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“I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.” (Romans 9.1-2). With these words, Paul forms what A. T. Robertson calls a “triple oath.” Our focus today will be to examine this triple oath and the feelings that were behind such affirmations.

First, we turn our attention to the oath itself. “I tell the truth in Christ...” is Paul's affirmation of doctrinal purity; all that he had written before was true and incontrovertible. The…  ( Click for more )

Yes, I admit I like racing; I watch grown men turn left at breakneck speed lap, after lap, after lap. Maybe its my alter ego that compels me to lose myself in such things. Many a race, in fact the most exciting races, has been won in a photo-finish. In the 1959 Daytona 500, it took NASCAR officials three days to confirm that Lee Petty had edged out second place finisher Johnny Beauchamp by a scant two feet! For some old-time race fans, that “victory” is still disputed!”

The victory of which Paul wrote to close out Romans 8, is a victory of a very different…  ( Click for more )

Verb tenses - they say more sometimes than all the other words of a sentence. Such was the case when Paul affirmed, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8.38-39). In particular, we will look at the affirmation, “I am persuaded...”

The word persuaded simply means to be convinced, or to trust. But, our focus just now is on…  ( Click for more )

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” (Romans 8.31-33; emphasis mine, jb).

The word “just” and its cousins (justify and justification) are not uncommon words in everyday usage. We talk about justifying margins on our word processor, or we speak of “justifiable homicide,” or we might say regarding an…  ( Click for more )

The word if isn’t always conditional; sometimes it affirms a rule. For instance, I might say, if we heat the water to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, it will start boiling. In this sentence and in the past tense, it has the same meaning as the word since. Since we heated the water to 212Fahrenheit, it started boiling. There is no maybe about it; the rule is preceded by the word if and it forms a positive affirmation of fact.

Paul was beyond the questioning stage when he wrote these lines: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He…  ( Click for more )

Theology without an application is just so much palaver. Likewise, the gospel without application is not the gospel at all. It only becomes Good News when it is applied. This miniseries is about what I am styling as the ultimate application. Consider the following text, lengthy though it might be, and see if you don’t agree that this is THE gospel’s ultimate application.

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give…  ( Click for more )

And We Know (3 of 3)

We know what He will do because we know what He did! That is the crux of Paul's argument as he affirms that “...all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8.28). What did He do? He proved His love beyond all human expectations or potential! The proof that He yet works incessantly on our behalf lies in a knowledge of how He worked in the past!

I am convinced that God will labor just as hard for one soul as He will for a million. His love is without dimensions when it…  ( Click for more )

The past is, from a purely human viewpoint, the best predictor of the future. In the world in which we live, the future of things (such as housing sales, the weather, a baseball team's performance, entertainers, automobile reliability, human behavior, etc., etc.) that matter to us are predicted using the past.

The past is not a perfect predictor, but it is the best that we have. The disclaimer that appears on investment portfolios (“Past performance not a guarantee of future performance”) spells out in no uncertain terms the uncertainty of using the past to predict…  ( Click for more )

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Romans 8.28-30).

The question of the moment (at least within the focus text), is this: “How do we know that all things work together for good?”…  ( Click for more )

Since beginning this series on the book of Romans, I have had requests for an outline of the book. It is presented here for your study and usage. It is brief, but I think it is reasonably accurate. Like all outlines of the Bible, as one's knowledge of a book's contents change, so should the outline. Call it a working outline if you will and may God bless it to your use.

Paul's greeting and opening remarks (1:1-1:15)

The Thesis Statement of the book of Romans (1:16-1:18)

Manifest evils of man apart from God (1:19-4) …  ( Click for more )

Today’s message will be a bit different in that it will make some needed points about the central text we have been studying for the last four days; first we present the text: “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to…  ( Click for more )

The fact that the Spirit makes (and keeps on making) intercession for the saints is a key point of our text. For similar reasons, it is important that we recognize that He does this “according to the will of God.” (see Romans 8.26-27). These two verses provide the immediate and direct context for a verse that is all too often misunderstood and misapplied. Our devotional today will take a quick look at this much maligned verse and attempt to set it aright in our minds. Our method will be by simply allowing the context to speak!

The extended text reads: “Likewise…  ( Click for more )

Read the verbs that pertain to Deity's actions in Romans 8.26-27. To make these words stand out they are cited from the King James Version, the reason to become obvious presently.

The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities... The Spirit itself maketh intercession... He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit... He maketh intercession for the saints...” (each point of emphasis mine; jb). I absolutely do not apologize for using the revered version of 1611; its beauty is surpassed only by its usefulness in sincere Bible study (as this message will well…  ( Click for more )

Thank God for Unanswered Prayers was a huge number one country hit for Garth Brooks in the 1990’s. The entire basis for the song is the fact that we just don’t always know what is best for us, even in our prayers. Beyond that, it is also an indisputable fact that God always knows what is best. That is precisely Paul’s point in Romans 8.26 when he says, “For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought…” If we knew how to pray perfectly and we knew what to pray for, we would have much of the battle won. However, we are human! We do not know…  ( Click for more )

Our focus text reads: “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8.26-27).

With fear and trembling we enter this brief study! We enter it this way for a number of reasons. First, we enter it with such awe because of the specific subject matter (i.e. God, the Spirit,…  ( Click for more )

“For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” (Romans 8.22-25).

The hope of the redeemed is the adoption! Certainly our hope is not in this world. Paul put it…  ( Click for more )

The Spirit of adoption is not the adoption; it is a forerunner of it. The Spirit of adoption involves the attitude of the believer as he or she contemplates the glory that is yet to be ours. Paul put it this way:

For I consider [reckon; kjv] that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself…  ( Click for more )

To “Owe no one anything…” according to Paul’s written admonition (see Romans 13.8) is but one of the moral and ethical rules that ought to govern our lives. However, the believer is in debt from the time he or she commits the first sin until death takes us away. As discussed earlier, this debt is not a material indebtedness from which we can extricate ourselves by working really, really hard; it is a spiritual debt that can only be erased by the biblical application of God’s grace to our lives.

However, the point that I wish to make just here is…  ( Click for more )

Paul wrote by the power of the Holy Spirit, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then…  ( Click for more )

Bible passages deserve our very best efforts to understand them! They deserve this because of their ultimate Author, the Lord God Almighty. How much effort should we put into understanding the Bible merely because of who wrote it? How much effort should we put into understanding the Bible due to the impact that it can have on our eternal destiny? These questions serve to focus our attention on the awesome gravity of Bible study.

As an interpreter, it is our obligation to attempt to listen to the biblical authors with the ears of the audiences to whom they wrote. By this I mean…  ( Click for more )

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8.1-2). The focus of this text is not about the impossibility of apostasy and whether or not that is a valid doctrine; it is about those who walk “according to the spirit” as contrasted to those who “walk according to the flesh.” For the one group, there is no condemnation; for the other group, their…  ( Click for more )

No Condemnation (2 of 4)

It was a young earth when Paul wrote to the Romans, but it had been a long, long time since the night of sin had besieged mankind. Under the condemnation of sin, all men of conscience could scarce lift their heads during some of their blackest times. The best that any could do was to look longingly toward the promised Messiah (Genesis 3.15), and wait for the day when the head of the serpent would receive a fatal blow from the heel of the Son of Man. The weight of such condemnation was such that even men of penitent spirits saw their sins ever before them…  ( Click for more )

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8.1-4). …  ( Click for more )

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." (Romans 1.16).

The gospel which Paul preached to the Corinthians could save them as long as they held firmly to it (1 Corinthians 15.2). The perverted gospel that was being preached in the regions of Galatia was without God's authority and hence had no power to save anyone; in fact it had the potential for the opposite effect (Galatians 1.6-9). The gospel which Paul preached to the Romans was a singular gospel;…  ( Click for more )