Category: Romans
“Love your neighbor as yourself!”
Scripture reading for June 30th: Romans 13
Key Scriptures for over-comers: Romans 13:8-10 “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
Paul taught that the Law, the Ten Commandments, were all about love. The first four commandments were all about loving God with all our heart, soul, minds and strength. But here, the second tablet of the Law was partially quoted to show that those who loved would fulfill the requirements of these commandments. If you love someone, you will not commit adultery with another man’s wife! This is not love! If you love someone, you will not purposely take their life, steal their goods, or even covet what they had! So love fulfilled the law supernaturally by changing believer’s hearts to flow in Christ’s love and truth.
Observations for over-comers: Christians don’t work to keep the law, but fulfill the law by living a life of sincere love that comes from the Holy Spirit residing in them and guiding them into all truth and its daily application. “I hate and abhor falsehood but I love your law. Seven times a day I praise You for Your righteous laws. Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.” (Psalm 119:163-165)
Keep your spiritual fervor!
Scripture reading for June 29th: Romans 12
Key Scriptures for over-comers: Romans 12:9-14 “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”
Paul gave practical advice to the believers in Rome about how to live in the midst of a crooked and perverse world. The church was to be a community of heaven, under King Jesus. This community was to be marked by sincere love. This love would hate what was evil and cling to what was good. It would be marked by the standards set by Jesus Christ and Holy Scripture. This love would not tolerate living in the sinful lifestyles of the world but would zealously serve the Lord. They would honor each other as those made in God’s image–both male and female! They would be joyful in hope and patient in affliction through constant contact with their King through prayer! They would share with each other and practice hospitality to those in need. This advice sounds like a description of Jesus Christ!
Observations for over-comers: Spiritual fervor flows from a holy life of service to the King. The best defense is a good offense of living a life of sincere love towards God and others with patience and faith. “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.” (Proverbs 19:2)
Worship is the fitting response to God’s mercy!
Scripture reading for June 28th: Romans 11
Key Scriptures for over-comers: Romans 11:32-36 “”For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all.” “Oh the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and His paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord: Or who has been His counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen!”
God’s wisdom and knowledge are beyond all human understanding. All men are of Adam, and through disobedience are under darkness and death. God’s love bound them over so that He might make His mercy available to all men, Jew or Gentile! This plan of redemption came through God’s own initiative and the Son’s willing obedience to the Father’s plan. The promised Holy Spirit would bring God’s wisdom and knowledge to each person who would believe! From Him and through Him are all things! He deserves all glory, now and forever!
Observations for over-comers: God, alone, planned and worked out our salvation and deliverance from the penalty of death from disobedience! He alone is worthy of praise! Give Him all glory! “Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is He, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty–He is the King of glory!” (Psalm 24:9-10)
The Stumbling Stone!
Scripture reading for June 24th: Romans 9
Key Scriptures for over-comers: Romans 9:30-33 “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled over the “Stumbling Stone.” As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.”
Many people are like the Jews of the time of Jesus and Paul. They in their human pride think that by their own works and keeping God’s Law that they can assure themselves salvation. Jesus came to fulfill the Law of God by perfectly obeying it and all His Father’s decrees. Jesus was and is the only way to find true righteousness but the Jews rejected Him, stumbling by trying to find it through works–the keeping of the Law. But those who trust in Jesus Christ will never be put to shame or stumble into judgment!
Observations for over-comers: Over-comers avoid the trap of human works or religious rules to obtain right standing with God. They fully trust in Jesus Christ and stand firm on the Rock of their salvation! “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior–from violent men you save me.” (2nd Samuel 22:2-3)
Help in our weakness!
Scripture reading for June 23rd: Romans 8
Key Scriptures for over-comers: Romans 8:26-28 “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
The Father’s gift of the Holy Spirit is the best gift in many ways! The Holy Spirit comes into us and gives us a new heart that now wants to do God’s will. The Spirit brings the life and truth of God’s Word to life in us. The Spirit helps us in our human weakness of both body and mind. Paul says that the Spirit, through our prayer language, intercedes for us with groans, or spiritual language, that is beyond our ability to express in human words. The Holy Spirit perfectly knows the mind of God and our heart as well, and His interceding enables us to understand that God is working all things for our good and His purposes.
Observations for over-comers: Over-comers allow the Holy Spirit to pray through them at all times, empowering them in weakness and times of seeking God’s will. This act of faith brings assurance that God is working for our good to fulfill His calling for us. “Answer me when I call to You, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress, be merciful to me and hear my prayer.” (Psalm 4:1)
The Way of the Spirit!
Scripture reading for June 22nd: Romans 7
Key Scriptures for over-comers: Romans 7:4-6 “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the Law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the Law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”
Jesus Christ came to earth to fulfill the Law and thereby be able to offer Himself–His body and blood–for the sacrificial payment for the sins of all other men born of Adam. Through faith in Christ’s death, we died to the Law of God. In Christ’s resurrection, we also were raised to a new life in order to bear fruit to God. Under the old sinful nature our attitudes and actions bore fruit for death. Sin (breaking God’s Law) always produces death! In Christ we are released from the Law and now have been given new life through the Holy Spirit! He wrote God’s Law on our hearts and leads us in the way of the Spirit!
Observations for over-comers: Over-comers live in the power of the Holy Spirit, they count their sinful nature dead through the cross of Christ and follow the way of the Spirit! “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
Alive to God under grace!
Scripture reading for June 21st: Romans 6
Key Scriptures for over-comers: Romans 6:11-14 “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”
As believers in Jesus Christ, we must count ourselves dead to sin through Christ’s death on the cross. We then recon ourselves alive to God through Christ’s resurrection from death after He paid the penalty for our sins. Faith in Christ’s sacrifice alone is the grace gift from God that brings us God’s eternal life. But after receiving the gift of eternal life by faith, we must then purposely present our body and its members to God to be used as instruments of righteousness. Sin is no longer our master, but Jesus Christ is our Lord! We are not under the Law, which can only reveal sin, but we are under grace which has dealt permanently with our sin!
Observations for over-comers: We over-come evil desires of the flesh through faith in the death of our Lord Jesus on the cross. We recon our mortal body as dead to sin through identification with Christ. We thank God for Christ’s resurrection to eternal life, for He is our new life through the Spirit! “So He said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6)
Sin through Adam, Righteousness through Christ!
Scripture reading for June 20th: Romans 5
Key Scriptures for over-comers: Romans 5:12,18-19 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—. . .” “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”
Paul carefully explained how universal sin was because of Adam’s original sin. Adam’s one act of sin resulted in death to all mankind. This death was eventually physical death but ultimately spiritual death or the second death of complete separation from God in the Lake of Fire. But God, in His love and mercy, provided a way of escape from death by sending His Only Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus was perfectly obedient to His Father and fulfilled the Law completely, becoming the perfect substitute to pay the penalty for sinful man. Jesus obeyed His Father, even to dying for our sins on the cross in order that all who believed would be made righteous!
Observations for over-comers: Over-comers must hold fast to these basic truths of the Gospel message and true doctrine. These simple truths bring true salvation to both Jew and Gentile! “For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for He guards the course of the just and protects the way of His faithful ones.” (Proverbs 2:6-8)
Fully persuaded!
Scripture reading for June 17th: Romans 4
Key Scriptures for over-comers: Romans 4:18-22 “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead–since he was about a hundred years old–and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waiver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. This is why “It was credited to him as righteousness.””
Abraham was known in Israel as the father of the nation. He took God at His word at a time when he was old and his wife was also old and their bodies beyond normal child-bearing ages. God promised him offspring–an heir that would come from his own body, through whom all nations of the earth would be blessed. Abraham would also be the father of many nations. After God spoke to him, Abraham was strengthened in his faith and became “fully persuaded” that God had the power to fulfill His promises, no matter what it looked like in the natural! This became a credit of righteousness before God!
Observations for over-comers: Believing God is the essence of all faith and true righteousness. Believing is the only way to please God and God will reward each person, who like Abraham is “fully persuaded” with eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ! We, like Abraham, will be credited with righteousness! “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright–but the righteous will live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4)