Additional Thoughts on Romans – Part 2
ROM 4:6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
ROM 4:7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
ROM 4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Paul is making point after point on how salvation is by faith and not by works. Abraham was saved by faith before the law was ever given. And now he brings up David and the scripture that David penned by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. David wrote about the blessedness of the man who God imputeth righteousness without works. David wrote this after the law was given and we see that scripture still says that man is saved without works. Salvation has always been by faith. It was by faith before the law. It was by faith during the law, and it is still by faith today.
The law never saved anyone. Its purpose was to show man his sin. It was a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ. David wrote, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. The only way for man to be saved is if he is provided a covering for his sin. This was taught from the very beginning when God made a covering for Adam and Eve’s sin. Man is blessed when his sins are forgiven. Works will not provide a covering for sin. Church membership will not provide a covering for sin. Baptism will not cover your sin. There is only one covering for sin and that is the shed blood of Christ. Only faith in Jesus saves.
1Pe 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, [as] silver and gold, from your vain conversation [received] by tradition from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Col 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, [even] the forgiveness of sins:
Have your sins been covered by the blood of Christ? Have you found the blessed forgiveness that David wrote about? Have you accepted Jesus as your Saviour?
If you have, then when is the last time that you thanked Him for it?
ROM 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
ROM 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
ROM 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Here we see the wonderful depth of the Love of God! Some men might die for a righteous man or even a good man. But Jesus died for the ungodly.
He died for you and for me. And Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners. He did not die for us because we were lovely. He did not die for us because we deserved it.
He died for the dirty rotten sinners that we are. Christ died for the ungodly. That’s us before salvation. Jesus loved you enough to die for you even though you were ungodly.
It was not nails that held Jesus on the cross. It was His love for you that held Him there.
We should praise Jesus for His Tremendous love each and every day.
When is the last time that you prayed just to thank Him for dying for you and paying for your sins?
I am not talking about quickly mentioning it and then moving on to a want list. I am talking about spending some time in prayer thanking Him for His wonderful love without adding other things. I am talking about a dedicated prayer.
Could you not spend 15 min. or more? How about 5? I dare say if you have any grasp of the depth of God’s love for you, that you could spend hours in prayer thanking Him for it.
ROM 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
There was no sin in the world before Adam sinned. The reason everyone and everything dies is because of sin. Sin not only entered into man’s nature, but all of nature is stained by sin.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Everything in creation is decaying. It is all moving towards disorder and finally death. That is because sin causes death. Evolutionists would have you believe that everything gets better and better and more and more organized. But that is against the laws that govern the universe. What we really find in the world around us is a creation that is stained by sin and therefore on a slow march towards death.
Adam’s sin affected the entire creation that was made to house the man. And Adam passed his sin nature to his children, and they passed it to their children until it was passed to you. When God created He established a law that everything will produce after its kind.
Gen 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Bears always produce bears and apples always produce apples, and a sinful man always produces a sinful man.
Some object saying, “I did not ask to be a sinner, it is not fair.” Well a bear did not ask to be a bear, but it does not change the fact that he is a bear. And it does not matter how you feel about it, the fact is that you were born a sinner.
Some say, “It is not fair, I did not have anything to do with Adam sinning.” I know that you did not have anything to do with Adam sinning, but you also had nothing to do with the solution. Jesus went to the cross and paid for your sin for you. He provided the solution freely. You had nothing to do with the cause but the same is true for the solution. So it really is fair.
It does not matter that you did not have anything to do with Adams choice. The fact is that you are a sinner and you have sinned. Jesus loves you and went to the cross to pay for your sin. He offers the gift of eternal life freely. All you have to do is accept it.
ROM 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
ROM 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
It says when we were enemies. There is no doubt about it, before salvation we were at enmity against God. We were in opposition to Him. We lived contrary to His will. We had no hope of ever pleasing God with our works. We were sinners on our way to hell and there was nothing we could do about it. Then came salvation and we became reconciled to God. Now instead of being an enemy we became sons. Born again into a new family. No more under condemnation, heaven is our home now, and this happened only because of Jesus. Now read verse 11 again.
ROM 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Verse 11 says we have now received the atonement. It is finished. Once you are saved, you are saved! No doubt about it. Nothing can change it and you can’t lose it. You have received it. And notice what reaction this should have in our hearts. “we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” Going from an enemy of God to His child should bring joy! Going from no hope of salvation to assurance of salvation should bring joy!
Christians should be a joyful people. When things get hard think about your great salvation. Think about what Jesus did for you. Keep your eyes upon Jesus and let His joy fill your heart. He has given us the greatest gift there is. The gift of eternal life for all those who will believe and accept Him as Saviour.
ROM 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
ROM 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
We are saved by grace and not works. We did not have to be good to get saved. We are justified by faith.
So far so good. But then comes the life that you have to live after salvation. And here is where Christianity is, in general, a mess today.
Most Christians today live in sin. In fact many of them will bring their sinful Rock and Roll music into the house of God. Or they will drink the devil’s brew. Yep that is a reference to alcohol. Or they covet more wealth and on and on the list could go.
You tell most modern Christians that they are not to sin and they will start yelling legalism. They just don’t read their Bibles. Legalism would be working your way to heaven. That is not what these verses are talking about at all. These verses are talking about after salvation.
A Christian is to stay away from sin NOT TO GET SAVED. A Christian is to say away from sin BECAUSE HE IS ALREADY SAVED. There is a huge difference. Staying away from sin after salvation is not legalism. It is simply God’s will for all Christians.
Read again what the Bible says about this issue. Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. The Bible says God forbid. That is pretty strong language. And pretty clear if you ask me.
God forbids Christians to continue in sin. And that is the Bible truth on the matter. O’ they still have a free will and they can and do still sin and they will still be saved. The gift of eternal life is eternal. However, living in sin after salvation is not God’s will for your life.
ROM 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Wages is the payment of what you earn. Wages is something that you have coming to you. You deserve them. Sin has wages, and its wages is death. This is talking about more than physical death. It is true that sin is the reason that everything dies, but that is not the principal meaning of the verse. It is talking about eternal death. In this verse we have contrasted eternal life with eternal death. One will last just as long as the other and that is for all eternity.
Eternal death is what we all deserve, because that is what we have earned. We are all sinners and sin’s wages is eternal death. A sinner cannot work his way to heaven. All the wages that a sinner can earn is more death because that is the wages of sin. And you have already earned eternal death. That leaves us in a hopeless situation that we cannot work ourselves out of.
“…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
I am very thankful for that word but. Yes you deserve hell. That is the wages that you have coming to you for your sin, but. But God so loved you that He went to the cross for you. He paid the penalty and died in your place so that you would not have to. He took your wages of sin and offers you the gift of eternal life.
It is a gift. It is wholly on His grace and His mercy. You did not earn it and could not earn it. Eternal life is the wonderful and priceless gift of God. And the gift of eternal life is through Jesus Christ our Lord. You cannot get the gift of eternal life any other way. It is only thru Jesus.
Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Saviour?
Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
These verses seem to be foreign to Christianity at large today.
ROM 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
ROM 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
ROM 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
ROM 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
ROM 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Paul uses very strong language here. The topic is should Christians sin, and he writes, “God forbid.” Many will say we are not under the law but under grace and they will use that as an excuse to indulge in sin. The Bible says, “God forbid.” to that excuse.
Christians are to be different than the world. We should think different, look different, and act different. We are to be new creatures in Christ. Before you get saved you are under bondage to sin. After salvation you have been set free. You are now to consider your old man dead; crucified with Christ. We are to live dead to sin and alive to Him. A Christian is to yield all of himself to Christ. That means no booze for God’s word tells us that it is raging and a mocker. That means music with melody in the church house because God’s word tells us He wants us to use spiritual songs with melody and not fleshly songs with beat. Being yielded to Christ means loving our neighbors and loving God above all. It means supporting His work financially. We should not be setting wicked things before our eyes. We should be dead to sin. Dead to gossiping, lying, cheating, stealing, coveting, adultery, hurting others, and all the rest of it.
ROM 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
It is a sad thing but true, if you preached this truth in most churches today they would be shocked and fighting mad. And still God’s word teaches, should Christians sin, “God forbid.”
ROM 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
In this chapter Paul is talking about how after you are saved you have two natures within you.
When you are saved you receive a new spiritual nature. But you still have the old sin nature.
Paul says in verse 18 that in his flesh dwelleth no good thing. And to that I say AMEN. Our fleshly sin nature (that we must carry around until we die) is no good for nothing.
In this chapter you see the two natures are at war. They are opposed to each other. And sometimes the flesh nature wins out. This explains why sometimes Christians sin.
Paul asks a question about this struggle in verse 24 and then answers it in verse 25.
ROM 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
ROM 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul knew that he was not strong enough for this battle alone. He knew that he needed delivered from it. And he knew that the only victory over the flesh is through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Only by staying close to Jesus. Only thru a close walk with Him can you have victory over sin in your life.
Victory over the flesh is only thru the power of Jesus.
ROM 7:6 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 the oldness of the letter.
ROM 7:7 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.
Once you are saved you have been delivered from the law. Was the law then bad? No absolutely not.
ROM 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
The law is holy, just and good. The law was given to show us what is holy just and good and that we are sinners. The law shows that we can no way ever measure up to God’s perfect standard. The law is a school master to bring us to Christ. The law shows us our need for a Saviour.
Once we are saved, then we are delivered from the penalty that the law demands. We are saved from eternal death and given eternal life.
After you are saved, then you should serve, and it needs to be done with a new attitude. “we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
Our service should not be in the oldness of the letter. It should not be a list of things that we have to do. Our service is not to be cold and ritualistic, and we only do them because we have to. That is serving in the oldness of the letter. Our service is to be in newness of spirit. It is to be spiritual in nature. Our service is to be a matter of the heart. And we should respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Our service should be Spirit led.
We should serve with the attitude of pleasing our Lord. We should serve with gratefulness for what He did for us. Our service needs to be out of a heart of Love. Service to Him should be new, fresh, exciting, and joyful.
Service is to be done in the power of the Sprit that moves into our hearts at Salvation.
“serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
ROM 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
ROM 7:13 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.
ROM 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
I have heard many people say we are not under law, and that is true. But they say it as if the law of God was a bad thing. They talk of the law as if it is flawed and a terrible thing. The New Testament Scriptures say otherwise. The law is holy, and the commandment holy. The law of God is just and it is good. It is because the law is so good that it shows us our sin and how exceeding sinful it is. The law of God is spiritual and the carnal man does not like it. This is why they talk evil of God’s law. They like to call evil good and good evil. When you hear someone trashing God’s law, you are hearing someone who is carnal and not spiritual. God’s law is good and just.
The “problem” with the law is that it cannot save anyone because no one can keep all the law. But that does not mean that we should not try to keep the moral law of God. Jesus taught that all the law could be summed up into two commandments. Love God and love thy neighbor. All the do’s and don’ts in the law teach us how to love God and how to love our neighbor. Coveting, lying, stealing, cheating, are not love. If someone is really spiritual, then out of a heart of love they will naturally want to do right toward God and man.
We are not saved by the law. However, the law can teach us a lot about loving the one who saved us by His grace, and it can teach us a lot about how He wants us to treat our fellow man.
The Law of God cannot impart salvation, but the Law of God is good and just.
One word of caution. You should never bring any practice out of the Old Testament into the New Testament age of grace without New Testament authority. As far as any practice you need to have New Testament authority for it. There are things that God had a place for in the Old Testament, but if those things are not reinforced in the New Testament then the practice of them needs to stay in the Old Testament times.
ROM 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
ROM 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
ROM 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Getting saved makes you a child of God. This makes you an heir to His kingdom. But you are not just any heir. You become a joint-heir with Christ. That is a wonderful thing. We cannot even begin to image the things that we will inherit in heaven.
These verses also tell us that being a child of God does not exempt you from suffering.
Verse 17 says, “if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
Regardless of what TV preachers say, Christians do suffer. It is NOT God’s will for every Christian to be rich and perfectly healthy.
God does take His children thru trials and sufferings. God uses suffering in the life of a Christian to do a work in their life.
When suffering comes into your life, you need to remember verse 18.
ROM 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Whatever suffering God allows to come into your life is nothing in comparison with the glory that will be revealed in us in heaven.
Always keep in mind that this life and its sufferings are but a moment in comparison to eternity.
Set your affections on things above. Keeping your eye on eternity will help you keep your current sufferings in the proper perspective
See more from Lessons from Romans