The Devotional - R013

The Devotional

Comment:

Ever get a head rush? You know when you are doing something and you near the end of it and notice some little flaw. You spent days of preparation and hard work putting your project together, only now this small error hangs large like a storm cloud on the horizon. You think, “I will just ignore it, no one else will see it and all will be fine” “not so” says your conscious! The flaw looms even larger and your mind races for answers, the dead line of completion is in a race with the increasing consciousness of the error. This is the rush at its height and what will you do, Adam? Biblically speaking the choice you make has eternal consequences; not just for Adam, but for you and me at this moment in time, and for the entire world. What do I mean? Could it be that the world we live in is still seeking to cover up Adam’s flaw of eternal damnation? Or is God wrong, is the Bible incorrect. Note these words in Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. What does that mean? Well it means this; “all people who ever lived from Adam’s day, or will live on the earth are sinners of the same error of Adam” all of us fall short of God’s Righteousness, which is His Glory. Over the next few days we will look at this personal flaw that is a worldwide epidemic of human unrighteousness – SIN (1 John 5:17).

Challenge: Romans 3:1-8 – Paul speaking pointedly to the Jew

The most repeated verse of biblical truth is also the most known verse, a high percentage of the world population knows the wording of John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life. However this does not mean that God’s offering of Love to all sinners is accepted. The most ignored verse in biblical truth is Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. Knowledge and ignorance never see eye to eye, yet when it comes to faith in God, both miss the mark of God’s Glory. In other words, knowledge and ignorance prove that it takes faith to believe God.

The apostle poses the question; so what advantage does the Jew have in knowledge? Very much since God gave them the oracles (Scriptures or the Law) He gave them the sign of having that knowledge in that all male Jews of eight days old were to be circumcised. What if some of those Jews did not believe? Were they ignorant, of course not, they had the oracles, they had the circumcision, they understood the Law, and finally they were knowledgeable. This knowledge when rejected is not ignorance is it? God calls this unbelief, or LYING, in the case of the Jew and the knowledgeable Gentile who disbelieves everyone is found a liar, for God is TRUE.

All unrighteous acts of mankind is SIN, sin is the active flaw or demonstration of unrighteous behavior in the face of God who is Gloriously Righteous. In the headlong rush of life we see the flaw (the sin of man) at its peak of unrighteous activity, seeking to cover up our sin and gain the favor of God we crucified of the LORD of Glory. In our attempt as a human to be righteous we continue to cover our sin with human good works and ignore the LORD of Glory. Should we say then that God is unjust who has already judged the world in His wrath on the sinful deeds of man? Certainly not, not for you the Jew or for me the Gentile; that is if He found favor in the Jewish works of knowledge, how then could He find favor in the Gentile works of ignorance, and how then could He judge the sin of the world?

God in His Glory establishes a standing judgment, not through knowledge only and not in ignorance either. God places all under the same condemnation and HE establishes faith (a belief that goes beyond knowledge and ignorance, faith in the soul will one day give account). John 3:17-18 – For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes (has faith) in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe (no faith) is condemned already (past tense) because he has not believed (rejected faith) in the Name of the only begotten Son of God.