So All Can Be Saved!
Note from Jesus Dear Disciple, You are saved by grace. You received that grace through faith. There is no room for boasting about being saved. Neither is there any room for belittling Jews who have rejected the message of grace. This rejection by ethnic Jews opened the way for Gentiles to hear the message of grace, to become My disciples, and to become recipients of God’s promises to Abraham. However, this situation is no reason for non-Jewish believers to feel superior. They — including you, if you are not Jewish — have been grafted into the Father’s covenant people and promises. Salvation for non-Jews depends on the root and the history of Israel and on the promises of the Father to Abraham and to his Jewish descendants, specifically the promise of a Messiah (Me). In Paul’s day, there was a righteous remnant of Jewish people who had faith in Me, just as the prophets had prophesied. In addition, the hardening of Jewish hearts toward Me was part of the Father’s plan to redeem all people. Some Jewish believers had seen faith in Me among the Gentiles, and they became jealous that these Gentiles were being included as recipients of the promises to Abraham. Their jealousy led them to re-examine Me and come to faith in Me. In the future, after the “full number” of Gentiles has come to Me, those who are part of ethnic Israel will be brought to faith in Me. Through that faith, they will be received back into Abraham’s spiritual family and become recipients of the promises to Abraham. The Father will not forget His promises to His Jewish people. So since the hardening of Jewish hearts in Paul’s time meant salvation for the non-Jews, think of how much greater the joy of salvation will be when the descendants of Israel come to faith in Me as their Messiah. They will also be joined with all the non-Jewish people who have faith in Me! Verses to Live The Father’s wonderful and mighty plan is to reach all people of every nation with the message of grace. He wants all who truly trust in Me as their Lord and Savior to be saved, both Jews and non-Jews alike. There is no room for arrogance if you have been saved; you have been saved by grace and you received this salvation by faith. Instead, there should be a deep appreciation for the Jewish heritage on which you stand. Be joyous as you anticipate the celebration when all of My family, both Jews and non-Jews, are in the presence of the Father celebrating My victory (Revelation 7:9-12). Read carefully, as Paul explains this truth to the Christians in Rome. So I ask: did God’s people [the Israelites] stumble and fall off the deep end? Absolutely not! They are not lost forever; but through their misconduct, the door has been opened for salvation to extend even to the outsiders. This has been part of God’s plan all along, and so is the jealousy that comes when they realize the outsiders have been welcomed into God’s new covenant. So if their misconduct leads ultimately to God’s riches coming to the world and if their failure turns into the blessing of salvation to all people, then how much greater will be the riches and blessing when they are included fully? But I have this to say to all of you who are not ethnic Jews: I am God’s emissary to you, and I honor this call by focusing on what God is doing with and through you. I do this so that somehow my own blood brothers and sisters will be made jealous; and that, I trust, will bring some to salvation. If the fact that they are currently set aside resolves the hostility between God and the rest of the world, what will their acceptance bring if not life from the dead? If the first and best of the dough you offer is sacred, the entire loaf will be as well. If the root of the tree is sacred, the branches will be also. Imagine some branches are cut off of the cultivated olive tree and other branches of a wild olive (which represents all of you outsiders) are grafted in their place. You are nourished by the root of the cultivated olive tree. It doesn’t give you license to become proud and self-righteous about the fact that you’ve been grafted in. If you do boast, remember that the branches do not sustain the root — it is the system of roots that nourishes and supports you. I can almost hear some of you saying, “Branches had to be pruned to make room for me.” Yes, they were. They were removed because they did not believe; and you will stay attached, be strong, and be productive only through faith. So don’t think too highly of yourselves; instead, stand in awe of God’s mercy. Besides we know that God did not spare the natural branches, so there is no reason to think He will spare you. Witness the simultaneous balance of the kindness and severity of our God. Severity is directed at the fallen branches withering without faith. Yet kindness is directed at you. So live in the kindness of God or else prepare to be cut off yourselves. If those branches that have been cut from the tree do not stay in unbelief, then God will carefully graft them back onto the tree because He has the power to do that. So if it is possible for you to be taken from a wild olive tree and become part of a cultivated olive tree, imagine how much easier it would be to reconnect branches that originally grew on that olive tree. My brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be in the dark about this mystery — I am going to let you in on the plan so that you will not think too highly of yourselves. A
All Who Call on My Name
Note from Jesus Dear Follower, Paul was My apostle with a special commission to the Gentiles, but he deeply loved and was deeply concerned about his fellow Israelites who had not come to faith in Me. In Romans chapter 9, Paul powerfully and emotionally said these gut-wrenching words: Now let me speak the truth as plainly as I know it in the Anointed One. I am not lying when I say that my conscience and the Holy Spirit are witnesses to my state of constant grief. It may sound extreme; but I wish that I were lost, cursed, and totally separated from the Anointed — if that would change the eternal destination of my brothers and sisters, my flesh and countrymen. (Romans 9:1-3) What Paul wrote was a display of overwhelming love — he was willing to be lost eternally if that would lead his fellow Jewish people to be saved. This commitment makes his words in this section of Romans (chapters 9-11) all the more poignant. He did not write out of anger or hostility, but out of love. He wrote these truths to heal the racial divide between Jew and Gentile in the church in Rome. He wanted to help the Christians there understand the message of salvation. That message was clear: All can be saved, both Jew and non-Jew. However, salvation comes only through the Father’s grace received through faith in My death, burial, and resurrection as God’s Anointed, the Messiah of Israel and Lord of all peoples. While there were Jews in Paul’s time who accepted this message — “God has preserved a remnant, elected by grace” (Romans 11:5) — most rejected it. For these Jews, I was a “stumbling stone” (Romans 9:32-33). In fact, if you go back and re-read about Peter’s sermon and the events on Pentecost in the book of Acts (Acts 2:17-41), you will find the message of salvation Peter preached that day to Jews was the same basic message as what Paul wrote the Roman’s in today’s verses (Romans 10:9-13). That basic message from Peter and from Paul was: Believe in your heart the Father raised Me from the dead. Commit to living a life that’s right with God. Confess Me as your Lord. Call on My name as your Savior in baptism. Be saved. Paul had experienced this same kind of conversion himself. If you read the accounts in Acts of his conversion, you will find these same things were emphasized (Acts 9:15-18; Acts 22:8-16). Paul wanted believers in Rome to realize three truths that are so important for those who love Me and believe in Me. These are important for every generation of believers! First, as I mentioned in My Sermon on the Mount, I AM the fulfillment of the law (Matthew 5:17). Paul said it this way: You see, God’s purpose for the law reaches its climax when the Anointed One arrives; now all who trust in Him can have their lives made right with God. Second, no one is going to be saved based on law-keeping. All who are saved, both Jew and non-Jew, are saved because they have been called by the Father’s grace that they received through faith in my crucifixion and resurrection (Romans 10:3-4; Romans 9:30-32). Third, those who send others and those who share My good news with others are very important because people cannot be saved unless they believe. They cannot believe unless they hear about the Father’s love demonstrated by My incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection. People cannot go and share this message unless someone sends them. As Paul did so frequently throughout chapters 9-11 in Romans, he quoted the (Old Testament) Scriptures and wrote: Because what Isaiah said was true: “The one who trusts in Him will not be disgraced.” Remember that the Lord draws no distinction between Jew and non-Jew — He is Lord over all things, and He pours out His treasures on all who invoke His name because as Scripture says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” So send those who will proclaim this message. Share this message yourself when you meet people who are open to receiving it. Know that the Father wants all peoples — Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, politically conservative and liberal, male and female, young and old — to hear His call to grace and to receive that message with faith! Verses to Live Paul wanted all people saved. He made clear in these verses how that salvation comes to people. I hope you will read these verses and not only be heartened, but also be motivated to send and share the message of the Father’s love demonstrated by My life, death, and resurrection. My brothers and sisters, I pray constantly to God for the salvation of my people [the Israelites]; it is the deep desire of my heart. What I can say about them is that they are enthusiastic about God, but that won’t lead them to Him because their zeal is not based on true knowledge. In their ignorance about how God is working to make things right, they have been trying to establish their own right standing with God through the law. But they are not operating under God’s saving, restorative justice. You see, God’s purpose for the law reaches its climax when the Anointed One arrives; now all who trust in Him can have their lives made right with God. Moses made this clear long ago when he wrote about what it takes to have a right relationship with God based on the law: “The person devoted to the law’s commands will live by them.” But a right relationship based on faith sounds like this: “Do not say to yourselves, ‘Who will go up into heaven?’” (that is, to bring down the Anointed One), “or, ‘Who will go down into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring the Anointed One up from the dead). But what does it actually say? “The
Receiving God’s Promises Through Faith
Note from Jesus Dear Child of Grace, Many people in your fallen world accept or reject others based on race. They exclude those who are not of their race. The Christians in Rome, and really all over the world during the time Paul wrote his letter to the Roman Christians, struggled with the issue of race. The separation between Jew and Gentile was a hard one for many of the early Christians to overcome. As I look at your time, My heart breaks at both the physical violence done in the name of race and also the more subtle forms of exclusivity, prejudice, bigotry, and racial arrogance. Sometimes this racial prejudice is acted out publicly. Other times it goes on in people’s hearts as they fake racial acceptance to get along in culture. Please understand something that Paul made very clear to My disciples. I came to tear down racial divisions and bring about a new humanity not based on race (Ephesians 2:11-22). I came to establish “one new humanity” based on faith. I came to create peace between different peoples through My sacrifice on the cross (Ephesians 2:14-16). The future I will bring has all nations, races, languages, and peoples joined together in joyous worship, praise, and fellowship (Revelation 7:9-12). My human racial identity was Jewish. I came as the answer to the Father’s promise to Abraham and David. I came as the Anointed One, the Messiah of Israel. The Father chose Israel to be His people. He did not choose them because they were better, wiser, more numerous, or more powerful. The Father chose Israel because of His love and faithfulness to His promises to the great Israelite patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and later King David. John the Baptizer, My cousin and forerunner, had warned people that being Jewish descendants of Abraham didn’t guarantee their righteousness. John reminded the people that the Father “is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:7-9 ESV). Both John and I warned that if a person claims to be a descendant of Abraham, he or she must live a life of faith like Abraham (Romans 4:13; Galatians 3:6-9). So what Paul said in chapters 9-11 of Romans about the relationship of Jews to the Father shouldn’t be a complete surprise. We will be looking at Paul’s message in these chapters for a few days. Paul wanted everyone to know that just as all have sinned, both Jew and Gentile, all can be children of God through faith in My sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection. Race is not what makes a person a part of God’s Israel, his chosen people. Faith is what makes one a child of Abraham (Galatians 3:26-29). The Father, in His Sovereignty, chose Israel and gave Israel the great benefits of “the glory, the covenants, the gift of the law, the temple service, and God’s promises” as “their rightful heritage”. So the Jewish people should be loved and respected because they provided the story, the heritage, the Scriptures, the promises, and the Messiah (Me) that make salvation available to all people. However, Paul reminded Jewish Christians: The truth is that not everyone descended from Israel is truly Israel. Just because people can claim Abraham as their father does not make them his true children. For a time, all but a small group of Jews had stumbled because of the truth that is found in Me, the Anointed, the “rock”. But just as many Gentiles have been brought into My family through faith, a time is coming, and indeed has already begun, when My fellow Israelites will find themselves a part of the Father’s promises by faith. Verses to Live Today and the next several days, you will be reading from Romans chapters 9-11. Paul’s discussion can appear confusing at times because he was using the way of teaching he learned as a young rabbi. But the basis of his reasoning is fairly clear. The Father is sovereign. He works in the way He does to fulfill His promises and to fulfill His desire to bring salvation to all people who will receive His grace. Rather than race, ethnicity, law-keeping, or heritage being the guarantee of this salvation, the Father accepts people based on their faith in Me. In this way, salvation can come to all people, and all people can be accepted into My family without prejudice or racial division or any other distinction. Spiritual Israel, the people of God, is made up of those who receive the promises of God by faith and choose to share this grace with the nations. Now let me speak the truth as plainly as I know it in the Anointed One [Christ Jesus]. I am not lying when I say that my conscience and the Holy Spirit are witnesses to my state of constant grief. It may sound extreme; but I wish that I were lost, cursed, and totally separated from the Anointed — if that would change the eternal destination of my [Jewish] brothers and sisters, my flesh and countrymen. They are, after all, Israelites who have been adopted into God’s family; the glory, the covenants, the gift of the law, the temple service, and God’s promises are their rightful heritage. The patriarchs are theirs, too; and from their bloodline comes the Anointed One, the Liberating King, Who reigns supreme over all things, God blessed forever. Amen. Clearly it is not that God’s word has failed. The truth is that not everyone descended from Israel is truly Israel. Just because people can claim Abraham as their father does not make them his true children. But in the Scriptures, it says, “Through Isaac your covenant children will be named.” The proper interpretation is this: Abraham’s children by natural descent are not necessarily God’s covenant people; what matters is that His children receive and live the promise. (Romans 9:1-8) So what does all of this mean? Did the non-Jews stumble into a right standing with God without
Blessed Assurance!
Note from Jesus Dear Child of the Father, All creation waits on tiptoe for the day I return and bring you home to the Father. On that day, you will experience “the total redemption of [y]our bodies that comes when [y]our adoption as children of God is complete.” However, I want you to realize that not only is the Holy Spirit your “guarantee, a down payment of the things to come,” but He is also My sustaining power and presence in your life and will help you in many ways. Here are three truths you will find in the verses today: The Spirit intercedes for you when you pray and even “steps in and articulates [your] prayers… with groaning too profound for words” when you can’t find the words to pray. The Spirit’s presence is a constant reminder that, because of My presence at the Father’s side, nothing can ever separate you from the His love. The Spirit Whose power raised Me from the dead is your assurance of ultimate victory just as I was victorious over sin, death, and hell. Treasure these assurances. Trust in the Spirit’s presence. Glory awaits! Verses to Live There are so many good things that await you. And I know that, even though you cannot see them now, you yearn for them. That is why I promised that I would not leave you alone, but that I would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to be with you and to help you until I come back for you (Acts 2:32-33; Titus 3:3-7; John 14:18-26). So today, the verses come from things that Paul wrote to the Romans about blessings that the Spirit brings to Christians, including you; I want you to read these verses several times. Find a few especially meaningful sentences to memorize. Then when times are tough, let the Holy Spirit remind you of these truths and fill your heart with the assurance that you are the Father’s child, My beloved co-heir of the kingdom of God, and a person in whom the Spirit of the almighty God lives. Now I’m sure of this: the sufferings we endure now are not even worth comparing to the glory that is coming and will be revealed in us. For all of creation is waiting, yearning for the time when the children of God will be revealed. You see, all of creation has collapsed into emptiness, not by its own choosing, but by God’s. Still He placed within it a deep and abiding hope that creation would one day be liberated from its slavery to corruption and experience the glorious freedom of the children of God. For we know that all creation groans in unison with birthing pains up until now. And there is more; it’s not just creation — all of us are groaning together too. Though we have already tasted the firstfruits of the Spirit, we are longing for the total redemption of our bodies that comes when our adoption as children of God is complete — for we have been saved in this hope and for this future. But hope does not involve what we already have or see. For who goes around hoping for what he already has? But if we wait expectantly for things we have never seen, then we hope with true perseverance and eager anticipation. A similar thing happens when we pray. We are weak and do not know how to pray, so the Spirit steps in and articulates prayers for us with groaning too profound for words. Don’t you know that He Who pursues and explores the human heart intimately knows the Spirit’s mind because He pleads to God for His saints to align their lives with the will of God? We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan. From the distant past, His eternal love reached into the future. You see, He knew those who would be His one day, and He chose them beforehand to be conformed to the image of His Son so that Jesus would be the firstborn of a new family of believers, all brothers and sisters. As for those He chose beforehand, He called them to a different destiny so that they would experience what it means to be made right with God and share in His glory. So what should we say about all of this? If God is on our side, then tell me: whom should we fear? If He did not spare His own Son, but handed Him over on our account, then don’t you think that He will graciously give us all things with Him? Can anyone be so bold as to level a charge against God’s chosen? Especially since God’s “not guilty” verdict is already declared. Who has the authority to condemn? Jesus the Anointed Who died, but more importantly, conquered death when He was raised to sit at the right hand of God where He pleads on our behalf. So who can separate us? What can come between us and the love of God’s Anointed? Can troubles, hardships, persecution, hunger, poverty, danger, or even death? The answer is, absolutely nothing. As the psalm says, On Your behalf, our lives are endangered constantly; we are like sheep awaiting slaughter. But no matter what comes, we will always taste victory through Him Who loved us. For I have every confidence that nothing — not death, life, heavenly messengers, dark spirits, the present, the future, spiritual powers, height, depth, nor any created thing — can come between us and the love of God revealed in the Anointed, Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:18-39) Response in Prayer O Father, thank You for the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Thank You for the Spirit’s ministry of intercession for me, His work in me to transform me, and His presence in me to be my Comforter. I
Animated by the Spirit
Note from Jesus Dear Precious One, Live animated by the power of the Father’s “indwelling presence,” the Holy Spirit within you! Your flesh — “your fallen, corrupt nature” — cannot overcome the power and pull of sin unless you live led by the Spirit. As yesterday’s note emphasized, trying to be righteous by law-keeping awakens the power of sin to use your fleshly nature to corrupt the righteous demands of the law and lead you to become enslaved to sin. Your power to overcome your fleshly nature is found when you partner with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to work in you. Today and tomorrow, I want to use Paul’s teaching in Romans chapter 8 to help you recognize what a great gift of grace the Spirit is for you. When you live “animated” — led, empowered, and guided by the Spirit — you are freed from law-keeping that is weakened by your flesh. The Spirit, on the other hand, helps you “live up to the justice demanded by the law” by helping you with “life-giving power” and giving you the assurance that you are the Father’s child. As “you have invited the Spirit to destroy these selfish desires [of your flesh], you will experience life.” You will be transformed and liberated to become more and more like Me with ever-increasing glory (2 Corinthians 3:17-18) and begin to more fully display the fruit of the Spirit’s presence in your life (Galatians 5:22-23). Today, begin to ask the Holy Spirit to take a more forceful lead in your life. Specifically ask the Spirit to transform you to become more like Me each day and to help you display the Holy Spirit’s fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When you pray, address the Father as “‘Abba! Father!’ as [you] would address a loving daddy,” reminding yourself of the precious and tender relationship the Father wants to have with you. When you struggle with doubts about your worthiness or My presence in your life, ask the Holy Spirit to give you comfort. Pray for the Holy Spirit to minister to your spirit continually, even as you sleep. Ask the Spirit to give you discerning eyes to distinguish between God’s truth and the world’s lies and to give you the power to live according to God’s truth. Verses to Live Today’s verses are the beginning of an extended teaching from Paul on the power and presence of the Holy Spirit within those who are My disciples. Tomorrow we will cover the remainder of his teaching in this chapter of Romans. However, I encourage you to get a notepad or use your computer or mobile device and note the things that are promised about the Holy Spirit in both today’s and tomorrow’s messages. Living by the Spirit liberates you from law-keeping and the power of the flesh to control you. So seek for all that Paul teaches that the Spirit longs to bring you! Therefore, now no condemnation awaits those who are living in Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King, because when you live in the Anointed One, Jesus, a new law takes effect. The law of the Spirit of life breathes into you and liberates you from the law of sin and death. God did something the law could never do. You see, human flesh took its toll on God’s law. In and of itself, the law is not weak; but the flesh weakens it. So to condemn the sin that was ruling in the flesh, God sent His own Son, bearing the likeness of sinful flesh, as a sin offering. Now we are able to live up to the justice demanded by the law. But that ability has not come from living by our fallen human nature; it has come because we walk according to the movement of the Spirit in our lives. If you live your life animated by the flesh — namely, your fallen, corrupt nature — then your mind is focused on the matters of the flesh. But if you live your life animated by the Spirit — namely, God’s indwelling presence — then your focus is on the work of the Spirit. A mind focused on the flesh is doomed to death, but a mind focused on the Spirit will find full life and complete peace. You see, a mind focused on the flesh is declaring war against God; it defies the authority of God’s law and is incapable of following His path. So it is clear that God takes no pleasure in those who live oriented to the flesh. But you do not live in the flesh. You live in the Spirit, assuming, of course, that the Spirit of God lives inside of you. The truth is that anyone who does not have the Spirit of the Anointed living within does not belong to God. If the Anointed One lives within you, even though the body is as good as dead because of the effects of sin, the Spirit is infusing you with life now that you are right with God. If the Spirit of the One Who resurrected Jesus from the dead lives inside of you, then you can be sure that He Who raised Him will cast the light of life into your mortal bodies through the life-giving power of the Spirit residing in you. So, my brothers and sisters, you owe the flesh nothing! You do not need to live according to its ways, so abandon its oppressive regime. 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. If the Spirit of God is leading you, then take comfort in knowing you are His children. You see, you have not received a spirit that returns you to slavery, so you have nothing to fear. The Spirit you have received adopts you and
Miserable or Relieved?
Note from Jesus Dear Faithful Follower, Today’s verses are different selections from chapter 7 of Paul’s letter to Christians in Rome. In previous parts of the letter, he had written about grace being made available through: My sin-offering on the cross (Romans 3). Your faith in My sacrifice for your sins being credited to you as righteousness (Romans 4)., My sacrifice given for you out of the Father’s loving grace, not because you deserved it (Romans 5). My saving death, burial, and resurrection where you died to sin through your baptism into My death because of your faith (Romans 6). Paul wanted you to know that as a baptized believer saved by grace you are dead to sin and alive to live for God as His righteous child. But how? How will you live for God righteously? How will you live up to the Father’s demands to be righteous as His child? Will you use law-keeping to try to be considered righteous? That was the easy answer for those who grew up living under the Mosaic law. So in today’s verses, Paul explained that any attempt to be considered righteous by living under a law — any law, but especially the Mosaic law — is ineffective to obtain righteousness before God. While the Law was a precious gift and it points out the righteousness the Father demands, it has no power to change you and make you holy without My sacrifice. Paul wanted to help you understand that law-keeping cannot make you righteous. The problem is not the law — it is holy and just; the problem is the deceptive power of sin that takes the law and uses it to lead you to sin. Your fleshly nature — “living in the flesh,” also called “the fallen human realm, owned by sin” — “awakened [y]our lust for more” sin. While My sacrifice saves you from sin and death, if you try to be righteous by law-keeping, you end up “absolutely miserable” and in bondage to sin once again! You do what you do not want to do — you fall back into sin again and again. Sin “owns you” and “has taken up residence in” you. The only relief is to remember that you died to sin and to the whole law-keeping way of trying to be righteous and that you can rely on the Holy Spirit to lead you to righteous living. Paul said it this way: But now that we have died to those chains that imprisoned us, we have been released from the law to serve in a new Spirit-empowered life, not the old written code. (The Spirit’s power will be the focus in tomorrow’s verses.) The Father’s grace brings you salvation and righteousness by providing the sin offering (My death on the cross) that atoned for your sin and by giving you the Holy Spirit to empower you to righteous living. Everything about your salvation is a gift, so don’t try to earn your salvation or think yourself superior because you obey the law, any law. Recognize that the Father’s grace is the only way you stand before Him as His righteous child! Verses to Live Pay attention as you read these verses. They remind you that you are dead to the whole law-keeping principle because obeying the law cannot save you. Your fleshly nature and sin’s deceptive power to use the law to trip you up lead you back to the principles of sin and death. Your faith in My sacrifice for your sins and the indwelling Spirit’s power to help you become the person you want to be, provide your only way to live righteously as the Father’s child. My brothers and sisters who are well versed in the law, don’t you realize that a person is subject to the law only as long as he is alive? So, for example, a wife is obligated by the law to her husband until his death; if the husband dies, she is freed from the parts of the law that relate to her marriage. … My brothers and sisters, in the same way, you have died when it comes to the law because of your connection with the body of the Anointed One. His death — and your death with Him — frees you to belong to the One Who was raised from the dead so we can bear fruit for God. As we were living in the flesh, the law could not solve the problem of sin; it only awakened our lust for more and cultivated the fruit of death in our bodily members. But now that we have died to those chains that imprisoned us, we have been released from the law to serve in a new Spirit-empowered life, not the old written code. So what is the story? Is the law itself sin? Absolutely not! It is the exact opposite. I would never have known what sin is if it were not for the law. … There was a time when I was living without the law, but the commandment came and changed everything: sin came to life, and I died. This commandment was supposed to bring life; but in my experience, it brought death. Sin took advantage of the commandment, tricked me, and exploited it in order to kill me. So hear me out: the law is holy; and its commandments are holy, right, and good. … This is what we know: the law comes from the spiritual realm. My problem is that I am of the fallen human realm, owned by sin, which tries to keep me in its service. … I know that in me, that is, in my fallen human nature, there is nothing good. I can will myself to do something good, but that does not help me carry it out. I can determine that I am going to do good, but I don’t do it; instead, I end up living out the evil that I decided
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
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 —
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
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