Month: February 2026

Come and worship a holy God, the One and the Only.

”Your perception of Me as you try to imagine Me, falls far short of who I really am and how I manifest Myself. It is way beyond your reach to plumb the depths, heights, and width of Me and My love, yet through My grace I reveal enough of Myself to you so that you can know Me. Not just in a distant intellectual way, but in a personal, intimate way. And as you progress in your walk with Me I am continually revealing more of Me and my expectations of you. Beyond all this I am covering it all with My infinite love which will always protect you .”

Read Romans 5:12 -21. Paul has completed the preamble and starts the following section with a statement; vs 12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned. As he comes to the end of that verse, Paul pauses and in fact that verse is never completed. It’s as if Paul then realised the importance of that statement and wants to expand on it.

The question is, can the actions of one man have such a profound effect on so many? So there follows three paragraphs aimed at explaining how this can be. Each paragraph has a different point, but adding to the original argument.

Vv 13,14. Adam was the pattern of the one to come (14 c). His original sim resulted in everyone after him being under the reign of death. He alone was responsible and as such he represents a pattern of Jesus’ death which would reverse this for everyone who would believe.

Vv 15-17: Here the “gift” and the “trespass” are contrasted. Twice Paul uses the phrase How much more, to indicate the huge contrast between the awful sin of Adam which introduced death into the world and the gift that came by the grace of one man Jesus, overflow to the many. And later if death reigned through one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision …..reign in life through one man, Jesus Christ. Although Adam’s sin had devastating results, Jesus’ salvation act is much more powerful and worthy.

vv 18-21 Here Adam and Christ are compared. Three times Paul uses the phrase just as and a few words later so also. Just as one man’s sin resulted in condemnation for all men, so also the act of justification brings life to all men. Then just as the one act of disobedience made everyone sinners, so also many will be made righteous (note here, not all men).

Finally, vv 20,21, the law was added to make people more aware of their sinfulness and the fact that sin resulted in death, so also this caused the concept of grace to increase to show the value of the death that Jesus died on our behalf to bring us righteousness and eternal life.

The purpose of this section seems to be twofold. 1. To demonstrate the fact that one person’s acts can, in fact, have a lasting effect on many. And 2. To demonstrate again the value of Jesus’ death in saving us from eternal death and giving us righteousness and new life.

I must admit I struggled at first to see the relevance of this section till the reality dawned on me. We are all condemned to death aro. Adam’s sin, yet the work of Jesus in dying on the cross is so great that it is infinitely possible for every believer to have their condemnation removed and receive a new righteousness and life. What a great God we have, who thought out this plan. God bless till next week

Who would have thought that a lamb could save the world?

” I have deliberately chosen a lamb as a symbol for my name and purpose. Firstly it represents the weakest and most vulnerable of animals and demonstrates the fact that I came to serve the world. That I came in true humility, calling all those who would follow me to set aside pride in themselves and in their accomplishments, setting aside all superior thoughts, recognising their position in relation to Me. Secondly I came to serve by giving My life as a ransom. That ultimate act of service, in giving My life, was and is the central purpose of My life and mission,and the very means by which I, as a sacrificial lamb, could win forgiveness, redemption and reconciliation for the whole world.”

We started last week to look at the preamble (in 5:1-11) of what it means to live the Christian life which is the subject in the next 4 chapters in Romans (Ch 5-8). Last week we followed the argument of Paul following the final statement of ch 4 – 4:25 (He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification), following this with the discourse ch 5 starting with the words: Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God.

In our reading today 5:8 – 11, he firstly reminds us of how vast this act was, considering our position in relation to God, and then he summarises the idea of salvation.

Our reading starts with the amazing statement: At just the right time. This describes, not only Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross but every act and move of God in relation to His creation. Ever felt like calling out, like the psalmist, “How long oh Lord how long?” His timing in every respect is always: just the right time. We can absolutely trust that God’s timing is always perfect no matter how it may appear to us.

He uses three different descriptions that emphasise the vast gulf that separated man from God that Jesus had to bridge. He describes our previous state as “powerless’ vs 6, “sinners” vs 8, God’s enemies vs 10. He furthermore reminds us that because we were in that state we were under God’s wrath.vs 9

It is the basis of salvation that we start by realising how great our need is, before we can truly appreciate what Jesus has done for us. That is ongoing for all of us. We need to continually remind ourselves of how vast the work was that brought us peace and reconciliation with God. This reminder will reenergise us as we follow Jesus. We can never afford to become complacent and forget the roots that hold us in our faith.

In vss 9 -11 Paul summarises what our salvation covers. There are. Three time frames for our salvation: Firstly the beginning, While we were still enemies we have been justified vs9 and reconciled vs 10. There was a point in the past at which we were actively saved.”While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 5:7c. “When we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him”. 5:10.

Then there is the present time: vs 11 “through whom we now have received reconciliation”. We are being saved continually every moment of our lives, present tense.

Then there is our future: vs 6 How much more will we be saved and vs10 b shall we be saved.

Our salvation is an ongoing process. There was a distinct beginning, there is an ongoing experience and growth and then there is the ultimate fulfilment. All this launched by God while we were still totally powerless and His enemies. We weren’t saved because we deserved it or did anything to move God to do it. It was entirely from Him and all we can do is surrender, believe and follow. Whenever we move from that position we move into the dangerous field of legalism.

God bless you all till next week.

How Great is the name of Jesus, all earth trembles, the darkness flees and everyone on earth will sing praises to him – hallelujah.

”My Name represents everything of who I am and not only the whole earth but the whole universe trembles at My Name as I reveal its power and holiness. It is against the backdrop of that power and holiness that I pour out My unfailing love on My whole creation. My love is there for everyone who desires to experience it, it is there for all those who become conscious of it. But it is ignored by the vast majority of mankind – who seek to follow their own ways. Open your eyes all you who read this and see My love, by faith and you will experience it, taste it, feel it and share in it.”

In Romans ch 4:25 Paul comes to an end of his explanation of the statement he made in 1:17 “For in the gospel a righteousness is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last”. In ch 5 he moves on to discuss the last part of that vs: “The righteous will live by faith”. He has carefully in 3 and a half chapters explained how God has imputed righteousness on all who believe and trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus as the means through which His righteousness is exchanged for our unrighteousness. He is now going to show how this will empower the lives of every believer – how “the righteous will live by faith.(Romans 1:17b)

This section extends till 8:39, but starts with a kind of preamble or summary. So please read 5:1-11. We will deal with this in two bites.

In 5:1 he starts with the word “therefore,” which clearly links to what has been said up to now.

There are 5 things which arise from the concept of a life which has been declared righteous (IOW justified).

5:1 We have peace with God. This statement must be seen against the statement in Romans 5:10 “when we were God’s enemies. God reconciled us” . Friends it is so important to realise the seriousness of the state of every unbeliever. Until you are reconciled by faith you are at war with the very One who created you. What a privilege we have to experience the release from that and we should never underestimate it.

5:2 We now have access by faith. It is only after we are reconciled with God that we now have free access to Him. The whole of the OT shows how distant and separate a holy God is from his people.

5:2 We now stand in God’s grace. The Greek wording describes something like a ship at sea tossed and torn by the wind and storms, being ushered into a safe harbour, fully protected from the weather. Every believer now stands in that position. Our feet firmly held, not by our own strength but by God’s power.

We rejoice: We have every reason to 5:3 – “in the hope of the glory of God”. God’s glory is short-hand of what heaven is going to hold for us all. We will experience face to face, God’s glory. This is not a vague hope but a Christian certainty and we have every reason to rejoice.

We also rejoice in our sufferings: 5:3. A strange statement but it opens the way for a much deeper discussion on suffering later in ch 8. But here we are to see that suffering always has a purpose, even though it may not seem like it. The purpose here is described as a number of steps which will ultimately lead to strengthening our hope as we become more like Jesus.

How do we know we can be sure of this promise? 5:5 speaks of hope not disappointing us, which simply means we will never be let down and the guarantee of that is mentioned in that same vs, through the presence of The Holy Spirit within us, who has been poured into the heart of every believer.

This passage is such a beautiful, succinct description of the benefits of being justified and the life that opens up for the Christian, that I read it over regularly. I hope you are experiencing a strengthening of your faith. As we work through this amazing book. God bless you all till next week.