Bible Study on Romans 5, verses 6 to 21, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us

 

Romans 5:6 ¶  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 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. 11  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. 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: 13  (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15  But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16  And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17  For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 18  Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19  For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21  That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

When we were helpless in our sin before God Christ died for us, the ungodly. Who would die for a wicked person? Would you? Would you take a vile death row inmate who killed someone brutally and offer to die for them?

 

But, now we are justified by His blood shed at Calvary.

 

Acts 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

 

Hebrews 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

 

Hebrews 13:12  Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.

 

Revelation 1:5  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

 

The wrath we are saved from is God’s wrath, not the government’s wrath, the wrath of the Beast, or any other although we may be saved from those types of wrath by God’s mercy. We, who were the enemies of God in our unsaved state, have become His own, purchased with His own blood, and we no longer are under His wrath.

 

John 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.

 

Ephesians 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

 

Colossians 3:5 ¶  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6  For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

 

1Thessalonians 1:10  And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

 

1Thessalonians 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

 

Revelation 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

 

Revelation 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

 

Many of us believe that when God’s wrath is poured out on the earth we will not be here, having been translated or, in modern parlance, raptured. I explain in my comments on Revelation the historical belief from the early church on in the rapture of the church and in the physical, millennial reign of Christ.

 

We were enemies of God before we received Christ as our Saviour who was offered by Himself to justify us and to cleanse us by His blood on the Cross and from the empty tomb. Adam brought sin into the world and death by sin and we all inherited it and Christ brought eternal life as a free gift of God for receiving Him as our Saviour. God knew Adam’s sin and the Law showed us our helplessness before God, not being able to justify ourselves. Go ahead, try it, try to not sin for a day and let me know how that works out for you. We lie, cheat, steal, deceive, are implacable, idolatrous, and so many other things on a consistent basis. It is hard to understand how someone could think they were hunky-dory just because they weren’t an axe murderer.

 

You say, “that’s too much. You make it too hard to be a good person.” That’s right, it is too much. That’s the point. It is too hard to be righteous before God. Only Christ was righteous before God and we can obtain His righteousness as He is our righteousness and when we trust in His righteousness and not our own we can be saved from God’s eternal wrath.

Bible Study on Exodus 33, verses 7 to 11, without the camp

 

Exodus 33:7 ¶  And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. 8  And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. 9  And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. 10  And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. 11  And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

 

Here is defined, in verse 7, what without the camp means. It is outside of the camp and in this context far from the camp. This is significant as it is commonly understood that Jesus’ place of crucifixion was outside of the walls of Jerusalem. The place where mankind’s sins were taken on by the God who created mankind was without the camp.

 

So, the Tabernacle where God met with the Israelites is apart from the camp. This is in contrast to God walking among them, in the camp, a circumstance not permitted by their stubbornness. This points out to us that God abhors sin and will not have it in His presence.

 

Isaiah 59:2  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

 

Habbakuk 1:12 ¶  Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. 13a  Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity…

 

The Israelites had passed on a powerful blessing only to be restored by Christ. We Christians do not go to church only to “meet with God” like the Israelites had to go outside of the camp, a type of the physical body, to do. We meet with God every day in prayer, Bible reading and study, and in our day-to-day experience of His reality for us. The Israelites forsook that relationship. Many Christians refrain from that closeness to God and prefer ritual and ceremony to “experience the divine.”

Many conservative Christians are what I call “Super-Bowl Christians” who cannot feel close to God without an emotionally charged injection of preaching, which is not a bad thing, but when it is the only way you feed on God’s word it is like a sugar-high or a drug. You keep wanting a replay of that emotional high. God wants to walk in your camp so to speak, for His Spirit to commune with your spirit. Evangelistic meetings are great and Sunday services are very important but if you only eat once, two, three, or even four times a week you will be a very malnourished individual, prone to sickness and death.

So, it is with a Christian. Feed on God’s word every day and speak to Him in prayer often and let Him speak to you through His word as often. “Walk” with God from daybreak to daybreak every day.

It is not a preacher’s responsibility to resave you every Sunday. He shouldn’t have to start from scratch every Sunday to give you baby formula because you have not fed yourself at other times. Christians should be growing and learning in their experience with the church, being encouraged, provoked, and moved forward, not being brought back from near death from malnutrition every Sunday.

Verse 11 is likely figurative, a figure of speech, considering what happens in the next passage. It would not be hard to imagine God speaking to Moses from the cloudy pillar without actually appearing to him in physical form using the phrase face-to-face like a friend.

First, understand that the image is the appearance, physical presence of something. Image equals likeness.

Genesis 1:26a  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…

 

Exodus 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above…

 

Christ is that image.

 

2Corinthians 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

 

Colossians 1:15a  Who is the image of the invisible God…

 

Hebrews 1:3a  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person…

 

There is an intimacy, a friendship, revealed here between God and Moses. Later it will be said;

Numbers 12:3  (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

 

Moses was meek towards God, not men, in that he humbled himself before his God. Remember, we’re talking about someone leading a huge number of people, very unruly people.

In this passage it is said that Moses has that kind of relationship with God that Jesus’ wanted His disciples to have with Him.

John 15:15  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

 

Joshua is a radical who didn’t leave the tabernacle. This is indicative of his character.

 

Joshua 1:8  This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

 

Joshua 24:15  And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

 

He is a type of Jesus and his work parallels, perhaps, what Jesus will do when He returns. In the following passage the Holy Spirit, through Luke, inserts Jesus for Joshua in English.

Acts 7:45  Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

 

Bible Study on Romans 5, verses 1 to 5, peace with God

 

Romans 5:1 ¶  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3  And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4  And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

 

Verse 1 is a very important point. We can have peace with God, who created all things, only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here in Ephesians is a statement on having peace with God.

 

Ephesians 2:11 ¶  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

14 ¶  For he is our peace, who hath made both one [Jew and Gentile], and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18  For through him we both [Jew and Gentile] have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

 

We have access to God by faith because of Christ.

 

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

 

Ephesians 2:18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

 

Tribulations are adversities, troubles, anguish, and distress involving problems of living and persecution and temptations to renounce by thought and deed Christ Himself, problems that arise from being a follower of Christ. When we face such things with faith we find patience grows within us.

 

Matthew 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

 

Acts 5:41  And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

 

2Corinthians 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

 

James 1:1 ¶  James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. 2 ¶  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

 

Patience is built and we are promised this.

 

1Corinthians 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

 

With patience comes experience. We’ve “been there, done that, got the t-shirt.” We learn by experience and gain wisdom and understanding. Trouble teaches us more about life than ease of living does and we learn to trust in God’s mercy and comfort.

 

Genesis 30:27  And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.

 

Ecclesiastes 1:16  I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

 

And with experience comes hope. The majority of times salvation or saved is used in the Bible it means from some temporal danger or crisis, something in this life, not in the next. We can learn from experience and have hope of God’s immediate deliverance and trusting in His promises of eternal life.

 

Enduring tribulation in faith works and strengthens patience and gives birth to experience  which  enlightens us with hope because of God’s promises and His deliverance on those promises in our lifetime. Christians don’t have hope because of simply words written in an old book. We have hope because of God’s delivering on promises written in a living Book that He has given us from down through the ages. His Spirit , which indwells us, comforts, strengthens, advises, and never forsakes us in our time of need if we believe in faith expecting Him to lift us up in our adversity.

 

If we live in faith and suffer adversity in faith we see God’s deliverance and our faith in eternal life with Him is strengthened and made sure, established. There are two types of Christians in this regard. There is one who simply believes what they were told to believe and sees no power of God in their life because they live by a need to submit to others and the comfort of group belief and identification with a group for whatever reason. The other sees God’s hand in their daily life and that life is a continuous miracle to them. They believe God’s promises not because of some charismatic preacher who influences them but because they see God as real and involved with them.

 

One believes because they trust a person while the other believes because they trust God and have seen His power in their lives. They’ve had their own escape from Egypt, their own Red Sea crossing, their own wilderness wandering, and have seen their own Promised Land as they hope for eternal life and have no reason to not believe God because He is faithful.

 

We are not ashamed or bashful, as the word also meant at the time that this Bible was translated, and not inhibited to proclaim the gospel of Christ because it is in us swelling to come out of us. God’s love is shed abroad in our hearts because of the Holy Spirit. If you don’t have a hunger to tell others about your faith or to even show it to others and you insist that faith is a private matter that no one else should know about perhaps you need to examine your relationship with Christ more closely.

 

Of course, there are different ways to witness from standing unflinchingly on the principles that Christ has laid down for us to witnessing with words. For some it is in their manner of living that makes people know to whom they belong. I had a manager at a pizza place I worked at thirty years ago who said he knew I was a Christian by the way I talked. He wasn’t. Unbelievers seem to know more of what to expect from a Christian than we often do. Then, there were others who knew my faith by my words, strangers by my passing out gospel tracts, or acquaintances by my offering of the gospel to them after I had been saved. Both ways have plusses and minuses though. The plusses are obvious but in the first example my manager should not have had to guess my faith based on my behavior but it should be been declared in some way. In the second example I am sure I’ve been a total nuisance and a sanctimonious boor as well who drove some people away from the Cross rather than drawing them toward it. Being a Christian takes some maturity, some compassion, and some awareness of the limitations of a situation yet all the while being responsive to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Bible Study on Exodus 33, verses 1 to 6, Unto a land flowing with milk and honey

 

Exodus 33:1 ¶  And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: 2  And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: 3  Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way. 4  And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. 5  For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. 6  And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.

 

Remember what God said to Abraham.

 

Genesis 15:12 ¶  And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. 13  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14  And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15  And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

 

Apparently, God has now had just about enough of the Canaanites nonsense with their idolatry, sexual perversion as a facet of religious expression, and all sorts of other garbage. When will He have had enough of your country’s excesses? He judged the countries of Europe on World War One’s battlefields and in the great influenza epidemic afterwards that killed more people than in all of the battles of what they called at the time, “The Great War.”

A land flowing with milk and honey is a reference to the fertility and produce of Canaan. We do not think of the land that Israel occupies now as being fertile and lush. Israel may have once been covered with great forests that were cut down for iron production. And although there is a diverse meteorology and ecology in Israel from the snows of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights to the reforestation after the Ottoman Empire cut down most of the remaining forests to make railways in the 19^th century it is believed that the climate was much milder in the tenth century BC. We know, as only those who believe the Bible can know, that the earth has been drying out since the great Flood of Noah’s time. We would expect it to be a more fertile place then than now.

Numbers 13:23  And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

 

God is going to drive out the Canaanites from before the Hebrews. Here is one of those great and sad turning points in the Bible, where God, who already knew what would happen announces something He is going to do other than what He truly desires to do.

In Genesis we had man and woman over creation, as stewards, a royal family with dominion over the works of God’s hand.

Genesis 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

 

But, we know how that turned out.

 

Genesis 3:24  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

 

Later, with God showing that it was His perfect will to rule over the Israelites as their king it was His permissive will which was expressed due to their wicked stubbornness. Kings, royalty, aristocracy, and, in fact, all human government without God, over His people was the result.

1Samuel 8:7  And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

 

Now, here, while God’s perfect will would have been to walk among the Israelites, to dwell with them, to go in and go out of their camp and go with them to their wars against the child-sacrificing, temple-prostitute patronizing, Canaanites He expresses a change of plan. He will drive out the Canaanites before them by His angel. But, the benefit of having God in the camp, outside of the tabernacle, they will not know.

Matthew Henry, in his commentary on this passage in Exodus, noted, “God would have brought them under the yoke of his law, and into the bond of his covenant, but their necks were too stiff to bow to them. God would have cured them of their corrupt and crooked dispositions, and have set them straight; but they were wilful and obstinate, and hated to be reformed, and would not have God to reign over them.” 

What He promises later was something they could have had but their stubborn willfulness rejected.

Jeremiah 31:31  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

 

This will only be accomplished now when God comes to live as a man, pays the price for our sin, and then rises from the dead for our justification. The immense blessing that was offered and available to the Israelites is rejected by their own behavior. Man cannot save himself. He can’t even allow himself to be saved. It is God who does the work. But, here, the Israelites have lost a great blessing. God knew this would happen but that doesn’t make it any less a sad catastrophe.

As an application God wants to walk with the Christian. God speaking to you through His word and you speaking to Him in prayer, waiting on Him and obeying Him, as He guides you every day and directs your path, is God’s perfect will. But so many who call themselves Christians prefer to push God into a ritual they observe on a certain day, memorized prayers they make at mealtime and bedtime, joyful hope at a wedding or birth of a baby, or tearful hope at a funeral. But, they would rather not have God walk with them in their midst. Their stubborn willfulness will not permit it.

The Israelites, as commanded, put off the jewelry that they had used in their pagan worship. This is an act of repentance. As John the Baptist demanded of the Jews of his day, and I am quoting these two verses to make a side note about how the Bible defines words by substituting them for the words that define them in different quotes;

 

Matthew 3:8  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

 

Luke 3:8a  Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance,…

 

See how meet is worthy. Hopefully, that will help you understand this verse better.

 

Genesis 2:18  And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

 

But, back to the passage. The Israelites have obeyed, for now.

Bible Study on Romans 4, verses 17 to 25, He stagged not at the promise of God

 

Romans 4:17 ¶  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 18  Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: 20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

 

Again, I want to quote the verse to which Paul is referring.

 

Genesis 17:4 ¶  As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

 

Here also are two important statements about God’s sovereignty over life and creation. God can make alive anyone or anything who is dead physically. Quickeneth means to make alive.

 

In addition, God has created all things out of nothing. Every thing that exists began with the Spirit of God, His mind, and was spoken into existence by His Word. It did not exist in the physical world before He spoke it into existence. All of the reality we know is a production of God although suffering from the taint of judgment for mankind’s rebellion. This must be sorted out.

 

Abraham believed, trusting God to be true, even though what He had promised Abraham did not seem to be in the realm of the possible. Although we know from his behavior that his belief and hope were imperfect, like ours, it was still there and God honored it. Even our little faith is recognized by God.

 

One of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit speaking about the saints of God in the Old Testament is His glowing report of their faith, as weak and imperfect as it might have been. We will see this again in Hebrews, chapter 11. Notice the background from Genesis of what actually happened…

Genesis 17:15 ¶  And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 16  And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. 17  Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 18  And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 19  And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 20  And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21  But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. 22  And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

For those of us who lament our weak and imperfect faith consider how the Holy Spirit extolls and lifts up the faith of His saints in Hebrews 11 whose shortcomings are illustrated in the text of the Bible.

 

Romans 4:23 ¶  Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24  But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25  Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

 

Paul makes note later why things were recorded, for our learning and edification.

 

Romans 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

 

Not imputing sin to someone who believes God through Jesus Christ is a promise that we all receive when we accept Christ as our Saviour and Lord. Here Paul promises that if we believe that Jesus rose from the dead sin is not imputed to us. This remarkable statement is fundamental to our salvation.

 

The Holy Spirit has laid out for us what it means to believe in and on Christ to be saved. Jesus said…

 

John 6:28 ¶  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

 

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7  If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.8  Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

 

Belief in Jesus’ divinity, His being God in the flesh, in His sacrifice for our sins against Him, and believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ justifies us legally before God and removes the taint of sin from us as we are made righteous in God’s eyes. Paul underscores here the gospel as he does elsewhere, what is required for salvation.

 

1Corinthians 15:1 ¶  Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2  By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4  And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

 

Romans 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

 

Remember this promise in the Old Testament?

 

Psalm 103:8  The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

9  He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. 10  He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11  For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12  As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

 

We have this promise from the Old Testament as well which shows that salvation under the New Testament is available to the Jews.

 

Jeremiah 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

 

And this continuing promise to both Gentile and Jew who become the church from the New.

 

1John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

We are also promised that the things that beset us that pull us away from God’s standards and expectations do not have to overwhelm us.

 

1Corinthians 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

 

Indeed, whatever we suffer does not have to overcome us, even hunger and lack.

 

Philippians 4: 11  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

 

None of these things are able to, on their own, or have to separate us from God’s love through Christ. Nothing and no one can condemn or accuse us before God.

 

Romans 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

In these verses it is clear that it is God who works on the sinner from the inside through His Spirit and by virtue of the sinner’s acceptance of Christ. All other efforts to deal with sin are mere self-help platitudes tossed out by supposed gurus with a money-making agenda.

 

We are justified by Christ and we are not condemned by God. Because of that no one else or nothing else can condemn us.