THE NEW WAY OF LIVING It is impossible to serve and please God by following a checklist. Legalism does not please God as it only reveals our unrighteousness and prideful hearts. For the harder we try to keep the law, the more the law reveals our shortcomings. But the “new way of living” is not
WAGES ARE EARNED BUT GIFTS ARE RECEIVED The word translated “wages” was used to denote a Roman soldier’s pay during Paul’s time. So, “wages” are earned. Since we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23), we have all earned death. Death is the just desert for a life of sin. This death is not only the death
GOD’S LOVE REVEALED Which is better love spoken or love shown? Yet, God has done both through Christ Jesus. For He is the Word, the Logos, the greatest and fullest communication of God’s love to us. He is love written in the flesh. Christ is God’s Word of love spoken to us. And Christ is
HOPING AGAINST HOPE When there was no physical or circumstantial reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping in God’s promise. As the KJV has it: “Who against hope believed in hope.” What is hope? It is the feeling of expectation that a desirable outcome will take place in the future. But Abraham had more than just
IS YOUR RECORD CLEARED? Paul quoted David’s psalm, Psalms 32:1-2, to support his explanation that being made right with God is not by works, but by faith alone. When we place our faith in Christ and receive forgiveness and salvation, His blood not only covers our sin, it washes it away. Our “record” is “cleared.”
SIN IS MISSING THE MARK AND ALL HAVE MISSED IT All humanity has missed the mark of God’s righteousness. Therefore, all humanity falls short of being able to get right with God by our own effort. For even our best efforts are as “filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6) before the Lord. The word “sin” seems to
HAVE YOU LEARNED TO OVERLOOK WRONGS? Are you easily angered or offended? If so, this is not the fault of others as you often feel, but it is your own self-disposition that perceives every word, a dig, and every look, a personal slight. You are looking for offense and you always find it. Give your
WHO ARE WE O LORD THAT YOU HAVE BROUGHT US THIS FAR? When David told the prophet Nathan of his desire to build a house for the Lord, the word of the Lord came to Nathan during the night saying that He was instead going to build a house for David. The Lord spoke of
CREATION REVEALS THE CREATOR In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, he taught that all humanity was under God’s wrath because they had rejected even the most basic revelation He had given them, namely, creation itself. This is what theologians call General Revelation or Natural Revelation, which is the knowledge of God available to
PAUL’S PRAYER FOR OPPORTUNITY Towards the end of 57 AD, on his third missionary journey, Paul penned this letter to the believers in Rome while he was working in Corinth. He probably heard about the believers in Rome from his new friends, Aquila and Priscilla, who had been deported with other Jews by Claudius Caesar