Our Daily Scripture – 6/26/25 (Thursday)

SCRIPTURE:  ROMANS 1

INTRODUCTION:

This letter was written by Paul to the church in Rome in A.D. 56 or 57 during his third missionary journey.  The theme of this letter is righteousness.  Paul teaches in this letter that: (1)-no human being is righteous; (2)-Jesus Christ is perfectly righteous; (3)-if we have faith in Jesus, w are freed from the power of sin, given a new life, and returned to a right relationship with God. (4)-we should live Christian lives that are “holy and pleasing to God”

Paul was a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.

MEMORY VERSE:

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes:  First for the Jew, then for the Gentle.” (Romans 1:16)

THE GOSPEL:

Jesus is the Son of God, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who  through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead” Jesus Christ our Lord.  Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.  Ando you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

PAUL’S LONGING TO VISIT ROME (vs. 8-17)

Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome:

“To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.  First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.  god, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly i remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at Last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.  I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.  I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.  I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.  that isa why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.  I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.  For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (vs. 7-17)

GOD’S WRATH AGAINST MANKIND (vs. 18-32)

The wrath of God is against:

  1.  All godlessness and wickedness of men (v. 18)
  2.  Those who knew God but did not glorify nor give thanks to Him. (v. 21)
  3.  Those who become fools and exchange the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (v. 23)
  4.  Those who exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship and serve created things rather than the Creator. (v. 25)
  5.  Those who do not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God. (v. 28)

Consequences of God’s wrath:

  1.  God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. (v. 28)
  2.  God gave them over to shameful lusts. (Women exchange natural relations for unnatural ones.  Men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.  Men commit indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.) {vs. 26-27)
  3.  God gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done. (v. 28)
  4.  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  (v. 29a)
  5.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice (v. 29b)
  6.  They are gossipers, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful (v. 30a)
  7.  They invent  ways of doing evil, (v. 30b)
  8.  They disobey their parents. (v. 30c)
  9.  They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. (v. 31)
  10.  They approve and practice the very things that deserve death. (v. 32)

THOUGHTS:

Men know God from creation and conscience but they refuse to honor Him as God.  They live for the creature, not the Creator, and make themselves into gods.  God gave them up and let them suffer the consequences.  If we insist on having our own way, God will inflect the greatest judgment on us.  But the gospel is this:  The same God who delivered sinners to judgment delivered up His own Son for lost sinners.

When people reject God, He allows them to live as they choose.  God gives them over to or permits them to experience the natural consequences of their sin.  Once caught in the downward spiral, no one can put himself out.  Sinners must trust Christ alone to deliver them from destruction.

God does not usually stop us from making wrong choices.  He lets us choose independence from Him even though He knows that in time, we will become slaves to our own rebellious life-style and lose our freedom not to sin.  Remember this:  There is no worse slavery than slavery to sin.