Mark's Daily Reading Journal

Have you ever fallen into the trap of thinking "you know if I only had...___________________everything would be alright."  "If I only had 10,000 in savings, if I only had his/her brains, his/her looks, his/her position, his/her life, home, spouse, car...whatever.  I have fallen into that trap...normally it is for a larger brain, and normally it is for good motives, to be able to dive deep and search out the depths and truths of God's Word and then share it with others.  However, if I am transparent with you I must confess that my flesh enjoys skimming a little glory for myself.  Don't you look at me so holy!  I know, I know that God will not share HIS glory with anyone!  When I realize that I have fallen again into the same trap I quickly repent and ask for forgiveness.

Paul's discussion in Romans 7-8 is huge for me in this...to know that Paul struggled is very helpful, to know that I CANNOT LIVE A RIGHTEOUS LIFE IN MY OWN POWER is huge!  You and I are 100% dependent on the Holy Spirit to live the Spirit filled life.  I have ZERO ability to produce the fruit of the Spirit in my own ability!  I CANNOT love my wife as Christ loves the Church in MY OWN POWER...IT IS NOT POSSIBLE!  However, Christ in me the Hope of glory...when I am broken, yielded, surrendered, when I come to HIM in absolute desperation, acknowledging I NEED HIS power to live the life HE commands me to live...then and only then is the Spirit of God released through the children of God.

How does the Christian live a righteous, Spirit filled life without a constant struggle to keep God’s Law? Paul teaches us that the Spirit's law of life lived in Christ Jesus has set us free (8:1–2). The OT Law failed to produce righteousness. So in Christ God condemned “sin in sinful man” and provided HIS Spirit, who enables believers to fully meet the Law’s requirements in God's own power.  What the law was powerless to do God did by sending HIS OWN Son (3–4). We focus on Jesus, fixing our eyes on Jesus, surrendering and yielding to God’s Spirit rather than on trying to keep laws or lists (5–8). I won't dive into this now, but we all have lists, those list make us legalist...repent of those lists!  Sorry, back to the topic at hand...if we’re controlled by the Spirit who brought life to Christ’s dead body, HE will bring life to us who are spiritually dead (9–12). Our obligation is not to the Law, but to be broken, yielded, and surrendered to the moving and working of the Holy Spirit (13–16).  Remember, Romans 8:10, If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.  Paul accurately describes our spiritual condition in Ephesians 2:1, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.  DEAD...DOA...DEAD ON ARRIVAL...YOU WERE DEAD...GET IT?  DEAD! 

Remember what Paul said in Romans 5:10?  "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.   We have a new nature, we are new creatures in Christ, we now have peace with God...we were HIS enemies and now we are HIS children.  We are HIS children by the new birth, the birth from above and by adoption.  Paul tells us in Romans 8:14-17 that, "all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

Do you see how foolish it is to try to skim HIS glory?  HE is inviting HIS children, ON HIS TERMS, to share in HIS glory, as Peter tells us to be "partakers of His divine nature.  If we foolishly try to skim HIS glory it will ruin us, if we come as broken, contrite, yielded, surrendered children HE lavishly and gloriously gives us HIMSELF!  HE IS THE TREASURE!

The day is coming when creation will be renewed, even as you and I are being renewed (17–25). Meanwhile the Spirit helps us in our weakness, praying and interceding  with and for us ( 26–27). It’s our relationship with God that brings us victory, for He has chosen us not to have a mind set on the flesh, living in sin, but to be transformed, to be conformed into the image of His Son (vv. 28–30). God will never forsake us nor leave us, HE will not allow HIS OWN to be charged with sin (31–34). We are God’s beloved, HIS own. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ our Lord (35–39).  HE is our ever present help in time of trouble and all the time.  (Richards)

Below are some bold and yet true claims for the child of God from Romans 8.

• In Christ, I am free from any condemnation.

• In Christ, I have kept the righteous requirements of the law.

• In Christ, I am obligated to be led by the Spirit.

• In Christ, I am a child of God and a coheir with Christ.

• In Christ, I will be redeemed from this cursed creation.

• In Christ, I am certain of my eternal glorification.

• In Christ, I fear nothing either in or out of this world.

Boa, K., & Kruidenier, W. (2000). Vol. 6: Romans. Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (265). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

Pursuing Christ with you...for HIS glory and our JOY in HIM!

love,

m

 

I mentioned to a small group yesterday how writing this blog has been such an incredible blessing.  It started out as an accountability tool in reading the One Year Bible with my Sunday school class.  As I got into the daily process of reading God's Word, desperately needing HIM to open my eyes to HIS precious Word so that I might have something to say, I realized this year was different, HIS Word was penetrating my heart in a way that it had not for some time.  I have been reading the One Year Bible through for several years now, but somewhere along the way it just became another box to check in my little list of Christian things I should be doing.  I have since repented of that attitude.

As I repented of the sin of complacency, the sin of taking God for granted, the sin of approaching HIS glorious Word with a (I hate to say it, but it is true) careless heart attitude...as I repented and came to HIM and HIS Word each morning desperate for a word to be able to write, but also desperate for a word for the day...remember Matt 4:4 “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  As I approached HIM day after day in humility, brokenness, desperation...devoid of Mark, looking unto HIM, some wonderful things began to happen and they continue to unfold before me...glory be to God!

With that in mind the very simple word that continued to leap off the page this morning was the little word "my."  I will never forget when "my" daughter, Alexis, began to say "my" Daddy!  No longer was it just Daddy, but "my" Daddy!  Alexis will be 3 at the end of September.  I love to hear her say "my" Daddy!  I love the look on her face when she says "my" Daddy!  I love it when another child walks up to me, Alexis will run from where she is to my side and say in a loud voice "my" Daddy!  It does a Daddy's heart good to hear those precious words.

So hear we are, our first stop in 2 Chronicles 7:14-15, God is tells Solomon at night following the dedication of the temple that "if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 15 My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place. 

In 2 Chronicles 7:20, HE promises devastation if they turn from HIM and pursue idols, "then I will uproot Israel from the soil that I gave them, and this temple that I have sanctified for My name I will banish from My presence;  I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples." 

We know that God sent HIS only begotten Son to deliver us from sin, death and Satan...to save us from hell.  We know that if we receive HIM by faith we are saved from hell and we are born from above, we are twice born, we become HIS children...we call HIM Abba, Father!  We are free and commanded to call HIM Father, Abba, "my" Daddy!  This we hold as dear and precious promises through Jesus Christ!

Romans 7:24-8:4  O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.  8   There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

This is huge, it is impossible to overstate how massive this truth is...you were dead in your sins and trespasses, you were spiritually bound to a decomposing human corpse, you were the most putrid, vile, disgusting spiritual leper, surrounded by the smell of death...spiritually, everywhere you went before coming to Jesus the stench that surrounded you was horrific!  I know this is hard to imagine, but your condition and my condition was actually worse than I just described!  AND NOW JESUS HAS TAKEN US FROM THAT TO HEIRS OF THE KING!  We are now adopted, children of the most high God, HIS Spirit confirms to our spirit that we are children of God...by which we cry "my" Daddy!

Check out the first few verses in Psalm 18, the word "my" is used over and over in 3 verses!

Ps 18:1-3  I will love You, O Lord, my strength.2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;  So shall I be saved from my enemies.

1 Sa 2:2  No one is holy like the Lord!  There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

Ps 18:46 The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock!  May the God of my salvation be exalted!

Ps 28:1 I pray to you, O Lord, my rock. Do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you are silent, I might as well give up and die.

Ps 31:3 You are my rock and my fortress. For the honor of your name, lead me out of this danger.

Ps 42:9 “O God my rock,” I cry, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?”

Ps 71:3 Be my rock of safety where I can always hide. Give the order to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

I often hear people speak of God, Yahweh, as though HE is just waiting and watching for an opportunity to smack them, to hurt them, to keep them in line...they don't feel like they can approach the God.  They have a fear, they become anxious when they think about approaching God almighty.  I am deeply grieved when I hear people speak this way because I know that there is only one being that would want to keep God's children in fear of HIM, there is only one being that want God children to be filled with anxiety when they think about approaching HIM, that would be HIS enemy, Satan.

You read the story of the prodigal son, you don't see a father looking for an opportunity to beat his son down.  You simply see a father yearning and longing for his son to come home and live.  Romans 8:32 should put all questions and concerns to rest, it should lay all our fears in the dust and reveal Satan for what he is...a liar and the father of lies.  What else can you do but be amazed that God Almighty "did not even spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything?"  If God the Father did not spare HIS own son, but offer HIM for us we can trust that HE will work everything for the good of those who love HIM.

"MY DADDY!"

let it be!

love,

m

David Carroll ROCKS!  What would prompt me to make such a radical statement?  Simply stated, it is true!  What prompted me to say that at this particular moment is that he has added the ability for anyone that is a member of the daily reading journal to add your comments directly to the blog.  If the LORD gives you a word from HIS Word you are welcome to add that to the blog.  You may comment on what I have said...agree, disagree, challenge me in love and grace:)  Or you may add something that God burned in your heart as you read the daily reading.  PLEASE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS REALLY COOL TOOL.  If you are not a member and want to be send me an email at mgates@bellevue.org and I will give you the password:)

Why are you doing this Mark?  Because I long to pursue HIM with a white-hot passion and I want to bring as many with me as possible.  Actually, I am longing for several of you to start running ahead of me...calling back to me, come on slowpoke, keep up, keep up!  IT IS ALL ABOUT HIM AND PURSUING HIM THROUGH PRAYER AND HIS PRECIOUS WORD!

Back to the main thing...HIS Word, in Romans 7 we have an awesome picture of how our nature changed when we became children of God.

 

Paul contends that the law and faith are contradictory principles. In Romans 7 he demonstrates how a believer can be legally free from obligation to the Law, and then explores why release from that obligation is essential.  Christ’s death frees the Christian from obligation to the Law.  In Romans 7:1-3 Paul explains that "the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man."

Don't get lost in the marriage analogy, this is all about our relationship to Jesus and how it is possible for us to move from being a slave to sin to becoming a salve to righteousness.  Paul tells us in Romans 7:4-7  Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.  7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

So we see that the law stimulates man’s sinful nature (4–7). Paul honors the Law because it makes him aware of sin’s existence within his personality and because it stands as a witness to all that is holy, righteous, and good (8–12). But rather than help Paul be good, the Law has made him aware of the power of his sinful nature, aroused desires that he does not want to feel, and energized evil actions he hates as well (13–18). Paul has thus become aware of a terrible inner struggle, between an “I” who takes pleasure in sin and an “I” that wants to do good (19–20). He struggles against indwelling sin, but the harder Paul tries to keep the Law the more he finds himself a prisoner of his sinful nature (21–24). He finds rescue in Christ (25). 

Face-to-Face with Death

It is not uncommon for commentators to suggest what might have been in Paul’s mind when he cried out, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24). “Wretched” we understand, but what is the “body of death” from which he wants to be rescued? A most gruesome picture is that presented by the Roman poet Virgil (70–19 b.c.), with which his audience in Rome might well have been familiar (noted by Bruce, p. 147). In Book Eight of the Æneid, Virgil’s epic poem that chronicles the wanderings of Aeneas after the fall of Troy, the horrific cruelty of the Etruscan king Mezentius is told. To punish and torture his living captives, Mezentius tied them face to face with decomposing corpses of those killed in battle, leaving them bound together until the living captive died. Virgil’s poetic presentation does little to soften the horror of such a fate:

The living and the dead at his command

Were coupled, face to face, and hand to hand,

Till, chok’d with stench, in loath’d embraces tied,

The ling’ring wretches pin’d away and died.

          —Virgil’s Æneid, Book Eight

What did Paul call himself—a “wretched man”? What did Virgil call those locked in the embrace of death—those “ling’ring wretches”? Surely no word other than “rescue” would fit both scenes. And if Paul had Virgil’s epic in mind, then this image of “body of death” suddenly puts the gospel’s deliverance from the law in a new and more serious light.

The modern believer can know little of what Paul knew of being rescued from the yoke of the law. People like Paul were practically genetically coded to view the keeping of the law as the highest spiritual good. Then, after believing, teaching, and practicing that for years, Paul is thrown to the ground on a highway to Damascus and told that he has to change his world-view. Paul was to discover that the law which he had embraced as a lover was suddenly transformed in his arms to a decomposing set of standards that was killing him—and he could not break free from it! But unlike Mezentius’s corpses who killed the living, Paul the living was turning the law into something evil. It was Paul’s sin that was driving the life out of the law. His proclivity to sin was not only killing him, but it was turning the law from something pure and noble into something rotten and lifeless.

The body of death from which Paul needed rescuing was his propensity to sin which had turned the law into his executioner. But rather than dying a slow and putrid death, Paul was rescued by the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus cut the ropes and set the Pharisee prisoner free. Jesus died the death to which the law had condemned Paul, allowing Paul to live the life that the keeping of the law promised. And the same is possible today. No one needs to remain bound to the law—“thanks be to God” (Rom. 7:25).  Boa, K., & Kruidenier, W. (2000). Vol. 6: Romans. Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (232). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

We have all smelled rotting flesh, you let one little rodent die within the walls of your home and the horrific stench will permeate your entire house.  The thought of being bound face to face with a decomposing human is too much to process...some of you might be mad at me for putting the image in your mind.  What is the body of death?  I will simply say that anything you think about more than God may be a body of death to you!  Certainly sinful patterns in our lives are a body of death, but the greater danger to the Christian seeking to walk with the LORD are the good gifts that God has given us.  Your children, spouse, home, job, ministry...if you love any gift more than the gift giver the gift has become an idol in your heart and it is a body of death to you.  THERE IS ONLY ONE HOPE!

Ro 7:24-25  O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

By HIS grace and for HIS glory let us server in the newness of the Spirit!  Understanding that deliverance from the body of death comes only in Jesus Christ let us rejoice in the gift giver, let us love and pursue HIM, the one who has set us free and if the son has set you free you are free indeed!

Father in heaven,

Work this for YOUR glory and our JOY in YOU!

love,

m

Romans 6:4 in a sense provides us with our purpose, our goal..."Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."  So God's purpose for us as HIS children is to enter HIS Kingdom, to enter the HIS rule and reign and walk in newness of life.  In Colossians 2:12 Paul tells us that since we were "buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead."  In Galatians 3:27 he teaches us that "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ."

So our purpose is to walk in newness of life, this newness of life was worked by the power and glory of God and received by faith...in receiving this by faith part of the newness of life is that we have put on Christ...for HIS glory and our own JOY in HIM!  You could spend several life times exploring all that God has for us in this new life and NEVER EXHAUST THE TREASURE!  The secret of the Kingdom is that...shhhhhh...don't tell anyone...the treasure is HIM!

We who were joined to (“baptized into”) Christ were so truly united with Him that His death was our death—a death that frees us from the power of sin in our lives (6:1–7). More, His resurrection is our resurrection. Sharing that life, we now are able to live to God (vv. 8–10). We can experience this spiritual reality—by faith. We count ourselves dead to sin on the basis of God’s Word, we choose not to let sin rule, and we offer every part of ourselves to God as His instruments to be used for righteousness (vv. 11–14).

Now Paul digresses briefly: What we experience depends on what we choose. If we choose to sin, we will be slaves of sin. If we choose to obey God, we will serve the ends of righteousness (vv. 15–18). And what a difference the choice makes! The outcome of obedience is a holiness which pays eternal dividends. But the only wages sin pays is death (vv. 19–23).  Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (742). Wheaton: Victor Books.

Below is an outline of chapter 6...let me encourage you to carve out some time to spend prayerfully in Romans 6.  Do you realize that this was not true about you before you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?  What was not true?  Romans 6:12!  Look at Romans 6:11-12 where Paul writes, Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.   Before you came to Christ ALL YOU COULD DO WAS TO OBEY THE LUSTS OF SIN...IT WAS YOUR MASTER...YOU HAD NO CHOICE!  Now Paul tells you that you have a choice to obey sin or righteousness.  The wages that sin offers is ugly and grotesque, the gift of God is quite different in nature.  Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Father in heaven,

Enable us by YOUR indwelling Spirit to pursue YOU, delight in YOU rejoice in YOU and YOU alone as our greatest treasure...that is what YOU are!  Please Father, please, by YOUR grace I trust that (Ps 16:11) You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.  Enable us to enter the JOY of our Master, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

love,

m

Solomon is chosen to be God's son!  We learn in Romans 5:8 that "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  While we were still God haters God so loved us that HE sent HIS only Son to die for us!  While we rejected HIM and supressed the truth with a lie the Holy Spirit moved in on us and led us to repentance and faith and in doing so we "received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”  Rom 8:15. 

It is no small thing to be a human being, created in the image of God...it is even more astounding to consider that we have been recreated, redemed and restored to a right relationship through the shed blood of our LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

Listen again to the way God speaks about Solomon and listen to David's heart attitude toward God...we can learn much about our relationship with our Abba, Father if we will listen!  DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?  LISTEN!

1 Ch 28:6-10 Now He said to me, ‘It is your son Solomon who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be My son, and I will be his Father. 7 Moreover I will establish his kingdom forever, if he is steadfast to observe My commandments and My judgments, as it is this day.’ 8 Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, be careful to seek out all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land, and leave it as an inheritance for your children after you forever.

9 “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. 10 Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong, and do it.”

1 Ch 29:9-19  Then the people rejoiced, for they had offered willingly, because with a loyal heart they had offered willingly to the Lord; and King David also rejoiced greatly.

David's prayer

10 Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly; and David said:  “Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. 11  Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord,      And You are exalted as head over all. 12 Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all.  In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great And to give strength to all. 13 “Now therefore, our God,  We thank You And praise Your glorious name. 14  But who am I, and who are my people,      That we should be able to offer so willingly as this?  For all things come from You,  And of Your own we have given You. 15  For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, As were all our fathers; Our days on earth are as a shadow, And without hope.

16 “O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build You a house for Your holy name is from Your hand, and is all Your own. 17 I know also, my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things; and now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here to offer willingly to You. 18 O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the intent of the thoughts of the heart of Your people, and fix their heart toward You. 19 And give my son Solomon a loyal heart to keep Your commandments and Your testimonies and Your statutes, to do all these things, and to build the temple for which I have made provision.”

 

There is an amazing tension in God's Word...God chose Solomon to be HIS son, Solomon did not choose HIM, God chose Solomon!  What about us?  Did I choose God or did God chose me?  What does the Bible say?  A few of you are thinking...Mark what are you doing, people have been arguing over this for years...are you out of your mind man!  Was is Felix that said to Paul, all this learning has made you mad!

The only point I will make is this, I am comfortable saying that God chose me in HIM before the foundation of the world and that I am among those in John 3:16 and in other places that WHOSOEVER WILL MAY COME...WHOSOEVER...WHOSOEVER!

You may think, but I can't reconcile this in my mind, it is not logical, it is not reasonable!  A wise man said that reason and logic must kneel outside the sanctuary where only faith may enter.  I confess that I don't understand it either, but it is glorious and beautiful...I believe both because God said both. 

If we will listen to David's prayer at the end of his life you hear an old man who has experienced much life...at the end of it all you hear a humility, an intimacy in his heart toward God...we will do well to learn from him and approach God in the same manner!

John 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

Mt 22:14  “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

2 Pe 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;

Re 17:14  These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

Re 22:17  And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

Jn 3:16  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Don't get lost, ARE YOU STILL WITH ME, DON'T GET LOST IN THIS...THE POINT OF SAYING ALL THIS IS THAT YOU WERE CHOSEN TO BE A S

ON/DAUGHTER/HEIR FOR A PURPOSE!  THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE IS NOT YOUR SALVATION!  THAT IS PART OF IT, BUT IT IS NOT ULTIMATE!  YOU WERE SAVED FOR HIS GLORY AND YOU WERE SAVED TO MAKE HIS GLORY KNOWN!  THAT IS YOUR PURPOSE, THAT IS HIS PLAN FOR YOU!  So what should you do?  “As for you,know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you;  Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to                                               be strong, and do it.”

What has the Lord chosen you to do?  Be strong and do it!  Whatever HE has set your hand to do, do it with all your might as unto the Lord!

by HIS grace and for HIS glory!

Let's pursue HIS presence, let's pursue HIM as HE is...the greatest treasure in the universe!

love,

m

It is amazing to me how easy it is to get bogged down and lose sight of the big picture.  Keep in mind the metanarrative of the Bible that I borrowed from Ken Easley, "the Lord God through his Christ is graciously building a kingdom of redeemed people for their joy and for his own glory."  That is the overarching story of the Bible, that is the story that connects and helps us make sense of all the smaller stories.  It is ALL part of one huge story and the amazing thing is that you and I are a part of the final chapter.  Actually, not the final chapter, what is God up to?  HE is spreading HIS kingdom through HIS church.  In the final chapter all enemies will be vanquished with the breath of HIS mouth, by the glory of HIS appearing.  King Jesus will take HIS rightful place on the throne, all enemies will be placed under HIS feet and HE will rule and reign with HIS blood bought people forever and ever!  GLORY!

Having said all that we must remember as we prayerfully read through Romans what God is up to.  In Romans Paul is laying a rock solid foundation for our faith in Jesus Christ.  Paul is systematically removing each and every obstacle from the believer.  Little did he know that his letter to the Romans would be impacting the Kingdom of God 2,000 years latter.  Pretty awe striking!

So pray, put on your thinking caps and dive in to the ocean of Romans and be amazed, be utterly amazed that...(Romans 5:1-11)

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. 2 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.

3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 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.

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

Please don't miss what is going on here.  It feels like we are flying over the Alps at mach 5, possibly faster, faster is that possible.  The point is that this passage is loaded with breath taking truths from God's precious Word.  Each of these is worth several hours of meditation, several sermons, all preceded by several hours of study and memorization.  Mark, don't you think that you are overstating your point...hmmmmmm let me think...NO!

Please take the time to read from the commentary below and I believe you will marvel at the detail that we begin to see when we slow down and seek HIM and seek to absorb HIS Word.

5:1–8:39 The gospel and the power of God for salvation

If ‘a righteousness that is by faith from first to last’ summarizes the theme of 1:18–4:25, ‘the power of God for salvation’ captures the central thrust of 5:1–8:39. The gospel, in unveiling this power, secures not only the sinner’s initial acceptance by God but his or her final deliverance on the day of judgment. ‘If justified, then certain of final salvation’ is Paul’s overall theme, a theme that comes to expression especially at the beginning (ch. 5) and end (ch. 8) of the section. Between these chapters, Paul deals with two of the ‘powers’ that might threaten this eventual deliverance of the justified believer, viz. sin (ch. 6) and the law (ch. 7), showing in each case that the Christian has been delivered from bondage to these powers. The structure of chs. 5–8, then, is what some call a ‘ring composition’, and others a ‘chiasm’, in which there is a certain correspondence between the first and last components, the second and second to the last and so on:

5:1–11 Assurance of future glory

5:12–21 Basis for this assurance in the work of Christ

6:1–23 Delivered from the power of sin

7:1–25 Delivered from the power of the law

8:1–17 Basis for assurance in the work of Christ, mediated by the Spirit

8:18–39 Assurance of future glory

5:1–11 The hope of glory

Paul begins a new section of his letter at 5:1 (rather than at, for instance, 6:1). This is shown by the transitional ‘since we have been justified through faith’ in v 1; a shift, at this point, from an emphasis on ‘faith’ (thirty-three occurrences in 1:18–4:25 versus only three in chs. 5–8) to an emphasis on ‘life’ (twenty-four times in chs. 5–8 versus only two in 1:18–4:25); and by the clarity of the theme and structure outlined above.

Echoing throughout chs. 5–8 is a question created by the tension between Paul’s teaching that a person is justified before God the minute that person believes and the biblical truth that a day of divine judgment must yet be faced. How do these two truths relate to one another? Can I be sure that my justification now will do any good on the day of judgment? To this question, Paul answers in this paragraph with an emphatic ‘Yes!’: We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (2b) and hope does not disappoint us (5a). In these assurances we find the heart of this paragraph.

Vs 1–2a lead up to these assurances with a reminder of what Christians who have been justified by faith now enjoy: peace with God, a relationship in which we are no longer threatened by God’s wrath, and access … into this grace in which we now stand, continual participation in the blessings secured by God’s grace in Christ. Paul is, however, aware of the struggles that Christians still face in this world. But these struggles, far from threatening our peace and assurance, actually give us greater assurance of them (3b–4). For sufferings are used by God to produce in us perseverance, the ability to endure. Perseverance produces character (dokime), the strength that comes only from severe testing, and character, in turn, produces hope. Because God so works in our lives, and because we should want so desperately this kind of character and hope, we should rejoice in our sufferings (3a). Paul here reflects a common early Christian perspective on the far greater value of divine virtues in comparison with earthly troubles (see also 8:18; Jas. 1:2–4; 1 Pet. 1:6–7)—a perspective that too many Christians today have lost.

Vs 5b–8 set Christian hope (5a) on the unshakable foundation of God’s love for us in Christ. The Holy Spirit enables the believer to sense from within that God has effusively poured out [ekcheo] his love into our hearts. Added to this inward appreciation is the objective, historical demonstration of that love of God for us in the cross of Christ. On Calvary was shown to the world a love that far transcends the love typical among humans, a love according to which only for a good man would one conceivably die (7). It is just the nature of God’s love that he sacrificed his own son for the ungodly (6) and sinners (8)—for those very people who had refused to honour and worship him (cf. 1:21–22). It is this idea that is conveyed in the phrase at just the right time (6a): at the very time when we were still powerless, Christ died for us. God has not waited for us to take the first step back to him but has intervened in an act of pure grace to provide a way for us to come back.

Vs 9–10 gather together the main pieces of vs 1–8 repeating the certainty of Christian hope (2, 5a). They are obviously parallel. Paul asserts the unbreakable connection between the believer’s present status before God (justified by his blood, reconciled to him), and his or her future status (saved from God’s wrath, saved). His argument moves from ‘the greater’ to ‘the lesser’. God has done ‘the greater thing’ in bringing us into relationship with him through the terrible cost of his Son’s blood and when we were God’s enemies. We were in a state of mutual hostility in which God’s wrath rested on us (1:18) and we were ‘God-haters’ (1:30). Surely, then, God will do what in the terms of this argument is the ‘easier’ thing: deliver us whom he has already accepted from the pouring out of his wrath on the day of judgment. V 11 wraps up the paragraph with a final rehearsal of some of its key ideas: ‘rejoicing’ (2–3); the present enjoyment of reconciliation with God (1b, 10); and, most of all, the fact that this rejoicing and reconciliation come only through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Carson, D. A. (1994). New Bible commentary : 21st century edition. Rev. ed. of: The new Bible commentary. 3rd ed. / edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970. (4th ed.) (Ro 4:1-5:1). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press.

We have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ!  THIS IS HUGE, THIS IS AMAZING, THIS SHOULD BLOW YOUR MIND!

Short true story and I will shut up:) 

When in college, in the early 80's, a friend of mine went to a one day school so she could skydive at the end of the day.  There were several students going through the training with her.  At the end of the day everyone on her plane made the jump, landed on the ground, and they were all standing around talking to each other saying how awesome the experience was!  The next plane comes and the students jump and one of the students parachutes does not open, he deploys the emergency chute and it does not open.  Everyone on the ground is watching in horror...they can see him frantically doing what he was trained to do with the cords...nothing worked!  A few hundred feet from the ground the emergency chute opened and the young man landed safely on the ground.

When he got on the ground, he began running in a huge circle screaming at the top of his lungs, "I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive!  THAT SHOULD BE US EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY.  You and I were spiritually dead, in darkness, grotesque spiritual lepers...diseased, consumed in the smell of death and rotting flesh.  OK, OK, I'll stop, but do you get the picture?  Actually, I am sure that our condition was worse than I described and most of us, me at times, go around thinking that we are pretty good...at least compared to some.  Don't give me that pious look!  You know what I am talking about!

Let's be filled with awe, wonder and gratitude in the understanding that we HAVE BEEN DECLARED RIGHTEOUS AND THAT WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD.  Let's praise and worship the King of kings, let's pursue HIM with a white hot passion and let's take as many with us as we can...for HIS glory and our JOY in HIM!

love,

m

Romans is so dense, so rich, so amazing...going through at the pace of the One Year Bible is like being invited to the most exquisite restaurant, being served a 7 course feast and having 3 1/3 minutes to enjoy it!  This chapter is huge for our right understanding of the gospel!  As it is pivotal for us to have some understanding of the Word "propitiation," it is absolutely vital that we grasp JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE!

Out of the Protestant Reformation emerged the Five solas, these are Latin phrases that summarize the Reformers' basic theological beliefs in pointing out the differences to the teaching of the Catholic Church of the day. The Latin word sola means "alone" or "only" in English. The five solas articulated five fundamental beliefs of the Protestant Reformation, pillars which the Reformers believed to be essentials of the Christian life and practice.  What were the 5 solas?

• 1 Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone")
• 2 Sola fide ("by faith alone")
• 3 Sola gratia ("by grace alone")
• 4 Solus Christus ("Christ alone")
• 5 Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone")

Each of these is absolutely vital to have a right understanding of the gospel.  Let me encourage you to spend some time reading and rereading and then meditating on Romans chapter 4.  It always helps me to break dense passages of scripture into manageable chunks or an outline.  Here we go!

Paul employs two of the most famous Old Testament men to illustrate the doctrine of justification by faith.

I. The Illustration from the Life of Abraham, Israel’s Racial Father (4:1–5, 9–25)

A. Abraham and his salvation (4:1–5, 9–15)

1. What Abraham received (4:1–5): God himself canceled Abraham’s sins and declared him righteous.

2. How Abraham received it (4:1–5)

a. It did not come about by his works (4:1–2, 4).

b. It did come about by his faith (4:3, 5).

3. When Abraham received it (4:9–15)

a. He received it before he was circumcised (4:9–12).

b. He received it before the giving of the law (4:13–15).

B. Abraham and his seed (4:16–25): Paul shows the results of Abraham’s faith following his salvation.

1. Abraham’s physical seed (4:18–22)

a. The promise (4:18) : God told Abraham he would bear a son through Sarah.

b. The problem (4:19) : Abraham and his barren wife were too old for this.

c. The perseverance (4:20–22): Abraham continued to believe God for the impossible, and Isaac was born!

2. Abraham’s spiritual seed (4:16–17, 23–25): All Jews and Gentiles who exercise the kind of faith Abraham had are, spiritually speaking, related to Abraham, who is called the “father of all who believe.”Willmington, H. L. (1999). The Outline Bible (Ro 4:16-17). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

Paul demonstrates from Israelite history that salvation always has been a gift of God received by faith.  Righteousness was "credited to" Abraham because he "believed God" (4:1–3).  Albeit Abraham's believing was consuming...it moved him to pick up and leave his native land, it moved him to a willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac.  This was life transforming believing!  David says the same thing in speaking of the blessedness of forgiven sins (6–8). Abraham was credited with righteousness before his circumcision, that unique sign that marked a person as a Jew in Old Testament times. Thus Gentiles can look to Abraham’s experience demonstrates that the righteous shall live by faith and it is faith alone for Jew and Gentile! (9–12).  Richards

What then is the nature of that faith Abraham exercised? It was life transforming, It was an absolute confidence that God was able to do what He promised and that He would keep His word. When we believe God’s promise of salvation in Jesus, we too are credited with a righteousness we did not—and could never—earn on our own (18–25). 

Again, this is no ordinary believing!  Remember James 2:19, "You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder."  We know that the demons are not saved.  This type of believing moves people to do things for Jesus that makes no sense to the world.  Remember what Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham” (Gal. 3:7). And, later he will write in Romans, “In other words, it is not the natural children [of Abraham] who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring” (Rom. 9:8).  Without faith, without life transforming faith in God we are nothing more than “whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones” (Matt. 23:27).  It is possible to have even the right outward appearance and be spiritually dead...what does Paul write in 2 Tim 3:5?  That there are men "holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."

I will close with a passage that I have been fixed on for several weeks now.  Jesus teaching in Matthew 7, "you will know them by their fruit."  The kind of faith Abraham experienced transformed him from a thronbush to a fruit bearing tree.  Is your faith real?  Do you bear fruit?  Read Galatians 5:22.

Is your faith real...you say yes!  I know Jesus!  OK, but does Jesus know you?  In Matt 7:22-23 we witness preachers, miracle workers and exorcists being cast into hell!  Why?  Because Jesus did not know them! 

Do you have a relationship with HIM?  Do you have a childlike faith?  Do you have a love for Jesus that is not explainable from the world perspective? 

This life is but a vapor, a mist...life is short, eternity is long, how you spend your life will determine how and where you spend eternity.  (This is not original with me, I just can't remember who said it...sorry)

Mat 7:15-23  False and True Teaching

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

True Way into the Kingdom

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Laboring to know HIM with YOU in the great adventure!

love,

m