Friday, January 10, 2025

Romans 4:1-6 In the righteousness of Jesus we live!

 Our questions do not offend God…He knows that we are mere humans.

Genesis 15:5-6 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.


Faith in the salvation provided by God, in the person Jesus all God-all man,  and His sacrifice for the sins of the world is the foundation on which we stand. In His righteousness, we breathe and live.


Genesis 26:1-5 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar. 2 Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”


In our obedience we are blessed. 


Luke 1:67-75 Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: 68 “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, 69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David, He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began, 71 That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us, 72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant, 73 The oath which He swore to our father Abraham: 74 To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.


The hatred of the Jews is fueled by satan who knows that his end will come through God’s covenant people. The suffering Savior would come through the lineage of David He would die for the sins of the world. He will return as the King of the Jews and His government will have no end. 


Romans 4:1-6 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. 5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:


Abram believed what God said to him and it was counted to him as righteousness. In the same manner we, who by faith believe, enter into the righteousness of Christ. Faith in Him without works is our salvation. We love others because He first loved us. Our good works come from that love.


Romans 11:11-15 11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! 13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. 15 For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?


In their rejection of Jesus they fell but God in His infinite mercy and grace used it to bring salvation to the whole word. Their restoration is sure in the promises given to Abraham. In Jesus works cease. In lives guided by Holy Spirit we dwell in His peace. Carla


Paul refers to Abraham to advance his argument on justification. Abraham Abraham God promised Abraham that he would become a great nation and an instrument of blessing to all nations (Genesis 12:2–3). However, Abraham didn’t have the essential components for nationhood—land and descendants. God called Abraham to the land of Canaan and promised him a son through his barren wife, Sarah (Genesis 17:19). Although neither promise seemed possible, Abraham believed God. For this reason, Paul regards Abraham’s faith as exemplary for all believers. Paul speaks to those who are ethnically Jewish. The Greek word used here, edikaiōthē, can be translated “was justified” or “was declared righteous”; it refers to being put in right relation with someone else. with God. Through this quotation from Genesis 15:6, Paul demonstrates that Abraham received righteousness through faith, not works. This episode involving Abraham sets a precedent for the justification of both Jews and Gentiles. 


God initiates and provides; people trust and receive.  


Considered Israel’s greatest king. Paul mentions David to counter the possible objection that God’s provision of righteousness for Abraham was an exception. Paul includes this interpretative summary of Psalm 32:1–2 to draw a connection between Abraham and David, both of whom experienced God’s provision of righteousness. Faithlife Study Bible


Paul is asking, “Was Abraham justified before God by his works?”  Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 to prove that Abraham was not justified by works. God made a promise to Abraham, and Abraham trusted God to fulfill it. Because of Abraham’s faith, God credited Abraham with righteousness. In gaining this righteousness from God, Abraham did not obey some law or perform some ritual like circumcision, he simply believed God. God gives righteousness to those who believe. The person who does not work, who comes to God by faith alone without having performed rituals or followed Jewish laws—that person will be counted righteous. Paul continues to build his case that righteousness is apart from works of the law. The NKJV Study Bible


Galatians 3:6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 


Romans 4:9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 


Romans 11:6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.


James 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.


Elected in the shadow of Watergate, Jimmy Carter promised voters that he would always tell the truth. And he did — advocating for the public good, consequences be damned. He believed some things were more important than reelection — things like integrity, respect, and compassion. Because Jimmy Carter believed, as deeply as he believed anything, that we are all created in God’s image.

Whenever I had a chance to spend time with President Carter, it was clear that he didn’t just profess these values. He embodied them. And in doing so, he taught all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice, and service. In his Nobel acceptance speech, President Carter said, ‘God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace.’ He made that choice again and again over the course of his 100 years, and the world is better for it.

Maranatha Baptist Church will be a little quieter on Sundays, but President Carter will never be far away — buried alongside Rosalynn next to a willow tree down the road, his memory calling all of us to heed our better angels.”

(Thank you, Barack Obama; written just after Jimmy Carter's death.) Sabbath Moments


God knows what is good and evil, yet He never does evil in any way. God's knowledge about evil is not experiential. He is completely good, and in Him, there is no evil (Psalm 92:15). God's divine knowledge is aligned with His perfect character. But when Adam and Eve knew good and evil, they chose to participate in evil.

As a result, the Lord sent them out of Eden, in part to keep them from eating from the tree of life that would cause them to "live forever" in their sinful state (Genesis 3:22). While this exile may seem harsh to our human hearts, the banishment was also God's astonishing act of mercy and protection, as it left open a possibility for redemption.

God's use of animal skins in Genesis 3:21 bestowed a better covering: By His great mercy, He covered them through the death of an innocent animal as a sacrifice for their sins. Earlier, God had given Adam and Eve the promise of a Redeemer (Genesis 3:15). Now, through the first animal sacrifice, God gave a picture of redemption that foreshadowed His ultimate provision for sin: the sacrificial death of His Son, the perfect Lamb of God (John 1:29).

Today we can celebrate with resounding joy that through Jesus' finished work on the cross, we are made right with God, clothed in the righteousness of Christ (Isaiah 61:10). First5


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