3917.) Romans 7

Romans 7   (NRSV)

Within my earthly temple there’s a crowd.
There’s one of us that’s humble; one that’s proud.
There’s one that’s broken-hearted for his sins,
And one who, unrepentant, sits and grins.
There’s one who loves his neighbor as himself,
And one who cares for naught but fame and self.
From much corroding care would I be free
If once I could determine which is Me.

–Edwin S. Martin, “Mixed”

An Analogy from Marriage

Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only during that person’s lifetime? ²Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law concerning the husband. ³Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.

In a French cemetery there are the following concise inscriptions on one tombstone.  The epitaph is for a husband and wife:

I am anxiously expecting you.   –A.D. 1827

Here I am!   –A.D.  1867

⁴In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. ⁵While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

The theme of Romans 7:1-5 is summarized. Because we died with Jesus at Calvary, we are dead to the law and delivered from its dominion over us as a principle of justification or of sanctification.  The law does not justify us; it does not make us right with God.  The law does not sanctify us; it does not take us deeper with God and make us more holy before Him.

–David Guzik

⁶But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.

_________________________

Music:

We are free from the law, not only in terms of fulfilling it for our salvation, but also in terms of meeting its demands for how we must live as God’s children! Such freedom now! With the Spirit’s help, I now can serve God better, out of love and thanksgiving rather than fear or duty. So, I’m “Never Gonna Stop” praising You, Lord! Thanks to Tommy Walker, singing  HERE.

_________________________

The Law and Sin

⁷What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ⁸But sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead. ⁹I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived ¹⁰and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. ¹¹For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. ¹²So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

¹³ Did what is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, working death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.

The Inner Conflict

¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. ¹⁵I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Do you ever feel that you are your own worst enemy? That when you resolve to do something good, you somehow sabotage  yourself (those conflicting desires!) and end up defeated? Recently I was reading Genesis 4 and came upon a phrase that captures just what seems to happen to me; in verse 7, God says to Cain, “Sin is crouching at the door.”  How well I know the feeling of being pounced by sin!

Yet the Lord, in such gracious kindness, has provided a way to deal with the problem. In Revelation 3:20 Christ assures us, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” This has been a helpful visual to me — that at those moments when I am wavering, I can imagine Christ knocking and the devil crouching outside the door of my heart. The choice is clear:  let me open the door and admit the Lord, who is always my friend and never my enemy, and who will help me do what is right.

²¹So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. ²²For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, ²³but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

 So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.

.

Prayer of Confession

(based on Romans 7:15-23)

Loving God,

we confess that we have sinned.

Even though we want to do what is right,

we did not always succeed today.

Not only did we fail to do what was right,

but at times we consciously chose to think and act

in ways we knew were wrong.

We are truly sorry,

and we ask for your forgiveness.

. . .

Words of Assurance

(based on Romans 7:24-25)

Friends, hear this:

Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,

we have been set free from the power of sin!

It no longer needs to control us.

So be at peace: your sins are forgiven!

Go out and live in the light of Christ.

Thanks be to God!

---

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Joe McKeever cartoon:  conflicting desires.   http://joemckeever.com/wp/46-cartoons-for-the-study-of-romans-updated/

angel on tombstone.   https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/8fc91-02_20_06_50_roma.jpg

I do not understand . . .    https://dwellingintheword.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/r7-what-i-hate-i-do1.jpg

Jesus knocking.    http://www.larrystephensministries.com/Christian%20Photos/JesusAtDoorKnock.jpg

Give thanks to the Lord.   https://www.alittleperspective.com/psalm-106-meditation/

3916.) Romans 6

Romans 6   (NRSV)

 Prayer before We Turn to the Word
(based on Romans 6:12-23)

God of grace,

You have brought us from slavery to freedom,

from despair to hope,

from death to life!

Holy is Your name!

We are here in Your presence with gratitude and praise

for all that You have done for us.

May the presence of Your Holy Spirit inspire our hearts and minds.

May our words and deeds,

our thoughts and prayers,

even our very lives,

bring honor and glory to You.

This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ,

whose death and resurrection have brought us everlasting life.

Amen.

Dying and Rising with Christ

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? ²By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? ³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

⁵For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷For whoever has died is freed from sin. ⁸But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.

Behold Jesus Christ, the King of glory, rising from the dead. Here the heart can find its supreme joy and lasting possessions. Here there is not the slightest trace of evil, for “Christ being risen from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer has dominion over him.” Here is that furnace of love and the fire of God in Zion, as Isaiah says, for Christ is not only born to us, but also given to us. Therefore, his resurrection and everything that he accomplished through it are mine. In Romans 8:32 the Apostle exults in exuberant joy, “Has he not also given me all things with him?”

What is it that he has wrought by his resurrection? He has destroyed sin and raised up righteousness, abolished death and restored life, conquered hell and bestowed everlasting glory on us. These blessings are so incalculable that the human mind hardly dares believe that they have been granted to me. I am unclean, but his holiness is my sanctification, in which I ride gently. I am an ignorant fool, but his wisdom carries me forward. I deserve condemnation, but I am set free by his redemption.

–Martin Luther, “Fourteen Consolations”

¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 53:4-6   (NIV)

Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

¹²Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. ¹³No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Sin does not stop God’s grace from flowing, but God’s grace will stop sin.

–Joseph Prince

Slaves of Righteousness

¹⁵What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Two Masters: 

To be human is to be a servant — if not to the true God, then to something else. Here, Paul places every alternative under a single banner: sin. Either we swear allegiance to God, our Creator and Redeemer, or to sin, the master of Satan’s miserable army.

On our own, we are prone to see our options differently. We might, like Adam and Eve, think that the alternative to serving God is becoming our own god (Genesis 3:4–5). We reach for the fruit of forbidden desire and imagine we are exercising our freedom. But if spiritual reality were to become visible, we would see ourselves in chains, bound and led at every step.

–Scott Hubbard

¹⁷But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, ¹⁸and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

¹⁹I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.

Two Rewards: 

Eventually, we become like the one we obey.

For all the liberation sin promises, handing ourselves over to him degrades us, dishonors us, dehumanizes us. He traffics in “dishonorable passions” (Romans 1:26), and leads us to do “things of which [we] are now ashamed” (Romans 6:21). Sin recruits only by deceit (Romans 7:11): he promises to give us whatever we want, and then leaves us with less than we ever had.

Those who give themselves to God, on the other hand, find themselves walking in newness of life (Romans 6:4). They discover the grand secret that holiness is not a stuffy thing, not a grim thing, not a “religious” thing, but rather, as Thomas Watson puts it, “heaven begun in the soul.” God’s servants become more dignified, more ennobled, more of what they were always supposed to be — in a word, more like Christ.

–Scott Hubbard

²⁰When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. ²²But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Two Destinies:

Many of us hear this familiar verse and assume that death is the wage that God delivers to sinners. But her Paul tells us that death is the wage of sin — the payment sin gives to his most loyal subjects.

Paul would not have us picture sin’s servants enjoying life with their master, until God ends their happiness with death. Rather, sin is the one who sneaks up on his servants and, when they least expect it, sinks a knife into their back. Like Woman Folly in Proverbs, sin lures people into his service with a thousand hooks — pornography and pride, success and self-pity, riches and reputation. But those who enter “[do] not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol” (Proverbs 9:18).

Meanwhile, God gathers up his servants, not to dispense wages (for what could we earn from him?), but to deliver a free gift: eternal life (Romans 6:23). Our holiness here is like a flower rising up from the ice, a guarantee of the coming spring when we will stand on God’s new earth, immortal and incorruptible, and breathe in the fragrance of eternal life (Romans 8:22–23).

–Scott Hubbard

_________________________

Music:

“People Need the Lord” and isn’t that the truth — because left on our own, we are, as Paul says, slaves to sin.  HERE  Ray Boltz sings.

---

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Joe McKeever cartoon:   sin.     http://joemckeever.com/wp/46-cartoons-for-the-study-of-romans-updated/

We were therefore buried . . .     http://img.heartlight.org/cards/g/romans6_4.jpg

dead to sin.    https://dwellingintheword.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/r6-dead-to-sin.jpg

grace.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/graceshinybinary.jpg

slave of righteousness.   https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/3a/40/05/3a4005dad00cada04c4a668e8131c9e6.jpg

the wages of sin.   https://biblia.com/bible/esv/romans/6/23

3915.) Romans 5

Romans 5   (NRSV)

Results of Justification

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

In this letter the apostle speaks as one who is extremely happy and full of joy. In the entire Scripture there is scarcely another text like this chapter, scarcely one so expressive. For he describes the grace and mercy of God in the clearest possible manner, telling us what it is like and how great it is for us.

Note how he begins, placing this spiritual peace with God only after righteousness has preceded it. For first he says, “since we have been justified through faith,” and then, “we have peace.” But the perversity of men seeks peace before righteousness, and for this reason they do not find peace. Thus the apostle creates a very fine antithesis in these words, namely,

• The righteous man has peace with God but affliction in the world, because he lives in the Spirit.

• The unrighteous man has peace with the world but affliction and tribulation with God, because he lives in the flesh.

• But as the Spirit is eternal, so also will be the peace of the righteous man and the tribulation of the unrighteous.

• And as the flesh is temporal, so will be the tribulation of the righteous and the peace of the unrighteous.

–Martin Luther, Lectures on Romans

³And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

This is a golden chain of Christian growth and maturity. One virtue builds upon another as we grow in the pattern of Jesus.

Most every Christian wants to develop character and have more hope. These qualities spring out of perseverance, which comes through tribulation.  I would rather have God just sprinkle perseverance and character and hope on me as I sleep. I could wake up a much better Christian! But that isn’t God’s plan for me or for any Christian.

Therefore — soberly, reverently — we say about tribulation, “Lord, bring it on. I know you love me and carefully measure every trial and have a loving purpose to accomplish in every tribulation. Lord, I won’t seek trials and search out tribulation, but I won’t despise them or lose hope when they come. I trust Your love in everything You allow.”

–David Guzik

⁶For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. ⁸But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. ⁹Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. ¹¹But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

_________________________

Music:

HERE  is The Oslo Gospel Choir and “The Power of Your Love.”

_________________________

Adam and Christ

¹²Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned— ¹³sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. ¹⁴Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.

Genesis 2:16-17 (ESV)  

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

¹⁵But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. ¹⁶And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. ¹⁷If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

“I’m greatly comforted when God speaks about me as righteous, justified, glorified, holy, pure, and saintly. God can talk about such things before they exist, because He knows they will exist.”

–Hamilton Smith

Ephesians 1:7  (ESV) 

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

¹⁸Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. ¹⁹For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. ²⁰But law came in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

John Wesley wrote:  Yet where sin abounded, grace did much more abound — Not only in the remission of that sin which Adam brought on us, but of all our own; not only in remission of sins, but infusion of holiness; not only in deliverance from death, but admission to everlasting life, a far more noble and excellent life than that which we lost by Adam’s fall.

²¹so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Grace reigns!”

–John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress

---

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Joe McKeever cartoon:  loved me.    http://joemckeever.com/wp/46-cartoons-for-the-study-of-romans-updated/

suffering – endurance – character – hope.   https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/05/8c/de/058cde839b4b552df5a46846d51aef1f.jpg

Adam and Eve.   https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/r5-adam-and-eve2.jpg

Jesus on the cross, by Juan Martinez Montanes.   http://caravaggista.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Cristo_de_la_Clemencia_c.jpg

3914.) Romans 4

“Abraham, pater multarem gentium (Abraham, father of many nations”) by Salvador Dali, 1964.

Romans 4   (NRSV)

The Example of Abraham

What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? ²For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” ⁴Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.

John Wesley wrote:  Now to him that worketh — All that the law requires, the reward is no favour, but an absolute debt. These two examples are selected and applied with the utmost judgment and propriety. Abraham was the most illustrious pattern of piety among the Jewish patriarchs. David was the most eminent of their kings. If then neither of these was justified by his own obedience, if they both obtained acceptance with God, not as upright beings who might claim it, but as sinful creatures who must implore it, the consequence is glaring. It is such as must strike every attentive understanding, and must affect every individual person.

⁵But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. ⁶So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: ⁷“Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; ⁸blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.”

Salvation comes not through works, but through grace.

⁹Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We say, “Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.” ¹⁰How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. ¹¹He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, ¹²and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Salvation comes not through human works, like circumcision, but through God’s grace which produces faith.

God’s Promise Realized through Faith

¹³For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

Salvation comes not through law, because we are unable to keep the law.

¹⁶For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, ¹⁷as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) —in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

Salvation comes not because a person is a physical descendant of Abraham through Isaac, but because all who believe are spiritual descendants of Abraham and share his faith in God.

¹⁸Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. ²²Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

Salvation comes not through our abilities, for like Abraham, our abilities may be weak or fail. But God is able to fulfill all that is needed. If God could call the dead womb of Sarah to life, he can call those who are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1) to new life in Jesus.

²³Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, ²⁴but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

_________________________

Music:

HERE.  The sounds of the shofar lead us as we praise the “Lord God of Abraham” with Paul Wilbur.

---

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Dali.    http://www.wikiart.org/en/salvador-dali/abraham-pater-multarem-gentium-genesis-12-1f-1967?utm_source=returned&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=referral

For it is by grace.   https://christinesbiblestudy.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/eph-2-8-web-w.jpg

God creates new things.    https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/4/17

Abraham, Sarah, and baby Isaac.   https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/old-testament-stories-for-young-readers/03a-abraham-and-sarah?lang=eng

Salvation comes from the Lord.    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/fa/c9/fa/fac9fa87caf2c2293758d8b40ba47d74.jpg

3913.) Romans 3

Romans 3   (NRSV)

“When any one understands this Epistle, he has a passage opened to him to the understanding of the whole Scripture.”

–John Calvin 

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? ²Much, in every way. For in the first place the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. ³What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? ⁴By no means!

Deuteronomy 7:9  (NIV)

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

Although everyone is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written, “So that you may be justified in your words, and prevail in your judging.” ⁵But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)

Paul was familiar with the line of thinking that says, “God is in control of everything. Even my evil will ultimately demonstrate His righteousness. Therefore God is unjust if He inflicts His wrath on me, because I’m just a pawn in His hand.”

In theory, the most dramatic example of someone who might ask this question is Judas. Can you hear Judas make his case? “Lord, I know that I betrayed Jesus, but You used it for good. In fact, if I hadn’t done what I did, Jesus wouldn’t have gone to the cross at all. What I did even fulfilled the Scriptures. How can You judge me at all?” The answer to Judas might go like this: “Yes, God used your wickedness but it was still your wickedness. There was no good or pure motive in your heart at all. It is no credit to you that God brought good out of your evil. You stand guilty before God.”

–David Guzik

⁶By no means! For then how could God judge the world? ⁷But if through my falsehood God’s truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? ⁸And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), “Let us do evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is deserved!

None Is Righteous

Warren Wiersbe calls this passage “An X-ray study of the lost sinner, from head to foot.”

These quotations from the Psalms (Psalms 14:1-3; 5:9, 140:3, 10:7 and 36:1) and from Isaiah 59:7-8 all support this opening statement.

⁹What then? Are we any better off? No, not at all; for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, ¹⁰as it is written:

“There is no one who is righteous, not even one;

These following quotations from the Psalms (Psalms 14:1-3; 5:9, 140:3, 10:7 and 36:1) and from Isaiah 59:7-8 all support this opening statement.

John Wesley wrote:  As it is written — That all men are under sin appears from the vices which have raged in all ages. St. Paul therefore rightly cites David and Isaiah, though they spoke primarily of their own age, and expressed what manner of men God sees, when he “looks down from heaven;” not what he makes them by his grace.

¹¹there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. ¹²All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, there is not even one.” ¹³“Their throats are opened graves; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of vipers is under their lips.” ¹⁴“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” ¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶ruin and misery are in their paths, ¹⁷and the way of peace they have not known.” ¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

“There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life.”

–Michel de Montaigne, “On the Art of Conversation”

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰For “no human being will be justified in his sight” by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

I like J.B. Phillip’s paraphrase of this phrase: It is the straight-edge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are.

Righteousness through Faith

²¹But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, ²²the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

God’s righteousness is not offered to us as something to take up the slack between our ability to keep the law and God’s perfect standard. It is not given to supplement our own righteousness, it is given completely apart from our own attempted righteousness.

For there is no distinction, ²³since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; ²⁴they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.

Let’s look more carefully at these words.

justified — This is a legal word whereby God, the judge, declares the guilty sinner to be in the right with Him. How can God do this and remain just? He does it on the basis of Jesus’ death, which has fully paid our penalty and acquitted us.

redemption — This is a word from commerce. It is what Jesus’ death means to us — He buys us back for God, paying the perfect ransom price of His own perfect life.

sacrifice of atonement or propitiation — This is a religious word which explains what Jesus’ death means to God. Through His death, Jesus absorbs the wrath of God due to our sin so that we don’t have to take the punishment we deserve.

–David Cook

²⁷Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.

But the devil, that master of a thousand tricks, lays traps for us with marvelous cleverness. He leads some astray by getting them involved in open sins. Others, who think themselves righteous, he brings to a stop, makes them lukewarm. A third group he seduces into superstitions and ascetic sects, so that, for example, they do not at all grow cold but feverishly engage in works, setting themselves apart from the others, whom they despise in their pride and disdain. A fourth class of people he urges on with ridiculous labor to the point where they try to be completely pure and holy, without any taint of sin.

He senses the weakness of each individual and attacks him in this area. And because these four classes of people are so fervent for righteousness, it is not easy to persuade them to the contrary. Thus he begins by helping them to achieve their goal, so that they become overanxious to rid themselves of every evil desire. When they cannot accomplish this, he causes them to become sad, dejected, wavering, hopeless, and unsettled in their consciences.

Then it only remains for us to stay in our sins and to cry in hope of the mercy of God that He would deliver us from them. Just as the patient who is too anxious to recover can surely have a serious relapse, we must also be healed gradually and for a while put up with certain weaknesses. For it is sufficient that our sin displeases us, even though we do not get entirely rid of it. For Christ carries all sins, if only they are displeasing to us, and thus they are no longer ours but His, and His righteousness in turn is ours.

–Martin Luther, Lectures on Romans

²⁹Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. ³¹Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

_________________________

Music:

The old gospel song “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross” done  HERE  by Neville Peter.  Born on the island of St. Thomas in 1972, Neville went blind from glaucoma at age 12.  He started playing piano at age 14 and moved to the USA to do his Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Music and Vocal Jazz at the University of Miami.  He had a promising career going in the clubs, and Gladys Knight asked him to tour with her.  But in 1998, God called him out of the world; from that time on, he has been full time in Christian music.

---

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Joe McKeever cartoon — sinner.   http://joemckeever.com/wp/46-cartoons-for-the-study-of-romans-updated/#more-778

God is faithful.   https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/48-god-is-faithful.jpg

X-ray.    https://www.buzzfeed.com/tessafahey/human-anatomy-skeletal-system-quiz

righteousness through faith.  https://stgeorgeubf.org/gods-righteousness-through-faith-in-jesus-2/

justified.    http://missionventureministries.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/justified-e.jpg

3912.) Romans 2

Romans 2   (NRSV)

“Romans:  the cathedral of the Christian faith.”

–Frederic Godet

The Righteous Judgement of God

Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. ²You say, “We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth.” ³Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

“It seems to me that every morning when a man wakes up still impenitent, and finds himself out of hell, the sunlight seems to say, ‘I shine on thee yet another day, as that in this day thou mayest repent.’ When your bed receives you at night I think it seems to say, ‘I will give you another night’s rest, that you may live to turn from your sins and trust in Jesus.’ Every mouthful of bread that comes to the table says, ‘I have to support your body that still you may have space for repentance.’ Every time you open the Bible the pages say, ‘We speak with you that you may repent.’ Every time you hear a sermon, if it be such a sermon as God would have us preach, it pleads with you to turn unto the Lord and live.”

–Charles Haddon Spurgeon

⁵But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. ⁶For he will repay according to each one’s deeds: ⁷to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; ⁸while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury.

Scripture says it over and over again:  there are two ways of living. Walking with God leads to eternal life; walking your own way leads to death. Even before the day of judgment, Paul says, it will be very clear.

⁹There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, ¹⁰but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. ¹¹For God shows no partiality.

Daniel 9:14 (NIV)  

The Lord our God is righteous in everything he does.

Acts 10:34-35 (NIV)

Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.”

“Imagine how a man’s life would be if he trusted that he was loved by God. How could he interact with the poor and not show partiality, he could love his wife easily and not expect her to redeem him, he would be slow to anger because redemption was no longer at stake, he could be wise and giving with his money because money no longer represented points, he could give up on formulaic religion, knowing that checking stuff off a spiritual to-do list was a worthless pursuit, he would have confidence and the ability to laugh at himself, and he could love people without expecting anything in return. It would be quite beautiful, really.”

–Donald Miller

John Wesley wrote:  For there is no respect of persons with God — He will reward every one according to his works. But this is well consistent with his distributing advantages and opportunities of improvement, according to his own good pleasure.

¹²All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. ¹³For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified. ¹⁴When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves.

A law to themselves does not mean that these “obedient Gentiles” made up their own law (as we use the expression “a law unto himself”), but that they were obedient to conscience, the work of the law residing in themselves.

–David Guzik

¹⁵They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them ¹⁶on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.

Jesus! He whose name is high and lifted up! He will be the Judge of all!

The Jews and the Law

Just recently I read this headline:  Transcript:  Pro-life Congressman Urged Mistress to Get Abortion.

And I thought, “If my life were put under scrutiny, I would be found to be a hypocrite, too.”  How grateful we are that God graciously forgives us and patiently leads us into the light!

¹⁷But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God ¹⁸and know his will and determine what is best because you are instructed in the law, ¹⁹and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, ²¹you, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? ²²You that forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You that abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³You that boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? ²⁴For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

²⁵Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶So, if those who are uncircumcised keep the requirements of the law, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? ²⁷Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you that have the written code and circumcision but break the law. ²⁸For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. ²⁹Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart—it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God.

To sin, as it says in verse 24, brings this result: “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

To do righteously, as in verse 29, brings a different result:  Such a person receives praise . . . from God.

_________________________

Music:

Oh, that my encounters with the Spirit of God and his truth will have a long-lasting effect on my heart!  Lead me to glorify your name every day in my thoughts, words, and deeds.  HERE  is “I Will Never Be,”  by Hillsong United.

---

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Joe McKeever:  no partiality.   http://joemckeever.com/wp/46-cartoons-for-the-study-of-romans-updated/

Repent.   http://www.catholicbishops.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Repent-and-Believe-cover.jpg

2 Timothy 4:1-2.     https://www.jeffrandleman.com/2-timothy-4-1-2/

skeletons.    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/64/09/20/640920e0460e5da21e39fc2b7b648bb6.jpg

Be very careful how you live.    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c6/5e/d5/c65ed572a05512ff9911bedf5742d757.jpg

Make the right choice.    http://rightchoiceins.com/rightchoice/images/page_decorations/make-the-right-choice.png

3911.) Romans 1

Romans 1   (NRSV)

Romans has always stood at the head of Paul’s letters, and rightly so. Since Acts ends with Paul’s arrival in Rome, it is logical to have the Epistle section of the New Testament begin with the apostle’s letter to the Roman church, written before he visited the Christians there. More decisively, Romans is the most important book theologically in the whole New Testament, being as close to a systematic theology as will be found in God’s word.

–William MacDonald

Salutation

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

John Wesley wrote:  Called to be an apostle — And made an apostle by that calling. While God calls, he makes what he calls. Separated — By God, not only from the bulk of other men, from other Jews, from other disciples, but even from other Christian teachers, to be a peculiar instrument of God in spreading the gospel.

²which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, ³the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh ⁴and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, ⁶including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

Blest be the tie that binds
our hearts in Christian love;
the fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above.

⁷To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world.

This is the Christian and true way of praising people — not to praise people for their own sake but to praise God in them first and foremost and to attribute everything to Him, as Isaiah 43:21 says:  “This people have I formed for Myself, they shall show forth My praise.”

Then the apostle shows that God is not praised except through Christ. As we receive everything from God through Him so we must return everything to God through Him since He alone is worthy to appear before the face of God and to carry on His priestly office for us, as in Hebrews 13:15:  “Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruits of lips that acknowledge His name.”

Therefore, he praises God through Christ for these people. While it is characteristic of envy to be sad about a neighbor’s good gifts and to curse them, here we see love. For it is the nature of love that it rejoices in the good gifts of the neighbor, especially his spiritual gifts, and glorifies God in them.

–Martin Luther, Lectures on Romans

⁹For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, ¹⁰asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you.

Before our Father’s throne
we pour our ardent prayers;
our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
our comforts and our cares.

¹¹For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— ¹²or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

We share each other’s woes,
our mutual burdens bear;
and often for each other flows
the sympathizing tear.

¹³I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. ¹⁴I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish ¹⁵—hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

The Power of the Gospel

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”

. . . which may also be understood, “the justified-by-faith ones shall live.”

John Wesley wrote:  As it is written — St. Paul had just laid down three propositions:

1. Righteousness is by faith, Romans 1:17:

2. Salvation is by righteousness, Romans 1:16:

3. Both to the Jews and to the gentiles, Romans 1:16. 

Now all these are confirmed by that single sentence, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ Here it means, He shall obtain the favour of God, and continue therein by believing.

_________________________

Music:

What wonderful words!  HERE  is Rich Mullins singing them.

_________________________

In August of 1513, a monk lectured on the book of Psalms in a seminary, but his inner life was nothing but turmoil. In his studies, he came across Psalm 31:1:  In Thy righteousness deliver me. The passage confused him; how could God’s righteousness do anything but condemn him to Hell as a righteous punishment for his sins? Luther kept thinking about Romans 1:17, which says that in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live” (Habakkuk 2:4). 

The monk went on to say: “Night and day I pondered until . . . I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith. Therefore I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise . . .  This passage of Paul became to me a gateway into heaven.”

Martin Luther was born again, and the reformation began in his heart.

–David Guzik

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.

The Guilt of Humankind

¹⁹For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; ²¹for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. ²²Claiming to be wise, they became fools; ²³and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

2 Kings 17:15   (NIV)

They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.

²⁴Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped (inwardly) and served (outwardly) the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

²⁶For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, ²⁷and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.

²⁸And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done.

Romans 1:23–28 reveals interrelated exchanges that we need to examine: exchanging glory for corruption (1:23), exchanging knowledge of God for falsehood (1:25); and exchanging the creation ordinance for a dysfunctional sexuality that is “contrary to nature” (Romans 1:26–28). Don’t miss the progression: the first exchange is glory for corruption; the second is truth for lies; and the third is natural relations (life-giving) for unnatural relations (death-producing).

Idolatry changes (your) glory into (global) corruption, regardless of your intention. Neither sin nor grace is private; each manifests world-changing meaning and consequence.

–Rosaria Butterfield

²⁹They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, ³¹foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³²They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.

Galatians 5:19-23  (NIV)

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

A powerful article on the impact of Romans 1 in her own life by Rosaria Butterfield:  click  HERE  to read it.

---

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Joe McKeever cartoon – Turgenev.   http://joemckeever.com/wp/46-cartoons-for-the-study-of-romans-updated/

I am not ashamed.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/romans-1_16.jpeg

Luther.   http://images.zeno.org/Literatur/I/big/luthepor.jpg

without excuse.   https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/romans1-20.jpg

professing themselves to be wise.   https://www.scripture-images.com/bible-verse/kjv/romans-1-22-kjv.php

fruit of the Spirit.    http://loldenver.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/fruits-of-the-spirit.jpg

3910.) Psalm 116

Psalm 116   (NIV)

Paying the Vow of Gratitude

I have much for which to be thankful! I was raised in a secure home by believing parents. I attended church regularly and learned to love Jesus and the Word of God. I graduated from Wheaton College. I have lived in interesting places in the USA, Europe, the Near East (Jerusalem!), and the Far East. I have three wonderful children and four wonderful grandchildren (and TWINS on the way!), plus many dear ones on my husband’s side. I am happier in my marriage with David than I can express. I live on a beautiful island in the Atlantic Ocean where I am part of a church that takes God and His words seriously. I have beloved friends around the world.

But today I must say there is another great thing for which I am thankful:  early in 2009 my dear friend, the late Sue Awes, asked me to consider writing a Bible reading blog, a chapter of the Bible a day, named “DWELLING in the Word.” The idea was very appealing! My first post was Genesis 1 on May 4, 2009. Little did I think that 15 years later I would be still be doing it, now almost 4000 posts!

How can I begin to say what it has meant to my heart and my mind to be DWELLING in God’s Word every day? The joy of finding the right commentary, the best pictures, helpful accompanying material to round out our understanding of each passage, good songs! The joy of being reminded each day of God’s power, God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s patience, God’s forgiveness, God’s majesty, God’s faithfulness, God’s goodness.

Thank you, Sue! Thank you, readers! Thank you, my dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

¹ I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
² Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.

“My resolve is to trust God exclusively and worship him explicitly.”

–Derek Kidner (British OT scholar, 1913-2008)

³ The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
⁴ Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Lord, save me!”

The Lord does not stand at a distance when his people suffer. His salvation is close at hand.

⁵ The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
⁶ The Lord protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me.

“Not only is God gracious, he is also gracious to the little people, to the plain, to commoners, to the everyday person on the bus or in the shop—to people like the psalmist. That is one of the great glories of our God. When Jesus called his disciples, he called fishermen and tax collectors. When the angels announced the birth of Jesus, they appeared to shepherds.”

–James Montgomery Boice (author and pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia for more than 30 years, 1938-2000)

⁷ Return to your rest, my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.

John Wesley wrote:  Rest — Unto a cheerful confidence in God.

⁸ For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
⁹ that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

Psalm 27:13-14  (NIV)

I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.

¹⁰ I trusted in the Lord when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted”;
¹¹ in my alarm I said,
“Everyone is a liar.”

¹² What shall I return to the Lord
for all his goodness to me?

¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord.
¹⁴ I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.

¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his faithful servants.

“They shall not die prematurely; they shall be immortal till their work is done; and when their time shall come to die, then their deaths shall be precious. The Lord watches over their dying beds, smooths their pillows, sustains their hearts, and receives their souls.”

–Charles Haddon Spurgeon (English author and the “Prince of Preachers” from London, 1834-1892)

¹⁶ Truly I am your servant, Lord;
I serve you just as my mother did;
you have freed me from my chains.

¹⁷I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the Lord.

 

from Whispers of His Power,
by Amy Carmichael

(missionary to India who served 55 years without a furlough, 1867-1951)

Psalm 116:15-17  —  Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. O Lord, truly I am Thy servant . . . Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Sometimes even Christians write of death in a sad way. “We regret to announce,” they say. The Salvation Army people are right in the way they put it:  “Promoted to Glory.”

Just after “Precious in the sight of the Lord” comes “Thou hast loosed my bonds.” Think what a loosening that loosening is! No wonder the next words are, “I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving.”

But those words first refer to the loosening of all bonds of sin. If anyone is conscious of any such bond, ask for it to be loosened now. Live as God’s loosed ones.

¹⁸ I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
¹⁹ in the courts of the house of the Lord—
in your midst, Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord.

Psalms 113-118 are known as “Egyptian Hallel” psalms (Hallel simply means “Praise Yahweh!”), thus they were written as praises that were sung in connection with the Passover meal and other Hebrew festivals and reflect upon God’s redemption of his people, particularly from their bondage in Egypt. In the context of the Passover celebration, Psalms 113 and 114 typically would have been sung before the Passover meal and Psalms 115-118 would have been sung afterward. It is most likely these were the psalms that Jesus and his disciples sang after the Last Supper. 

–wikipedia

Every Christian should read this Psalm with the atonement of Jesus in mind. Christians cannot help but praise God for such a wonderful gift—the gift of eternal life through His Son Jesus. Will you look upon the Psalmist and emulate His cry: “I love you LORD”? Are you willing to commit yourself to Him without reservations?

–freedominchrist.net

_________________________

Music:

Paying the vow of gratitude — “How can I say thanks / For the things You have done for me?”  HERE  is “My Tribute,” written by Andrae Crouch and sung here by the Norwegian soprano Sissel Kyrkjebo.

_________________________

New International Version (NIV)   Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Images courtesy of:

I love the Lord.   https://www.haikudeck.com/love-education-presentation-d62ece79c8#slide2

from the hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”   https://smoodock45.wordpress.com/2017/12/03/what-does-jesus-mean-by-mammon/

verse 15.   https://mygreatmaster.com/it-is-precious-for-me-to-see-my-faithful-ones-come-home/

loosed chain.   https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/chains2.jpg

3909.) Proverbs 18

Proverbs 18 (ESV)

¹Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire;
he breaks out against all sound judgment.

To cut one’s self off from family, friends, and community is often to express a selfish desire. It shows an unwillingness to make the small (and sometimes large) sacrifices to get along with others.

Jewish tradition uses this passage to teach the necessity of not separating from the community, because people have responsibilities as social beings.

–David Guzik

²A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
but only in expressing his opinion.
³When wickedness comes, contempt comes also,
and with dishonor comes disgrace.

“Adam and Eve” by Peter Paul Rubens

“As soon as sin entered, shame followed.”

–Matthew Henry

Genesis 3:6-8 (Good News Translation)

The woman saw how beautiful the tree was and how good its fruit would be to eat, and she thought how wonderful it would be to become wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he also ate it.  As soon as they had eaten it, they were given understanding and realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and covered themselves.

That evening they heard the Lord God walking in the garden, and they hid from him among the trees.

⁴The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters;
the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

Not that everyone’s speech is deep and meaningful! Rather, we reveal the depths of our heart by the words of our mouth.

⁵It is not good to be partial to the wicked
or to deprive the righteous of justice.
⁶A fool’s lips walk into a fight,
and his mouth invites a beating.

He who thinks by the inch and speaks by the yard deserves to be kicked by the foot!

⁷ A fool’s mouth is his ruin,
and his lips are a snare to his soul.
⁸ The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
they go down into the inner parts of the body.

⁹Whoever is slack in his work
is a brother to him who destroys.
¹⁰ The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

Because the name of Yahweh represents His character in all its aspects, the believer can think about the aspects of God’s character and find a strong, safe refuge in them. It can be as simple as this:

· Lord, You are a God of love – so I find refuge in your love.

· Lord, You are a God of mercy – so I find refuge in your mercy.

· Lord, You are a God of strength – so I find refuge in your strength.

· Lord, You are a God of righteousness – so I find refuge in your righteousness.

–David Guzik

¹¹ A rich man’s wealth is his strong city,
and like a high wall in his imagination.
¹² Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty,
but humility comes before honor.

“It is not humility to underrate yourself. Humility is to think of yourself, if you can, as God thinks of you.”

–Charles Haddon Spurgeon

¹³If one gives an answer before he hears,
it is his folly and shame.

The adage says, “God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason!  Listen twice as much as you speak!”

¹⁴A man’s spirit will endure sickness,
but a crushed spirit who can bear?
¹⁵An intelligent heart acquires knowledge,
and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
¹⁶A man’s gift makes room for him
and brings him before the great.

As an example . . .

What gifts were most frequently given to Nixon by foreign Heads of State?
Framed photographs, paintings and decorative household objects such as vases and figurines were some of the most popular gifts given to President Nixon. Many of the gifts that Richard Nixon received reflect the native crafts of the culture they represent. For example, gifts from Africa include carved ivory tusks, traditional wooden masks and African jewelry.

What was the most unusual gift that President Nixon received?
The gift of two giant pandas, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, were perhaps the most unique gifts ever given to a president. The pandas were a Head of State gift from the People’s Republic of China. They were given as a token of friendship in response to President Nixon’s goodwill trip to China in 1972.

What type of gifts did President Nixon give to foreign Heads of State on behalf of the United States of America?
President Nixon usually presented Heads of State with gifts made by American companies or with American themes. Typical gifts given include Franklin Mint limited edition medallions, Ansel Adams prints depicting America’s national parks, Boehm porcelain figurines, and collector’s plates with reproductions of American artist Winslow Homer’s artwork. In addition, President Nixon often gave a framed photograph of his family to foreign Heads of State.

— from the Nixon Archives

¹⁷The one who states his case first seems right,
until the other comes and examines him.
¹⁸ The lot puts an end to quarrels
and decides between powerful contenders.

“Verse 18 speaks of a practice that was widely practiced and highly regarded in ancient Israel, the casting of lots to settle disputed matters. The intent is to give the controversy over to God.”

–Duane A. Garrett

¹⁹A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city,
and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.
²⁰ From the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach is satisfied;
he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.

Proverbs 18:20 (Good News Translation)

You will have to live with the consequences of everything you say.

Proverbs 18:20 (The Message)

Words satisfy the mind as much as fruit does the stomach;
   good talk is as gratifying as a good harvest.

Proverbs 18:20 (Contemporary English Version)

Make your words good–

   you will be glad you did.

²¹ Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
and those who love it will eat its fruits.
²²He who finds a wife finds a good thing
and obtains favor from the LORD.

(Guys — Today would be a good day to tell her how much you appreciate her!)

²³The poor use entreaties,
but the rich answer roughly.
²⁴A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

_________________________

Music:

So many of the verses in this chapter speak to the words we speak.  HERE  is Tim Hughes with “May the Words of My Mouth.”

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart
Bless Your name, bless Your name, Jesus
And the deeds of the day and the truth in my ways
Speak of You, speak of You, Jesus

For this is what I’m glad to do
It’s time to live a life of love that pleases You
And I will give my all to You
Surrender everything I have and follow You
I’ll follow You

Lord, will You be my vision, Lord, will You be my guide
Be my hope, be my light and the way
And I’ll look not for riches, nor praises on earth
Only You’ll be the first of my heart

I will follow
I will follow
I will follow You

_________________________

English Standard Version (ESV)   The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

Images courtesy of:

Words kill, words give life.   https://i.pinimg.com/originals/07/15/40/071540c179203544fbbb4c11bce3dbe1.png

Rubens.   https://www.myartprints.co.uk/kunst/noartist/p/p_p_rubens__adam_and_eve.jpg

ruler.   http://i00.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/293609546/12_inch_18_inch_Wooden_Ruler.jpg

gossip.  http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l9ria4862R1qa7ieoo1_500.jpg

strong tower.   https://dwellingintheword.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/prov18-10b.jpg

2 ears 1 mouth.    https://lifeexaminedsite.wordpress.com/2017/06/13/two-ears-one-mouth/

Nixon.  http://prmanwithus.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/president-nixon.jpg

Thank you.  http://rlv.zcache.com/soft_red_rose_thank_you_cards-p137442045531177021qiae_400.jpg

3908.) Psalm 20

Psalm 20   (NRSV)

Prayer for Victory

The picture is that of King David before battle, at the tabernacle of God, offering prayers and sacrifices. 

With the eye of faith, we see that this also speaks to the great battle fought by one greater than King David — by Jesus, the Son of David and the King of Kings. We can see this prayer being offered prophetically for Jesus as He pointed Himself toward the cross, where He would fight the greatest battle against sin, death, and Satan’s power.

–David Guzik

¹The Lord answer you in the day of trouble! The name of the God of Jacob protect you!

²May he send you help from the sanctuary, and give you support from Zion.

³May he remember all your offerings, and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices. Selah

⁴May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your plans.

Isaiah 26:8 (NLT)

Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws;
our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.

When our desires are in accord with the plan and will of God for us, we can pray this same prayer with confidence. We can also look for God to bring our desires more and more into conformity with His, in the course of Christian growth.

⁵May we shout for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

Here the raising of the banners signifies God’s victory over the enemies.

⁶Now I know that the Lord will help his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories by his right hand.

⁷Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses, but our pride is in the name of the Lord our God.

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses:  but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”  — Psalm 20:7 (King James Version)

Proverbs 18:10  ESV

The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
    the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

⁸They will collapse and fall, but we shall rise and stand upright.

⁹Give victory to the king, O Lord; answer us when we call.

“This is the language of faith, not after the battle, but before it.”

–J. Campbell Morgan

_________________________

Music:

HERE  is “My Heart’s Desire” by the Newsboys.

_________________________

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

verse 4 with a rock.   https://dailyverses.net/psalms/20/4

verse 4 with clouds.   https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f6/f2/79/f6f279c33e2fc6f0261312238f9e5523.jpg

Roman chariot.  https://www.ancientsculpturegallery.com/roman-chariot-marble-sculpture-1639357794.html/