Devotionary

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Ep 102 – Romans 11:1-24 T Apr 06, 2017

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It would have been easy for the Gentile recipients of Paul's letter to have concluded that the Jews had blown it. They had rejected Jesus as their Messiah and, therefore, God had chosen to take His message of salvation to non-Jews. But Paul, a Jew himself, wouldn't allow them to draw this conclusion. In response to whether God had rejected His people, Paul responded, "By no means!" They may have rejected Him, but He had not rejected them. He had a plan for the people of Israel and had made binding promises regarding their future that He was going to keep. Their rejection of His Son had not caught God off guard. He hadn't been forced to knee-jerk react and come up with a plan B. In fact, everything was going exactly as He had pre-ordained it to happen. No surprises. No setbacks. No cause for concern. Because God had always planned for all the nations to be blessed, including Israel, and so they were.

Ep 101 – Romans 10:16-21 Apr 05, 2017

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As Paul closes out chapter 10, he stresses God's unique relationship to the people of Israel. While they were God's chosen people, and Jesus had come to them as their Messiah, the vast majority of them had refused to accept Him as such. The apostle John, in his gospel, described just what had happened. "He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:11-12 NLT). Paul, a Jew himself, had watched as his own people continued to reject Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, while the Gentiles gladly accepted His offer of salvation through grace alone, by faith alone in Christ alone. The Jews had heard, and so, they were without excuse. The light of God had shown among them, but they had chosen to remain in darkness. God had called, but they had refused to listen.

Ep 100 – Romans 10:1-15 Apr 04, 2017

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Paul had an obsession with the gospel. It had radically redeemed and changed him. And he was eternally grateful. So much so, that he couldn't stop talking about it. Everywhere he went, the good news of Jesus Christ was just about all Paul could talk about – to anybody who would listen. It was Paul's gratitude for what Christ had done for him that fueled his evangelistic zeal. Of course, he had been commissioned by Jesus Himself, but Paul didn't view his commission as a job, but as a privilege. It was his joy to share the grace that had been shown to him. It was his honor to tell others of the life-changing message of Christ's death, burial and resurrection. And as we open up chapter ten of Romans, we are going to see Paul's passion for the gospel and his compassion for the lost coming together in a powerful display of evangelistic zeal. Paul was willing to risk all so that some might come to know Jesus as their Savior.

Ep 99 – Romans 9:16-33 Apr 03, 2017

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It is a dangerous thing to shake your fist in the face of a holy God and question His integrity or cast doubt regarding His justice. And yet, so often, that is exactly what we do. Our problem is one of perspective, as Paul will point out. We have a limited view of what God is doing, and a less-than-complete understanding of His will or His ways. We have a tendency to look at events from our earth-based vantage point and either question God's methods or raise doubts as to His presence altogether. The Jews of Paul's day couldn't understand why God would offer His grace and mercy to the Gentiles. In their minds, that was unfair. Rich Gentiles who came to faith in Christ struggled with the idea of poor believers being their equals. The ways of God are sometimes difficult to comprehend. He can be mysterious and unconventional, but He is also gracious and merciful. All because He chooses to be. Not because we deserve Him to be.

Ep 98 – Romans 9:1-15 Apr 02, 2017

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What was Paul, a good Jew, supposed to do with all the promises God had made to the people of Israel? Was the fact he had been commissioned to take the gospel to the Gentiles a sign that God was done with the Jews? Were they no longer His chosen people? Chapter nine of Romans opens up an important section of the letter that will deal with God's seeming rejection of the Jews and His inclusion of the Gentiles. The Jews in Paul's audience, who had placed their faith in Christ, were struggling over what appeared to be a falling from grace on the part of the Israelites. But Paul is going to emphasize God's faithfulness to His chosen people and affirm that God's word, His promises, have not failed regarding the descendants of Israel. God was going to choose from among them just as He had among the Gentiles. His blessings would fall on Jew and Gentile alike. Based on His grace, not merit.

Ep 97 – Romans 8:31-39 Apr 01, 2017

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In the final verses of chapter eight, Paul stresses the irrepressible, unavoidable and unbelievable love of God for His children. This love, ultimately expressed in the selfless sacrifice of His own Son as payment for our sins, is like nothing we have ever seen before. It's not based on our performance, so it's completely undeserved and impossible to un-earn. In other words, there's nothing we can ever do that will make God stop loving us. And there is nothing anyone else can do to separate us from God's love. God loved us enough to send His Son to die for us. And His love will not be completely fulfilled until He sends His Son back to get us. And between those two events in our life, He continues to pour out His love on us as He patiently, graciously and mercifully transforms us into the likeness of His Son. His love for us came at a great cost, and will last forever.

Ep 96 – Romans 8:18-30 Mar 31, 2017

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God saved us and one day He is going to glorify us. But what are we supposed to do in the meantime? That's the topic of the next section of Romans chapter eight. In verses 18-30 Paul will deal with our future glory and our present suffering. He'll juxtapose our eternal life to come with the life we are called to live in the meantime. During this phase of our journey, we will experience His sanctifying work in our lives, but it will take place along with the ever-present reality of sin and suffering. But once again, Paul will remind us that we have been given the Spirit of God to help us in our weaknesses and to intercede on our behalf with "groanings too deep for words." And finally, Paul will leave us with those comforting, yet sometimes difficult to believe words, "all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose."

Ep 95 – Romans 8:1-17 Mar 30, 2017

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In the first 17 verses of Romans chapter eight, Paul provides us with important insight into how we are to live for Christ now that we have been set free from the law. He doesn't tell us to avoid the law or to view it as unnecessary or no longer valid. No, he tells us to walk according to the Spirit. We are to live our lives according to a new power. The Holy Spirit was God's gift to the church, providing believers with the power they need to live the life to which He has called them. No longer are we staring at a long list of holy requirements, equipped with nothing more than our sinful flesh to help us live obediently. That method has been proven ineffective in producing holy people. But now, we have the Spirit of God providing for us the power of God and making it possible for us to live as the people of God. It is the very presence of the Spirit of God within us that proves to us that we are sons and daughters of God, and heirs to His kingdom.

Ep 94 – Romans 7:14-25 Mar 29, 2017

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The second half of Romans chapter seven contains an up close and personal glimpse into Paul's own battle with sin. Here was a man who had had a face-to-face encounter with the resurrected Christ, and who had spent years sharing the goods new of faith in Christ with countless individuals all across the known world of that day. And yet, he struggled with sin. He knew what it was like to desire to do what was right and good, but to find himself unable to pull it off. He had discovered the reality of the daily battle we all face as believers: The internal war between our old sin nature and the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. When God saved us, He didn't eradicate our sin nature. It remains alive and well, and stands diametrically opposed to the plans the Holy Spirit has for us. But God didn't just give us an alternative to sin, He gave us a means by which we can have victory over it. All through the power of the Spirit.

Ep 93 – Romans 7:1-13 Mar 28, 2017

Show notes

As we open up chapter seven of Paul's letter to the Romans, we will see him returning to his discussion of man's new relationship with the law as a result of Christ's death on the cross. In no way is Paul attempting to diminish the value of the law. In fact, he will defend it with his life. But he is trying to get believers to understand that they have been set from the law in terms of any need they may feel to keep it in order to made right with God. The law is holy, but it cannot transfer that holiness to anyone. Only Jesus can make the unholy, holy. Only He can replace our unrighteousness with His own righteousness. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we can do good deeds, not in our power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are free to be fruitful. We are free to keep the righteous requirements of the law, not as a form of merit, but as an expression of our newfound righteousness provided for us by Christ.

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