Transcript

Podcast Introduction

Today is Epistles Sunday. Our reading will be Romans 5-6. After the reading, I have some comments. I’m calling today’s episode “Who Controls You?”

Comments on

Comments on Romans 5

Where to begin? Entire books have been written in mining all the truths found in Romans. Whenever I sit down to try to come up with comments to share on any chapter of Romans, I feel like I’m trying to fill a cup from a fire hose. So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t address the finer points. I have to grab just a tiny bit and go with that, in the hopes that you’ll thirst for more and do some studying on your own. Also, you are welcome to comment on the show notes page for this and every episode, or send comments to me at comment.lifespringmedia.com.

So for today’s discussion, I’m going to look at verse 6: “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Let’s break that down. “For when we were still without strength…” How great is God’s love for us? When we could do nothing on our own, when we were ungodly, when we were sinners, God made a way for us. We could offer nothing, nor did we even have a desire to make our way to Him. God’s love is the entire reason for sending Jesus.

“in due time…” God is never early, God is never late. God is always exactly on time, every time. At just the right time, God sent His son. Galatians 4:4-5 says, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” 

All the pieces were in place for the coming of the Messiah. Spiritually, the world was ready. Enough time had elapsed for people to see that the Law could not save us. All the Law did was demonstrate that we could not uphold it. Linguistically the world was ready. Language had developed to the point that the ideas necessary to communicate God’s plan could be conveyed to a large enough population that the message could be spread. Plus the world was ready politically, philosophically and geographically. Every piece was in place.

Let’s read the verse again: “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

“…Christ died for the ungodly.” “…for the ungodly.” The Greek word translated for is huper. It means “for the sake of, in behalf of, instead of.” Christ died for the sake of, in behalf of, instead of Steve Webb. Insert your name there. 

Charles Spurgeon was probably the greatest preacher of the nineteenth century, or even up until today. 

Here are a few of his words about “the ungodly”.

“You will say, ‘Oh, I am one of the worst in the world.’ Christ died for the worst in the world. ‘Oh, but I have no power to be better.’ Christ died for those that were without strength. ‘Oh, but my case condemns itself.’ Christ died for those that legally are condemned. ‘Ay, but my case is hopeless.’ Christ died for the hopeless. He is the hope of the hopeless. He is the Savior not of those partly lost, but of the wholly lost.” (Spurgeon)

“If Christ died for the ungodly, this fact leaves the ungodly no excuse if they do not come to him, and believe in him unto salvation. Had it been otherwise they might have pleaded, ‘We are not fit to come.’ But you are ungodly, and Christ died for the ungodly, why not for you?” (Spurgeon)

Indeed. Why not for you?

Thoughts on Romans 6

Ok, so there was a lot of talk of sin in today’s reading. Before I give my thoughts on the reading, maybe we should define the term. 

What is sin? Sin is a word we don’t hear much in our culture today, much less in our churches. I think part of the reason is that we don’t want to make people feel bad, and we don’t want those steeped in today’s culture to think we’re narrow-minded or judgmental or phobic or racist.

Well my friend, sin is a subject that God is not afraid to talk about, and it’s something important enough that He sent His son to Earth to die so that the result of sin would not keep you and me from having an eternity in His presence.

What is it? 

Sin is breaking God’s Law. Sin is falling short of God’s perfection. It is failing to be holy and clean and righteous. It is rebellion against God.

With perfection as the standard, we can see how hopeless our plight is to earn the eternal life that we so desire. How in the world can anyone ever make it??? Exactly. Without Jesus, we are sunk. And the realization of that fact is the beginning of salvation. Let’s turn now to some comment on today’s reading.

In chapter six Paul is addressing believers.   

Paraphrasing Romans 6:6, Paul says, “We know that our old life, our old sinful self, was nailed to the cross with Christ. And so the power of sin that held us was destroyed. Sin is no longer our boss.” 

You see, before we joined ourselves with Jesus, before we gave ourselves to Him and asked Him to be our Lord and save us, we had no choice but to sin. Other translations use the words “…we should no longer be slaves to sin…” A slave has no choice but to obey his or her master. Before, we had to sin. But now, our relationship to sin is no longer that of master and slave.

Then verse 12 says, “So do not let sin have power over your body here on earth. You must not obey the body and let it do what it wants to do.”

Notice the language here. “…do not let sin have power over your body…”.  If I let something happen, that means that I have a choice. 

Is it really possible that I have a choice? Of course it is. How?  Because we now belong to Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin. 

In verse 14, Paul said, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” What is grace? We defined sin, so we should define grace. In a nutshell, grace is not receiving the judgement that I deserve, but instead receiving forgiveness that I cannot earn. Long articles have been written about grace, but in the interest of the format of this podcast, this abbreviated definition will do.

In chapter seven, Paul will address the reality that even with the best intentions, we still sin. Are we doomed? 

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 5 NKJV, Ch. 6 NLV

Support

This a value for value podcast. There are no advertisers because advertising=censorship. If you enjoy the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, decide how much value it brings to you. Only you can make that determination. Then put a number on the value and send it to me here: SUPPORT.

Transcript

Download .txt file.

Romans 5-6: Who Controls You? (LSFAB S13E015)

[TEASER – 00:00]
I feel like I’m trying to fill up a cup from a firehose.

[INTRO S13E015 – 0:10]
This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we’ll read through the entire Bible in a year. Today is Epistle Sunday, our reading will be Romans 5 and 6. After the reading, I’ve got some comments, and I’m calling today’s episode “Who Controls You?” And since this is Sunday, we’ll have prayer requests and praises later on in the show. Before we read, let’s pray.

[OPENING PRAYER – 00:38]
Our heavenly Father, we thank you for this time in your Word. As we read from Romans today, I ask that you help us to understand intellectually, and embrace spiritually, what you have to teach us. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Alright, let’s begin.

[ROMANS 5 (NKJV) – 0:56]
Romans, chapter 5.

(1) Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (2) through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (3) And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; (4) and perseverance, character; and character, hope. (5) Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

(6) For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (7) For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. (8) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (9) Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. (10) For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (11) And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

(12) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (13) (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (14) Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (15) But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. (16) And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. (17) For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

(18) Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. (19) For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

(20) Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, (21) so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[ROMANS 6 (NLV) – 4:07]
Romans, chapter 6.

(1) What does this mean? Are we to keep on sinning so that God will give us more of His loving-favor? (2) No, not at all! We are dead to sin. How then can we keep on living in sin? (3) All of us were baptized to show we belong to Christ. We were baptized first of all to show His death. (4) We were buried in baptism as Christ was buried in death. As Christ was raised from the dead by the great power of God, so we will have new life also. (5) If we have become one with Christ in His death, we will be one with Him in being raised from the dead to new life.

(6) We know that our old life, our old sinful self, was nailed to the cross with Christ. And so the power of sin that held us was destroyed. Sin is no longer our boss. (7) When a man is dead, he is free from the power of sin. (8) And if we have died with Christ, we believe we will live with Him also. (9) We know that Christ was raised from the dead. He will never die again. Death has no more power over Him. (10) He died once but now lives. He died to break the power of sin, and the life He now lives is for God. (11) You must do the same thing! Think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But now you have new life because of Jesus Christ our Lord. You are living this new life for God.

(12) So do not let sin have power over your body here on earth. You must not obey the body and let it do what it wants to do. (13) Do not give any part of your body for sinful use. Instead, give yourself to God as a living person who has been raised from the dead. Give every part of your body to God to do what is right. (14) Sin must not have power over you. You are not living by the Law. You have life because of God’s loving-favor.

(15) What are we to do then? Are we to sin because we have God’s loving-favor and are not living by the Law? No, not at all! (16) Do you not know that when you give yourself as a servant to be owned by someone, that one becomes your owner? If you give yourself to sin, the end is death. If you give yourself to God, the end is being right with Him. (17) At one time you were held by the power of sin. But now you obey with all your heart the teaching that was given to you. Thank God for this! (18) You were made free from the power of sin. Being right with God has power over you now. (19) I speak with words easy to understand because your human thinking is weak. At one time you gave yourselves over to the power of sin. You kept on sinning all the more. Now give yourselves over to being right with God. Set yourself apart for God-like living and to do His work.

(20) When sin had power over your life, you were not right with God. (21) What good did you get from the things you are ashamed of now? Those things bring death. (22) But now you are free from the power of sin. You have become a servant for God. Your life is set apart for God-like living. The end is life that lasts forever. (23) You get what is coming to you when you sin. It is death! But God’s free gift is life that lasts forever. It is given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ.

[COMMENTARY – 7:28]
Well, where to begin? Entire books have been written in mining all the truths found in Romans. And whenever I sit down to try to come up with comments to share on any chapter of Romans, I feel like I’m trying to fill up a cup from a firehose, so you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t address all the finer points. I have to just grab a tiny bit and go with that in the hopes that you’ll thirst for more and do some studying on your own. Yeah, that’s allowed. Also, you’re welcome to comment on the show notes page for this and every episode, or send comments to me at comment.lifespringmedia.com.

So for today’s discussion, I’m going to look at verse 6, which says, “For when we were still without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.”

So let’s break that down. “For when we were still without strength…” How great is God’s love for us? When we could do nothing on our own, when we were ungodly, when we were sinners, God made a way for us. We could offer him nothing, nor did we even have a desire to make our way to Him. God’s love is the entire reason for sending Jesus to the earth. God’s love.

“For when we were still without strength, in due time…” God is never early God is never late. God is always exactly on time, every time. At just the right time, God sent His Son. Galatians 4:4-5 says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, (5) to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

All the pieces were in place for the coming of the Messiah. Spiritually, the world was ready. Enough time had elapsed for people to see that the Law could not save us. All the Law did was demonstrate that we could not uphold it. And then linguistically, the world was ready. Language had developed to the point that the ideas necessary to communicate God’s plan could be conveyed to a large enough population, that the message could be spread. Plus, the world was ready politically, philosophically, and geographically. Every piece was in place.

That verse again, “For when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.” “…for the ungodly.” The Greek word translated “for” is “huper”. It means “for the sake of,” “in behalf of,” “instead of.” Christ died for the sake of, in behalf of, instead of Steve Webb. Insert your name there.

Charles Spurgeon was probably the greatest preacher of the 19th century or even up until today.

Here are a few of his words about “the ungodly”.

“You will say, ‘Oh, I’m one of the worst in the world.’ Christ died for the worst in the world. ‘Oh, but I have no power to be better.’ Christ died for those that were without strength. ‘Oh, but my case condemns itself.’ Christ died for those that legally are condemned. ‘Yes, but my case is hopeless.’ Christ died for the hopeless, he is the hope of the hopeless. He is the savior, not of those partly lost, but of the wholly lost.”

“If Christ died for the ungodly, this fact leaves the ungodly no excuse if they do not come to him, and believe in him unto salvation. Had it been otherwise they might have pleaded, ‘We’re not fit to come.’ But you are ungodly, and Christ died for the ungodly. Why not for you?”

Indeed, why not for you?

Alright, let’s talk a little bit about Romans, chapter 6. So far in Romans, Paul has talked a lot about sin. So before I give my thoughts on Romans, chapter 6, maybe we should define the term “sin”.

What is it? Sin is a word we don’t hear much of in our culture today, much less in our churches. I think part of the reason is that we don’t want to make people feel bad. And we don’t want those steeped in today’s culture to think we’re narrow-minded or judgmental or phobic or racist.

Well, Beloved, sin is a subject that God is not afraid to talk about. And it’s something important enough that he sent his Son to earth to die, so that the result of sin would not keep you and me from having an eternity in His presence.

So what is it?

Sin is breaking God’s law. Sin is falling short of God’s perfection. It is failing to be holy and clean and righteous. It is rebellion against God.

So with perfection as the standard, we can see how hopeless our plight is to earn the eternal life that we so desire. How in the world can anyone ever make it? Exactly. That’s the point. Without Jesus, we’re sunk. And the realization of that fact is the beginning of salvation.

So now let me give some comments on chapter 6. Paraphrasing Romans 6:6, Paul says, “We know that our old life, our old sinful self was nailed to the cross with Christ. And so the power of sin that held us was destroyed. Sin is no longer our boss.”

You see, Beloved, before we joined ourselves with Jesus before we gave ourselves to him and asked him to be our Lord and save us, we had no choice but to sin. Other translations use the words “…we should no longer be slaves to sin…” A slave, by definition, has no choice but to obey his or her master. Before, we had to sin. But now our relationship to sin is no longer that of master and slave.

And then in verse 12, we read, “So do not let sin have power over your body here on Earth. You must not obey the body and let it do what it wants to do.

Notice the language there. “…do not let sin have power over your body…” If I let something happen, that means I have a choice.

Is it really possible that I have a choice? Of course it is. How? Well because we now belong to Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin.

In verse 14, Paul said, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace.” Under grace. What is grace? Well, we have defined sin, so maybe we should define grace. In a nutshell, grace is not receiving the judgment that I deserve, but instead receiving forgiveness that I cannot earn. Now, long articles have been written about grace, but in the interest of the format of this podcast, this abbreviated definition will do. Grace is not receiving the judgment I deserve, but instead receiving forgiveness that I cannot earn. In chapter 7, Paul is going to address the reality that even with the best intentions, we still sin. Are we doomed?

[LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE – 15:01]
What do you think about what we read today or what I had to say today. Let me know. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at 951-732-8511 or go to the show notes page at lifespringmedia.com/s13e015. Or email me at st***@*************ia.com. Our reading tomorrow will be Genesis 8 through 11. We’ll see if Noah ever got off the Ark. Plus, we’ll read about the Tower of Babel.

[PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE REPORTS – 15:32]
Prayer requests. Well, Kathi received her first dose of the new chemo drug this past Friday. She’s having some side effects. But, at least, her nausea is not too bad. She’ll be on a schedule of receiving one dose a week for two weeks, and then one week off, then back to two weeks on, and one off, and so forth. So it sounds to me like this is a more aggressive approach than before. As always, there are unknowns, unknown side effects and even whether this new drug will be effective. Let’s pray.

[PRAYER – 16:03]
Our heavenly Father, you are holy and righteous and just. You are merciful and faithful. You are the Creator of all that is and you are our strength and our refuge. And you love us. There is none like You. We thank you for inviting us into your presence Father, for inviting us to bring our needs to you for hearing us when we pray.

And now Father, I lift up Kathi and Del to you. I ask that you’d be with them and bring peace to their hearts. I know that Del’s worried about Kathi. I pray, God, that you would calm his heart. And I ask that you would bring healing to Kathi. I know that you’ve got a plan for her, and I know that your plan, your will, for her is perfect. I trust you and so do Del and Kathi, but I am asking that your will would be for her healing. I pray this in Jesus’ name, and we will give you the glory.

I thank You, Lord for each one joining me in prayer right now. And I ask you to bless them, you know each need and I ask that you would work in your perfect, loving way in each life. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Wednesday will be our next time to share. Is God doing something special in your life? Are there blessings in your life? Tell me about them. Is there something that you’d like the Lifespring family to pray for? For either praises or prayer requests go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com. This really is a great opportunity to publicly give thanks to God for his work in your life or for us as a family to bring our requests to him, prayer.lifespringmedia.com.

[OUTRO S12E015 – 17:48]
Thanks to the team Sister Kirsty who does the newsletter, Brother Sean of San Pedro who does the chapters, and Sister Denise corrects the transcripts.

Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Thanks for inviting me into your day. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript corrected by Denise