Author: ianfrancoisdt

”When I survey the wondrous cross – see from His head, His hands, His feet sorrow and love flow mingled down.”

”No human on this earth will ever be able to fully plumb the depths of the sorrow and love which flowed down from my head my hands and feet on the cross, where justice and mercy kissed. But all you need to do is to believe and accept this fact and the reason I did it so that you will be able to start realising the full height, length, depths and width of my love, not only for the whole of my creation but for you personally. As you believe and accept it you will grow into it and it will continue to change you.”

Romans 10:14-16 complete the teaching of last week, please read it. It is a quotation from Isaiah 52:7 which comes between the statement in 52:10 “the Lord will lay bare His holy arm in the sight of all the nations and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God”, which is set between the description of all the difficulties that God’s people were experiencing over time before that and the prophecy of the “Suffering Servant from 52:13. So the Good News of Isaiah is that God is sending His servant to save His people. This explains the immediate statement in Romans 10:16, “But not all Israel…… as Paul returns to the subject of the equality of the Jews and Gentiles in the church.

We take as our reading today 10:14,15, it is a simple passage to understand and easy to gloss over. However may I emphasize that as easy as it is to understand, at times how difficult it is to carry out and how important it is. There are and have been many fellow Christians who have taken this injunction to heart and spent their lives doing just that. Many others know the passage, but feel inadequate beacuse the perceive that they are not doing this and therefore failing as Christians.

Let me suggest that not all Christians are called to do this. Those that do are praised and described as having beautiful feet. They are also called and gifted to do this. But each of us is described as being a witness in the book of Acts. Once again we are not told to “go out and witness”, our role is to be a witness. To be a witness is to live an authentic Christian life which shows in various ways as God changes one supernaturally eg in Romans 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful. In prayer and bless those who persecute you. These are not natural actions and require that we be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It stand out in our “barren society”. This authentic way of life leads people to want to get to know what is different about you. It is far more effective than going to someone and pouring out a lot of words, which may also be necessary from time to time as well.

Next week I am going to deal with the rest of this teaching on the Jews and Gentiles. This teaching doesn’t affect us personally so I am not going to try and unravel Paul’s whole argument. I will mainly deal with the statement in 11:26 “And so all Israel will be saved”. It is a verse that has caused some controversy and wrong views as to Israel’s role in the world to day.

In the meantime enjoy the winter cold and be warmed by God’s word every day, till next week.

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

In every moment and in every season there is a call –“Nearer my God to thee”.

”My Dear children that is a response to the call I am sending out – a call to come nearer to Me. A call to draw closer in relationship with Me, to experience My goodness, My grace and My love and ultimately to share in My glory. So yes the call goes out ’nearer my God to thee’ and I will draw you ever closer. “

Today we come to the conclusion of the great chapter which opens with the statement Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We saw that this was a response to the battle which every Christian experiences which ch 7 ends with. So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. We saw in the first part of the chapter the important role of the Spirit in this battle. Today Paul brings that teaching to a close. Please read Romans 8:31-39.

See if you can see the points he makes.

1 God is for us and He is far more powerful than anyone or force that can come against us.The proof of His attitude of love and concern for us lies in the fact that He did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all. Then comes one of those “how much more statements”. Having given His own Son how much more will He not also, along with Him give us all things. Take a deep breath and think through that statement. Think through it every time you may doubt God’s attitude towards you in all things. His Son, His precious Son has already been given you, the greatest gift of all time. Makes any other need we may have pale into insignificance alongside that.

2 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? Could it be God, the very One who has worked so hard to bring us justification? Or even less the very One who died to save us from our sins and who is at the right hand of God, the Father interceding for us.The idea becomes ridiculous against that background. There IS no condemnation for those “in Christ Jesus”.!

Paul then moves to summarise the whole chapter starting with the statement in vs 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Followed by a long list of possibilities which he prefaces with powerful statement For I am convinced that none of these things will ever separate us even death itself!. He started in vs 28 with the firm statement and we know. Now he rounds it off with for I am convinced.

Friends this is one of the most powerful chapters in God’s word to settle any doubts about how firm our relationship is being held by God. No suffering, nor any struggle with sin, real or imaginary, can ever separate us from God’s love.

See you all next week.

Thank you for the cross, thank you for the nail pierced hands, the Darling of heaven crucified – worthy is the Lamb.

”Let that picture of the cross remain indelibly imprinted on your mind – so that it may influence every part of your life, every part of your thinking, every decision you make. There never has been a more remarkable and history-changing event than Myself – clothed In humanity, giving it all to the many, many beloved who I have and will still create, so that we can all join in the glorious kingdom of the new Heavens and the new Earth.

Romans ch 8 is written as a “chiastic”. It opens with a specific thought moves to another, then completes this second thought and finally finishes with the first thought. Something like double brackets. So today we read Romans 8:28 – 30, which completes the teaching about suffering as a cause for the reader to feel separated from God, the second bracket to the suffering teaching. Next week we will see the closing of the bracket about sin causing us to feel separated from God and then a summary refuting the whole idea of being separated from God.

Today’s passage is such a well-known passage that it is worth spending a whole session on it. Roman’s 8:28 is often easily quoted even by non-Christians. However it is often, subtly misquoted, even by our own brethren. It is a comforting thought that “in all things God works for the good”. That is where many stop however, claiming that as an assurance that everything is going to work out “allright” in the end. But there is much more to this idea as it should be read in it’s entirety.

There are two questions that need to be answered: 1. Who is this promise aimed at? And 2. What is the purpose of God’s “work”?

So we see that the promise is for “those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” This clearly defines the limits of this promise. It is not aimed at any and everyone who finds themselves in difficulties or suffering, because it is the initial statement of the bigger purpose of God’s work in the life of the believer, the one who has been adopted as a “Child of God”.

The rest of the paragraph describes God’s purpose then. The purpose that He is using suffering to complete. We have already seen in 5:3 that the purpose of suffering is to promote hope. Hope is the confident expectation and desire to see and experience of the glory that will be revealed in us. Then in 8:18, where Paul introduces his teaching on suffering there is the important statement that the way to deal with suffering is get our thinking into perspective, seeing the huge promise of glory one day as much greater than the pain of present suffering.

So what does the present paragraph then emphasize? It shows the process God is using to prepare the believer for the glory, which Paul mentioned before. Here is a useful illustration of this process that God is busy with. Imagine God is building each believer into a beautiful building, which will only be completed when we are with the Lord one day. Each phase is carefully planned to ultimately reveal this “perfectly glorious” building. But to build the building God, like any good builder, needs scaffolding to reach the building as it rises. The onlooker at that stage cannot see the building because the scaffolding is in the way. In our lives the scaffolding represents the suffering and difficulties we experience. They so often cloud our vision that we don’t see past them where the glorious building is being built. The way to cope with suffering then is to look past the scaffolding and remind ourselves of the glorious final product we will receive one day.

To God this process of preparing us for glory is far more important than our comfort and ease in this life. Seeing our whole lives in this perspective helps us to fit ourselves into God’s bigger purpose for each one of us. We will see further on that God is always “for us” and therefore will never hurt or harm us intentionally, but always seeks to complete us for His and our glory, eventually.

May He bless you as you think through this valuable teaching.

How marvellous, how wonderful is my Saviour’s love for me.

”My love’s depth, height, length and breadth have never been fully tested. It is so much larger than the whole of what can be seen and experienced by mankind. Every word, every act every relationship I have is governed by my love which covers everything. So much is happening in the world that seems to deny that. But even the worst things are curbed and governed by my love – which I demonstrated by sending my Son to die on the cross as the way of redemption and restoration. So allow my love to surround you all and keep you till you come to be with me.”

As we continue to look at the effect of suffering on the believer and God’s remedy, we come to another dimension. The work of God’s Spirit to help us deal with suffering. Please read Romans 8:26, 27.

We have been looking at how suffering can make us feel, separated from God. Paul has focused so far on two things. Suffering is both universal and then there is also the expectation that the Christian will suffer in some way as part of His/her relationship with Jesus and His suffering.

The second point is that overall the way to deal with suffering is to see it in the perspective of the big picture. The glory that awaits us far outweighs the present pain of suffering and suffering is therefore a positive force that. God uses to expand our hope and get our focus in the right area.

But there is an additional practical help, which we see in the reading today. Jesus called the Spirit who He would send to take over His ministry on earth the “Paraclete”. That means the “One who comes by your side to comfort you” often just known as the Comforter. But how does He do that?

In two ways. Firstly the Greek word in vs 26 translated as “helps” in the NIV is sunantilambino. It is a difficult word to translate to give its full meaning, but it means much more than helps. It describes something like the action of drawing two parties together who have been separated. This is so meaningful, since it recognises that God is aware of the tendency that suffering has in separating us from Him and His love. So this is the first act that the Spirit is doing for each one of us on our behalf when we are facing suffering to act by drawing us back to God and restoring our relationship with Him

The second act is what we all understand when we read these verses, that when we are so overwhelmed by suffering that we don’t know what to pray or how, the Spirit takes over on our behalf and speaks the right words to the Father. Words of intercession and love. What many readers may miss is the sense of vs 27. What Paul is saying is that this act of intercession is so meaningful because the Spirit knows the very depths of our thoughts and emotions, so we don’t have to describe or explain them to Him before He can intercede. And He aligns His prayers on our behalf with the will of the Father making them most effective.

So in our universal experience of suffering we have this immense comfort that the very “Comforter” is actively engaged in coming alongside us and drawing even closed the deeper our suffering goes, helping us in ways we often can not imagine. The big challenge is to believe this and entrust ourselves to His work on our behalf.

God bless till next week.

Be still and know that I am God – when the oceans rise and kingdoms fall, be still and know that I am God.

”Sometimes all may seem like chaos around you, no pattern, no clear way ahead – that is the moment to be still and focus on Me. Remembering that I created all and I am in control of all. Learn to surrender your fear, your pain, your frustration and start trusting in Me and My plan for you, and my ability to carry out that plan. All this is done against the backdrop of My covenantal love, mercy and grace. I am your God and I am for you. So heed the words in the psalm – be still and know that I am God.”

Please read Romans 8:17 – 25. We pick up Paul’s teaching on suffering as the second main reason we may feel separated from the love of God. Last time I showed how Paul emphasized the need to get our thinking right in the face of suffering. To see suffering against the light of the glory which is waiting for us when the suffering is over.

Having dealt with the universality of suffering we return now to look at the importance of this hope I just mentioned. Way back in Ch 5 Paul has already raised this matter which he puts down as if the very purpose of suffering is to strengthen our hope: “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character ; and character hope”

Back to ch 8:22 ff. Against the backdrop of suffering (groaning), we Christians (those who have the first fruits of the Spirit) wait eagerly for the our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But earlier hadn’t he said we are already adopted? So you see the reality is that we are adopted now already but we do not fully experience it. It is only once we die and are finally redeemed that we will fully experience the value of our adoption.

So that is our hope. Our focus is not to be on the here and now, because we are not nearly experiencing the full benefits of our salvation yet. So Paul reminds us that all these benefits are still coming and though we cannot see them they are to be our focus and reality, especially when we are suffering.

And what does that call for? Patience. Suffering is the one area where God is most active in growing our faith and from that perseverance and patience. God is not concerned in our ease but in our growth and this is one area which is most important in making us more Christian. Nevertheless, remember all this is being taught against the very intimate picture of our relationship with God in vv 16,17.

Paul is trying to drive this thought home before he focuses on the next help God gives and that is the help of His Spirit, which we will look at next week. God bless you all till then.

As he approaches the question of suffering we see how Paul first draws attention to our relationship with our Father God. From the security of that intimate relationship we are in a position to deal with the question of suffering.

”Not only are you invited into an intimate relationship with Me, but you have as a Brother, Priest and King, One who has experienced the full depths of rejection and suffering. Who is able to understand, teach and comfort each one of you as you face the inevitable times you will suffer, so that the suffering does not separate you from My love but should actually draw you closer to Me.”

As we start this important subject of suffering let us move slowly and carefully to get the maximum benefit from Paul’s teaching. Please Read Romans 8:16-25.

The context then is Paul’s discussion on what can make us feel separated from God’s love. The first important subject has been sin and the desire to be saved by the law. The second is the question of suffering. Suffering can have devastating effects on our perception of whether God truly loves us or not, however for many it has the effect of drawing us much closer to Him. As I said earlier he launches his discussion from the position of reminding us, as God’s children of the intimate relationship we have with Him.

The opening statement in vs 18 is extremely important, as it sets the basis on which we must view suffering. Paul is telling us that we need to get our thinking right before we dig into the details. So all suffering needs to be seen through a lens which tells us this is only temporary and cannot be compared to the glory that we are going to experience one day. All the thinking and teaching and experience of suffering takes on a different colour seen against the background of the incredible glory which is to come. We have to practice reminding ourselves of this reality, since suffering is so real and ever present while the glory remains an often considered distant hope. We need to keep telling ourselves that it IS real and based on the eternal unchangeable promises of God.

The next thing Paul wants to remind us of is that suffering is universal. We have already seen in vs 17 that there is a specific suffering which Christians experience because of our relationship with Christ. But we must understand the universality of suffering. He reminds us of the result of God’s curse in Eden and uses picturesque language describing the frustration and vanity creation is experiencing. He likens this to the pains of childbirth vs22. As we look around us we can see everywhere how this is being played out. So we too (vs 23) are not exempted from this bondage to decay. It affects us as much as it affects creation, which we are just actually a part of. Notice he uses the word groaning which is just shorthand for suffering.

Way back in vs 19 he pictures the creation as waiting eagerly to welcome the sons of God, who will then be revealed. So, in a mystical way creation is being prepared to welcome us when we go to be in God’s glory.

So that is the reality that we must embrace. He is going to tell us more about how to deal with our suffering, but the first step is to get our thinking right. He will go on to emphasise the importance of hope, but that is just building on what we have seen today. See you all next week.