Romans 7
Proper relationship between husband and wifeverses 1-3
Know you not – brethren (for I speak to them that know the law)
how that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
FOR the woman which has an husband is bound by the law to her husband
so long as he lives
BUT if the husband be dead
she is loosed from the law of her husband
So then if – while her husband lives – she be married to another man
she shall be called an adulteress – BUT if her husband be dead
she is free from that law
so that she is no adulteress
though she be married to another man
Proper relationship between Law and Christverses 4-6
WHEREFORE – my brethren
ye also are become dead to the law BY the body of Christ
that ye should be married to another
EVEN to HIM who is raised from the dead
that we should bring forth
FRUIT unto God
FOR when we were in the flesh – the motions of sins
which were by the law did work in our members
to bring forth FRUIT unto death
BUT now we are delivered from the law
that being dead wherein we were held
that we should serve in NEWNESS of spirit
and not in the OLDNESS of the letter
Law of Moses reveals what is sinverses 7-12
What shall we say then? Is the law sin?
God forbid
Nay – I had not known sin but by the law – for I had not known lust
except the law had said – You shalt not covet
BUT sin – taking occasion by the commandment
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence
FOR without the law sin was dead
for I was alive without the law once
BUT when the commandment came
sin revived – and I died
and the commandment – which was ordained to life
I found to be unto death
FOR sin – taking occasion by the commandment – deceived me
and by it slew me
WHEREFORE the law is holy
and the commandment holy – just – good
Conflict between sin and righteousnessverses 13-20
Was then that which is good made death unto me?
God forbid
BUT sin – that it might appear sin
working death in me by that which is good
that sin by the commandment
might become exceeding sinful
FOR we know that the law is spiritual
BUT I am carnal – sold under sin
for that which I do – I allow not
for what I would – that do I not
but what I hate – that do I
IF then I do that which I would not
I consent unto the law that it is good
now then it is no more I that do it
BUT sin that dwells in me
FOR I know that in me (that is – in my flesh)
dwells no good thing
for to will is present with me
but how to perform
that which is good I find not
FOR the good that I would – I do not
but the evil which I would not – that I do
NOW if I do that I would not – it is no more I that do it
but sin that dwells in me
Jesus Christ is the only deliverer from sinverses 21-25
I find then a law – that – when I would do good
evil is present with me
for I delight in the law of God
after the INWARD man
but I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind
and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin
which is in my members
O wretched man that I am
Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God
but with the flesh the law of sin
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of the letter. (2538 “newness” [kainotes] means freshness, new in nature, in a new state of life which the Holy Spirit places us so as to produce a new state which is eternal life or state of being new or different, the state of being relatively recent, life of a new quality or renewal)
DEVOTION: What does deliverance mean? When we are delivered from something or someone it means that they are no longer in control of us. We have freedom. There is freedom to do something different or follow someone different. Paul is telling the Romans that the Law is no longer in control of their lives once they follow Christ. They are no longer obligated to try to obey the Law in their own power. They are no longer under the penalty of the Law. The Law brought death. Christians are living under grace. They are raised from the dead through Christ. Baptism is a sign of the death to the old life and the resurrection to the new life.
We are given freshness through Christ. We are to serve HIM with a new power – Holy Spirit. Once we become a follower of Christ we have the Holy Spirit in us to give us direction on a daily basis.
When Christ came into our life everything was different and everything had a new quality to it. Our life was changed forever. However, we still have our old nature with us.
Paul is discussing in this chapter the battle we all fight in our walk with the LORD. The battle is real. The new nature and the old nature are pulling in different directions. There is the law of his mind and the law of the flesh.
The inward man is renewed day by day according to Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians. Paul doesn’t leave the theme that each day we have to make choices to follow the LORD. He also makes it plain that some days the evil in our old nature wins.
The battle in our minds is one that we want the LORD to win each moment of each day. This doesn’t happen. We have to confess our sins and HE will restore our fellowship with HIM. Our new quality of life will never leave us once we have committed our lives to HIM. We are eternally secure. Praise HIS name. Our daily fight will result in eternity in heaven. We are to never give up. HE promises to never leave us or forsake us.
We can never win if we try to have just an external relationship with the LORD. Our flesh is controlled by the old nature. Our inner man is controlled by the Holy Spirit once we become a follower of Christ. It is in the inner man that we can have a proper relationship with the LORD.
Paul is dealing with two views that are sinful: legalism and license. The letter of the Law is legalism. The canceling of the Law is license. We are to live in the Law of our Spiritual Mind or the law of Liberty. We are at liberty to obey and follow Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our life. HE gives us power to win each day.
CHALLENGE: Allow the Holy Spirit to fill your life each day. This is done by confession of sin and yielding to HIM. Once we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will live a thankful, submissive, and song filled life each day.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. (1939 “concupiscence” [epithumia] means lust, desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden, coveting, passion, or yearning)
DEVOTION: The conflict between living for the LORD and sin in our life is unique. Our old nature is sinful. Paul is being honest with those in Rome regarding the struggle between honoring God and living for self.
This conflict is something that happened every day in the life of Paul and in every Christian to present. Our desire is to serve the LORD but in our body we have a conflict that causes us to fight against our human sin nature.
Paul had a desire to always do good but he found evil in his nature. He had a new nature that the LORD gave him but one of the things that can cause us problems is that HE didn’t take away our old nature.
He gives an illustration of marriage as an example of what happens when an individual changes spouses. When we are married it is to be for life. Nothing should end a marriage but the death of the spouse. If someone marries before the spouse is dead they are committing adultery.
Now we have taken a new spouse in the form of Jesus Christ once we become a believer. HE is our husband or as described in other places in the New Testament, HE is our groom. Those who are members of the church universal are the bride. We are waiting for HIS coming to take us to be with HIM.
In the meantime, we are engaged to Jesus Christ with our engagement ring being the Holy Spirit. HE is given at the point of salvation to all those who believe. We are to be faithful to HIM until HE returns because we are wearing HIS ring.
Now it is hard to divorce ourselves from our old nature to live for our new nature in Christ. The conflict never ends while we are alive. We are fighting in this conflict every day. Paul stated that at times the old nature would win.
He wanted to be dead to sin but it didn’t happen. He still sinned until his death. That is true of us too. We will have sin in our life until death. We will never be perfect. We can only ask the Holy Spirit to give us strength, so that, a majority of the time we have victory in Christ. It is available all the time and the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
Remember that we have an advocate with the Father. HIS name is Jesus Christ. HE is before the throne to defend us. Should we sin more because HE is there? NO!! Our responsibility is to try to sin less with the help of the Holy Spirit.
CHALLENGE: Prayer needs to be made each day as we face this world. We can have victory but it means a total dependence on Jesus Christ. We have to put on the armor of God daily.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 19 For the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. (2556 “evil” [kakos] means harm, wicked, ill, wrong, morally objectionable, incorrect, harmful, incorrect, or faulty)
DEVOTION: This whole chapter deals with the problem of sin in the life of a believer. Even with a new nature we struggle with our old nature. We all have a besetting sin that we inherit from our family.
Abraham was a liar. His son Isaac was a liar. His son Jacob was liar. It seems that Jacob had a double problem because we find that his mother’s family was liars as well. You see that Isaac married a cousin and Jacob married a cousin.
David had a problem of taking more than one wife. Solomon had more wives than David and they turned his heart away from the LORD.
Each family struggles with the sins of the parents and grandparents. We can’t blame them for our sins but we can understand why we sin in the area that we sin in.
It is because we know what sin is besetting that we can go to the LORD each day and need to ask HIM for help to overcome the family sin. We have other sins as well and we need to ask for victory from Jesus for those as well.
Our goal is the same as Paul’s goal to not to do wrong or sin. We are not to let our sin take control of our life or then we are living in sin. There is a difference between an individual sin and living in sin.
Living in sin means that we are not trying to change. Some believers can fall into this trap and then the LORD has to use hard measures to get them out of that lifestyle. Daily individual sins need confession.
We need to keep short accounts with God. Children are to obey their parents in the LORD. Husbands and wives are to work together for the glory of the LORD.
CHALLENGE: Churches are to train disciples to be faithful to the LORD.
: 25 I THANK God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (3563 “mind” [nous] means understanding, comprising alike the faculties of perceiving and understanding and those of feeling, judging, determining, the intellectual faculty, capacity for spiritual truth, the faculty of perceiving divine things, of recognizing goodness and of hating evil)
DEVOTION: Paul just doesn’t stop confronting this issue. He states that there are two laws in our body once we become a believer. Each law is in a battle against each other. It never ends.
Here we find Paul saying thank you to God for Jesus Christ who is his Lord. He knows that without HIS help he will fail in every ministry he tries to do. We are to be a thankful people.
Sometimes or may be most of the time this battle can cause us much grief, we might wonder why the LORD just doesn’t take our old nature away and let us just have the new nature. It is a question that seems to have an answer in the fact that HE wants us to totally depend on HIM each day. If we had only a new nature, we would some to the conclusion that we don’t need HIS help we can do it on our own. That is how our thinking works. If we could do it on our own, we would. It would leave the LORD right out of the picture.
God wants to be involved in our daily life. HE walked with Adam and Eve in the garden each day. HE communicated with them each day. HE warned them concerning eating the fruit for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They didn’t listen and ate of it with the help of the temptation of Satan.
HE is walking with us each day and issues warnings regarding pitfalls in our world. We need HIS daily instruction to keep our eyes on HIM. If we take our eyes off Jesus we start to sink into sin.
CHALLENGE: Keep your mind on the LORD Jesus Christ. HE can carry you through any temptation.
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Law verses 1, 4-9, 12, 14, 21, 22
Oldness of letter verse 6
Without the law sin was dead verse 8
Commandment verses 9-13
Ordained to life verse 10
Law is holy verse 12
Commandment is holy – just – good verse 12
Law is spiritual verse 14
Law is good verse 16
Law of God verse 22
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
God verses 4, 13, 22, 25
Fruit unto God verse 4
Law of God verses 22, 25
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
Christ verses 4, 25
Body of Christ verse 4
Resurrection verse 4
Jesus verse 25
Lord verse 25
Jesus Christ our Lord verse 25
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
God forbid verses 7, 13
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Man verse 1
Woman verse 2
Husband verses 2, 3
Wife (Woman) verse 2
Another man verse 2, 3
Married verse 3
Flesh verses 5, 18, 25
Carnal verse 14
Sin dwells in man verse 17
Inward man verse 22
Law of sin in members verse 23
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Adulteress verse 3
Sins verse 5, 7-9, 11, 13, 14, 17, 20
Motion of sins verse 5
Fruit unto death verse 5
Lust verse 7
Covet verse 7
Concupiscence (lust, craving, covet) verse 8
Deceived verse 11
Exceedingly sinful verse 13
Carnal verse 14
Sold under sin verse 14
Conflict in believer verses 16-19, 23
Sin dwells in believer verses 17, 18, 20
Evil verses 19, 21
Law of sin verses 23, 25
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Dead to the Law verse 4
Body of Christ verse 4
Married to Christ verse 4
Fruit unto God verse 4
Newness of spirit verse 6
Hate sin verse 15
Do good verses 19, 21
Delight in the law of God verse 22
Inward man verse 22
Law of my mind verse 23
Deliverance verse 24
Serve the law of God verse 25
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Law of her husband verse 2
Adulteress/not adulteress verse 3
Oldness of letter verse 6
Church (New Testament people of God)
Brethren verses 1, 4
Newness of spirit verse 6
Last Things (Future Events)
Death verses 5, 10, 11, 13, 24
DONATIONS:
Remember that all donations to Small Church Ministries are greatly appreciated. The treasurer will send a receipt, at the end of the year unless otherwise requested. Please be sure to make check out to “Small Church Ministries.” The address for the treasurer is P.O. Box 604, East Amherst, New York 14051. A second way to give to the ministry is through PayPal on the website: www.smallchurchministries.org. Also, if you can support this ministry through your local church please use that method. Thank you.
QUOTES regarding passage
Note that Paul did not use murder, stealing, or adultery in his discussion; he uses coveting. This is the last of the Ten Commandments, and it differs from the other nine in that it is an inward attitude, not an outward action. Covetousness leads to the breaking of the other commandments! It is an insidious sin that most people never recognize in their own lives, but God’s Law reveals it. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 535). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
Believers who try to live by rules and regulations discover that their legalistic system only arouses more sin and creates more problems. The churches in Galatia were very legalistic, and they experienced all kinds of trouble. “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another” (Gal. 5:15). Their legalism did not make them more spiritual; it made them more sinful! Why? Because the Law arouses sin in our nature. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 536). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
7 “Sin” is an oft-repeated word in this paragraph. It does not refer here to an act of sin, but to the sin principle, to that mighty force man cannot tame, but which lurks dormant or relatively inactive in a person’s life, then is brought to the fore by prohibition and proceeds to rise up and slay its victim, whom it has utterly deceived. Sin, then, has the same meaning here as in 5:12ff. The same conditions of prohibition and desire, leading to a fall, are latent in both passages. But whereas in 5:12ff. sin is further defined as paraptōma, which has in it the very word for “fall,” here hamartia alone is used. This is suggestive, for since the fall of man there is an inability to get back to God. Man is always “falling short,” which is the precise meaning of hamartia.
The words “for I would not have known” could be translated, “I did not know,” giving them a fully historical setting, but the hypothetical construction is no doubt preferable. The subject in hand is the awareness of sin in a personal, existential sense—an awareness created by the law’s demands. To come to grips with this the apostle selects an item from the Decalogue, the very last of the Ten Commandments. Is he selecting more or less at random one of the ten for an illustration? Could he have chosen just as readily the prohibition against stealing or bearing false witness? Possibly he saw something basic here, for “to covet” is more precisely “to desire.” If one gives rein to wrong desire, it can lead to lying, stealing, killing, and all the other things prohibited in the commandments. The sin indicated here is not so much a craving for this or that wrong thing, but the craving itself (note that Paul does not bother to spell out the particulars of the tenth commandment, such as the possessions or wife of one’s neighbor). In analyzing sin, one must go behind the outward act to the inner man, where desire clutches at the imagination and then puts the spurs to the will. (Harrison, E. F. (1976). Romans. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians (Vol. 10, pp. 79–80). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
Is the law sin? (ὁ νομος ἁμαρτια; [ho nomos hamartia?]). A pertinent query in view of what he had said. Some people today oppose all inhibitions and prohibitions because they stimulate violations. That is half-baked thinking. I had not known sin (την ἁμαρτιαν οὐκ ἐγνων [tēn hamartian ouk egnōn]). Second aorist indicative of γινωσκω [ginōskō], to know. It is a conclusion of a second class condition, determined as unfulfilled. Usually ἀν [an] is used in the conclusion to make it plain that it is second class condition instead of first class, but occasionally it is not employed when it is plain enough without as here (John 16:22, 24). See on Gal. 4:15. So as to I had not known coveting (lust), ἐπιθυμιαν οὐκ ᾐδειν [epithumian ouk ēidein]. But all the same the law is not itself sin nor the cause of sin. Men with their sinful natures turn law into an occasion for sinful acts. (Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Ro 7:7). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.)
7:7–8. Is the Law sin? Paul’s response again was a vehement denial. Certainly not! (mē genoito; cf. comments on 3:4) The Law arouses sin (7:5) but that does not mean the Law itself is sin. In fact, Paul said later, the Law is holy (v. 12) and spiritual (v. 14). Paul went on to explain that the Law made sin known (cf. 3:19–20). Then to be specific, he mentioned coveting. The Law’s prohibition, Do not covet (Ex. 20:17; Deut. 5:21), makes people want to covet all the more. Paul knew sin as a principle and specifically, covetousness as an expression of it, and that knowledge came through the Law. Paul described how it worked. The indwelling principle of sin, seizing the opportunity (lit., “taking a start point” [aphormēn, a base for military operations or for an expedition]) afforded by the commandment (cf. Rom. 7:11), produced in me every kind of covetous desire. The Law is not the cause of the act of sin; the principle or nature of sin within an individual is. But the Law’s specific commandments stimulate the sin principle into acts that violate the commandments and give those acts the character of transgression (4:15; cf. 3:20; 5:13b, 20a). As Paul concluded, Apart from Law, sin is dead. This does not mean that sin has no existence without the Law (cf. 5:13), but that without the Law sin is less active, for the Law arouses “sinful passions” (7:5).
It is significant that, beginning with verse 7 and continuing through this chapter, the Apostle Paul turned to the first person singular, presenting his personal experience. Up to this point he had used the third person, the second person, and even the first person plural. But now he described his own experience, allowing the Holy Spirit to apply the truth to his readers. (Witmer, J. A. (1985). Romans. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 466). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
Ver. 7. What shall we say then? is the law sin? &c.] The apostle having said, that the motions of sins were by the law, meets with an objection, or rather an ill-natured cavil, is the law sin? if the motions of sins are by it, then it instigates and prompts men to sin; it cherishes it in them; it leads them and impels them to the commission of it, and therefore must be the cause of sin; and if the cause of sin, then it must be sin, or sinful itself: what shall we say then? how shall we remove this difficulty, answer this objection, and silence this cavil? To this it is replied by way of detestation and abhorrence, God forbid! a way of speaking often made use of by the apostle, when any dreadful consequence was drawn from, or any shocking objection was made to his doctrine, and which was so monstrous as scarcely to deserve any other manner of refutation; see ch. 3:3, 4, 5 and 6:1, 2, 15 and next by observing the use of the law to discover sin; which it does by forbidding it, and threatening it with death; by accusing for it, convincing of it, and representing it in its proper colors, it being as a glass in which it may be beheld just as it is, neither greater nor less; which must be understood as attended with a divine power and light, otherwise as a glass is of no use to a blind man, so neither is the law in this sense, to a man in a state of darkness, until the spirit of God opens his eyes to behold in this glass what manner of man he is: now since the law is so useful to discover, and so to discountenance sin, that itself cannot be sin, or sinful. The apostle exemplifies this in his own case, and says, nay, I had not known sin, but by the law; which he says not in the person of another, there is no room nor reason for such a fancy; but in his own person, and of himself: not of himself at that present time, as is evident from his way of speaking; nor of himself in his childhood, before he came to years of discretion to discern between good and evil; but as, and when he was a grown person, and whilst a Pharisee; he did not know sin during his being in that state till the law came, and entered into his conscience, and then, and by it, he knew sin, the exceeding sinfulness of it, and that he himself was the chief of sinners. Nay he goes on to observe, that by the law he came to know, not only the sinfulness of outward actions, but also of inward lusts; for I had not known lust, says he, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet: as it does in Exod. 20:17. This is a way of speaking used by the Jews, when they produce any passage out of the law, thus, התורה אמרה, the law says, if any one comes to kill thee; referring either to 1 Sam. 24:11 or Exod. 22:1 and a little after, the law says, namely, in Exod. 3:5 put off thy shoes from off thy feet, &c. By lust is meant the inward motions of sin in the heart, any and every desire of the mind after it; not only studied and concerted schemes, how to bring about and compass an evil action; but every loose vagrant thought of sin, and inclination to it; yea, every imagination of the thought of the heart, before the imagination is well formed into a thought; and not only a dallying with sin in the mind, dwelling upon it with pleasure in thought, but even such sudden motions and starts of the mind to sin, to which we give no assent; such as are involuntary, yea, contrary to the will, being the evil we would not, and are displeasing and hateful to us; these are meant by lust, and which by the law of God are known to be sinful, and only by that. These were not known to be so by the Gentiles, who only had the law and light of nature; nor are they condemned, nor any provision made against them, nor can there be any made, by the laws of men: and though these inward lusts are condemned by the law of God, yet inasmuch as they were not punishable by men, and could be covered with the guise of an external righteousness, multitudes who were born under, and brought up in that law, were secure and indolent about them, did not look upon them as sins, or as at all affecting their righteousness; but imagined that, touching the righteousness of the law, they were blameless; which was the case of all the Pharisees, and of the apostle whilst such: but when the law came and entered his conscience with power and light attending it, then he saw such innumerable swarms of lusts in his heart, and these to be sinful, which he never saw and knew before; just as in a sunbeam we behold those numerous little atoms, which otherwise are indiscernible by us. Now since the law is of such use, not only to discover the sinfulness of outward actions, but also of inward lusts and desires, that itself cannot be sinful. (Gill, J. (1809). An Exposition of the New Testament (Vol. 2, pp. 469–470). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
As a natural man, an unsaved man, he found that (1) the law exposed the hidden nature of sin and did so in two ways. First of all, it revealed his sinful nature. “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet” (v. 7). The great function of the Mosaic law is to expose sin. Men try to cover sin, excuse it, and camouflage it. They call it by respectable names. A person is not a drunkard, he is an alcoholic; drunkenness is not a sin, it is a disease. A person is not a liar, he is a prevaricator or, as someone has suggested, “an extrovert with a lively imagination”! Men speak of people as having complexes, phobias and inhibitions. They speak of a book as being daring; God would call it filthy. They say a man has had “an affair”; God says he has committed adultery. This is one of the games men play, and a deadly and dangerous game it is. It would be the height of folly to take a bottle from the shelf and remove the unpleasant label with its skull and crossbones and its bold letters, “Poison,” putting on instead an attractive label bearing the words, “Essence of Peppermint.” This would only conceal the true nature of the contents of the bottle and invite the unsuspecting to drink and die. Such a practice would not only be folly but criminal as well; yet this is the practice of modern man when faced with the ugly fact of sin. The function of the law is to give sin its proper name and to expose it for what it is. (Phillips, J. (2009). Exploring Romans: An Expository Commentary (Ro 7:7–13). Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp.)
FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
TODAY IS THE OLDEST YOU’VE EVER BEEN, YET THE YOUNGEST YOU’LL EVER BE!
SO – ENJOY THIS DAY WHILE IT LASTS.
~Your kids are becoming you……but your grandchildren are perfect!
~Going out is good.. Coming home is better!
~You forget names…. But it’s OK because other people forgot they even knew you!!!
~You realize you’re never going to be really good at anything…. especially golf.
~The things you used to care to do, you no longer care to do, but you really do care that you don’t care to do them anymore.
~You sleep better on a lounge chair with the TV blaring than in bed. It’s called “pre-sleep”.
~You miss the days when everything worked with just an “ON” and “OFF” switch..
~You tend to use more 4 letter words … “what?”.”when?”… ???
~Now that you can afford expensive jewelry, it’s not safe to wear it anywhere.
~You notice everything they sell in stores is “sleeveless”?!!!
~What used to be freckles are now liver spots.
~Everybody whispers.
~You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet…. 2 of which you will never wear.
~But Old is good in some things: Old Songs, Old movies, and best of all, OLD FRIENDS!!
Stay well, “OLD FRIEND!” Send this on to other “Old Friends!” and let them laugh in AGREEMENT!!!
It’s Not What You Gather, But What You Scatter That Tells What Kind Of Life You Have Lived.
REGENERATION
…that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:6
What is regeneration? It is the implanting of a principle of new spiritual life and a radical change in the governing disposition of the soul. The important thing to grasp is the whole idea of disposition. In addition to the faculties of our souls, there is something at the back of them that governs them all, and that is what we refer to a sour disposition. Take two men. They have the same faculties, but one lives a good life, one lives a bad life. What makes the difference? The answer is that the good man has a good disposition, and this good disposition, this thing that is behind the faculties and governs them and uses them, urges him to use his faculties in the direction of goodness. The other man has an evil disposition; so he urges the same faculties in an entirely different direction. That is what one means by disposition.
When you come to think of it, and when you analyze yourself, your life and your whole conduct and behavior and that of other people, you will see at once that these dispositions are, of course, of tremendous importance. They are the condition, if you like, that determines what we do and what we are.
There is in every person a disposition that seems to determine the kind of person he or she is. It is this that directs the faculties and the abilities so that one person is artistic and the other scientific and so on. I am making this point to show that what happens in regeneration is that God so operates upon us in the Holy Spirit that this fundamental disposition of ours is changed. He puts a holy principle, a seed of new spiritual life, into this disposition that determines what I am and how I behave and how I use and employ my faculties.
A Thought to Ponder: Regeneration is a radical change in the governing disposition of the soul.
(From God the Holy Spirit, p. 79, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
Ten thousand hours. That’s how long author Malcolm Gladwell suggests it takes to become skillful at any craft. Even for the greatest artists and musicians of all time, their tremendous inborn talent wasn’t enough to achieve the level of expertise that they would eventually attain. They needed to immerse themselves in their craft every single day.
As strange as it might seem, we need a similar mentality when it comes to learning to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. In Galatians, Paul encourages the church to be set apart for God. But Paul explained that this couldn’t be achieved through merely obeying a set of rules. Instead we’re called to walk with the Holy Spirit. The Greek word that Paul uses for “walk” in Galatians 5:16 literally means to walk around and around something, or to journey (peripateo). So for Paul, walking with the Spirit meant journeying with the Spirit each day—it’s not just a one-time experience of His power.
May we pray to be filled with the Spirit daily—to yield to the Spirit’s work as He counsels, guides, comforts, and is simply there with us. And as we’re “led by the Spirit” in this way (v. 18), we become better and better at hearing His voice and following His leading. Holy Spirit, may I walk with You today, and every day!
(By Peter Chin, Our Daily Bread)
Genesis 27
Jacob deceives Isaac into blessing him rather than his older brother Esau.
INSIGHT
This chapter is a low point in the life of a chosen family. It is difficult to justify the behavior of anyone. Perhaps the deepest, most helpful lesson we can learn from this chapter is that since God was able to make a saint out of someone like Jacob, God can take our lives — with all of their sin and failure — and make something out of them for His glory.
Jacob lied; we lie. Jacob failed to trust God; we fail to trust God. Jacob became a man of God; we can become men and women of God. Jacob was used by the Lord; the Lord can use us, too.
For a child of God, there is always a future; and that future can bear fruit. If God can use Jacob, God can use us. (Quiet Walk)
The Holy Spirit’s Ministry: God’s Fail-Safe Plan–Glorification
“Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Romans 8:30)
God “glorifies” those whom He has justified. The Greek term is doxazo, with the core meaning “to make glorious, adorn with luster, clothe with splendor.” It is the same word the Lord Jesus uses of what the heavenly Father will do for His beloved Son. “It is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God” (John 8:54). It is also the same word the heavenly Father speaks about Himself. Jesus prayed: “Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again” (John 12:28).
Paul addressed the awful sentence that would be executed on those who reject the substitutionary work our Lord accomplished on Calvary. All who reject it are doomed “because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things” (Romans 1:21-23).
As for us, we are to share in the glory that our Lord will receive, so that “God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:11). When all the redeemed stand before the throne in heaven, we will all sing the Song of Moses: “Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy” (Revelation 15:4).
(HMM III, The Institute for Creation Research)
The whole of our salvation can be summed up with reference to this reality. Union with Christ is not a single specific blessing we receive in our salvation. Rather it is the best phrase to describe all the blessings of salvation, whether in eternity past (election), in history (redemption), in the present (effectual calling, justification, and sanctification), or in the future (glorification). (p. 94, The Hole In Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung)
Visit our Facebook page for Small Church Ministries – please invite others to join us on Facebook. Thank you. Look for the logo from the devotionals.