United with Me!
Note from Jesus Dear Disciple, You have received grace. I died for you when you were “far from God… powerless… weak… wasting [y]our lives in sin” and “in the heat of combat [as enemies]“ in your hearts toward the Father (Romans 5:6-10). (See yesterday’s note also.) Because of My sacrificial death, the Father’s love welled up into this great flood of grace. So what do you do with that grace? Do you keep sinning so that grace covers more and more sins? That was the kind of reasoning some in Paul’s day had about grace. What Paul wrote the Romans in today’s verses reminded them that something transformational happened in their lives when they were baptized because of their faith. In today’s verses, Paul reminds you that in baptism you were “joined with” Me and “united with” Me in My death; you were “buried with” Me after your “old sinful selves were crucified with” Me. Because you have been “united with” Me in My death and burial through baptism, you “will also be raised to live as” I now live to honor the Father. Your faith in My death, burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-5) empowers your baptism to be a participation in these saving events from My life. You died with Me and “were set free from the power of sin” and now you are “alive to God through” My power over sin and death. Not only have you received grace to be forgiven and cleansed from your sinful past, but you have also received grace to help you overcome the power of sin in your life. You are motivated not to sin because you recognize My sacrificial love and the cost of your redemption. But in addition to motivation, you have the power to “put to death” the sin in your life through the Holy Spirit. In a few days, you will read what Paul says about the Holy Spirit’s power. I want you to know that the Holy Spirit’s presence gives you the power to overcome the pull of sin and the allure of your selfish and sinful desires: For if your life is just about satisfying the impulses of your sinful nature, then prepare to die. But if you have invited the Spirit to destroy these selfish desires, you will experience life. (Romans 8:13) The Holy Spirit’s power helps you do what no law could ever do: to be transformed to be like Me (2 Corinthians 3:18) as the Spirit’s fruit of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23 NLT) is formed into your new holy life. This new life is yours because of grace. This grace gives you forgiveness and cleansing from past sin. It also gives you the power through the Holy Spirit to live this new life. So Paul closes this powerful chapter on grace with these incredible words of promise: The payoff for a life of sin is death, but God is offering us a free gift — eternal life through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King. Verses to Live I want you to notice as you read these powerful words from My servant, the apostle Paul, that your baptism joins you to Me and unites you with Me and My saving work because of your faith. By faith, you are united with Me in your baptism. My life is now yours. My power over sin is available to you. My future is now your shared future. Paul later writes about this future with Me in his letter to the Colossians: For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, Who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. (Colossians 3:3-4 NLT) So don’t try to earn your salvation — something Paul talks about in the next chapter of Romans — because you have already received salvation by grace through faith. But as Paul emphasizes here, don’t disregard grace or the commitment you made when you were saved. In baptism, you died to sin, so don’t go and give yourself to that cruel task master. Live for your Father because you have tasted the sweetness of His grace! Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So
Today’s Verse – John 9:3
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” —John 9:3 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Let’s ask God to help us view people through the eyes of Jesus so that we will see them as someone in whom the work of God needs to be displayed. When Jesus and his followers approached a man who was blind from birth, the disciples assumed that this misfortune had happened because someone had sinned. Jesus saw their labeling of the man as dehumanizing to the man and a dismissal of his value as a person because they thought he had sinned or his parents had. So, Jesus taught them, and if we pay attention, he teaches us to see a person’s hurt as our opportunity and responsibility to bring God’s grace to someone in need. So, what is this work of God we are to help display in people’s lives? Jesus had answered that question earlier in his ministry: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:28-29) — Jesus! My Prayer… Father, please help me see the people around me as Jesus does. I want to ensure that your work is done in their lives. Please give me patience with rude people, tenderness with hurting people, and boldness with those who are ready to hear the Good News of Jesus. Use me to help others display your work in their lives! In the name of Christ Jesus, I pray. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Lovingly Paid
Note from Jesus Dear Beloved, Today’s verses are full of deeply significant words, but they are not hard to understand. Read them and let them fall into your welcoming heart as the assurance of the Father’s love for you, My sacrifice for you, and the Holy Spirit’s presence in you! Since Adam, all humans have lived under the cloud of inevitable death (Romans 5:12-19). Death is the handmaiden of sin. As sin’s toxic effect has permeated each generation of people and left its lethal residue, death has held every mortal in its vice-grip of futility and pain. Human rebellion against the Father brought this inescapable toxic cloud of sin and death. There is no human way to escape, so you need Me as Savior, Liberator, Redeemer, and Reconciler. What you received from the Father through your faith in Me is glorious. Paul’s opening words in the verses below emphasize this gift of grace and reconciliation with the Father, a gift that I have brought to you: Since we have been acquitted and made right through faith, we are able to experience true and lasting peace with God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King. Who you are now after being saved by grace is a far cry from who you were without Me. Paul’s words in today’s verses were written to the believers in Rome. However, the attributes Paul described are the true spiritual condition of all people before their reconciliation to the Father. Look carefully at the phrases and words recorded below — you can find them listed here and also in the bold text in the verses that follow. These phrases and words illustrate who you would be without your reconciliation to the Father through Me: Far from God. Powerless. Weak. Wasting… in sin. Enemies. This list is certainly not a glorious set of attributes. Nevertheless, regardless of how good anyone has tried to be or how far any person may have fallen, these terms depict the condition of each person who does not take advantage of My sacrifice to be reconciled to the Father. As Paul wrote, in spite of the fact that you and everyone else were “far from God” and “in sin,” I lovingly came to earth to pay the high price to redeem you. My sacrificial death was needed to pay that ransom price. Paul shared these words to remind you that the Father’s grace is not only sufficient for you but that His grace can also reach you no matter where you are! Look at the cost I paid to save you. Think about the love that led Me to pay the ultimate price to redeem you — whether your estrangement from the Father was because you were enslaved by the power of Satan or by your guilt or because you cannot live up to the righteousness of the Father. Notice the price I willingly paid to reconcile you from your isolation from the Father. The cost was lovingly paid, but it was exorbitantly high. The text that is underlined in the verses below and copied here describes the price that was paid and what was accomplished by My sacrifice. These are truths that Paul wrote about what I accomplished and now offer to you: The Anointed One [Jesus Christ] died for all, for us. The blood of Jesus has made us right with God. We will be rescued by Him from God’s wrath. His [God’s] Son reconciled us by laying down His life We [will] be saved by Jesus’ resurrection life. We stand now reconciled and at peace with God. Paul makes clear that I reestablished all that Adam had ruined by sin. I did it because of the Father’s love and My love. I did it at great cost; I did it for people who did not deserve it. Because I did it, you can now be declared righteous or right with God, liberated from sin, reconciled to God, and brought into a new and eternal life that death cannot end. Verses to Live All the proper sounding religious language in the following verses explains what I purchased for you in My incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. But to put it in the language you use every day, the essence is simple and clear: I loved you too much to lose you, so I paid the ultimate price to reclaim you and bring you home to our Father. You are the Father’s beloved and precious child. I AM your older brother in a family that will be reunited to celebrate glory together because of the Father’s radical grace. (As you read these verses, remember the words in bold describe your condition without My sacrifice and the underlining highlights the price I paid in that sacrifice for you and the eternal benefits for you.) Since we have been acquitted and made right through faith, we are able to experience true and lasting peace with God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King. Jesus leads us into a place of radical grace where we are able to celebrate the hope of experiencing God’s glory. And that’s not all. We also celebrate in seasons of suffering because we know that when we suffer we develop endurance, which shapes our characters. When our characters are refined, we learn what it means to hope and anticipate God’s goodness. And hope will never fail to satisfy our deepest need because the Holy Spirit that was given to us has flooded our hearts with God’s love. When the time was right, [Jesus] the Anointed One died for all of us who were far from God, powerless, and weak. Now it is rare to find someone willing to die for an upright person, although it’s possible that someone may give up his life for one who is truly good. But think about this: while we were wasting our lives in sin, God revealed His powerful love to us in a tangible display —
Today’s Verse – Isaiah 9:2
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. —Isaiah 9:2 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… God fulfilled this great promise of the prophet Isaiah with the coming of John the baptizer and Jesus (Matthew 4:15-16; Luke 1:76-79). Jesus came as the Light of the World (John 9:5) to cast out the darkness of Satan, evil, and death (John 12:31). So, as darkness falls tonight, find a street light and capture it in your memory to remind you to do two things every time you see such a light: Thank God for sending his Light, Jesus, to cast out our darkness. Commit to sharing that Light with those you know trapped in darkness. My Prayer… Loving and eternal God, thank you for shining your Light into my heart through Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:6). I ask you, dear Father, for the Holy Spirit’s help as I use my words and actions to bless those around me. I want them to see the Light of your grace and salvation that Jesus brings. My heart yearns for others to find their hope in him, your Son, our Savior. So, I pray in Jesus’ name, hoping my influence helps others see Jesus more clearly as the Light for their lives. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Credited as Righteousness
Note from Jesus Dear Disciple, The promise of today’s verses focuses on your answer to one question: Do you believe? Do you believe that I AM the Father’s Son and that the Father took My lifeless body and raised Me back to life as the conqueror over sin, death, and hell? Believing that the Father can bring life out of death as well as beauty and order out of nothing is a fundamental aspect of Christian faith. This belief is the kind of faith Paul talks about in the verses you will read today from his letter to Roman Christians. When you base your life on faith in My resurrection, everything changes. However, having faith in My resurrection in the face of life’s most difficult challenges is not easy. Like the philosophers in Athens did with Paul, some in your day will laugh “in contempt” at you because of your faith (Acts 17:32 NLT). You may find yourself doubting, like My apostle Thomas, who wanted physical proof of My resurrection (John 20:24-29). You may find yourself like some of My disciples who “disbelieved for joy” (Luke 24:41 ESV). After all, if something seems too good to be true, then you assume it can’t be true. Some of My disciples doubted all the way up to My ascension (Matthew 28:16-17). You may be like the father who had a son controlled by a demonic spirit (Mark 9:17-29). He wanted Me to help his son… if I could! I told that man, and I am telling you today, “Everything is possible for one who believes” (Mark 9:23 NIV). If you struggle with believing in My resurrection, that man’s prayer can become your own: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 NIV). The kind of faith the Father calls you to have is not easy, but it is life-changing. This faith also comes with a blessing. When Thomas finally came to faith after I showed Myself to him, he confessed, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28 NLT). I told Thomas: “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” (John 20:29 NLT) I know that believing in My resurrection will be hard for some of you. But please know that your commitment to believe comes with My promised blessing! My closest disciples had been afraid and failed Me during My trials, crucifixion, and burial. However, they were made strong, bold, and fearless when they became convinced of My resurrection by spending time with me after My resurrection. Their testimony was spread across the Roman Empire as they gave their lives to tell the world that My resurrection was true and that they were witnesses of this truth (Acts 1:8; Acts 2:32-36). As Peter so eloquently said to disciples years after My resurrection as they were about to face bitter persecution for their faith: You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9 NLT) Paul explained to the Christians in Rome that the Father counted them as righteous because of their faith. Today, I tell you that your righteousness, your “right standing before God,” comes from the same place that Abraham’s did: faith. For Abraham, the Father credited his faith as righteousness because he believed that the Father could take his old and impotent body and Sarah’s lifeless womb and create a new nation through the gift of a son out of his seed and Sarah’s womb. Like Abraham, your faith is credited as righteousness. All who stand before the Father as His righteous children do so because they believe as Abraham believed. Like Abraham, you believe that your Father “creates out of nothing and holds the power to bring to life what is dead.” You believe that this is what the Father did to raise My dead and lifeless body and liberate Me from the tomb. As Paul wrote: The story of how faith was credited to Abraham was not recorded for him and him alone, but was written for all of us who would one day be credited for having faith in God, the One Who raised Jesus our Lord from the realm of the dead. He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and raised so that we might be made right with God. Your faith in Me is powerful, life-transforming, sin-forgiving, hope-restoring, and righteousness-giving. Verses to Live Paul wrote in the verses below about Abraham’s great faith in the Father Who is also the One Who did the humanly impossible and raised Me from the dead. Your faith in the Father’s action means He receives you as His righteous child! The promise given to Abraham and his children, that one day they would inherit the world, did not come because he followed the rules of the law. It came as a result of his right standing before God, a standing he obtained through faith. If this inheritance is available only to those who keep the law, then faith is a useless commodity and the promise is canceled. For the law brings God’s wrath against sin. But where the law doesn’t draw the line, there can be no crime. This is the reason that faith is the single source of the promise — so that grace would be offered to all Abraham’s children, those whose lives are defined by the law and those who follow the path of faith charted by Abraham, our common father. As it is recorded in the Scriptures, “I have appointed you the father of many nations.” In the presence of the God Who creates out of nothing and holds the power to bring to life what is dead, Abraham believed and so became our father. Against the odds, Abraham’s hope grew into full-fledged faith that he would turn out to
Today’s Verse – Psalm 9:1
I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. —Psalm 9:1 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… The words of Jessie Brown Pound’s old hymn, “Will You Not Tell It Today?” say it best: “If the light of his presence has brightened your way, O will you not tell it today?” Prayerfully select someone who needs to know of the goodness and graciousness of God, then please, lovingly, share Jesus with that person. A heart filled with praise to God will not only praise him but will lead others to do so as well. I can’t think of a better example of this than Andrew, who heard about Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was tell his brother Simon Peter and bring him to Jesus (John 1:40-42). My Prayer… O LORD, I praise you from the bottom of my heart. In addition, dear Father, please bless me today as I seek to bring others to know and honor you more fully by following Jesus. In Jesus’ name, I pray, asking for your power and grace to be with me as I seek to lead others to Jesus. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
The Only Way for All
Note from Jesus Dear Believer, No one can rightfully boast about being more righteous than others. No one can rightfully claim to be righteous because of the superiority of his or her race, religious heritage, religious law, or even religious behavior. Each person has failed to be what the Father called people to be. No one measures up to the Father’s righteousness. All people need My sacrifice as the sin-offering that paid for their sins and opened the door for a new way to be righteous based on their trust in Me and in what I did to save them. Paul wanted both Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome to know, and I want people in your day to know, that all “people are justified, that is, made right with God through faith, which has nothing to do with the deeds the law prescribes.” Law-keeping cannot make anyone righteous. The Jews needed to admit this. Law can convict of sin. Law can make clear what the Father’s standards are for people. The law can make clear how they have fallen short. However, law cannot pay the price for sins. Trying to live without the law isn’t better. Non-Jews have to acknowledge this. No one has lived up to the Father’s standards with or without the law. The only way to be righteous before the Father is the same for both Jew and Gentile alike: So since God is one, there is one way for Jews and outsiders, circumcised and uncircumcised, to be right with Him. That is the way of faith. My death satisfied the Father’s justice. I paid the atoning price for sin and provided grace for all who receive the Father’s gift of mercy and grace by faith. For the next several days, you will join Paul as he explains this amazing grace — how it is provided for you out of the Father’s love and how you receive this grace. For today, it is enough for you to know and believe these words of Paul: [T]hat He [God] is just and righteous and that He makes right those who trust and commit themselves to Jesus. That’s the bottom line. That’s the standard of all standards. That’s the ultimate gift of grace purchased through My cross, celebrated at and validated by My resurrection, and received by faith. Verses to Live The words below that Paul wrote to the Romans come after he has strongly emphasized that all have sinned. No one has measured up to the righteousness of the Father. Jews had failed to live up to the Mosaic law. Gentiles had failed to live up to the righteous demands of the Father that they knew in their hearts as true goodness. Every person who has lived has fallen short of being holy and righteous. With the words that follow, Paul began to shift the focus of his letter toward salvation that is found in giving My life as a sin-offering for all people. Salvation is the gift of God’s grace and is accepted by faith. Paul acknowledged that the penalty of Adam’s sin has been passed on to everyone: everyone sins and everyone will die — or meet Me in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Everyone needs mercy and grace, so the Father provided mercy and grace through Me. Now for the good news: God’s restorative justice has entered the world, independent of the law. Both the law and the prophets told us this day would come. This redeeming justice comes through the faithfulness of Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King, Who makes salvation a reality for all who believe — without the slightest partiality. You see, all have sinned, and all their futile attempts to reach God in His glory fail. Yet they are now saved and set right by His free gift of grace through the redemption available only in Jesus the Anointed. When God set Him up to be the sacrifice — the seat of mercy where sins are atoned through faith — His blood became the demonstration of God’s own restorative justice. All of this confirms His faithfulness to the promise, for over the course of human history God patiently held back as He dealt with the sins being committed. This expression of God’s restorative justice displays in the present that He is just and righteous and that He makes right those who trust and commit themselves to Jesus. So is there any place left for boasting? No. It’s been shut out completely. And how? By what sort of law? The law of works perhaps? No! By the law of faith. We hold that people are justified, that is, made right with God through faith, which has nothing to do with the deeds the law prescribes. Is God the God of the Jews only? If He created all things, then doesn’t that make Him the God of all people? Jews and non-Jews, insiders and outsiders alike? Yes, He is also the God of all the outsiders. So since God is one, there is one way for Jews and outsiders, circumcised and uncircumcised, to be right with Him. That is the way of faith. So are we trying to use faith to abolish the law? Absolutely not! In fact, we now are free to uphold the law as God intended. (Romans 3:21-31) When the law came into the picture, sin grew and grew; but wherever sin grew and spread, God’s grace was there in fuller, greater measure. No matter how much sin crept in, there was always more grace. In the same way that sin reigned in the sphere of death, now grace reigns through God’s restorative justice, eclipsing death and leading to eternal life through the Anointed One, Jesus our Lord, the Liberating King. (Romans 5:20-21) Response in Prayer O Father, I believe that You sent Jesus as the sacrifice for my sin. I believe that Jesus is my atoning sacrifice providing what no one else and nothing else but His
Today’s Verse – Mark 8:31
[Jesus] then began to teach [his disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. —Mark 8:31 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Knowing Jesus is God’s Messiah is one thing. Following Jesus as our LORD is quite another. Getting our minds, hearts, and lives to line up with Jesus is always a challenge. Once Jesus’ disciples confessed him as the Christ, he knew he had to teach them the real road to glory. Each of the Gospels reminds us that this road led to the cross of agony before it led to the crown of glory. The early church captured it in a song that reminded them that they, too, must walk that same road of the cross as their Savior and LORD walked (see Philippians 2:5-11). We are heaven-bound people, but we can be sure that we will encounter potholes and bumps along the road and face some steep hills to climb as Satan tries to derail and defeat us. Our Savior, however, has already walked this road triumphantly. He is our great reminder that the path of the cross also leads us to share in our LORD’s glory! My Prayer… Dear Father, I know several believers who are struggling to follow Jesus faithfully. I ask that you give them strength and courage to endure. Please use me to encourage them and to help them through this dark time in their lives. May my life and my words point them to Jesus. I want to specifically mention several people by name, people who are struggling… [Insert the names you want to mention.] and ask you to bless them. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Everyone Needs Grace!
Note from Jesus Dear Disciple, Unfortunately, much of the world has repeatedly given up honoring the Creator. Most in the world have chased after worthless and depraved things. In addition, even those who seek to honor the Creator have also sinned. However, some of these religious people think that their religious knowledge and rules will save them. Many of the Jews in Paul’s day had this belief. Unfortunately, some religious people in your day also have this belief. They think because they have made a religious confession and have read My book and have gone to religious meetings that they are somehow better. They forget my own words: “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’” (Matthew 7:21-23 NLT) Paul wrote the parts of Romans that are now chapters 2, 3 and 7 to remind all people — religious and non-religious, Jews and non-Jews — that their deeds, their rules, their book, their religious pedigree, and their church attendance will not get them into My grace. Salvation is by the Father’s grace (Romans 3, Romans 5). This grace is received through faith (Romans 4). You share in this grace by participating in My death, burial, and resurrection through baptism (Romans 6). This grace is empowered by the Holy Spirit, Who brings the Father’s will to life in you (Romans 8). So the collection of verses today is a reminder of what Paul said in Romans chapters 2 and 3. He was emphatic: nothing and no one except Me can make you right — not law, not Scripture, not race, not religious pedigree. Ultimately, all of these things have failed to enable people to live up to the Father’s perfect standard of holiness. When you fail in one part of law-keeping, you are guilty of all (James 2:10). If you break one law, you are a lawbreaker. Paul wanted the Roman believers, and other believers who came after them, to understand that no one can be saved without the Father’s gift of grace purchased by My death on the cross and empowered by the Holy Spirit. By their failure, all people stand condemned to live righteously without flaw and have missed Our holy standard. Jews have failed to live up to the full standards demanded by the Mosaic law. Gentiles have failed to live up to the righteous standards of holiness. Everyone needs a Savior. No one can claim religious superiority. Everyone needs My grace! Verses to Live Tomorrow you will read verses about grace. Today you will be reminded in the verses below that, without that grace, no one can stand justified before the Father. All people need Me. I AM the only true Savior, Who can bring God’s grace to anyone, including you. So you can see there are no excuses for any of us. If your eyes shift their focus from yourselves to others — to judge how they are doing — you have already condemned yourselves! You don’t realize that you are pointing your fingers at others for the exact things you do as well. There’s no doubt that the judgment of God will justly fall upon hypocrites who practice such things. Here’s what is happening: you attack and criticize others and then turn around to commit the same offenses yourselves! Do you think you will somehow dodge God’s judgment? Do you take the kindness of God for granted? Do you see His patience and tolerance as signs that He is a pushover when it comes to sin? How could you not know that His kindness is guiding our hearts to turn away from distractions and habitual sin to walk a new path? But because your heart is obstinate and shameless, you’re storing up wrath that will count against you. On the day of His choosing, God’s wrath and judgment will be unleashed to make things right. As it goes, everyone will receive what his actions in life have cultivated. (Romans 2:1-6) Here’s my point: just because a person hears the law read or recited does not mean he is right before the one True God; it is following the law that makes one right, not just hearing it. (Romans 2:13) Listen, if you claim to be a Jew, count on the law, and boast in your relationship with God; if you know His will and can determine what is essential (because you have been instructed in the law); and if you stand convinced that you are chosen to be a guide to the blind, a light to those who live in darkness, a teacher of foolish wanderers and children, and have in the law what is essentially the form of knowledge and truth — then tell me, why don’t you practice what you preach? (Romans 2:17-21) So what then? Are we Jews better off? Not at all. We have made it clear that people everywhere, Jews and non-Jews, are living under the power of sin. Here’s what Scripture says: No one is righteous — not even one. There is no one who understands the truth; no one is seeking after the one True God. All have turned away; together they’ve become worthless. (Romans 3:9-12) We want to be clear that whatever the law says, it says to everyone who is under its authority. Its purpose is to muzzle every mouth, to silence idle talk, and to bring the whole world under the standard of God’s justice. Therefore, doing what the law prescribes will not make anyone right in the eyes of God — that’s not its purpose — but the law is capable of exposing the true nature
Today’s Verse – John 8:30
Even as [Jesus] spoke, many put their faith in him. —John 8:30 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… While we often talk about Jesus as our LORD and Savior, we can also find it easy to ignore his voice, or worse, hear Jesus’ words and ignore them. Our obedience to what Jesus says demonstrates that we have put our faith in him. To foolishly disobey, ignore, or neglect to do what Jesus says is to show that we don’t believe him to be our LORD to DO what he says to us as our LORD! Jesus promised a very rude awakening at judgment for those who take this attitude (Matthew 7:21-27). So, let’s commit to reading through each of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John) before the end of the year. As we read about Jesus’ life and teachings, let’s do it as a search for the heart of Jesus and ask God to help us know him better and follow him more thoroughly and more obediently as the Holy Spirit conforms us to be more like him (2 Corinthians 3:18)! Video Commentary… ToGather Worship Guide | More ToGather Videos My Prayer… Be with me, dear Father, as I seek to know Jesus better and obey his words more faithfully as I read your holy Scriptures, which find their center in him. So, I pray for obedience in my daily life in the name of my LORD, Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man, and my Savior. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.