MONDAY MUSINGS FROM OUR FOUNDERS Elias Boudinot

"Let us enter on this important business under the idea that we are Christians on whom the eyes of the world are now turned… [L]et us earnestly call and beseech Him, for Christ’s sake, to preside in our councils. . . . We can only depend on the all powerful influence of the Spirit of God, Whose Divine aid and assistance it becomes us as a Christian people most devoutly to implore. Therefore I move that some minister of the Gospel be requested to attend this Congress every morning . . . in order to open the meeting with prayer."

Elias Boudinot: PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS; SIGNED THE PEACE TREATY TO END THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION; FIRST ATTORNEY ADMITTED TO THE U. S. SUPREME COURT BAR; FRAMER OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS; DIRECTOR OF THE U. S. MINT

Romans 7:1-6

AN ILLUSTRATION FROM MARRIAGE

Three kinds of sanctification:

Powerless sanctification

Potential sanctification

Positional sanctification

1. Shackles of a saved soul – The Law canot produce sanctification

2. The struggle of the saved soul –


The Verses

1. Are you so ignorant that you do not realize that the Law is relevant only while your are alive? Once you die, the Law means nothing. The Jews had the law, but were unable to keep it.

2. This is an illustration that you and I are not under the Law. These are NOT rules concerning how a marriage should be, this is an illustrations from marriage about how the Law relates to people. The illustration is not about what a marriage should look like, but uses Jewish law to illustrate how man relates to sin.

3. Under Jewish law, marital faithfulness was expected while both parties were alive. If the husband died, however, the woman was free to marry without being considered an adulteress. She was free from the law.

4. Here is where he ties these thoughts to chapters 1 through 6 of Romans. When you were saved, you died to the Law. You now belong to another: Christ.

5. Under the Law, our passions and our guilt were made evident. And the fruit we bore was the fruit of death.

6. By dying to the Law, we have been released from the Law so that we are now controlled, not by a set of rules: the Law; but by the Spirit of God living in us.

Some of you have not yet learned that.

Last week, when we took that little test on Romans, some of you answered in such a way that you STILL consider the Law to be the rules we are to live by.

It’s not easy to overcome what we have been taught over the years in favor of what the Word of God actually teaches, which is not adherence to the Law, but following the leadership of the Holy Spirit as He works His way in our lives.

We still need to learn to DIE TO SELF; DIE TO THE LAW; DIE TO THE OLD WAY OF THINKING AND LIVE BY, THROUGH AND FOR CHRIST.

Living for Jesus a life that is true;
Striving to please Him in all that I do.
Pledging allegiance, glad hearted and free
This is the pathway of blessing for me O Jesus, Lord and Savior I give myself to Thee
For Thou in Thine atonement didst give Thyself for me
I own no other master; My heart shall be Thy throne
My life I give, henceforth to live O Christ for Thee alone

MONDAY MUSINGS FROM OUR FOUNDERS George Washington

“No country upon Earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings…Much to be regretted indeed would it be, were to neglect the means and depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to, so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass. The Great Governor of the Universe has led us too long and too far…to forsake us in the midst of it…We may now and then, get bewildered; but I hope and trust that there is good sense and virtue enough left to recover the right path.”

GEORGE WASHINGTON

Commander-in-Chief in the Revolutionary War, President of the Continental Congress, first President of the United States of America, known as “The Father of His country,” eulogized by Henry Lee as, “First in War, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countryman.”

Romans 6 15 – 23

The Law is useful to control the old nature, but obedience to it does not yield salvation.

Romans 6 is a review of Romans 1 through 5.

The new nature is to be yielded to Christ.

The Verses

15. This is a repeat of what Paul said in Romans 6:1 and his conclusion in Romans 6:14.

16. He continues to discus death to sin and being alive in Christ with an illustration from slavery. The slave must obey his master. Similarly, the Christian must become a slave to Christ and obey Him.

17. At one time every one of us was a slave to sin, now you follow the gospel in Christ (the form of teaching to which you were entrusted).

18. You have exchanged your slavery to sin for slavery to righteousness (which is only found in Christ).

19. Spiritual things are so deep that we would get lost in them. Many people think they are being spiritual when they are really just exercising their imaginations. We used to offer ourselves to wickedness; now we offer ourselves to righteousness (Christ).

20. When you were lost (slaves to sin) you did not care about God’s righteousness and did not let it control you.

21. That slavery to wickedness netted you nothing, and lead to death (Romans 6:23).

22. Now you are free from sin and have become slaves to God and reap lots of benefits.

23. When you were in sin, your rightful wage was eternal death. But through Jesus Christ you have received Eternal Life.

A TEST ON ROMANS 1:1 – ROMANS 6:23

1. According to Paul, the purpose of the Law is to
a. Give us a standard to live by
b. Give us a challenge we can’t meet
c. Show us our need for salvation
d. Provide us salvation

2. Paul wanted to visit Rome (1:8ff). This shows us
a. That Paul was a lonely guy
b. That Christians yearn for fellowship with other Christians
c. That Paul was crippled and could not get to Rome
d. That Paul wanted to set up a headquarters for Christianity in Rome

3. The unsaved person who will not repent and come to Christ will (Romans 1:18-32)
a. Suffer the wrath of God
b. Be saved because God loves everybody
c. Gradually come to realize God’s love for him/her
d. Get rich if he will follow the Laws of God

4. The judgement of God (Romans 2:1-16)
a. Will eventually be overcome by the love of God
b. Is really pretty unfair, but there’s nothing we can do about it
c. Is not relevant to today’s society
d. Is righteous and deserved by all mankind outside of Christ

5. Which two statements are true about Jews (Romans 2:17 – 29)
a. Jews are exempt from the Law
b. Jews can come into God’s Kingdom through Christ
c. Jews can be saved through their rituals
d. Jews, although they are God’s chosen people, must accept Christ to be saved.

6. In Christ, Christians can have (Romans 5:1-11)
a. Lots of money and things
b. Peace and joy
c. Power to keep bad things from happening
d. Citizenship in the United States, if they want it

7. Sin came into the world (Romans 5:12-21) CAUTION! TRICK QUESTION!
a. Because all mankind wanted to be like God
b. By Eve failing to obey God’s command
c. By one man: Adam
d. By Christ, who then showed us how to overcome it.

8. When we become alive in Christ, we also become (Romans 6:1-14)
a. Rich and famous
b. Steeped in religious tradition leading to peace and joy
c. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound
d. Dead to sin

9. When we are saved, we enter into voluntary (Romans 6: 14-23)
a. Community service
b. Slavery
c. Military service
d. Life enrichment opportunities

10. Take a moment to reflect on and to write one sentence that you think best describes your relationship to the Law (Ten Commandments)

HOW DID YOU DO? HERE ARE THE ANSWERS:

1. c
2. b
3. a
4. d
5. d
6. b
7. c
8. d
9. b

10. This one's up to you

TALK ABOUT A NATURAL HIGH

As I watched this video, I thought about our planet: its beauty, its make-up and its Creator.

I also thought about the frantic search on Mars and other space places for "water" and therefore the possibility of life there.

When you look at the blue planet, Earth, from that high, you realize that (pretending for a moment that Darwinian evolution is factual) for life to have formed by chance there does not need to be water...

There needs to be:

WATER!!

If we find a drop, a pool or a puddle of water somewhere, our conclusion cannot possibly be that it is suffecient to support life...not even close.

Our Creator is so intellectually superior to us that if all the great minds that ever have been, are now or ever will be were connected together they would not represent the equivilent of a single neuron in the mind of God.

To think otherwise is total arrogance and bravado.

To God be the glory; great things He has done!

MONDAY MUSINGS FROM OUR FOUNDERS John Adams

"It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand."

John Adams, 1776

Romans 6:1-14

The last part of chapter 5 dealt with the imputation of sin.

Christ brings life and righteousness.

In chapter 6 we find "positional sanctification" identification with Christ.

Justification vs Sanctification

Justification is what God does for us in Christ at Calvary

Sanctification occurs when we walk with Christ and give ourselves over to Him.
　
The Verses

1. We have shown how the Law has shown us our need for salvation and breaking the Law is the attitude of not letting God tell us what to do. Logic might say, "I want to know more salvation. If I sin more, God can forgive me of more and therefore I’ll experience more of his grace.

2. Paul is clear that this is a wrong conclusion. In fact, he says that if we really died to sin as we testified when we were baptized, we would be ashamed to live in it.

3. We are buried with Him in baptism. You don’t bury a live man, you bury a dead man. The baptism here is not about the water, it is about being in Christ.

4. We are raised from the dead with Him. We are not the same. If we are the same, we need to look more closely at what we call our salvation. We are joined with a living Christ. There are only two places for sin: on you or on Christ. (Colossians 3:1)

5. We will be like Christ! While we are here, we are to be becoming Christ like to the best of our ability in the Holy Spirit. (I Corinthians 13)

6. When Christ was crucified, we were crucified with Him. How can we be crucified with Him when we hadn’t even been born yet? This speaks to the timelessness of The Godhead and eternity. (There are certain themes that are repeated over and over again in Scripture in many different ways. This concept of the timelessness of God is one of them)

7. IF YOU HAVE DIED (that is: died to sin by receiving Christ and becoming one with Him), YOU ARE FREE FROM SIN. (Sin is ANYTHING that is not in the dead center of God’s will.)

8. The glorious hope we have sharing His resurrection life.

9. Christ died once for all and will not die again. He has defeated death. (Revelation 1:18)

10. He died one time but He lives today.

11. Count yourselves dead to self and to sin. It’s not about you, it’s not about me, it’s all about Him.

Guard against sin in this world. How? By living in the presence of and the power of the Holy Spirit of God. His job is to constantly point you to God.

WWJD is more than just a trite little saying, it is the question planted in your mind and soul every moment of every day by the Holy Spirit.

Only to be what He wants me to be, every moment of every day;
Yielded completely to Jesus alone,
Every step of this pilgrim way:
Just to be clay in the Potter's hands,
Ready to do what His Word commands;
Only to be what He wants me to be, every moment of every day
　
Guard against sin, not through the use of a list, but by dependence on the Holy Spirit.

Offer yourself to God (Romans 12:1 & 2)

Jesus is your Master, sin is not.

YOU ARE NOT UNDER LAW

BUT UNDER GRACE!!

Romans 5 12-21

The first section of Romans had to do with the subject of sin.

The second section had to do with the subject of salvation.

Here’s a new section, whose subject is sanctification.

The verses

12. Sin entered the world through Adam, and with it all of the ills of the world as well as death itself. He reiterates that there are no exceptions…ALL men are born sinners. Adam had only one rule, and he could not follow it. By the way, you and I would not have done any better. Death has come to all men because all men are sinners.

13. Notice the sequence: Sin came first…THEN the Law. Without sin, there would never have had to be the Law. There’s more about this later in the passage.

14. Death reigned from Adam to Moses. Then came the Law. Adam’s sin was not that of breaking the Ten Commandments…they hadn’t been written yet. Adam’s sin was disobedience, and he passed that down as a pattern of the one to come (Law).

15. What Paul is saying is that every human being deserves to die an eternal death, but how great is the gift (Jesus) that overcame the sin of so many millions of people. Once the Law came into being, God’s grace in Christ just became MORE evident.

16. Sin brought condemnation, but Christ brought justification.

17. If death came by Adam, Christ brought the gift of righteous reign in life.

18. Ah! But just like it took only one man to bring death into the world, it took only one man – Jesus – to bring life into the world through His one act of SUPREME RIGHTEOUSNESS.

19. So, through one man (Adam) many were made sinners, through one man (Christ) many will be made righteous.

20. The Law is like a magnification glass, to make sin more evident. Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound.

21. Sin reigned in death, but grace reigns in righteousness and brings us eternal life…how? Through Jesus Christ our Lord (Greek word: Kurios)

SO...HOW GOOD ARE YOU?