November 17, 2019
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Romans 8:31-39
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exposition
Is your life is filled with anxiety and trouble? Do you often wonder whether anyone loves you, much less God? Are you surrounded by hurt and broken relationships? Some of it you blame on others, but if you’ll admit it, you blame yourself for most of it. Where’s the love?
That’s the question that Paul closes this powerful chapter with, it’s the question of God’s love. In fact, the final verses of Romans 8 are made up of 5 questions, each progressing like stair steps up to the 5th and highest step, which is this question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” In Romans 8:31-39, the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome that they could rest in the fact that nothing could separate them from God’s love. We can rest in the fact that nothing can separate us from God’s love
November 10, 2019
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Romans 8:18-30
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exposition
Our future glorification of ultimately becoming like Christ will make the difficult journey worth it all. In Romans 8:18-30, the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome that in spite of the suffering in this present world they could be encouraged by hope in God’s ultimate purpose for their future glorification of becoming like Jesus. We can be encouraged by hope in God’s future glorification of becoming like Jesus.
November 3, 2019
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Romans 8:12-17
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exposition
How do you view God? Does He seem distant and far away? Do you see Him as a Judge? Or do you see Him as near and close? How many of you see Him as your Father, your ever present Abba?
That’s where Paul is taking us today. As he continues to talk about how God is making us holy like Jesus, which is our sanctification, he saves the best for last. That we can relate to God as Father changes everything! In Romans 8:12-17, the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome that they had received the Spirit of adoption which enabled them to live as God’s children. As believers, we have received the Spirit of adoption enabling us to live as God’s children
October 27, 2019
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Romans 8:1-11
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exposition
Do continue to do what you hate? You’ve received Christ, but you have feelings of guilt and shame because you want to do what pleases God, but you continue to give in to your old sin nature? Or maybe you’ve never received Christ, but you’re sick and tired of living life on your own. You’re ready to admit you need help.
What the apostle described in Romans 7 is the futility of trying to live the Christian life without the Spirit of God. Just as it’s impossible to earn God’s favor apart from faith, so it’s impossible to please God without depending on His indwelling Spirit. In Romans 8:1-8, the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome that overcoming the flesh is only possible by a total reliance on the work of God’s Holy Spirit for their sanctification. We can understand why overcoming the flesh is only possible by relying on the work of God’s Spirit for our sanctification.
July 24, 2019
DOES GOD WITHHOLD GOOD FROM US? God already gave us His best. Therefore, let us not accuse Him of withholding any good thing from us. If we do not have it, it is because He has something better for us. Or it is because He is training us in righteousness through suffering. Our God has
July 22, 2019
WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO PLEASE? The apostle Paul wrote that only those under the control of the Holy Spirit are able to think about the things that please God. Without the Spirit, we are left to ourselves and to the control of the sin nature, which the Bible calls the “flesh.” The flesh is
May 12, 2019
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Romans 8:18-39
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suffering
For most who pose the question of why God allows suffering, it is neither a philosophical, nor a theological one. For most, it is a personal question. What’s your story today? How are you dealing with the problem of suffering and evil in our world?
God inspired the apostle Paul to consider the problem of suffering and to write to encourage the believers in Rome. He revealed that there’s definitely more to the story! In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he explained why there is suffering in God’s creation, encouraging them to compare it against the weight of God’s glory that awaits those who believe. We can understand why there is suffering in God’s creation, knowing that a greater glory awaits those of us who believe.
July 24, 2018
TRUSTING GOD’S GOOD PURPOSE FOR US
Are you facing a time of difficulty and wondering where God is today? Have you gone through a time of suffering and questioning how God can possibly allow it, much less, use it? Yet, God is sovereign. God is at work. He is making you like Jesus. That is His purpose for those who love Him and are called by Him. You can face any trial or trouble knowing that God will cause it ultimately to come together for His purpose, which is that you should “become like his Son” (Rom. 8:29).
So, don’t waste the pain. Don’t lean away, but lean into Jesus all the more. Trust God’s good purpose for your life.
July 23, 2018
THE SPIRIT OF SLAVERY VS. THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION
The former life before receiving Christ is one of slavery to sin. The actions of the slave are motivated by fear. So, the one enslaved to sin leads a life motivated and marked by fear. Among these fears are the fear of man, the fear of bad consequence and the fear of death. In addition, the former life is marked by the slave’s mentality. The slave is in bondage to sin, so that even when he wishes to do good, he does the opposite, even the thing he hates (See Rom. 7).
However, the one who has received Christ is set free from slavery to sin. For to receive Christ is to receive the Spirit of Adoption, so that the believer is adopted into God’s family, no longer a slave, but a son. Not only children of God, but sons of God, for sons receive an inheritance. And all who believe, whether male or female, will receive the inheritance of sonship, becoming co-heirs with Christ, the Son of God. The one who has trusted Christ is no longer motivated by fear, but is free to please the Father by God’s Spirit living within. It is the Spirit that gives the believer the urge and right to call God, “Abba” which is Aramaic for “Daddy.”
As believers in Christ, we are no longer slaves of fear, but sons of God, set free by His Spirit and adopted into His family.
July 22, 2018
GOD’S LOVE AND LAW FULLY SATISFIED IN CHRIST!
What is the “just requirement of the law?” It is that those who cannot keep it must die. For the wages of sin is death (Rom. 3:23). God sent His Son to “fully satisfy” the law by dying in our place, taking the penalty of death that we deserved. Jesus alone has kept the law, yet He gave Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. So now, we that believe in Jesus, are set free from death and the power of the sin nature. Having been set free from sin, we are empowered to follow the Spirit. Jesus took upon Himself our sin, separation, and death. And He offers in exchange His righteousness, Sonship and eternal life.
Jesus has fully satisfied both God’s love and law, for both are intermingled at the cross of Christ.