Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / October 13 - Romans 7

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October 13 - Romans 7 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here and it's a Monday.
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  It is the 13th of October. Great to have your company.
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  Thank you for starting your week with me as we are going to
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  unwrap our Bibles, open them up back to this wonderful letter to
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  the Romans where Paul is writing to this group of believers
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  trying to help them get their heads around what does it mean
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  to be Christian while Jewish culturally and not forsake all
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  the things that you used to think were so important about
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  your faith, like the law. For a Jewish person, the law was
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  like this great kindness that God had handed to them, this
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  revelation of what God wanted to tell them.
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  And so they studded it down to the NTH degree, that minute
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  detail, so that they would not miss a thing.
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  And here Paul comes and he says, you don't need to to follow the
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  law for salvation, but it's a gift that Jesus gives you.
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  And so this is so hard for the Jewish people to get their heads
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  around as they embark on this Christian faith.
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  And so just as in the last chapter, chapter 6, Paul was
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  writing about that, he continues The very first word of this
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  chapter is now, which is kind of following on from what we heard
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  last week. So let us continue as Paul
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  unwraps what it means to live under the gift of grace from
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  Jesus, but still with this guidance that God gives us
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  through the law. Let's dive in together, friends,
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  as we read together Romans Chapter 7.
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  Now, to your brothers and sisters, you who are familiar
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  with the law, don't you know that the law applies only while
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  a person is living? For example, when a woman
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  marries, the law binds her to a husband as long as he is alive.
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  But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her.
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  So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery
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  if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she's
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  free from that law and does not commit adultery when she
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  remarries. So, my dear brothers and
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  sisters, this is the point. You died to the power of the law
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  when you died with Christ, and now you are united with the one
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  who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a
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  harvest of good deeds for God. When we were controlled by our
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  old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law
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  aroused these evil desires that produced the harvest of sinful
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  deeds resulting in death. But now we've been released from
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  the Law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its
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  power. Now we can serve God, not in the
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  old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of
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  living in the Spirit. Well then, am I suggesting that
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  the law of God is sinful? Of course not.
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  In fact, it was the Law that showed me my sin.
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  I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the Law had
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  not said you must not covet. But sin used this command to
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  arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me.
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  If there were no law, sin would not have that power.
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  At one time I lived without understanding the law, but then
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  I learned the command not to covet.
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  For instance, the power of sin came to life and I died.
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  So I discovered that the law's commands, which were supposed to
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  bring life, brought spiritual death instead.
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  Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me.
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  It used the commands to kill me. But still the law itself is
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  holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.
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  But how can that be? Did the law which is good 'cause
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  my death, of course not. Sin used what was good to bring
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  about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin
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  really is. It uses God's good commands for
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  its own evil purposes. So the trouble is not with the
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  law, for it is spiritual and good.
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  The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.
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  I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is
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  right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate.
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  But if I know that what I'm doing is wrong, this shows that
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  I agree that the law is good, so I'm not the one doing wrong.
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  It is sin living in me that does it, and I know that nothing good
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  lives in me that is in my sinful nature.
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  I want to do what is right, but I can't.
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  I want to do what is good, but I don't.
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  I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
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  But if I do what I don't want to do, I'm not really the one doing
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  wrong. It is sin living in me that does
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  it. I've discovered this principle
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  of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do
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  what is wrong. I love God's law with all my
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  heart, but there is another power within me that is at war
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  with my mind. This power makes me a slave to
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  the sin that is still within me. Oh what a miserable person I am
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  who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and
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  death. Thank God the answer is in Jesus
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  Christ our Lord. So you see how it is in my mind.
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  I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature,
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  I am a slave to sin. Oh, Jesus, thank you.
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  Thank you for coming and saving us from this, oh, this
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  complexity that lives within us, our slavitude to sin.
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  And just as Paul writes in here, who will free me from this life
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  dominated by sin? And that's you, Jesus, who
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  unlocks that victory over sin and death and shares that with
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  us and frees us from this bondage to this crippling sin
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  and presents us perfect in the light of you and your perfect
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  way, Jesus. Oh, we are so grateful that your
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  victory over sin and death is ours.
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  And so we claim that victory. We stand in you, in our
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  identity, in you in victory over sin, and we thank you that you
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  present us perfect before the Father.
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  Thank you for this love. Thank you for this
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  transformation. Thank you for delivering us.
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  We're so grateful, and we claim that today.
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  And we live in the sure knowledge of your promise and
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  your victory for us. And we pray all of this and your
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  kind and wonderful name, Jesus, Amen.