No one seemed to notice that my numbering was off on the last WFTD… so I take that to be a great encouragement at the grace of God that is flowing out from each of you! We’re back on track with the numbering, as we are looking at Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, and how it shapes our understanding of ourselves, God, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We’re all busy people. Why do we spend time reading and studying the Word of God? Why do we need 40+ messages on the gospel? Shouldn’t we be busy living the gospel out instead of spending our time remembering what it is? Allow me to share what my own experience has been and why I am convinced that study of God’s Word and the centrality of the gospel is essential to a Christian. The day after I sent out my last WFTD, I was admitted to the ER with extended chest pains. They actually started Saturday, but came to a climax early Sunday morning. I sat in the ER, waiting on tests to come back, and was confronted with an array of thoughts and emotions – What plans for my life would go unfulfilled, what sin lay unconquered, and do I possess the depth of faith to endure until the end? The answers to all of my hearts questions lay in the promises of God from His Word and the gospel. The plans for my life are not eternal, the gospel is (Isaiah 40:8). To the extent God has used me to be a messenger of His gospel, I can be sure my life’s most important work, God’s plan for me, had been fulfilled (2 Cor 5:18). Though still a sinner, I was comforted that Jesus died for sinners (Rom 5:8), just like me, to reconcile us to God (1 Pet 3:18) – something I could never do and that is a gift of God (not dependent on my sin or “righteousness”) (Eph 2:8-9). Would I possess the depth of faith to endure until the end? Yes, God is faithful to see to completion what he has begun. (Phil 1:6) All of this is the gospel of Jesus Christ from His Word.
Do you know what I was reading in my Bible before I went into the hospital? I was reading Romans 7. Do you know what I was reading while in the hospital? Romans 8. As Christians, we are not our own. We have been bought for a price, the precious blood of Christ. (1 Pet 18-19) If I have been purchased, my life is not my own, but in the hands of my master, the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave me life and He can take it away, but He has promised to work all things towards good for those who love Him; for those whom He has called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). So whether I live or whether I die, that is not my concern, it is in the master’s hands. My concern is not in how or when I die, but in how I live – to the glory of Christ. The only way anyone can live to the glory of Christ is to be saturated in faith from His Word, being conformed to His image, and overflowing in love to others.
Romans 14:8 – “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
Romans 10:17 – “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
2 Corinthians 3:15-18 – “to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
2 Peter 1:3-7 – “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.”
Some of you reading this I know very well, some I am only acquainted with, and others I may never know. What I can say is that my heart is for your encouragement in the gospel of Jesus Christ from His Word. My hope is that you do not grow weary in studying God’s Word and the gospel. There is no greater threat to sin, no greater means of strengthening faith, than seeing and savoring Jesus Christ from His Word. It is because of that, that satan and your indwelling sin will battle you at every turn to keep you from God’s Word. Arm yourself with purpose and resolve to continue in the work God has given you.
I just realized that my hope to continue in Romans 7 has gotten off-course. That’s ok. God leads, and this is more important. There will come a day (for most of us when we do not expect) that God will call us home from this world to spend eternity with Him. How are you arming yourself from God’s Word to sustain you in that day so that you finish the race well? How are you being transformed by God’s image today from His Word so that the glory of God is being manifested? How are you sharing the gospel with others that God has placed in your life? I can tell you, the greatest peace and joy in life and death will be knowing that you have eagerly sought to know the Lord and make Him known in these ways. Keep running the race with perseverance; the Spirit of God within you will grant you all the strength you need.
Grace and Peace,
Adam
Following the Way 