Read the Bible in a Year (25NOV19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, November 25’s Bible reading is Romans 4-7.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, November 26’s Bible reading is Romans 8-10. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

 

ROMANS MOMENT – (25NOV19) “…The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” (Romans 5:16b-17). The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome to help them understand what it meant to be free in Christ. The Jews had been used to following the Mosaic law in such a manner that they felt their salvation was dependent upon how strictly they kept all 613 codes of it. Paul, in his letter, was attempting to help them embrace the work that Jesus had done on the cross so they would place their faith solely in Him and not their works. He reminded them of their ancestor Abraham, who though was uncircumcised, was counted as being faithful and righteous for following God before the covenant of circumcision began. Circumcision was only a sign of the faith he had before it was done. Therefore, those who believed prior to circumcision, such as the Gentiles, followed Abraham’s example, and those who were circumcised first and believed after, followed his example as well.

Paul gives an example of Abraham having amazing faith when he, being a hundred years old, and Sarah, having a dead womb, believed God’s promise of having a child. At Sarah’s age of ninety, she was well past the age of having monthly cycles and would have been into full menopause. There was no possibility that she should have been able to have a child when there were no more eggs being released and estrogen had stopped its production. Furthermore, she had been barren even in her prime, for she and Abraham had not had any children to date. Nevertheless, Abraham was considered as being a man of faith because he believed that God could do whatever He wanted to do, and so He did. Isaac was born even though the situation looked impossible. The Bible says: “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why ‘it was credited to him as righteousness’ ” (Romans 5:18-22).

The Apostle Paul used these examples to say that it is by faith that we are saved and nothing that we could have done on our own accord. Even so, we do not get to live in sin and claim to be righteous. Sin enslaves us, but Christ frees us, and in so doing, He has made it possible for our relationship to be restored back to the Father. The Bible says: “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2). The law was given so that we could know what sin was, but now that we know, the gift of salvation that Jesus has given to us frees us from the law’s condemnation. Therefore, we no longer embrace sin not because our works can save us, but because Jesus’ death on the cross liberated us from sin. When we truly believe this message, then we can have confidence in that our salvation is through faith given to us by the grace of God.

Sometimes we as Christians can make the mistake of being legalistic in such a way that we think and act as if we are responsible for our own salvation. We can sometimes be hard on others, while forgetting that Jesus saved us in the midst of our sins. Nevertheless, we should be mindful to give others the same grace, love, and mercy that Jesus extended to us. There is nothing that we could have done to earn salvation. No money, education, title, status, or popularity could have given us salvation apart from the blood of Jesus Christ. When we receive a gift, that means that it was free. Jesus gave of Himself so that mankind could be free from the chains of sin that once held us bound. We did not know what right and wrong was until there was the Law. We also did not know what true freedom was until we met Jesus. Something to ponder….