Month: March 2026

“When I think of God, his Son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.”

” The world will never know the pain I felt to send my Son to die an awful death. And I feel that pain for all those in the world who are suffering because of Him. Yet it was the only way to heal the awful rift that had come about through Adam’s rebellion. To bring about a complete healing, a complete reconciliation. Believe this, speak about it to yourself, speak about it to others, let it give colour and energy to every aspect of your life. Now I can call billions my true sons and daughters, as the new kingdom gradually appears”.

As we come now to ch 7 of Romans Paul returns to speak about the law. he has touched on the subject several times but now gives a more detailed statement of the role of the law among the Jews in the congregation he was writing to.

Please read. Romans 7:1-6. The law played a much greater role in the Jewish community then than it can be conceived now. Blaiklock calls it the “cement of the nation”. As Paul now addresses the subject he is making some astounding claims. This chapter is often misunderstood let us try and grasp the basics in it.

He opens the chapter by pointing out that he is specifically addressing those Jews who “know the law”. Remember the letter is going to a very diverse church. The first little illustration is quite clear. Death brings any covenant agreement to an end. Not just partially but completely. And there has been a death in every true Christian as he/she participates in Christ’s death

By this Paul is not saying that the law will play no role in the future. The death to the law is a complete severance of the idea that salvation can somehow come by obeying the law. The centre of the Christian is now no longer the law, but Christ Himself.

vs 6 Is pivotal. The whole motivation of the Christian is now no longer the desire to obey the law, as the good Jews did, but there is a new source of motivation, The Spirit. The Christian, whether they had been Jew or Gentile had a new life to live. A life which was motivated, led and empowered by the Spirit.This idea, which might seem “old hat” to us, was completely revolutionary at that time.

Does that mean that the law has no role to play from then on? That is what the rest of the chapter addresses. We will work through it bite by bite, but in the meantime, why not read the rest of the chapter and try and understand it in this context for next week.

Although the law may not play as prominent role today it is nevertheless regarded as the basic behavioural tool for the Christian and for many outside the Christian faith. I think many of us obey parts of the law and subconsciously believe they are contributing to the way God sees us, especially in relation to salvation. It is hard, when you have been brought up otherwise to believe 6:23. Many refuse to believe that the punishment for sin is eternal death and then many of them and others who do believe it, find it hard to believe salvation is a free gif.

God bless till next week.

Sitting at the feet of Jesus: “Let me see thy face so sweet”.

”As I turn My face to you, it represents a manifold meaning and power. Hence the blessing in Numbers 6: “The Lord make His face shine on you”. Let Me set your mind at the rest, you don’t have to be someone special or do something remarkable for My face to shine on you in blessing. My face is always turned to you waiting for you to seek it and in that way to plumb the immeasurable blessings I hold for you. So many live far below the possibilities that are held in the blessing of a relationship with Me. So raise your expectations and receive every blessing that you need and far, far more. Let that spur you on to love Me more and explore My love more and more.

Please read Romans 6: 15 -23. There appears to be quite some repetition in this section, dealing with the same subject in the previous half of the chapter in different ways. Clearly this aspect of living the authentic Christian life is important to Paul and should be to us too.

Verse 15 echoes vs 1 and as Paul unpacks it again, his reply to his imaginary opponent reminds us of Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters……You cannot serve both God and Mammon.. Rom 6:15 Do you not know when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slavers to the one whom you obey. The point is clear. The option to offer is a choice. The difference between a Christian and someone who is unsaved is that the latter is enslaved and actually does not really have a choice, as hard as he may try, he is enslaved. On the other hand the Christian has been set free from slavery. However the lure remains, yet he is free to choose. Paul wants every person to be aware of this unfettered choice we have and not let ourselves slide back into slavery. The argument, at this stage does not include the work of the Spirit in this regard.

The concept of “freedom from slavery to sin” may not always be so obvious to us in our Christian life experience. Yet it is there. Sometimes we may need to ask God to help us as we are faced with a fierce temptation. A friend of mine was deeply addicted to alcohol, drinking as much as a bottle of brandy every evening (at the age of about 21). Even though he thought he was a Christian, he continued to drink. One night he almost caused a fatal motorcycle accident. When he got home the reality hit him and he went on his knees and confessed his absolute need for release from this slavery. From that moment God took all the desire for alcohol away from him.

But slavery to sin is not always that obvious and that is why Paul keeps harping on the subject. We need not only to be aware of our initial slavery and subsequent release, but to act on it. We are all faced continuously by choices and we need to be aware of them and be careful to make the right ones in the light of the gospel.

The final vs 6:23 of this chapter summarises this argument succinctly and is also my favourite verse to share in any testimony I make. It involves all the key elements: The effect of sin being universal and fatal, the remedy is via a free gift, no amount of action is required and the result is completed through Christ Jesus our Lord who is the heart of the gospel.

Bless you all.

You give the healing and grace our hearts always hunger for.

”Yes I have created you to have that hunger, that desire to be filled and changed to experience the full shalom of a relationship with Me. From the beginning my attitude has been one of love, Mercy and Grace towards you all. It was only because of the rebellion in the garden that the full force of My judgement came to the fore. Yet I continue to reach out to My world offering My Son as the full means of grace through whom I can continue to rescue and change the world and build My kingdom. Enjoy My grace every day – it is My continual free gift to you, do not misuse it.”

Read Romans 6:1-14. As we saw last week the emphasis of this section is on “death to sin”. What are the practical implications of this teaching for us?

Firstly Paul lays the foundation, “We died to sin, how can we live in it any longer” vs 2. He brackets that statement with “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin … offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness” vs 13.

The basis for that statement lies in vs 3 “we who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death. We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death just as Christ was raised from the dead….. we too may live a new life. The Amplified bible describes baptism as a full immersion in liquid. In the case of the Christian, Jesus is the liquid. We are immersed (symbolically) in Him as our old sinful nature is washed away in death and we are raised then to a new life with a new relationship to Jesus and sin.

Paul then continues to play out this concept in the next paragraph describing our old self as having been crucified, in other words put to death totally. Here he uses the image of slavery to sin from which we have been released.

So what does this teaching mean for us practically? Something dramatic has happened to you when you are born again. You are set free from the bondage which holds every unsaved person so that they cannot help sinning. However this transaction through Jesus may not always be fully experienced in our lives. What is necessary, along with the spiritual release from bondage, we each need to change our attitude towards sin. Hence vs 11 “count yourselves dead to sin”.

This is a continual decision which we each need to make regularly when we are tempted to sin. We need to remind ourselves that we ARE dead to sin. We don’t need to beg God for victory, because the victory has already been won by Jesus on the cross. All we need is to believe the gospel and to not keep on trying to crucify ourselves. (Amplified bible).

Every Christian should continually remind themselves of this change of attitude which will change the whole way we live our lives in regard to sin.

At the same time we need not spend our lives mulling over our sinful state, the victory has been won. So instead we can concentrate on God’s love and grace and joy, while not neglecting the reminder “count yourselves dead to sin.”

God bless you all till next week as you meditate on this important teaching of Paul’s.