Daily Inspirations

  Good morning. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? In other words did it have unintended consequences? God forbid! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. Now we get to the controversial part of chapter 7. Is Paul talking about himself before he became a Christian or afterwards? For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. That is true about our old man, who is now dead. Unfortunately, we do not act like our old man is dead. It seems like he is alive and kicking. We all do go through some form of the following at times. What I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I’m doing the very thing I hate. One would think that after becoming a Christian that Paul’s desire to disobey would be eradicated. But if I do that very thing I do not want ...

  Good morning. Paul continues: but now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. While we are not under the law of Moses, there are some Christians who live their lives as if they are under some kind of law. They have a list of things that they must/cannot do. We are to live our lives following the leading of the Holy Spirit. No matter how long a list we have, it will never cover every situation. Besides, if we kept the list, we could brag that we were the ones living the Christian life. So if the law of Moses was so bad, was it sin? God forbid! Then what use what is it? I would not have come to know sin except through the law; for I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, you shall not covet. Remember that earlier Paul said “until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law“. Sin, taking opportunity through the comma...

  Good morning. Now one of those famous verses that all Christians know: for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. You get wages for working, and your paycheck for working all of that sin is death. You don’t have to work for eternal life; it is a free gift. As the current hit song says: I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it; still You give Yourself away. Now we get to the hotly debated chapter 7. Is Paul talking about himself, or is he talking about a generic nonbeliever? In some places it seems like he’s talking about before he became a Christian; and in others it seems like he’s talking about while he is a Christian. As Yul Brenner said in the movie “the king and I”: Tis a puzzlement. Do you not know that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? So that does not sound like he’s talking about a Christian. You were made to die to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another...

  Good morning. Sometimes Paul likes to say the same basic thing two or three different ways to help you understand. Just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. The choice is up to us as to which one we present ourselves. Just as lawlessness begets more lawlessness; so righteousness begets more righteousness. Legally we are sanctified at rebirth; but it takes a lifetime to work it out in our lives. When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. People of the world are not ashamed of what they are doing; in fact they rejoice in them and encourage others to join them. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, ...

  Good morning. OK so we are not under law but under grace. Does that mean we can do whatever we want? Paul says: shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? Grace is not a “free pass“ to do anything that you want. If you do sin, grace means that it’s not all over – that you won’t go to heaven. It’s kind of like with Adam. God said that in the day you eat from the tree, you will die. Eve ate from the tree, and she did not drop over dead. It gave him the boldness to try also. You sin, don’t immediately go to the bad place, so you think why not sin again - I can just ask for forgiveness. After a while, you are hooked and don’t even care whether or not you are forgiven for doing it. But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you became obe...

   Good morning. I hope everything is great there. OK so we are to consider ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus – then what? Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts. That is easier said than done. Notice that it says do not “let” sin reign in your body. First of all that says that it is a choice; it doesn’t force you to do anything. Secondly, it says don’t let it “reign”. That does not mean that you won’t ever sin again; but it is not going to be the master of you. You are to be in charge, not it. So what should we do? Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness (we do not put ourselves into situations where we are tempted to sin); but present yourself to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. You have to choose. You are either going to present yourself to sin (as one dead), or to God (as one alive). Sin shall not be ...

  Good morning. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. Before Christ, death was our master. It was always looming over us and was a fearful prospect. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; the life that He lives, He lives to God. Since we died with Christ, we also should be dead to sin. So what do we do?  Even so consider yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. The accomplishment of that is a lifelong process. It is not just a simple step of wishing that were true. It does start with our thinking. It’s kind of like having all of your debts paid off and $1 million in the bank. You don’t go around groveling, afraid to spend a dime. You are no longer subject to the slavery of indebtedness and having no money. You are free, and must start to act like it. We are no longer slaves of sin, and s...

   Good morning. Expanding on the concept of baptism: For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. If the devil tries to make us feel badly about something we did before becoming Christians, we can point to our baptism and say I didn’t do it; my old man who is now dead did it. And of course in addition to telling no tales, dead men sin no sin. It does not mean that we do not ever sin; it means that we are no longer slaves to sin – it does not control us; we choose to sin. When we are tempted to sin, we should tell ourselves that our old man is dead and resist. Sadly we don’t. We go on acting like he’s still alive and kicking. We have to get rid of that stinking thinking. Now it is great that old man w...

  Good morning. Remember that Paul just asked how shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? If we are dead, how can we still live in sin? What happens when someone dies? 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. We weren’t just dead and buried. If that were the case, you might as well just shoot us as soon as we get saved. Speaking of the children of Israel when they left Egypt; “He brought us out to bring us in”. God did not just deliver them from the slavery in Egypt; He brought them into the land of promise that they might live for Him. Just like they received their liberty back then, we Americans received our liberty in 1776. As Christians, we received our liberty from sin when we made Jesus Lord of our lives. Just like they were...

  Good morning. We saw last time that the law came in so that the transgression would increase. God wasn’t trying to catch more people and send them to the bad place. He was setting a standard so that man cannot say “I have lived a good life and deserve to go to heaven“, without any justification. Now He could say, you have not lived according to My standard. Where sin increased, Grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so Grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? No way dude! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Since man no longer had to do works to be justified, that gave rise to the prospect of what is known as “greasy grace“. I can do whatever I want, because I’ve got my fire insurance. Besides, the more sin I do, the more God will have to exert His grace - it will abound. If we have died to sin, we shouldn’t be tempted...

  Good morning. Paul continues with the thought: for if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Talk about unintended consequences. What Adam did, did not affect just him; it affected all humans for all eternity. So then through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. In this case it was intended consequences. Jesus intended that His one act would bring justification to all those who believe. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. Why did God use Moses to give the people of Israel the law? The law came in so that the transgression would increase. Until the law was given, there was no way for man to measure how he stoo...

  Good morning. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned - for until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed [ascribe (something, especially something undesirable) as being done, caused, or possessed by someone] when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. As a human, our inheritance is death because of Adam. That is true whether or not we sinned like he did. Even today as Christians, that still applies to us. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the One man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. What Adam did, gave us death. What Jesus did, gave us life! We didn’t do anything to deserve death – we didn’t do anything ...

  Good morning. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. I have said several times that everything happened at just the right time; everything had to be in place for Jesus to come. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. We do see today where people give their lives trying to protect others in shooting situations. In a lot of cases, they don’t even know whether the people they are saving are good or bad. But God knew that we were bad. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Thankfully we did not have to get good enough for Him to die for us - we couldn’t. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. This is what I was talking about before: notice that it says we were justified by His blood; not through His resurrection. For if while we were enemies we w...

  Good morning. OK so we have been justified – now what? Having been justified by faith (not works), we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Having peace with God is a big deal. (that is not the same thing as having the peace of God). Through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations. Now wait a minute Paul! I get that we exult in hope of the glory of God, but exulting in our tribulations??? Why: knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance. Isn’t that kind of like praying for patience, and then getting situations in which you need to be patient? What does perseverance bring about – proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Do we have to go through all of that? Can’t we just get ou...

  Good morning. So Abraham believed God, even though the circumstances appeared to be against it happening. What was the result – therefore it was credited to him as righteousness. It wasn’t a true indwelling righteousness as we experience; that only comes through a relationship with Jesus. Now not for his (Abraham’s) sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him  who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. The king James uses the word ”for” in both cases where this says “because of”. That is sometimes interpreted as: Jesus was raised in order to obtain our justification; i.e. we would not be justified, if He had not been raised. I believe it should be interpreted as: He was delivered over as a result of our transgressions, and was raised as a result of our justification. I believe that what foll...

  Good morning. Back to Abraham: without becoming week in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about 100 years old, and the deadness of Sarah‘s womb, yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. That is extremely hard to do. Even with some minor affliction, such as a little hoarseness, it’s hard to imagine yourself speaking clearly. In your mind, you hear yourself talking with that same hoarseness. And yet Abraham was able to look at the problem and believe that God was going to do what He said He would do, in spite of the problem. Some “faith” people say that they don’t have a problem, when obviously they do. That’s not what Abraham did. He said, I’ve got a problem, but my God is greater than the problem. It says that he grew strong in faith. Most of us would’ve grown weak in faith. He knew that he ...

  Good morning. David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. Paul asks, was the faith credited to Abraham as righteousness while he was circumcised or uncircumcised? It was while he was uncircumcised; therefore, one does not have to be a Jew to have his faith reckoned as righteousness (praise God!). For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. It is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with Grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is father of us all. That reminded me of the old song: father Abraham had many sons… God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which ...

  Good morning. Paul now gives what seems like a refutation to what James said. What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works (uh-oh), he has something to boast about, but not before God. What does the scripture say? Abraham believed God (when He said that Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars of the heavens), and it was credited to him as righteousness. James also mentions this verse. He says that when Abraham offered up his son Isaac on the altar, that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the scripture was fulfilled which says that Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Christian say they believe, but don’t act like it. Abraham did act like it. He was offering up his only hope that his descendants would be as the stars of the heavens. Back to Paul: now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a fa...

  Good morning. Why did God display Jesus as a propitiation? This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over sins previously committed, for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. This is something that mankind was unable to figure out. How could God be a just God, and at the same time justify His people? We deserved total annihilation; and yet He wanted a people for His own. Someone had to pay for the wrath due us. And so the wrath of God fell on Jesus; the only one who did not deserve it. We maintain that a man 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 the Gentiles also? This brings us back again to what James said. God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. No matter what the Jews did, they were not able to receive justification...

  Good morning. Before Jesus, your right standing before God depended on you keeping the law. Now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. Then one of those oft quoted verses: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Paul is saying that it is no longer through works that we are justified, unlike in the Old Testament. Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. My Bible says that the Greek for this phrase “as a propitiation“ speaks of a sacrifice that satisfies the righteous wrath of God. Once a year the high priest would bring the blood of a sacrificed animal into the holy of holies, and sprinkle the blood upon the mercy seat (propitiatory) that was on the ark. This made atonement for all of the si...

  Good morning. What good was it to be a Jew? They were entrusted with the oracles of God. That is actually a really big deal. The Jews were very meticulous in copying the Scriptures and in taking care of them. If they had been entrusted to anyone else, they would’ve been long ago lost forever. Paul then quotes the scripture that there is none who is righteous. By the works of the law no flesh will be justified (declared not guilty, but rather righteous) in His sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. Of course that seems to contradict what James said that faith without works is dead; and that Abraham was justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar. He also said that you can see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. How do you reconcile the two? Unlike some people, I don’t know everything. It is possible that James wrote his letter before he came to the full understanding of salvation. After all, it was years after the resurrect...

  Good morning. Speaking of the righteous judgment of God: who will render to each person according to his deeds. To those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. Sometimes we don’t persevere, and give up. But to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. We get upset because God does not zap them right away. As one fellow used to say: God will get them in the end – I’m not saying which end He will get them in, but He will get them in the end. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil (Jew or Greek), but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good (Jew or Greek). For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law; for it is not the hearers of the law who are just before God, but the doers of the law will ...

  Good morning. Today you see politicians and others condemning certain activities; and then later you find out they were doing the same thing, and maybe even worse. This is from chapter 2 of Romans: therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. Oops! But do you suppose this, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same thing yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Of course we all say, get them God! But: do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? We so want others to get their just desserts now; but when it comes to us, we want God to be patient. If God judged us the way we want Him to judge others, we would be toast! But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of ...

  Good morning. So God’s divine nature is clearly seen in what He has made. Then a verse that is so applicable today: even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and made their idols. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. People today may not serve physical idols like Paul was talking about, but they have other things that become idols in their hearts. And because they do not look to God as their source, they look other places to find meaning in their lives. They cannot believe in an all powerful, loving Creator, so they have to come up with some other explanation as to how everything came about. If there is no Cr...

  Good morning. Paul was talking about the Gospel: For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “but the righteous man shall live by faith“. People like the gospel because it gives them their fire insurance; but they don’t like the demand that it puts on the way they live. We came into the kingdom of God by faith, and we are to live the Christian life by faith also. This same verse from the Old Testament is in the book of Galatians. There is where Martin Luther read the quote, and that brought about the Reformation. The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, having been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made,...

  Good morning. I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. It had been Paul’s goal for a good while to get to Rome. The phrase “rest of the Gentiles“, just like the one from before when he said “obedience of faith among all the Gentiles“ seems to confirm that this church was mostly Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Even though this was Rome, the philosophy etc. of the Greeks was greatly admired. People who were not sophisticated were a lot of times called barbarians. And then a verse we should all live by: for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Remember what Jesus said to the Gentile woman whose daughter was cruelly demon possessed – I was sent to the ...

  Good morning. Well it only took two days to get through Paul’s first sentence. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all (don’t you mean y’all?), because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. How would you like that to be said about you - that your faith was being proclaimed throughout the whole world? Even when he was about to zap somebody, Paul started his letters saying something nice about the people. For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. Other than perhaps family or for really good friends, how many people do we unceasingly pray about? This, and Paul had never met these people. He was praying though, that he might succeed in coming to them. We just saw at the end of the book of Acts that his prayer was granted, but not in the way that ...

  Good morning. We continue with Paul’s introduction. He was very famous for extremely long sentences. Speaking of Jesus – who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That plus all we did yesterday is one sentence. Until Jesus was raised from the dead, He was just an extraordinary man with miraculous powers. There have been numerous people throughout the ages who have performed miracles such as He did; but none of them were raised permanently from the dead. All three members of the Godhead are mentioned at work in this sentence. Paul says that his designation as an apostle came stra...

  Good morning. Today we begin the book of Romans. He has not been to Rome yet. My Bible says that there is a verse near the end which talks about the collections that he was going to take to Jerusalem, which is the occasion near the end of Acts which got him into trouble. Paul basically introduces himself at the beginning and gives his qualifications for writing. He says that he was a bond servant of Christ Jesus. My Bible says that this is different from being a hired hand. He completely belonged to his owner, Jesus. Called as an apostle. There are too many people who are designated by others or even by themselves as apostles. The true ones, like Paul, are designated by God as apostles. Set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures. God did not make up everything as He went along. He had everything completely planned out and revealed it through hints to His prophets in the Old Testament. Concerning His Son who was born o...

  Good morning. The Jews replied, we have neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren come here and reported or spoken anything bad about you. That was good. They did not have any preconceived notions about him. Thank goodness they did not have cell phones back then. They could judge for themselves based on what he said. But we desire to hear from you what your views are; for concerning this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere. They came back another day, and Paul explained to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning until evening. Just like all the places that Paul went, some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe. Paul finished his presentation by saying, the Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying, you will keep on hearing, but wi...

  Good morning. The father of the leading man of the island was sick. Paul prayed for him, and he was healed. After this, the rest of the people on the island brought their sick to be healed. It doesn’t say whether or not Paul shared the gospel with them; but it certainly gave him a golden opportunity to do so. At the end of three months we set sail. What is ironic is that if they had stayed for the winter where Paul told them to, they would probably have gotten to Rome at about the same time, and they would have avoided all of the stress and strain they endured on the ship. Finally Paul makes it to Rome. He was allowed to stay by himself, with a soldier who was guarding him. I guess this was kind of like house arrest. During all of this, Paul did not say, woe is me. He knew he was on a mission. He called together the leading men of the Jews. He explained to them what had happened in Jerusalem and in Caesarea. When the Romans had examined me, they were willing to release me because...