Devotionary

Our freedom to say no to sin and yes to holiness has been made possible by Christ’s death and the Spirit’s presence in our lives. Holiness, Paul will remind us, is not an issue of SELF-control, but of the Spirit’s control over us. It is based on a willing submission to God’s power made available to us through His indwelling Spirit. We can experience the transformation God has in store for us as we transfer the control of our lives to the Spirit of God He has made available to us.

One of the primary topics of Paul’s letter to the Romans is the ongoing, progressive sanctification of the believer. We are being transformed into the image of Christ, day after day, year after year. It is an ongoing reality for all those who have placed their faith in Christ and within whom God has placed His Spirit. And our transformation, like our salvation, is not up to us ­– it is the work of God. Which is what makes it not only possible, but unavoidable.

Paul’s issue with the law has nothing to do with its authority, just its efficacy. In other words, the law, while holy, was not designed to save. In fact, it can’t save. It can instruct. It can convict. It can condemn. But it will never make anyone right with God. Paul will make it quite clear that the law was given to reveal our sinfulness, not get rid of it. And what makes the law holy is that it is a tangible expression of God’s righteous requirements for mankind.

As if a right standing with a holy God was not enough, Paul says we also have peace with Him. We have gone from enemies to sons and daughters. We have moved from foes to family members. And not only that, we can rejoice even in suffering, because we know that God is going to use it to produce in us endurance, character and hope. And God did all of this for us when we were weak, undeserving, mired in our sins, and deserving of His wrath. Our justification has had unbelievable ramifications.

How do we go from having a wavering, waffling kind of faith that’s as volatile as the stock market, to a steadily increasing, confidence-increasing kind of faith that can weather the storms of life? Paul would have us consider Abraham, whose faith in God was counted to him as righteousness.

There is no one who deserves salvation. And there is nothing anyone can do to earn it, either. No one is righteous. That’s bad news. But the good news is that we can be made righteous through faith in Christ. What we could never achieve on our own has been made possible for us through the death of Christ. Chapter 3 of Romans is a powerful statement regarding man’s hopeless sinful state and God’s gracious gift of salvation and justification through His Son.

Paul is forced to talk directly to the Jews in his audience, letting them know that their ethnicity was not enough to save them. The fact that they had been given the law made little difference in their standing with God because they had failed to keep God’s law. Being a Jew didn’t make anyone right with God. If anything, it placed them under greater condemnation because their inability to keep the law should have driven them to His Son as their sin substitute and Savior.

Paul has some powerful words of warning to the religious and smugly self-righteous. Don’t confuse God’s kindness and patience with your sin as a sign that He is happy with you. All men have sinned and fallen short of God’s holy standard. And all men, even the religious and self-righteous are deserving of death. Unless of course, they have placed their faith in Christ. Just because some people seem to get away with sin shouldn’t lead us to believe that God somehow approves of their sin.

Paul is going to go out of his way to let us know just how bad things had gotten in the world that God had created. Man, made in God’s image, had chosen to turn his back on God and worship anything and everything but God. And his idolatry had led to increasing immorality and an abandonment by God to their own sinful desires. He gave them over.

Join us as we begin a brand new study in the book of Romans called The Gospel of God.

Paul is going to introduce us to the Good News of Jesus Christ and emphasize his unwavering commitment to it. For Paul, the amazing thing about the good news, or the gospel, was its ability to make sinful men and women right with God. This is what set the gospel of Jesus Christ apart from all other religions. And it was all based on faith, not human effort or good works.

In Hebrews chapter 13, verses 2-25, the author will provide us with a much-needed reminder of God’s peace, power and provision. God is equipping and transforming us. He is protecting and providing for us. We have been made right with Him through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have His power available to us and living within us in the form of the Holy Spirit. We have everything we need to live a godly life in this life, as we wait for the promise of eternal life.

Leadership is a misunderstood and sometimes, misused part of the Christian faith. Our concepts regarding leadership can be more worldly than godly. Our desire to be a leader can be motivated more by power and position than love and service. So how should we lead and how should we relate to those we have been called to follow? God has appointed leaders within the local church. And He will hold them responsible for how they shepherd those under their care.

As followers of Christ, our lives are to exhibit the distinctive and defining characteristics of consistency and faithfulness. We are to model our lives after those who have exhibited these same characteristics over time, having proven their faith over the long-haul. The pursuit of the new and the novel is not to be a hallmark of our lives. New isn’t always improved. Heresy oftentimes comes disguised as new teaching or new insights into old truths. But we are to be wary.

the author of Hebrews provides us with a practical expression of faith lived out in real life. Faith in God and a confident hope in the future He has in store for us should show up in tangible, visible forms that make a dramatic difference in the way we live our lives. He’s going to emphasize love, hospitality, and acts of kindness to the mistreated and imprisoned. He’s going to uphold the sanctity of marriage, the lure of materialism, and the need for contentment.