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ROMANS: Intro: Chap. 1 Chap. 2 Chap. 3 Chap.4 Chap.5 Chap.6 Chap.7 Chap.8 "In my own words" Ch 9 Chs.9-11 text
ROMANS: Intro: Chap. 1 Chap. 2 Chap. 3 Chap.4 Chap.5 Chap.6 Chap.7 Chap.8 "In my own words" Ch 9 Chs.9-11 text
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CHAPTER 5
1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience; 4And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5And hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by theHoly Ghost 6For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. 12Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto many. 16And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 18Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21That as sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. |
The Christian Life.
"Breaking the chain"
The war is over, God is no longer against us in wrath. His righteousness has been vindicated. This is the true meaning of the Gospel message first preached by the angels to the shepherds- “Peace and goodwill towards all men, for unto you a Son is given and a Saviour is Born”. It has little to do with world peace among nations as sometimes the church leaders maintain in their innocuous Christmas messages. Through the all-atoning death of Jesus Christ, God has declared peace. However, we now have a new enemy. He is our old master, the devil. He wants to break our faith, for that links us to God. Faith is "God's Life" and while we have Faith we have His life- "He that believes has eternal Life" So the enemy seeks to destroy our new Life- he seeks to break our faith in Gods promises which link us to God. Enemy weapons
Satan has two weapons which he uses.
They are SIN & Tribulation. Romans chapters 5 -8 tell us how to deal with them. When we are truly trusting in the fact that Jesus died for us and paid the penalty for our sin against God, all feelings of guilt disappear. (Ch 5 V.........) It brings about relief and joy, for we no longer fear death or the Judgment, but have a future hope of glory in heaven. (Ch 5 v …..) Please Note : When the bible uses the word "hope" it does not mean. what we generally mean today. “Hope” in the scripture means a certain future. It is not the uncertain “hope” we might have that our football team will win. Verses 2-4 tell us that before we reach our promised hope, our faith must grow. Faith is our new spiritual life. God’s life is faith. We now live by faith, and just as a baby grows stronger as the life grows in it, so we grow as children of our Father God. Faith grows in the “soil” of tribulation. It turns faith into “patience” or “endurance”. When God sees we have faith that endures, God stamps his “approval “ (A.V. says “experience”) upon us. By this perseverance we bring glory to God in the face of the enemy Satan, who engineers the trials to break our faith. When we bring glory to Him, we ensure our own glorification. (explained later) So now you stand in grace and rejoice in hope. ( V.........) Tribulation works
God allows the faith of his children to be tested. It strengthens their faith and their fellowship with Him. He stamps his approval- "Passed the test"
How to Keep your faith strong; In times of tribulation., when prayers are not answered and it seems that God doesn’t care, remember that your faith rests upon facts that do not change. Your circumstances will change for good or bad as the weather changes, but just as life goes on through all kinds of weather so your christain walk should continue no matter what circumstances come your way. Your faith should therefore be on a Rock, and like an anchor fixed to a rock. The Rock is the love that God has for you. How can we continue to believe that God still loves us when we are going through what seems to be great contradictions of that love. We must remember Calvary. Verse 8 declares “God has shown how much love he has for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” If He loved us when we were nailing Him to the cross, how much more then does He love us now that we are His children? (V......). We can have full assurance that if we continue in faith, we will reach our goal, because God will not let us go. He has invested everything He has in saving you and me. He has no other plans, outside of us who are being saved. He commands us to continue to believe in His love. The Security of God's love.
How to Keep your faith strong;
In times of tribulation., when prayers are not answered and it seems that God doesn’t care, remember that your faith rests upon facts that do not change. Your circumstances will change for good or bad as the weather changes, but just as life goes on through all kinds of weather so your christain walk should continue no matter what circumstances come your way. Your faith should therefore be on a Rock, and like an anchor fixed to a rock. The Rock is the love that God has for you. How can we continue to believe that God still loves us when we are going through what seems to be great contradictions of that love. We must remember Calvary. Verse 8 declares “God has shown how much love he has for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” If He loved us when we were nailing Him to the cross, how much more then does He love us now that we are His children? (V......). We can have full assurance that if we continue in faith, we will reach our goal, because God will not let us go. He has invested everything He has in saving you and me. He has no other plans, outside of us who are being saved. He commands us to continue to believe in His love. So keep your faith firm. If you lose your faith, you will think you have lost your righteousness. Remember your faith rests upon facts that do not change, so your faith should be on a rock, and like an anchor fixed to a rock, your faith should anchor in the love of God for you. Accept scripture as a fact. The first half of this chapter 5 is telling you that God loves you. This is to deal with tribulation, the second half helps you deal with Sin. You will be tested and tempted to believe that God doesn’t love you, and at times you will seem to have evidence to prove it. Do not believe such evidence. That is a lie from the devil. Continue to believe what you are reading in this chapter. The Cure-all
In the Old Testament we have an incident recorded, when the Israelites were journeying through the wilderness, and like us their faith was being tested. Sadly they failed the test and began grumbling about God’s love and care for them. Some said they would have been better, had they stayed in their old life in Egypt.
Because of this the Lord sent serpents amongst them, which proved very venomous, for when the people were bitten, they immediately began to die. Many of them died, so Moses pleaded with the Lord for a remedy. The Lord told Moses to make a brass serpent and put it on a pole. God said that everyone who ‘‘looked’’ to the brass serpent would be saved. So it happened that many were saved as they looked. What I want you to notice is that, it does not say that the serpents stopped biting them, but it does say that they stopped dying, because they continued to look up to the snake of brass. Likewise, it does not say in the gospel that you will stop sinning, but it does say that your sin will not bring about death, if you continue to look to Christ by faith. (1. John 1:9- 2:1.) Furthermore, once the venom had lost it’s power to weaken them they would then be able to kill the snakes. A similar process of faith first and fight second, enables us to stop committing sins So always remember the Brass snake. As long as they looked, they were saved. Faith stops sin having it’s deadly power, to separate you from God. Your faith will rob Satan of his power to separate you from God. So don’t give sin it’s power back. If ever you start to believe that your sin has separated you from God, then you are believing the wrong facts, and right faith depends upon right knowledge. THIS IS THE CRUCIAL POINT IN THE GOSPEL-MOMENT OF REALIZATION!! Somewhere around this time in your study (if this is all new to you) the really Good News for sinners should be sinking in. It should really sound too good to be true. You may even be prompted to ask “Does that mean that I can carry on sinning as much as I like, and God will continue to forgive me and count me as His child?” If it sounds like that to you then you can be pleased, because it means that you have understood it all correctly so far. You have come to the point where Paul asks the same question,. If grace abounds the more sin abounds, “shall we continue sinning so that we can know more of this abounding grace, which is so wonderful?” Many well established Christians who think they understand the gospel don’t like to ponder too long at this point, for it seems unthinkable. Well it has to be admitted that Paul also didn’t ponder too long either, but nevertheless, one has to get to this point, and it is the crucial part of the gospel. To show that it can be misinterpreted, you may recall that in chap 3 v 8 Paul makes mention of some who accused them of preaching a gospel that promoted sin. Also in Galatians ch 2:17, when explaining the gospel fact that we are dead to the Law, he is prompted to ask the question, - “Does Christ promote sin?” So do not be surprised if such a question comes to your mind at this point in understanding the grace of God. For that is exactly the question that Paul asks us to ponder at the beginning of chapter 6. “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” The freedom offered to us in Christ is genuine freedom. Just as Adam was free to choose on Day 1, so we, in Christ, make free choices. |
The Purpose of Grace
"Grace is at a low ebb in the soul of the one who asks the question how far can they go in worldly conformity" -C.H. Spurgeon.
The Gospel is good News, especially for sinners. We all enjoy the fact that we are no longer under law but under grace. Being threefold sinners,- by birth, nature and practice, it is wonderful news to know that grace will abound over all our sin.However to understand the gospel fully there are at least two things we should consider.
1. Is Sin good for us and the world we live in. Does it have good consequences or bad consequences.
2. Is the purpose of God in the gospel to grant us freedom to keep sinning without affecting our relationship with him, or is there a reason why God is willing to lavish his grace on us no matter how much we sin.
I think we could answer both these questions without reading the bible, but we will read it nevertheless.
Gal 2:20 We are crucified. Dead. Because the Law said we must die, we died when Christ died. If I am dead then there is no law to condemn me. No law, no sin, he that is dead is freed from sin.
Nothing can now separate me from God.
Question. Is God granting indulgences for us to sin Is Christ the minister of Sin.?
The reverse of that possibility is that by persuading people to rely on their own good works for salvation, then the Devil could be the minister of righteousness. But neither is true.
Check out the last line in this chapter (Gal 2:) in the AV,
“I do not frustrate the grace of God” Note the word “frustrate”
I do not stop the grace of God from fulfilling its purpose.
The purposes of God, in pouring out abundant grace is to provide a Holy Place where sin has no access wherein He can dwell by His Holy Spirit. The Temple has to be clean every second of every minute, every minute of every hour and every minute of every week. Otherwise the Holy Spirit could not dwell in us.
So the purpose of the grace is that the Holy Spirit may dwell in us always. Now we must ask, why does the Holy Spirit want to dwell in us?
Basically, that man can commune freely in fellowship with God and vice versa. But also that God might live out of us. That Gods will might be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Previously God sent his will in the form of the Law, Had man kept it the world would have been a wonderful place and man would know continued happiness and fellowship with God. But man could not keep the Law, because it was just a list of rules. The Law brought no power with it, to enable natural born sinners to keep it. Apple trees cant naturally stop bearing apples and produce pears instead.
However it is very significant and should always be remembered that the Holy Ghost was sent on the day the Jews were celebrating the giving of the Law.
The Holy Spirit came as a replacement for the Law. Instead of being under the Law of Moses which is just a list of rules, we are now under the Law of the Spirit, which is a living force- a Life. The word Spirit means “life”. So God is replacing a vain struggle to be free from sin with a “Holy LIFE”.
The Holy Spirit comes in with what some folk call the second blessing.
It is different and separate from the first blessing
The first blessing is salvation by faith. It is Justification by faith. It is an inner cleansing by the blood, which God sees –This is the work of Jesus Christ – It is finished
The second blessing is Holiness by OBEDIENCE. It is sanctification by obedience, It is the outer cleansing by the Word which the world sees.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is an ongoing work. We are not under condemnation because Christ took that, but we do come under conviction of sin, for this is the Holy Spirit’s work. He uses the Word like a mirror, In it we see how unlike Christ we are and so as we respond in obedience to the Spirit we are washed clean by the word.
Check out two verses;
Hebrews 10:22 – having our hearts cleansed by sprinkling of the blood and our bodies washed with pure water.
Eph 4:18 The Holy Spirit prepares the bride by the washing of water by the word.
This then has a two fold consequence.
1 We are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to the Holy spirit. Grace is the power that makes us respond to want to do God's will.
2 Being free from sin we enjoy the life of God, and in living out that Life we bring glory to the one who made us.
If you ever watch a football crowd, you can see their enthusiastic devotion to their team. Individually they have no glory of their own but they seek to share in the glory of their team. They chant its name endlessly, and sing songs of encouragement and praise and unashamedly carry the teams colours. And it costs them a great deal financially. This is a true illustration of how our worship and devotion should be to Christ Jesus. His future glory will far excede any glory obtained on this earth by a team or a popstar. We can unashamedly and legitimately praise Our Saviour, for he has done far more for us than any man or team on earth could ever do. He is worthy of our worship. Humans are not. They worship false gods because God created man with an inbuilt necessity to worship. Man is happy when he is praising his god on the field or golf course. True happiness is found in true worship. We can only gain when we are fully committed to following Jesus. It is the work of the Spirit to lead you in this direction.
To live a life “in the spirit”, by definition certainly does not come naturally. Romans 7 tells us that but Romans 8 tells us, that it is more than possible to live in this new life.
If we live in the flesh we will reap corruption, in other words our life or days are wasted. But if we live in the Spirit, under his guidance and control our lives will reap eternal consequences.
What day is it today? It is a chooseday. Every day’s a Chooseday.
We have a choice to live in the flesh, i.e please ourselves, do our own thing, please ourselves, (Sin) or commit afresh by a daily sacrifice our bodies for possession and control of the Holy Spirit.
Either way we are slaves. We have not been made with the ability to be otherwise. We either sin and become the slaves of sin- suffer its wages, or obey the Spirit and enjoy the freedom from sin and its consequences.
1. Is Sin good for us and the world we live in. Does it have good consequences or bad consequences.
2. Is the purpose of God in the gospel to grant us freedom to keep sinning without affecting our relationship with him, or is there a reason why God is willing to lavish his grace on us no matter how much we sin.
I think we could answer both these questions without reading the bible, but we will read it nevertheless.
Gal 2:20 We are crucified. Dead. Because the Law said we must die, we died when Christ died. If I am dead then there is no law to condemn me. No law, no sin, he that is dead is freed from sin.
Nothing can now separate me from God.
Question. Is God granting indulgences for us to sin Is Christ the minister of Sin.?
The reverse of that possibility is that by persuading people to rely on their own good works for salvation, then the Devil could be the minister of righteousness. But neither is true.
Check out the last line in this chapter (Gal 2:) in the AV,
“I do not frustrate the grace of God” Note the word “frustrate”
I do not stop the grace of God from fulfilling its purpose.
The purposes of God, in pouring out abundant grace is to provide a Holy Place where sin has no access wherein He can dwell by His Holy Spirit. The Temple has to be clean every second of every minute, every minute of every hour and every minute of every week. Otherwise the Holy Spirit could not dwell in us.
So the purpose of the grace is that the Holy Spirit may dwell in us always. Now we must ask, why does the Holy Spirit want to dwell in us?
Basically, that man can commune freely in fellowship with God and vice versa. But also that God might live out of us. That Gods will might be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Previously God sent his will in the form of the Law, Had man kept it the world would have been a wonderful place and man would know continued happiness and fellowship with God. But man could not keep the Law, because it was just a list of rules. The Law brought no power with it, to enable natural born sinners to keep it. Apple trees cant naturally stop bearing apples and produce pears instead.
However it is very significant and should always be remembered that the Holy Ghost was sent on the day the Jews were celebrating the giving of the Law.
The Holy Spirit came as a replacement for the Law. Instead of being under the Law of Moses which is just a list of rules, we are now under the Law of the Spirit, which is a living force- a Life. The word Spirit means “life”. So God is replacing a vain struggle to be free from sin with a “Holy LIFE”.
The Holy Spirit comes in with what some folk call the second blessing.
It is different and separate from the first blessing
The first blessing is salvation by faith. It is Justification by faith. It is an inner cleansing by the blood, which God sees –This is the work of Jesus Christ – It is finished
The second blessing is Holiness by OBEDIENCE. It is sanctification by obedience, It is the outer cleansing by the Word which the world sees.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is an ongoing work. We are not under condemnation because Christ took that, but we do come under conviction of sin, for this is the Holy Spirit’s work. He uses the Word like a mirror, In it we see how unlike Christ we are and so as we respond in obedience to the Spirit we are washed clean by the word.
Check out two verses;
Hebrews 10:22 – having our hearts cleansed by sprinkling of the blood and our bodies washed with pure water.
Eph 4:18 The Holy Spirit prepares the bride by the washing of water by the word.
This then has a two fold consequence.
1 We are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to the Holy spirit. Grace is the power that makes us respond to want to do God's will.
2 Being free from sin we enjoy the life of God, and in living out that Life we bring glory to the one who made us.
If you ever watch a football crowd, you can see their enthusiastic devotion to their team. Individually they have no glory of their own but they seek to share in the glory of their team. They chant its name endlessly, and sing songs of encouragement and praise and unashamedly carry the teams colours. And it costs them a great deal financially. This is a true illustration of how our worship and devotion should be to Christ Jesus. His future glory will far excede any glory obtained on this earth by a team or a popstar. We can unashamedly and legitimately praise Our Saviour, for he has done far more for us than any man or team on earth could ever do. He is worthy of our worship. Humans are not. They worship false gods because God created man with an inbuilt necessity to worship. Man is happy when he is praising his god on the field or golf course. True happiness is found in true worship. We can only gain when we are fully committed to following Jesus. It is the work of the Spirit to lead you in this direction.
To live a life “in the spirit”, by definition certainly does not come naturally. Romans 7 tells us that but Romans 8 tells us, that it is more than possible to live in this new life.
If we live in the flesh we will reap corruption, in other words our life or days are wasted. But if we live in the Spirit, under his guidance and control our lives will reap eternal consequences.
What day is it today? It is a chooseday. Every day’s a Chooseday.
We have a choice to live in the flesh, i.e please ourselves, do our own thing, please ourselves, (Sin) or commit afresh by a daily sacrifice our bodies for possession and control of the Holy Spirit.
Either way we are slaves. We have not been made with the ability to be otherwise. We either sin and become the slaves of sin- suffer its wages, or obey the Spirit and enjoy the freedom from sin and its consequences.
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Rivers of Grace (by Me)
I went to God’s party the other day The usual abundance was given away He offered each guest a drink to take Guaranteed to give joy, and no hangover ache. A ‘‘punch’’ called ‘‘works’’ Or a wine called ‘‘grace’’ A choice of drink, all had to face ‘‘What’s the difference?’’ I asked a man by me.... ‘‘The punch is costly, but the wine is free’’ ‘‘As much as we want’’ we incredulously cried ‘‘Yes, as much as you want’’ the Lord replied So each one drank from the fount of grace You could tell it was good by the look on each face They drank from cups, from glasses, from mugs They spooned it, ladled it, poured it in jugs They filled every vessel that you’d care to name But the more they took, the more it came They came from the front, They pushed from behind A lot got spilt, but the Lord didn’t mind ‘‘Keep helping yourselves’’ he said oft with a grin ‘‘But don’t let the drink, drive you to sin’’ |
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