Month: June 2026

This the power of the Cross – Christ became sin for us.

”In all of the history of the world there has never been a more meaningful and powerful moment than when my Son called out, “It is finished”’ on the cross. My carefully laid plans, often appearing like a disaster and completely out of control – coming to fruition and laying the foundation of my future kingdom into eternity. That plan is so vast and complete that it makes my creation of the human body and mind like a Lego puzzle in comparison. And know that you and all your readers are each one an integral part of that plan.”

We continue through the section of Romans in chapters 9-11, where Paul addresses full on, the problem of the Jewish Christians and the Gentile one’s being truly united into one body, the church. Please read Roman’s 10:5-13.

Today’s reading contains perhaps one of the clearest directives to becoming a Christian, in the simplest way. It also brackets the statement by Paul in ch 1:17. ”For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith”.

First we have to wade through vv 5-8. I suggest you don’t break your head on what Paul is trying to convey. Simply put, the Jews were trying to find a righteousness by obeying the law which was “out there” when actually the true way of righteousness is right here so close even on our tongues, referring to Christ, of course.

Vv 9,10 are the key verses. The point, which is not made so clearly elsewhere, is that, while a heartfelt belief or faith in Christ, here pictured as “one raised from the dead, is the means of receiving salvation, it is necessary to confess this with your mouth, to be saved. The act of confessing with your mouth seems to cement the knowledge that you have received salvation and the Holy Spirit. Many times I have prayed with someone to receive Christ, where I have told them to find someone to tell what has just happened to them as soon as possible. This is an important step.

This step. Is often depicted in the bible where someone believes and then becomes baptised immediately afterwards. That act of baptism is a visible confession of what has happened to the person, the washing away of the old sinful life and as they come out of the water a symbol of resurrection into a new life. This act of baptism at that moment is far more meaningful than one done weeks or sometimes years after salvation. And your salvation is not any the less valid if you are not baptised but only confess with your mouth.

So in our reading today, Paul’s conclusion is that both Jew and Gentile, having gone through this process, are then absolutely equal in the kingdom vs 12. The ultimate measure is whether they believe and trust in Jesus and call on His name. Vs 13.

May this passage stay with you as you may have an opportunity to share the gospel with someone. God bless you all, till next week.

Christ the sure and steady anchor in a sea of unbelief.

”Unbelief is all around you and is demonstrated in so many ways. The simple attitude of placing yourself first in your thoughts and actions demonstrates a certain level of unbelief. But through all this I am working to bring you more and more face-to-face with the real Me so that level of unbelief fades. Gaze at Me in My word, hear Me speak to you as I apply it to you, hear My voice in so many other ways in nature and other interactions, and the delight of pure faith will burn brighter every day.”

Please read Romans 9:30-10:4. So in Paul’s argument God has only chosen a remnant of the people whom He originally had labelled His chosen priesthood (Exodus 19:5) when He made a covenant with them on Mt Sinai. Of course that promise was coupled with their need to keep the covenant requirement ie the law to continue to be part of that promise.

So now he faces the accusation of unfairness that only a remnant would be saved whereas salvation is now open to all gentiles. So his argument goes on to show that many Jews had sought to find a righteousness by simply obeying the law. He speaks in 10:2 of their zeal, so it was not a lack of effort. The problem was that they had missed the original intention of the law which was to lead them to Christ who is the end (telos) of the law. 10:4

So Christ had become a stumbling block to them, preventing them from receiving God’s righteousness which is only by faith. They were so focussed on their own efforts to obey the requirements of the law that they missed it’s original intention, which was always to lead people to meet Christ and believe in Him and His mission.

10:4 is an important statement repeating what Christ had said on the “sermon on the mount” Matt 5:19. Where he clearly stated that He had come to fulfil the law not abolish it. So where does that leave us? Simply put Christ, interpreted the law as it is summed up in Mark 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength and Love your neighbour as yourself. The law becomes a guideline to how to do this. But it always starts with believing in Jesus and loving Him and flows from there.

On top of that we can remember that while God originally chose His people as the direct descendants of Abraham in the OT, but from the beginning the promise to Abraham was that through his offspring blessing would come to the whole world. So today every believer is one of His chosen people. Being part of that was always dependent on man’s response to God’s loving outreach to him. God offers and woos and we have the joy to respond or reject.

May God bless you all till next week.

Behold our God, seated on the throne, come let us adore him.

”As You meet with me now be reminded that it is not just a verbal concept that I am seated on the throne, but a symbol of the reality that dispels what may appear in the physical world. I am ruling over the whole universe, over this world, over all the nations and of course over you personally and all those who read this blog. So it is appropriate to bow down and adore me, just as I am continually showing my love for you all. Remember the greatest sign of my love is Jesus on the cross, having given him to you all, how much more will I give you all things.”

We continue today with this rather enigmatic, but most important thread of teaching as Paul addresses the problem of unifying the Jews and Gentiles in one church. We saw last time that he starts with affirming God’s right to make souvereign choices in His creation. But is that fair?

Read Romans 9:14 – 29. So the immediate answer is for Paul to point out that God’s souvereignty is always applied with mercy. Basically the thought is that everyone deserves God’s wrath because of our rebellion against Him. Yet He chooses to show mercy on some. The emphasis then in this teaching is on God’s mercy.

Paul then goes on to draw from Isaiah the concept that God is the Potter and it is His right to make whatever He wants from the clay.

He then states that God has every right to show His wrath against everyone, whom he describes as everyone prepared for destruction. That, far from being unfair or unjust, His actions actually should highlight the riches of His glory, against the background of what we deserve, His mercy in choosing some actually shows His glory.

He then goes on to cite a number of references from the Old Testament to show that, from the beginning, God was only going to save a “remnant”. If He had not actively intervened, everyone would have fallen under judgement like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Now friends, just as Paul does not seek to explain this difficult teaching, we should not attempt to “defend” God, as it were in any discussion we may have. On the contrary, we should embrace it as an affirmation of God’s commitment to each one of us. In Ephesians 1:4 Paul makes a simple statement for he chose us in Him before the creation of the world…Taking all this teaching together in one simple sentence as an affirmation that in Jesus we have received every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.

I trust that as you digest this, what has often in the past been considered controversial teaching, that it will rather strengthen your faith as we think back of the end of ch 8 and the affirmation that nothing can separate us fro God’s love.

May He bless you all till next week.

Worthy He has been, worthy He will be, crowned in Majesty.

”My glory fills all the earth, although you don’t see it clearly it is there all along. When you come to Me one day My glory will be visible to everyone who is there and you will be able to taste the glory I have set aside for you, and then you will remember Paul’s words, “I consider our present suffering as not woth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us”. Your joy will comlete it’s full circle. The moments of ecstacy in your life were only a foretaste of the glory you will experience continually with Me. Live in that reality”

After the magificent chapter 8, Paul now moves on to a new subject. In the next 3 chapters He will confront the confusion and misunderstandings which prevent the Jews and Gentiles from being unified into one true “Body of Christ”. His first step is to highlight God’s souvereignty. This chapter 9 is often hard for people to accept about God, but is important in understanding who He is and how He operates. Please read Ch 9:1-13.

Paul’s opening words show how much this subject is distressing Him. Remember he is a hebrew of Hebrews and watching his fellow Jews rejecting Christ and falling under God’s judgement is extremely painful for Him. They have had all the advantages God gave them to prepare them for Christ’s coming, yet have rejected Him. He mentions 8 – adoption, divine glory, the covenants, the law, temple worship, the promises, the patriarchs, these were all shadows pointing forward to the coming One who is God in a human form. The statement in vs 5 is an extremely important reminder of Christ’s true identity: “Christ who is God over all”.

Then he picks up the same argument from ch 4, that physical descent from Abraham does not mean salvation for all, but only those who have believed God’s promise would be saved, vs 8 “It is not the natural children who are God’s children but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as the offspring of Abraham.” In other words it is only thosewho believed the promise that were saved.

But now Paul brings in another dimension to the argument. The dimension of God’s souvereign election vs 11. In other words, God always determined that there would be some who would believe and others who would reject Him, even when He made His promises in the very beginning. What we are faced with here is the startling fact that this division was already part of His plan from the beginning. From a human perspective this seems so unfair or in Paul’s words in vs 14 “unjust”. To address that we will have to wait till next week as Paul continues on this subject.

This concept of God’s election can sometimes have a negative effect on people, especially when it comes to evangelisation.The argument being, “why do the trouble to share God’s love with others if the outcome has already been determined?” Paul foresees that and addresses. it in detail in chapter 10, wait for it.

One thing that this doctrine should do is to give each one of us who have received the new birth the wonderful assurance of complete inseperability from God and His love, as laid out in the previous chapter. You and I are part of those whom He had chosen from the very beginning.

Bless you all till next week