The Word of God calls us to worship God, to walk in his way and do his work. Worshipping the Lord, walking in his way and working for him: Here, we have a description of our whole life response to the Word of the Lord. When we read God's Word, it is so important that …
Continue reading The Word of God, the worship of God, the way of God and the work of God
Romans 9:1-33 We read about 'Jews' and 'Gentiles'. We learn about salvation. The Jews are not saved because of their nationality. It is 'not because of works'. The Gentiles are not excluded because of their nationality. It is 'because of His call'. Salvation comes from God's grace, not from our good works. It is received …
Gen 3:10–15, Isa 64:6, Rom 10:11, 2 Cor 5:21, 1 John 1:9 Through Christ's Death On The Cross, God Has Provided For Us A Full Salvation! Having chosen the way of sin, we are ‘naked’ and ashamed (Genesis 3:10). The Gospel teaches us that ‘there’s a way back to God from the dark paths of …
This is the tenth post in a series of ten posts. You may be wondering why this spiritual journey is ending in Job 38. If you read the post, you will see that this spiritual journey isn't ending in Job 38. It's ending in Romans 8:38-39, "Nothing will be able to separate us from the …
Romans 10:1-21 To 'Jew and Gentile', God says, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved' (12-13). The Jews had praised the Lord Jesus: 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!'. Before long, they were shouting, 'Crucify Him, crucify Him!' (John …
Continue reading Pray that faith will come, as the Word of Christ is heard.
This message was preached as part of a series in which we looked at what the books of the New Testament say about "the Kingdom of God." Since the focus is really on Martin Luther, I've given "Learning from Martin Luther" as the main title, with "The Kingdom of God: Romans and Galatians" being given …
Continue reading Learning from Martin Luther (The Kingdom Of God: Romans and Galatians)
Romans 1:1-32 'I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith' (16). Do you think it was easy for Paul to maintain such commitment to Christ, such confidence in Christ? What kind of world did he live in?: a world of 'ungodliness and …
Continue reading God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The proclamation of peace with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1) must be carefully dissociated from a proclamation which says, "'Peace, peace', when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:14; Jeremiah 8:11).
Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 2:2; 1 Corinthians 6:19–20; Galatians 6:14 Paul was no silent disciple, no half-hearted follower of Jesus. He was not ashamed of his Lord. He was glad to say, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith" (Romans …
"We do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord" (2 Corinthians 4:5). This post is, really, a continuation of an earlier post, "When we preach Christ crucified, let us, also, preach that he is the risen Lord." If you want to read that post before starting to read this one, here's the link for …
Continue reading Jesus Christ our Lord: crucified for us and risen for us
"We preach Christ crucified" (1 Corinthians 1:23). In his preaching. Paul "reasoned with people from the Scriptures" (Acts 17:2), but he did not say, "We preach Isaiah", "We preach Jeremiah" or "We preach... ." He said, "We preach Christ crucified." When Paul spoke about the death of Christ, he spoke about the love of God: …
Continue reading When we preach Christ crucified, let us, also, preach that he is the risen Lord.
"God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:3-4). This post is a continuation of my earlier post, "This is my Son. This is your Saviour." You should, really, read that post before reading …
Continue reading Let us rejoice in Jesus, God’s Son. Let us rejoice in Jesus, our Saviour.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will …
Romans 11:1-36 - ‘You stand fast only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe’ (20). In 9:32, Paul contrasted ‘faith’ and ‘works’. Here, he contrasts ‘grace’ and ‘works’ (6). Grace and faith belong together. ‘Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy Cross I cling’ (Church Hymnary, 83) – This …
"I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received" (Ephesians 4:1). How are we to live a life worthy of our high calling? Let's go back from Ephesians 4:1, back to Ephesians 2:8-10. There, we learn about grace, faith and works - in that order. We begin with grace. We …
In chapter 14, Paul speaks about problems which arise in relationships between Christians. In chapter 15, he emphasizes that the Gospel is for all, both Jews and Gentiles. Chapter 16 is, mainly, a series of personal greetings which Paul sends to indvidual Christians at Rome.
In the first eleven chapters of Romans, Paul expounds the Gospel: what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. In chapters 12-16, he speaks to us about our response to the Gospel. This shift of direction is particularly noticeable in the opening verses of chapter 12. In chapter 12, the main emphasis is on …
These are difficult chapters. Paul speaks about the place of Jews and Gentiles in God's work of salvation. Above all else, this great theme stands out: Salvation is the work of God's grace; it is His gift of grace which is received through faith in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of both Jews and Gentiles.
There's a striking contrast between these two chapters: "What a wretched man I am!" (chapter 7); "With God on our side, who can be against us?" (chapter 8). These are two sides of the one coin. The Holy Spirit has come to lives within us, yet we are still sinners. Our life on this earth …
Here, Paul speaks about God's way of salvation. He emphasizes that we receive salvation through faith in Jesus Christ: we are justified by faith (chapter 4). This is just the beginning of our salvation. God has given us new life (chapter 6) and, now, He's leading us on to eternal glory (chapter 5).
In these chapters, Paul exposes sin and begins to direct the sinner's attention to God's solution to the problem of sin. The message of salvation is summed up in 3:23-24, "Both Jew and pagab sinned and forfeited God's glory, and both are justified through the free gift of His grace by being redeemed in Christ …
"For many times, also, your own heart has known that even you have cursed others" (Ecclesiastes 7:22). "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things" (Romans 2:1). The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector "Also …
Continue reading God sees us as we really are – and he keeps on loving us.
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost: Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28; Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b or 1 Kings 19:9-18; Psalm 85:8-13; Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33 Strengthened by the Lord, we are led in the way of victory. In the story of Joseph, we see human sin and divine grace. We see jealousy (Genesis 37:11) and its effects: ‘where jealousy …
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost: Genesis 29:15-28; Psalm 105:1-11, 45b (or Psalm 128) or 1 Kings 3:5-12; Psalm 119:129-136; Romans 8:26-39; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 Trust in the Lord. He is working in us to do us good. The tables are turned on Jacob. The trickster is tricked! The ‘trick’ was according to the ‘custom’ that the …
Continue reading Trust in the Lord. He is working in us to do us good.
How amazing is the love of the Lord! - "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Here's a great hymn of praise, which will turn your thoughts to Jesus Christ, your Saviour and offer to him your heartfelt worship. https://youtu.be/Tu2uA6U4Fxg
"I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). "We preach Christ crucified" (1 Corinthians 1:23). Here, Paul speaks to us about knowing Christ crucified and preaching Christ crucified, Before we can preach him, we must know him. God speaks to us before we speak for him. What …
Continue reading Knowing Jesus and preaching him: it’s all about loving him.
"I can't take any more of this." What are we to do when we feel like this? What about listening to what God's Word has to say to us? "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else …
Continue reading Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
"I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:11-12). We read the words of Paul - and we look beyond him to Jesus …
Continue reading We are sinners. We’re called to be servants. Jesus is our Saviour.
"Salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed" (Romans 13:11). We read these great words, and we are encouraged. The Lord is leading us on the most wonderful journey. At the end of this journey, there is the most glorious destination. As we travel towards this glorious destination, we must keep our eyes …
Continue reading Our feelings are changeable. God’s love is unchangeable.
'He has blinded their eyes... I would heal them.' (John 12:40). What are we to say about these words? Are we to say, "It is God who blinds their eyes"? or Is there a difference between He - "He has blinded their eyes" - and I - "I would heal them"? Could "He" be understood as a reference to "the …
"This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him" (1 John 4:9). As I read these words, my thoughts went to the words of John 3:16 - "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only …
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does …
Why do we look back to the past? We look. We learn. We remember what our Saviour has done for us. We have hope for the future. When the going gets tough, we must remember this: "everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement …
Jesus Christ is the Saviour of sinners. We are not asked to make ourselves worthy before coming to the Saviour. If we could make ourselves worthy of God's love, there would be no need for a Saviour. Jesus Christ does not merely help us to save ourselves. He is the Saviour of sinners. Jesus did …
"When people work, their pay is not regarded as a gift but something they have earned" (Romans 4:4). When God is at work in us, bringing us to faith in His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, everything is very different. His salvation is His gift to us. It's not our reward from Him. Grace gives …
Continue reading Think, often, of what Jesus has done for you. Thank Him for dying for you.
God's purpose was moving on. He had begun with Israel. Their deliverance from bondage in Egypt was a mighty demonstration of His saving power. This was only the beginning. God was moving on to Jesus - "the Saviour of the world" (John 4:42). In Jesus Christ, crucified for us, God was reaching out, in love, …
Continue reading "His dominion shall be… to the ends of the earth" (Zechariah 9:10).
1 Chronicles 1:1-2:17; Romans 9:22-10:4; Psalm 89:14-18 So many names! We have names. We are called by name. God calls us His people, “sons of the living God” (Romans 9:25-26). He gives us His own Name. We are in Christ. We “rejoice In His Name all day long” (Psalm 89:1 6). From my One Year Bible
"In him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28) - This is what Paul says to us about ourselves and the Lord. There is, here, an echo of the words of Ecclesiastes 3:11 - "God has planted eternity in the human heart." God is speaking to our hearts. He's calling out to …
"All that I know now is partial and incomplete ... " (1 Corinthians 13:12). We have come to know the Lord. This is the work of his grace. We must never forget this. Without his grace, we are nothing. All the glory belongs to him. When we give our testimony - telling the story of …
Continue reading Knowing the Lord – and giving all the glory to him
"May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 15:5). Let us keep on encouraging one another - to keep on worshipping the Lord. Where …
Continue reading Lord, help us to keep on going – with you and for you.
For us: "God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). In us: "The Spirit of God lives in you" (Romans 8:9). Through us: "According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts... " (Romans 12:6-8). Thank you, Lord, for all that …
Continue reading God is working for us, in us and through us.
The context in which man finds himself placed by the revelation of God is thoroughly existential. He is involved in the totality of his existence. Through the continuing activity of the ever-present and ever-active Spirit of revelation, man is called upon to respond to the God of revelation. The emergence of faith is the result …
"I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11). "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing" (Psalm 23:1). I lack nothing - God has given us a full salvation. It's a salvation that covers our past, our present and our future. -- We begin by emphasizing that God's salvation covers our past. "He makes me lie …
"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! 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" (Romans 7:24-25). What …
1 Chronicles 9:1b-10:14; Romans 14:1-18; Proverbs 18:17-19:2 1 Chronicles 10 tells of the death of Saul: “Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord …” (1 Chronicles 10:13-14). Romans 14 speaks of the strong and the weak. Physically, Saul was strong. Spiritually, he was weak. Maintaining our spiritual strength, our relationship with God, is to be …
Continue reading King Saul – physically strong, spiritually weak
1 Chronicles 6:1-81; Romans 11:33-12:21; Psalm 89:30-37 The names tell a story – the story of the historical development of the Lord’s purpose with His people. The many names, stretching over a vast expanse of time, highlight the greatness of God and the great work He is doing among His people. They draw out from us …
1 Chronicles 7:1-9:1a; Romans 13:1-14; Psalm 89:38-45 Is there no end of names? As we read so many names, we wonder at the amazing scope of the Lord’s love: “God so loved the world … “ (John 3:16). When we consider the universal scope of the Lord’s great love, we are strengthened in our obedience to His …
John 15:20, 26, 16:13–15, 33, Rom 12:2, 2 Tim 3:12, 1 John 5:4–5 Jesus was ‘persecuted’. We will be ‘persecuted’ - ‘all who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted’ (John 15:20; 2 Timothy 3:12). We have no guarantee that life will be easy. In all our difficulties, ‘the Spirit of truth’ directs …
Continue reading The Holy Spirit Leads Us In The Way Of Victory.
We encourage one another in the Lord when we gather together for worship (Hebrews 10:25). The preaching of Christ strengthens our faith (Romans 10:17). What a great encouragement it is to know that "God is pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21).
Read the words of John 3:16 and Romans 10:9. Put your name into these great verses. Make it personal - Jesus is my Saviour. Jesus is my Lord.
Jonah 1:1-4:11; Romans 2:1-16; Psalm 85:1-7 In Nineveh, God works in mighty power. "Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry" (Jonah 3:10-4:1). To this proud attitude, God says, "You ... have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else" (Romans 2:1). He calls for a change of attitude: "Do you show contempt for the …
Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:6-11; John 11:1-45 We need to be changed by the Lord. It was ‘a valley of dry bones’ (Ezekiel 37:1-2). Then, the Lord changed everything - ‘I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live’ (Ezekiel 37:5). What a difference the Lord makes! ‘Breathe on me, Breath of …
1 Chronicles 2:18-4:8; Romans 10:5-11:10; Proverbs 18:7-16 More names! It’s great to have a name – and not to be a nameless person of unknown identity. It’s even greater to have the Name of the Lord given to us for our salvation. “Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans …
Continue reading The Name of the Lord – the Name of our Salvation
We go back to Genesis 3:1, back to "the serpent", and on, from there, to Revelation 12:9, "that ancient serpent, called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray." Satan begins by questioning God's Word: "Did God really say?" - but he does not stop there. He goes on from questioning God's Word …
1 Chronicles 15:1-16:36; Romans 16:1-27; Psalm 90:11-17 In a book full of so many names, David’s psalm of thanksgiving (1 Chronicles 16) stands out. It is a high-point in the midst of the commonplace. The commonplace is not insignificant in God’s purpose. It is the backcloth against which God gives to us His special high-points. In …
Continue reading The commonplace and the deeper experience of worship
1 Chronicles 12:23-14:17; Romans 15:14-33; Psalm 90:1-10 God’s purpose concerns all the nations – “The Lord made all the nations fear David” (1 Chronicles 14:17). Paul was “a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles” (Romans 15:16). God’s purpose concerns all generations – “Lord, You have been our dwelling-place throughout all generations” (Psalm 90:1). From …
Continue reading God’s purpose – for all nations and all generations
Amos 8:1-9:15; Romans 5:12-21; Proverbs 17:15-24 Christ restored what Adam lost (Romans 5:15). The Garden of Eden was devastated, but God promises to restore the garden (Amos 9:13-15). This is a prophecy – “The days are coming … “ (Amos 9:13). It is fulfilled in Christ, through whom we receive eternal life (Romans 5:21). In …
1 Chronicles 11:1-12:22; Romans 14:19-15:13; Psalm 89:46-52 1 Chronicles 11 speaks of “David’s mighty men” (1 Chronicles 11:11). The focus is not, however, on either David or the “mighty men.” It is on the Lord – “The Lord brought about a great victory” (1 Chronicles 11:14). In their warfare, “the Spirit” brings this message – …
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved …
2 Kings 24:8-25:30; Romans 1:18-32; Psalm 84:8-12 Babylonian captivity – The words are full of symbolic significance regarding the power of evil at work in every generation. Romans 1:18-32 describes the ‘cause and effect’ of ‘Babylonian captivity’: They did not glorify God and “God gave them over to the sinful desires of their hearts” (Romans 1:21,24). In …
Continue reading Trust in the Lord – and enjoy His blessing.
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Psalms 18:2 (KJV) The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
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"CRUX sola est nostra Theologia." - 'The Cross alone is one theology.' - Luther
Colossians 2:10
