Lord

Romans 10:10-13 - For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Acts 2:21 - And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Joel 2:32 - And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Application:

·         Salvation involves inward belief as well as outward confession.

·         Everyone who calls includes faith and response rather than merely using words.

·         Saved means delivered from the wrath of God’s judgment.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

The Man Who Does These Things Will Live By Them

Romans 10:5 - For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.

Leviticus 18:5 - You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

Deuteronomy 4:1 - “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

Isaiah 55:3 - Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

Deuteronomy 6:25 - And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

Romans 2:9-10 - There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.

Application:

·         The law was the way of life for the redeemed, not a way of salvation for the lost.

·         God’s call to His people to hear and obey is a frequent theme in Deuteronomy and elsewhere in the Old Testament.

·         David had been promised an unending dynasty, one that would culminate in the Messiah.

·         Righteousness refers to a true, personal relationship with the covenant Lord that manifests itself in my daily life.

·         With spiritual privilege comes spiritual responsibility.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Israel

Romans 9:6-8 - But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

Romans 2:29 - But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

Genesis 21:12 - But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

Romans 8:14 - For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Application:

·         The true sign of belonging to God is not an outward mark on the physical body, but the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit within—what Paul meant by circumcision of the heart.

·         God promised Abraham that both Isaac and Ishmael would have numerous descendants.

·         Not all are God’s children. People become children of God through faith in God’s unique Son, and being led by God’s Spirit is the hallmark of this relationship.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Christ, Who Is God

Romans 9:5 - To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

John 1:1,18 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

Colossians 2:9-10 - For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

Matthew 28:19 - Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Luke 1:35 - And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

2 Corinthians 13:14 - The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Colossians 1:15,18-20 - He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation…And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Titus 2:11-14 - For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Hebrews 1:8 - But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

2 Peter 1:1-2 - Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Application:

·         Christ, who is God, is one of the clearest statements of the deity of Jesus Christ found in the entire New Testament.

·         Jesus was God in the fullest sense.

·         The declaration that the very essence of deity was present in totality in Jesus’ human body was a direct refutation of Gnostic teaching.

·         Disciples were to be baptized as a sign of their union with and commitment to Christ.

·         Jesus never sinned.

·         God the One and Only is an explicit declaration of Christ’s deity.

·         The mystery of the Holy Trinity is known to be true not through rational or philosophical explanation but through Christian experience, whereby the believer knows firsthand the grace, the love, and the fellowship that freely flow to him from the three Persons of the one Lord God.

·         This figure of Christ being the image of God suggests two truths: (1) God is invisible; (2) Christ, who is the eternal Son of God and who became the God-man, reflects and reveals Him.

·         Christ was the first to rise from the dead with a resurrection body.

·         For Paul fullness meant the totality of God with all His powers and attributes.

·         So when Christ died on the cross, He made peace possible between God and man, and He restored in principle the harmony in the physical world, though the full realization of the latter will come only when Christ returns.

·         The great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, is an explicit testimony to the deity of Christ.

·         The Messianic King is Deity, further demonstrating the Son’s superiority over angels.

·         God and Savior Jesus Christ assumes that Jesus is both God and Savior.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Interceding For Us

Romans 8:33-36 - Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

Isaiah 53:12 - Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Psalm 44:22 - Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

Application:

·         Three reasons are given as to why no one can condemn me: (1) Christ died for me; (2) He is alive and seated at the right hand of God, the position of power; (3) He is interceding for me.

·         God will reward His servant as if He was a king sharing in the spoils of a great victory.

·         Suffering has always been part of the experience of God’s people.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Firstfruits Of The Spirit

Romans 8:14,22-24 - For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God…For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 - For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Application:

·         People become children of God through faith in God’s unique Son, and being led by God’s Spirit is the hallmark of this relationship.

·         The experiences and circumstances of this present life, often painful and perplexing, are what is visible to me; but these are merely phenomena in the passing parade of this fallen age and are therefore temporary and fleeting. To fix my eyes on these visible things would cause me to lose heart.

·         Being saved includes salvation from God’s wrath, which I have incurred by my sinfulness. No human effort can contribute to my salvation; it is the gift of God.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Heirs

Romans 8:16-18 - The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Ephesians 3:6 - This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

2 Timothy 2:11-13 - The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 - For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Application:

·         That Gentiles would turn to the God of Israel and be saved was prophesied in the Old Testament; that they would come into unity with believing Jews on an equal footing was unexpected.

·         Faithfully bearing up under suffering and trial will result in reward when Christ returns.

·         Seen in the perspective of eternity, my difficulties, whatever they may be, diminish in importance. By comparison, the eternal glory is far greater than all the suffering I may face in this life.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Hostile To God

Romans 8:5-8 - For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

James 4:4 - You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

John 14:16-17 - And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Application:

·         Adulterous people are those who are spiritually unfaithful, who love the world rather than God.

·         I should value my body as a sacred place where God dwells and should realize that by the Spirit’s presence and power I can be helped against sin.

·         The world takes no notice of the Spirit of God.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV