The Weblog of Timothy B. Gowens

Today as I was reading and thinking on 2 Peter 1:5-6

It says…” But also for this very reason giving all diligence add to you faith virtue to virtue knowledge to knowledge self control, to self control perseverance to perseverance godliness to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love.”

I have heard this verse many times and at some point I had memorized it. HOWEVER… I didn’t allow the truth of this verse penetrate my soul.

Virtue means – someone who stand out as excellent as they live out their lives in front of men. Excellent… in term of the power to perform deeds that are absolutely done to my up-most ability. It is performed by the means of the power that comes from God within us as His children. We, as His representatives, should always strive to represent Him well to a dark and fallen world. We SHOULD stand out as excellent in whatsoever we do. If we are not, then we are no living out our lives as we should. This mean to me… Excellent in the way I take care of the temple of God. I should not be grossly overweight. I need to remember that my body is the temple of God and that others need to see virtue and excellence in terms of how I take care of my body and eat and so forth. Do I think about that when I am eating an entire pizza or box of ice cream? NO – I am not, so I need to be excellent in the light of the fact that I am living out my life in front of fallen men. I am to be performing well and giving no reason for anyone to think differently of me. Lord help me for I need  you to remind me of this!

Self control is the ability to hold myself in or holding myself back. I am to be controlling my urges and desire – they should not control me. Sometimes it is a good thing to practice holding yourself back from something that is good and desirable – just to practice self control. Eating… Drinking something – godly Sex – Sleeping for extended times – and so forth… should be characterized by my controlling them – and not being compulsive to gain some pleasure they may bring. A man or woman who is  characterized by being out of control states with their lives that the Lord does not dwell there. Satan takes good things and drives us into sorrow by tempting us to be unbalanced in pursuing some – THING or PERSON or JOB or whatever… Anything that drives us to be out of control is sin. How can I be virtuous and be out of control in some area? I can’t. Lord please help me to hold myself in and show self control.

Today I was reading from 1 Peter 5:4 where it says:

And when the chief Shepard appears you will receive the crown of righteousness that does not fade away.

I took the time to stop and look at the meaning of the words. It means that the greatest thing that God will give His children is the great gift of righteousness. I don’t know about you… but I really do look forward to understanding my existence without sin. I constantly seem to sin in thought and deed and the more I dig into understanding the Lord through His word, the more I find – like Paul did in Romans 7 – that I am sinful. I look forward to seeing heaven and all that is there – my loved ones – and the golden streets etc… however – the most beautiful thought to me is that I will be righteous just as God is. I will be Holy and pure able to serve Him with absolute perfect strength and without error. What a thought.

Then – it says – that it will not fade. This morning I let the dogs out. We have these flowers that were so beautiful… but now are fading. This righteousness will never fade away. I will forever be righteous.

Praise the Lord!!!

Have you ever doubted that God is going to do what the Bible says He is going to do? Have you ever looked at situations where someone that is a good person – HURTS – and the bad wicked people PROSPER?

I have! Recently my sweet mother who is 71 years old fell breaking her finger really badly. .

She is so sweet and kind – always helping the needy. She is so merciful and gracious to those who have taken advantage of her. She is a godly woman who faithfully studies the Word of God. She is truly a beautiful wonderful lady.

When she fell, and I got this picture, I was initially angry with God. I wondered why God allows the good to suffer while the wicked sometime prospers in their sin. I wondered why God set it up this way. Have you ever wondered such things? Well, I then felt myself going off the “Trail” but I quickly was reminded of some things.

Number one!

God is not like me and His ways are definitely not like my ways. (Is. 45:7, 9 Romans 9) Shall I say that what the Lord does or allows is not ultimately good? (Romans 8:28) May it never be for if I believe that, then I also say that He is evil in His intent or not completely Holy. I believe that He is COMPLETELY good and kind and right – based on Scripture! (not always based on my own experience- for I am flawed and warped in my fleshly understanding)

Number Two!
2 Cor. 5:5
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Need I say more? This body will be broken – but God walks through these times of trouble – not preventing them – but strengthening us through them – ultimately drawing us into a deeper walk with Him and conforming us more to the image of His son. This was what my dear mother told me. WOW!

Number Three!
Ps. 119:105
Thy word is a lamb unto my feet and a light unto my path.
This morning as I was up before the dawn praying about this, I was walking on a paved path but it was very dark. As I was reading the Bible on my phone, I drifted off the path into a grassy area. It was a great analogy of what we all do when we go with what we “FEEL” rather that the light that God has provided. We find ourselves off of the path with most everyone else, doubting God and chasing some sins around thinking that that sin will ultimately fulfill our hearts.

Most people feel that if there is a God – that He is not fair. That if he is so good then why is there so much horror in the world. I am so grateful that I do not spend my life there – BECAUSE OF THE LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD IN MY HEART!
There is answers to these kind of questions but only for the people who know Christ as their Savior  and that have the evidence of the Holy Spirit living within them. He is the Guarantee. He is our engagement ring of what is to come.  He is the one who keeps us, for without Him we would all end up in doubt, seeking after some other foundations or false way of viewing the one who formed us.

Thank you Lord for the Spirit who guides us to all truth. Who keeps us – and for the word of God that makes the path clear and our peace secure.

For many years I have struggled with the apparent paradox that foreknowledge – Predestination and Election have posed. I can remember the first time I felt the pain of this most difficult doctrine. I would go to a park in Atlanta where each day I would eat my packed lunch by myself and have my quiet time. No one was ever there during the day and it was a great time of personal growth for me. I can recall seeing these giant trees beside a creek that had been there since the Civil War. My prayer was “Lord make me as established and strong in you as these trees” where the roots would go under the creek. No matter what the situation was with the weather, these trees always had their most important need met – Water. This park was dedicated to the battles that were raged there during the Civil war. Well… little did I realize that God would have a battle for me there when I began to see and question this doctrine. I then began to ask why God would allow Hitler to exist – then of course my thought went to – Why Evil and Hell – then Why Sin – and of course ending with – Why Satan – who was the cause of all this anyway! All of which election and predestination and Foreknowledge played into these monster questions that I was wrestling with. I really began to question deeply what scripture was and to be honest – it was confusing and even seemed to contradict itself on this issue. I was so CONFUSED! What could all this mean? But I am so thankful that God never leaves His children with real questions that Scripture cannot answer. Scripture did eventually answer it as I dug for it. NOW – Granted – Sometimes the answers are not what I think they should be – but God is faithful and will answer the seeking heart.

Here is the best and most concise answer to this most troubling doctrine. Once again – by my favorite Bible teacher – John MacArthur

The Progress of Salvation

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined … and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. (8:29a-b, 30)

In delineating the progress of God’s plan of salvation, Paul here briefly states what may be called its five major elements: foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification.
It is essential to realize that these five links in the chain of God’s saving work are unbreakable. With the repetition of the connecting phrase He also, Paul accentuates that unity by linking each element to the previous one. No one whom God foreknows will fail to be predestined, called, justified, and glorified by Him. It is also significant to note the tense in which the apostle states each element of God’s saving work. Paul is speaking here of the Lord’s redemptive work from eternity past to eternity future. What he says is true of all believers of all times. Security in Christ is so absolute and unalterable that even the salvation of believers not yet born can be expressed in the past tense, as if it had already occurred. Because God is not bound by time as we are, there is a sense in which the elements not only are sequential but simultaneous. Thus, from His view they are distinct and in another sense are indistinguishable. God has made each of them an indispensable part of the unity of our salvation.

Foreknowledge

For whom He foreknew, (8:29a)

Redemption began with God’s foreknowledge. A believer is first of all someone whom He [God] foreknew. Salvation is not initiated by a person’s decision to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Scripture is clear that repentant faith is essential to salvation and is the first step that we take in response to God, but repentant faith does not initiate salvation. Because Paul is here depicting the plan of salvation from God’s perspective, faith is not even mentioned in these two verses.
In His omniscience God is certainly able to look to the end of history and beyond and to know in advance the minutest detail of the most insignificant occurrences. But it is both unbiblical and illogical to argue from that truth that the Lord simply looked ahead to see who would believe and then chose those particular individuals for salvation. If that were true, salvation not only would begin with man’s faith but would make God obligated to grant it. In such a scheme, God’s initiative would be eliminated and His grace would be vitiated.
That idea also prompts such questions as, “Why then does God create unbelievers if He knows in advance they are going to reject Him?” and “Why doesn’t He create only believers?” Another unanswerable question would be, “If God based salvation on His advance knowledge of those who would believe, where did their saving faith come from?” It could not arise from their fallen natures, because the natural, sinful person is at enmity with God (Rom. 5:10; 8:7; Eph. 2:3; Col. 1:21). There is absolutely nothing in man’s carnal nature to prompt him to trust in the God against whom he is rebelling. The unsaved person is blind and dead to the things of God. He has absolutely no source of saving faith within himself. “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God,” Paul declares; “for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor. 2:14). “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4).
The full truth about God’s omniscience cannot be comprehended even by believers. No matter how much we may love God and study His Word, we cannot fathom such mysteries. We can only believe what the Bible clearly says-that God does indeed foresee the faith of every person who is saved. We also believe God’s revelation that, although men cannot be saved apart from the faithful action of their wills, saving faith, just as every other part of salvation, originates with and is empowered by God alone.
While He was preaching in Galilee early in His ministry, Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37). But lest that statement be interpreted as leaving open the possibility of coming to Him apart from the Father’s sending, Jesus later declared categorically that “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (v. 44). New life through the blood of Christ does not come from “the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
Paul also explains that even faith does not originate with the believer but with God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Eph. 2:8–9).
God’s foreknowledge is not a reference to His omniscient foresight but to His foreordination. He not only sees faith in advance but ordains it in advance. Peter had the same reality in mind when he wrote of Christians as those “who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Pet. 1:1–2). Peter used the same word “foreknowledge” when he wrote that Christ “was foreknown before the foundation of the world” (1 Pet. 1:20). The term means the same thing in both places. Believers were foreknown in the same way Christ was foreknown. That cannot mean foreseen, but must refer to a predetermined choice by God. It is the knowing of predetermined intimate relationship, as when God said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jer. 1:5). Jesus spoke of the same kind of knowing when He said, “I am the good shepherd; and I know My own” (John 10:14).
Because saving faith is foreordained by God, it would have to be that the way of salvation was foreordained, as indeed it was. During his sermon at Pentecost, Peter declared of Christ: “This Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of God-less men and put Him to death” (Acts 2:23). “Predetermined” is from horizō, from which we get the English horizon, which designates the outer limits of the earth that we can see from a given vantage point. The basic idea of the Greek term refers to the setting of any boundaries or limits. “Plan” is from boulē, a term used in classical Greek to designate an officially convened, decision-making counsel. Both words include the idea of willful intention. “Foreknowledge” is from the noun form of the verb translated foreknew in our text. According to what Greek scholars refer to as Granville Sharp’s rule, if two nouns of the same case (in this instance, “plan” and “foreknowledge”) are connected by kai (“and”) and have the definite article (the) before the first noun but not before the second, the nouns refer to the same thing (H. E. Dana and Julius R. Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament [New York: Macmillan, 1927], p. 147). In other words, Peter equates God’s predetermined plan, or foreordination, and His foreknowledge.
In addition to the idea of foreordination, the term foreknowledge also connotes forelove. God has a predetermined divine love for those He plans to save.
Foreknew is from proginōskō, a compound word with meaning beyond that of simply knowing beforehand. In Scripture, “to know” often carries the idea of special intimacy and is frequently used of a love relationship. In the statement “Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived” (Gen. 4:17), the word behind “had relations with” is the normal Hebrew verb for knowing. It is the same word translated “chosen” in Amos 3:2, where the Lord says to Israel, “You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth.” God “knew” Israel in the unique sense of having predetermined that she would be His chosen people. In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth, “kept her a virgin” (nasb ) translates a Greek phrase meaning literally, “did not know her” (Matt. 1:25). Jesus used the same word when He warned, “Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’ ” (Matt.7:23). He was not saying that He had never heard of those unbelievers but that He had no intimate relationship with them as their Savior and Lord. But of believers, Paul says, “The Lord knows those who are His” (2 Tim. 2:19).

Predestination

He also predestined (8:29b)

From foreknowledge, which looks at the beginning of God’s purpose in His act of choosing, God’s plan of redemption moves to His predestination, which looks at the end of God’s purpose in His act of choosing. Proorizō (predestined) means literally to mark out, appoint, or determine beforehand. The Lord has predetermined the destiny of every person who will believe in Him. Just as Jesus was crucified “by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23), so God also has predestined every believer to salvation through the means of that atoning sacrifice.
In their prayer of gratitude for the deliverance of Peter and John, a group of believers in Jerusalem praised God for His sovereign power, declaring, “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur” (Acts 4:27–28). In other words, the evil and powerful men who nailed Jesus to the cross could not have so much as laid a finger on Him were that not according to God’s predetermined plan.
In the opening of his letter to the Ephesian believers, Paul encouraged them with the glorious truth that God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (Eph. 1:4–5).
Much contemporary evangelism gives the impression that salvation is predicated on a person’s decision for Christ. But we are not Christians first of all because of what we decided about Christ but because of what God decided about us before the foundation of the world. We were able to choose Him only because He had first chosen us, “according to the kind intention of His will.” Paul expresses the same truth a few verses later when he says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him” (Eph. 1:7–9, emphasis added). He then says that “we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will” (v. 11).

Calling

and whom He predestined, these He also called; (8:30a)

In God’s divine plan of redemption, predestination leads to calling. Although God’s calling is also completely by His initiative, it is here that His eternal plan directly intersects our lives in time. Those who are called are those in whose hearts the Holy Spirit works to lead them to saving faith in Christ.
As noted under the discussion of verse 28, Paul is speaking in this passage about God’s inward call, not the outward call that comes from the proclamation of the gospel. The outward call is essential, because “How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard?” (Rom. 10:14), but that outward call cannot be responded to in faith apart from God’s already having inwardly called the person through His Spirit.
The Lord’s sovereign calling of believers gives still further confirmation that we are eternally secure in Christ. We were saved because God “called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (2 Tim. 1:9). Emphasizing the same truths of the Lord’s sovereign purpose in His calling of believers, Paul assured the Thessalonian that “God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. And it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:13–14). From beginning to end, our salvation is God’s work, not our own. Consequently, we cannot humanly undo what He has divinely done. That is the basis of our security.
It should be strongly emphasized, however, that Scripture nowhere teaches that God chooses unbelievers for condemnation. To our finite minds, that what would seem to be the corollary of God’s calling believers to salvation. But in the divine scheme of things, which far surpasses our understanding, God predestines believers to eternal life, but Scripture does not say that He predestines unbelievers to eternal damnation. Although those two truths seem paradoxical to us, we can be sure that they are in perfect divine harmony.
Scripture teaches many truths that seem paradoxical and contradictory. It teaches plainly that God is one, but just as plainly that there are three persons-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit-in the single God-head. With equal unambiguity the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man. Our finite minds cannot reconcile such seemingly irreconcilable truths, yet they are foundational truths of God’s Word.
If a person goes to hell, it is because He rejects God and His way of salvation. “He who believes in Him [Christ] is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). As John has declared earlier in his gospel, believers are saved and made children of God “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). But he makes no corresponding statement in regard to unbelievers, nor does any other part of Scripture. Unbelievers are condemned by their own unbelief, not by God’s predestination.
Peter makes plain that God does not desire “for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). Paul declares with equal clarity: “God our Savior … desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3–4). Every believer is indebted solely to God’s grace for his eternal salvation, but every unbeliever is himself solely responsible for his eternal damnation.
God does not choose believers for salvation on the basis of who they are or of what they have done but on the basis of His sovereign grace. For His own reasons alone, God chose Jacob above Esau (Rom. 9:13). For His own reasons alone, He chose Israel to be His covenant people (Deut. 7:7–8).
We cannot understand God’s choosing us for salvation but can only thank and glorify Him for “His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6). We can only believe and be forever grateful that we were called “by the grace of Christ” (Gal. 1:6) and that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29).

John MacArthur said:

It is only the body, the mortal humanness of a believer, that is yet to be redeemed. The inner person is already a completely new creation, a partaker of God’s nature and indwelt by God’s Spirit. “Therefore if any man is in Christ,” Paul says, “he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). Peter assures us that God’s “divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust” (2 Pet. 1:3–4).

Because believers are already new creatures possessing the divine nature, their souls are fit for heaven and eternal glory. They love God, hate sin, and have holy longings for obedience to the Word. But while on earth they are kept in bondage by their mortal bodies, which are still corrupted by sin and its consequences. Christians are holy seeds, as it were, encased in an unholy shell. Incarcerated in a prison of flesh and subjected to its weaknesses and imperfections, we therefore eagerly await an event that is divinely guaranteed but is yet to transpire-the redemption of our body.

I have often found that during the best times of Prayer and fellowship with the Lord, is often followed by some fleshly temptation. And sometimes I give in to them. I find that no matter what – my unredeemed flesh is still with me and all of it’s desires to turn away from the light of God. It loves darkness and sin. All the while – there is a longing for truth and righteousness – goodness – faithfulness – honor to the Lord – and faithfulness. I find a heavy conflict sometimes within me sometimes just as Paul described in Romans 7. My Holy soul is ready for my spirit to finally be at home – but until then, I have to endure my flesh. I too have aches and pains that are sometimes depressing. I have gout – sore legs and back and my hair is grey and falling out. My eyesight is terrible and I am loosing my hearing in my right ear. My face looks old and wrinkled… and my hands hurt sometimes.

Last night an old fried from childhood called to tell me that his sister – Terri (who I had a crush on) was dying at 53 years of age. I went to see her and she was yellow from liver failure. She woke up – spoke with me a few minutes and asked me to sing at her funeral. Of course I agreed. I prayed with her – kiss her on the head – and she said we will see you on the other side. I look forward to seeing her again in her redeemed body with her redeemed souls – perfect before the Lord.

Lord I long for this to come. Please come quickly Lord Jesus

Your Son
Tim Gowens

7 Steps to overcome sin

1st – Read Romans 8:12-13

• I must realize that the presence of sin come to me from my own un-redeemed flesh. Jer. 17:9
• The ONLY way to combat sin and fight it rightly is to FOCUS on God and His word – Daily.
• Once I focus on it I then should meditate deeply on what it says to me which in turn saturates my mind
• Prayer should then follow – prayer that is deep and heartfelt – not some ritual. Prayer that confesses sin and shortcomings and results in praise for His great mercy.
• Practice and speak of what God is showing me. Obedience to it is the key but this obedience takes practice and is a process that sometimes can take many years to stop habitual sins.
• Eph. 3:16 says that we are to be strengthened through the power of the Spirit in the inner man – otherwise it is just humanness trying to defeat humanness – Flesh – against Flesh – which cannot have victory. Victory over sin and wrong doing is only the product of God’s Holy Spirit in me.
• Lastly – I am to put away those things that cause me to stumble and make provision for my flesh to sin.

Eventually – when we are filled with God’s truth and led by His Spirit, even our involuntary reactions-those that happen when we don’t have time to consciously decide what to do or say-will be godly. This is what a godly person is. Godliness and a life that is characterized by sin cannot co-exist. Either you are godly or you are not.Sure – christian sin but it is not what is characterizing their life. The fight will always be there but which “dog” is winning the fight? It is the one that you feed the most!

Rom. 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation (8:1a)

By simple definition, therefore introduces a result, consequence, or conclusion based on what has been established previously. It seems unlikely that Paul is referring to the immediately preceding text. He has just finished lamenting the continued problem of sin in a believer’s life, including his own. It is surely not on the basis of that truth that he confidently declares that believers are no longer under divine condemnation. One might expect rather that any further sin would deserve some sort of further judgment. But Paul makes clear that such is not the case with our gracious God. It seems probable that therefore marks a consequent conclusion from the entire first seven chapters, which focus primarily on justification by faith alone, made possible solely on the basis of and by the power of God’s grace.
Accordingly, chapter 8 marks a major change in the focus and flow of the epistle. At this point the apostle begins to delineate the marvelous results of justification in the life of the believer. He begins by explaining, as best as possible to finite minds, some of the cardinal truths of salvation (no condemnation, as well as justification, substitution, and sanctification).

God’s provision of salvation came not through Christ’s perfect teaching or through His perfect life but through His perfect sacrifice on the cross. It is through Christ’s death, not His life, that God provides the way of salvation. For those who place their trust in Christ and in what He has done on their behalf there is therefore now no condemnation.
The Greek word katakrima (condemnation) appears only in the book of Romans, here and in 5:16, 18. Although it relates to the sentencing for a crime, its primary focus is not so much on the verdict as on the penalty that the verdict demands. As Paul has already declared, the penalty, or condemnation, for sin is death (6:23).

Paul here announces the marvelous good news that for Christians there will be no condemnation, neither sentencing nor punishment for the sins that believers have committed or will ever commit.

Ouketi (no) is an emphatic negative adverb of time and carries the idea of complete cessation. In His parable about the king who forgave one of his slaves an overwhelming debt (Matt. 18:23–27), Jesus pictured God’s gracious and total forgiveness of the sins of those who come to Him in humble contrition and faith. That is the heart and soul of the gospel-that Jesus completely and permanently paid the debt of sin and the penalty of the law (which is condemnation to death) for every person who humbly asks for mercy and trusts in Him. Through the apostle John, God assures His children that “if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:1–2).

Jesus not only pays the believer’s debt of sin but cleanses him “from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Still more amazingly, He graciously imputes and imparts to each believer His own perfect righteousness: “For by one offering He [Christ] has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14; cf. Rom. 5:17; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9). More even than that, Jesus shares His vast heavenly inheritance with those who come to Him in faith (Eph. 1:3, 11, 14). It is because of such immeasurable divine grace that Paul admonishes Christians to be continually “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12). Having been qualified by God the Father, we will never, under any circumstance, be subject to divine condemnation. How blessed to be placed beyond the reach of condemnation!

The truth that there can never be the eternal death penalty for believers is the foundation of the eighth chapter of Romans. As Paul asks rhetorically near the end of the chapter, “If God is for us, who is against us?” (v. 31), and again, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies” (v. 33). If the highest tribunal in the universe justifies us, who can declare us guilty?

It is extremely important to realize that deliverance from condemnation is not based in the least measure on any form of perfection achieved by the believer. He does not attain the total eradication of sin during his earthly life. It is that truth that Paul establishes so intensely and poignantly in Romans 7. John declares that truth as unambiguously as possible in his first epistle: “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). The Christian’s conflict with sin does not end until he goes to be with the Lord. Nevertheless, there is still no condemnation-because the penalty for all the failures of his life has been paid in Christ and applied by grace.
It is also important to realize that deliverance from divine condemnation does not mean deliverance from divine discipline. “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives” (Heb. 12:6). Nor does deliverance from God’s condemnation mean escape from our accountability to Him: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Gal. 6: 7).

Recap
• Because of the perfection of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we have a perfect salvation to place our trust in. Without it – we will be eternally condemned by a Holy Just God. It would only be right that God in His perfect Holiness would punish sin. Otherwise he would not be perfectly Holy.
• My sin – is covered because of this complete Perfect Salvation. I will never have the perfect condemnation placed upon my head – because I have trusted in what the Bible says – I am secure in Christ’s death and resurrection.
• This has NOTHING to do with me other than I am the recipient of it. Why? I don’t know why other that He choose it for me. WOW – Thank you Lord.
• I can and will receive Disciple from the Lord regarding my sin. This is not condemnation but sanctification. He will wash me and loving pull from me the sin that is still alive in my flesh.

Romans 7:6
The Affirmation
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. (7:6)

The transitional phrase but now introduces the heart of this brief passage, which presents a radical contrast to the description just given (v. 5) of the unregenerate man. We, that is, believers in Jesus Christ (see v. 4), have been released from our old bondage to the Law, having died to that by which we were formerly bound in the flesh.
As Paul has just pointed out, “the law has jurisdiction over a person [only] as long as he lives” (v. 1). Therefore, when a person dies, he is discharged of all legal liabilities and penalties. Because we, as believers, died in Jesus Christ when He paid our sin debt on Calvary, we were thereby released from our moral and spiritual liabilities and penalties under God’s Law. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’ ” (Gal. 3:13).

Paul has already declared as forcefully and unambiguously as possible that freedom from the law’s bondage does not mean freedom to do what the law forbids (6:1, 15; cf. 3:31). Freedom from the law does not bring freedom to sin but just the opposite-freedom for the first time to do what is righteous, a freedom the unregenerate person does not and cannot have.
Paul’s point is not simply that the redeemed person is able to do what is right but that he will do what is right. In response to their faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, God releases men from their bondage to the law so that they will serve. Many English renderings of douleuō (serve) are somewhat ambiguous and do not carry the full force of the Greek term. This verb does not describe the voluntary service of a hired worker, who is able to refuse an order and look for another employer if he so desires. It refers exclusively to the service of a bond-slave, whose sole purpose for existence is to obey the will of his master.

Kenneth Wuest gives this accurate and beautiful rendering of verse 6:
“But now, we were discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were constantly held down, insomuch that we are rendering habitually a bond-slave’s obedience”

Service to the Lord in newness of the Spirit rather than in oldness of the letter is the necessary fruit of redemption, not an option. As already noted, a fruitless Christian is not a genuine Christian and has no part in God’s kingdom. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit,” Jesus said, My Father “takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1–2).

The person who is justified by faith through the grace of Jesus Christ is secure (Romans 5), holy (chap. 6), free, fruitful, and serving (chap. 7). And the last four of those characteristics of the true believer are no more optional or conditional than the first. Although none of those divine marks of regeneration is ever perfect in its human manifestation, all of them are always present in a believer’s life.

The law is still important to the Christian. For the first time, he is able to meet the law’s demands for righteousness (which was God’s desire when He gave it in the first place), because he has a new nature and God’s own Holy Spirit to empower his obedience. And although he is no longer under the law’s bondage or penalty, he is more genuinely eager to live by its godly standards than is the most zealous legalist. With full sincerity and joy, he can say with the psalmist, “O how I love Thy law!” (Ps. 119:97).

As believers, we are dead to the law as far as its demands and condemnation are concerned, but because we now live in newness of the Spirit, we love and serve God’s law with a full and joyous heart. And we know that to obey His law is to do His will and that to do His will is to give Him glory.

Recap
• For the first time in a new believers life, to do what is righteous is a freedom that they have but the unregenerate person does not and cannot have.
• The redeemed person is not just able to do what is right but that he will do what is right. Not always and not in every situation but he will be characterized by doing what is right naturally.
• The sole purpose of a bond-slave and the reason for his existence is to obey the will of his master. We are fundamentally Bond-slaves first – who have the privileges of son ship.
• The grace of Jesus Christ represents itself as being secure (Romans 5), holy (chap. 6), free, fruitful, and serving. (chap. 7) These are always present in a believers life in some form of maturing. If not, then there is reason to believe that person is not saved.
• For the first time, when we accept Christ as our Savior, he is able to meet the law’s demands for righteousness (which was God’s desire when He gave it in the first place), because he has a new nature and God’s own Holy Spirit to empower his obedience.

1 Thess.
and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, (1:9b)

From John MacArthur’s commentary – A sure evidence of the Thessalonians’ election was that they submitted to a new Master. Salvation meant a decisive break with pagan religion and a redirecting of one’s whole life. The Thessalonians abandoned all polytheism and embraced only God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul expressed this change as their having turned to God from idols. Turned is from the verb epistrephō, which is used in the New Testament to indicate the fact that in the sinner’s conversion there is a turning in the absolute opposite direction (Acts 9:35; 11:21; 26:18, 20; 2 Cor. 3:16; cf. Luke 1:16; James 5:20). Such conversion entails repentance, a turning from idols and in faith submitting to the Savior alone (Acts 20:21). Such turning is far more than merely changing one’s belief about who Christ is—it is a complete reversal of allegiance, from idols to serve a living and true God. The word Paul chose for serve (douleuein) means to serve as a bond-slave, which was the most demanding form of servitude. Paul knew that the Thessalonians had turned from slavish devotion to false, dead, demonic idols to a new and welcome slavery to the one living and true God

Rom. 6:16–18
Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

I needed to be reminded of what a true Christian is – they are willing slaves – that follow the will of their new master – Jesus Christ. It comes with the evidence of being a person who no longer follows after the common usual unrighteous things of this world and submits to his new nature within – Righteousness. Satan will be faithful to temp me away from this to be under the old regime of sin – following after what naturally come to me – proving that I am actually not really saved. God will test me to prove that I am. It is what happens with my life as I am being tempted to sin or tested to Righteousness – that will prove what I really am. Lord I pray I will live righteously in this world – and not sinfully. Help me submit to you and follow – listen and learn from you all the days of my life.

Proverbs 14:14
The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways,
But a good man will be satisfied from above.

What satisfies you? Does money or success or relationships? Yes those things do have a measure of pleasure in them that does satisfy. Yes… God will bring those things to a man who is a good man… who is not angry and self centered. But real satisfaction comes from knowing God.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boast boast about this; that he understands and know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on the earth, for in these I delight declares the Lord.

Yes riches will bring a measure of freedom that many struggle with. Wisdom is also a great gift from the Lord and makes life for all much easier. Strength and health are also something that we take for granted – until we no longer have it. But these things are all very temporary. It is knowing the Lord and understanding His ways that makes life worth living. SO… the Lord says be a good man and have blessings. But be a righteous man, founded in Christ – and be filled with Joy that is rooted in knowing the Lord and His ways. A bad economy or situations that are outside your control, or the sin of someone you love, cannot take this from you.