be resurrected.  Jesus was the first fruit, or the first one to go from the body of death to everlasting life.  You, too, will follow him in that transition from death to life.  He also, through his blood, has made you a living, eternal creature by transforming that which was dead in sins and trespasses to be alive in freedom and holiness.  The tabernacle and everything in it had to be made or built according to God’s holy standard, his exactness.  You, dear friends, are not exact, holy, perfect, but there is one who is all of that and more.  His name is Jesus Christ.  When we have faith in his works and not ours, we are taking perfection into our souls, the exactness God demands.  His master craftsman, the Holy Spirit, is perfecting his work in our flesh.  As the psalmist wrote: The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of your hands.  (Psalm 138:8)  God is changing us day by day.  We are becoming more like him as we give him authority in our lives.  The voice of the Holy Spirit leads us through this life, giving us an understanding of who we really are.  We are eternal creatures, lights to a dark world.  We need to hearken to his voice and to follow him daily.  The Good News that we need to propagate is that Christ in us is our hope of glory and we can abide with God forever.  Abraham’s faith made him right with God.  Our faith is Abraham’s: This faith believes God resurrects the dead and makes new things out of nothing.  We who are IN CHRIST have been resurrected and are completely new.  Old things have passed away.  Live this life in Christ by faith, believing in his works, not yours.  Portray Jesus to the world by your words and actions.  Do not go back to the beggarly elements of this world, living as the world does.  This will bring chaos into your lives; eternal death will be the result of such living.  Nothing but exactness, holiness, completeness, perfection will please God.  He will dwell with no other conditions.  Christ is the perfect one, the perfect sacrifice.  Place your faith and life in his perfection and rest in his love.  

Romans 4:8-12 A Chosen People!

Romans 4:8-12  “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”  Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised?  We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.  Under what circumstances was it credited?  Was it after he was circumcised, or before?  It was not after, but before!   And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.  So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.   And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

In the above scriptures, Paul points out that Abraham received the blessings of God before he was circumcised.  We too receive God’s blessings through faith alone in him.  We do not have to go through religious, ceremonial functions to merit God’s blessings.  The thief on the cross received God’s blessing without having to say certain scripted, religious words or to have baptisms or ceremonial acts of any sort.  This criminal simply said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  (Luke 23:42)  Jesus received him in paradise that day.  He was talking to Jesus, his audience of one, the One with power to forgive sin.  We too, can find God’s blessing if we approach him with heartfelt faith, believing He is real and that He accepts our allegiance to him.  When the undeserving sinner approached God in the temple and asked for his forgiveness, he was forgiven; God’s blessings fell on him.  But the tax collector stood at a distance.  He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner."  I tell you that this man, rather than the other (the righteous pharisee), went home justified before God.  (Luke 18:13-14)  We who are IN CHRIST, IN THE BODY OF CHRIST, are there because of unadulterated faith in God’s works: the life and death of Jesus.  We have been changed from the inside out.  Our hearts have been circumcised, both male and female.  We are new creatures not because we have a part of our biological flesh taken away from us in circumcision; no, we are new creatures because Christ has substituted his Spirit in place of our carnal spirit.  His Spirit is always alive to God’s will, our spirit is dead to God because of sin, generally insensitive to God’s will in our lives.  No longer are we just biological creatures, born of Adam’s seed, with a temporary existence on Earth.  We are now eternal beings born out of Jesus.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.  (1 Peter 1:23)

Circumcision in the Old Testament set the Israelites apart to God.  A physical examination easily determined those who were set apart from the men who were not.  God demanded circumcision from all Jewish men: they carried the spiritual responsibility for everyone in the family.  A man could bring either blessings or judgment on his family by his actions in the world.  If he was faithful to God, a man of good character: honest and upright, his family would be blessed.  If he were the opposite: corrupt, depraved, his family would receive the judgment of God.  In the book of Numbers, we see the fate of Korah and his family when Korah rose up against Moses.  Norah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reunites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and rose up against Moses.  (Numbers 16:1-2)  In testing Moses and God, Korah brought judgement upon his whole family.  His circumcision was done to protect him and anyone else under his authority, but when he sinned, all those underneath his authority received judgment with him.   As soon as he (Moses) finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions.  They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community.  At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”  Numbers 16:31-34)  Just as circumcision did not change Korah’s heart, we know circumcision did not change the Israelites’ hearts.  In fact, the Israelites’ story in the wilderness is one of rebellion, fear, and a lack of trust in God.  The people were not a peculiar people, set apart in their spirits to serve God, for they carried the idols of their pagan gods in their satchels and pockets all the way through the wilderness.  At Mount Sinai, this lack of faithfulness to the God who delivered them from bondage in Egypt came to the forefront.  But our ancestors refused to obey him.  Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.  They told Aaron, "Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!”  That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf.  They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.  But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars.  (Acts 7:39-42)  Their rebellious, natural hearts were not changed by circumcision.  Yes, in the flesh, they were identified as God’s own, but in their spirits, they were just like all the people around them.  They needed a Savior who could change their internal hearts, their spirits.  Jesus, the Messiah, would be that Savior.  When Jesus sent out the twelve, He said, “Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel, as you go, proclaim this message: The kingdom of heaven has come near.”  (Matthew 10:6)  Jesus would lead the Jews and all who put their faith in God’s salvation plan out of bondage to sin and death into freedom. 

We who are IN CHRIST have followed the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.  Circumcision just indicated what Abraham had already received: the setting apart to God in righteousness.  We are the peculiar people who have had our hearts circumcised.  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)  We died IN CHRIST when Christ died and arose IN CHRIST when He arose.  Our flesh has been cut apart from our ever living spirit by the death of Christ.  Our flesh will die, but our spirits will live on eternally because we are alive IN CHRIST.  Circumcision could go no further than indicating a certain people were God’s own.  But circumcision could not give them eternal life.  Their only hope was a Promised Land where they could live on fertile soil and have earthly freedom from captivity.  We who are IN CHRIST have a promised land that goes beyond this world: heaven.  We are not bound to the slavery of this world, the finiteness of living here.  We have been set free: the Red Sea, our sinful nature, the physical restraints of life do not keep us in bondage.  The blood of Christ has caused us to escape every bondage of this present world.  But all of this comes through faith in God, in his reality.  In our daily struggles, we sometimes feel bound to this earth.  Sometimes we are tempted to pick up the gods of this world and serve them in our lives: entertainment, occupations, activities, travel, acquaintances, sordid involvements.  When we actually do that, we place God in the backroom of our lives as an afterthought.  Such a decision is dangerous to our spirits, for when we place God in the background, we fail to commune with him and lose our strength to serve him.  However, we do not serve God out of determination, discipline, or law: we follow him through the Spirit.  As we read in the Word, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.  (Zechariah 4:6)  We can pick up the spiritual phone anytime and be home with him in communion.  He is waiting for us.  He has circumcised our hearts: we are in right relationship with him.  So let us cast away the gods that so easily deceive us into believing this involvement with everyday living is what life is all about.  No, life is about serving, loving, and placing our trust in God.  He has destined us for freedom and eternal life with him.  Praise God!  Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.  

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.