TODAY IN THE WORD

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: John 7:25-36
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. - John 6:68
TODAY IN THE WORD
Abraham Lincoln is generally considered the greatest and most popular American president--but you wouldn’t know it from his time in office. One writer says, “No President has been vilified the way Lincoln was during the Civil War. He was attacked on all sides.... From the day of his inauguration to the day of his assassination, the invective was unrelenting.” Lincoln himself said, “I have endured a great deal of ridicule, without much malice, and have received a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to it.”

Jesus endured a firestorm of opposition and ridicule from His enemies too. Jesus did nothing wrong to invite mistreatment. In fact, the thing that angered Jesus’ enemies more than anything was His claim to be Israel’s Messiah.

This issue of Messiahship came to the forefront several times during the Lord’s ministry. Today and tomorrow we’ll look at the confrontation recorded in John 7. We’re breaking into the story at verse 25 because it was here that some of the people in Jerusalem began to wonder out loud if Jesus really could be the Messiah. After all, He was speaking out on the temple grounds (v. 14) and the authorities weren’t trying to arrest Him.

But most of the crowd wasn’t on the verge of believing in Christ. They thought they knew who Jesus was because they knew He was from Nazareth. But they didn’t really know Jesus at all. When He pointed that out, the crowd got mad and tried to seize Him.

The Pharisees and the other leaders were already worried about Jesus and the stir He was causing. But they became even more concerned when they heard some people whispering their belief in Christ (vv. 31-32). The only logical way the Jewish people could believe in Christ was to reject the nation’s religious establishment--and the Pharisees weren’t going to stand by and let Jesus take over.

So the temple guards were sent out on the first formal attempt to arrest Jesus. He responded by challenging the people of Israel to believe on Him while there was still time. After He was gone, they would look for their Messiah but not find Him.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Each generation only has a “short time” (v. 33) to make its decision about Jesus Christ.

The gospel is a two-sided message in this regard. Today is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2) and the invitation is open to whoever will come. But we don’t have any guarantee about tomorrow. Let’s pray for lost family members and friends with a sense of urgency, taking advantage of opportunities to point them to Christ.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: John 7:37-52
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. - John 7:38
TODAY IN THE WORD
Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Abraham Lincoln as president, was the target of tremendous abuse during his pre-Civil War days as a senator from Tennessee. Johnson was a Southerner who opposed secession--not a very popular stand to take. On his way home from Washington after Lincoln’s inauguration, Johnson was attacked by a mob in Virginia that dragged him from his train and was about to hang him, until an old man convinced the crowd to let him go. Johnson was shot and hung in effigy in several cities, and was jeered and threatened wherever he went. But he stuck to his position.

What a pointed reminder that anyone who moves against the tide of emotion and popular opinion heads toward danger. Jesus encountered this kind of hostility for the “offense” of presenting Himself as Israel’s long-awaited Messiah.

The nation’s religious leaders were blinded to the truth by their jealousy and their devotion to tradition, and their hostile reaction set the tone for the people’s response. The tragedy of this angry reaction was that so many people missed the Lord’s gracious invitation to enjoy eternal satisfaction in Him (vv. 37-39).

Jesus’ offer of living water, coming as it did on the climactic day of the Feast of Tabernacles, stirred up the argument about Him again. Some were ready to admit He was the Messiah, while others confidently ruled that out because (they thought) Jesus didn’t come from the line of David.

The temple guards’ reaction to Jesus gives us an idea of what it must have been like to hear the Son of God speak. They went with orders to arrest Him, but were too captivated by what He said to bring Him in (vv. 45-46).

The whole scene disgusted the Pharisees. They arrogantly assumed that they were far too educated to be taken in by some impostor from a backwater town in Galilee. Their contempt for the ordinary people is disturbing, since they were supposed to lead the people and teach them God’s law.

Even Nicodemus, a respected leader, was ridiculed for trying to defend Jesus’ right to be heard. The Messiah and His message were decisively voted down.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Jesus promised that those who believe in Him would enjoy a continual flow of “living water” to satisfy their spiritual thirst.

This certainly includes salvation, but that’s not where it ends. God is always ready to satisfy our thirst to know Him. The only question is how thirsty we really are. If you had to rate your daily desire for intimacy with God on a scale of one to ten, where would you place it?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: John 10:22-30
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. - John 10:27
TODAY IN THE WORD
Two months after Jesus’ confrontation with the leaders and people of Israel

(Jn. 7), He was back in Jerusalem for the wintertime Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah as it is known today. And once again, He was cornered by those who were looking for an excuse to arrest and condemn Him.

The crowd literally “closed in” on Jesus (v. 24), asking Him what seemed like a straightforward question. Why wouldn’t He just come out in front of the whole nation and say plainly, “I am the Messiah”?

Jesus did demonstrate who He was, but not in the way His critics wanted. One reason He didn’t give the Jews the answer they were looking for was that He knew it would be misunderstood. The people had tried to force Him to be their kind of Messiah once before (Jn. 6:15), and Jesus didn’t want to fuel that mania.

Besides, the evidence He had given them should have been enough to win their trust. The Lord had told Israel more than once that He had come from the Father (Jn. 8:16-19), and His miracles (literally, “signs”) spoke volumes. No one but Messiah could do what He did--and the miracles were given for the specific purpose of serving as signs pointing to Messiah.

But none of that impressed the crowd because they did not belong to Christ. Jesus’ ministry divided people into two camps-– it is impossible to be neutral about Him.

Every Israelite in Jesus’ day had to answer His question, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” (Matt. 22:42). These people thought Jesus was the one faced with a difficult decision, but it was the other way around. It’s the same today too. Our eternal destiny hinges on our answer to Jesus’ question.

Jesus drew a line across eternity and said to His accusers, “You are not my sheep” (v. 26). Then He made a wonderful statement about the security of those who do belong to Him.

There’s an interplay here between God’s activity and human choice. We are responsible to believe, but no one comes to Christ except those whom God draws (Jn. 6:44). We can thank God that He has opened our eyes to the truth.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The people in John 10 tried to deflect the real issue, their decision about Christ, by changing the subject.

People often do the same thing today when we share Christ with them. One way you can handle a hard or distracting question, and keep the discussion focused on Christ, is to say, “I don’t have the answer to that question right now, but I’ll try and get it for you. In the meantime, I want to tell you about Jesus.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 16:13-20
You are the Christ, the son of the living God. - Matthew 16:16
TODAY IN THE WORD
One of the mysteries of the Messiah was the way He revealed, and yet sought to conceal, His identity during His time on earth. We can see both of these elements in today’s reading.

Matthew 16:16 is one of the most famous statements in the New Testament. Peter got it absolutely right in terms of Jesus’ identity, and the Lord blessed him for it. But at the same “retreat” in the northern part of Israel, Jesus warned the disciples not to tell anyone He was the Messiah (v. 20).

He also told people on several occasions to keep quiet about what He had done (Matt. 8:4; Mk. 1:44). And when demons identified Jesus as “the Holy One of God,” He ordered them to be quiet (Mk. 1:24-25). What was going on here?

The difference between Peter’s confession and these other incidents goes back to God’s purpose in sending the Messiah. There’s no doubt that Jesus came the first time to present Himself to Israel as its promised Messiah, Savior, and King. But God also knew that His Son would be denied, despised, and crucified by a nation deadened to spiritual truth through sin and years of empty religious tradition.

So Jesus chose not to expose Himself unnecessarily to the ridicule, unbelief, and misconceptions of people with hardened hearts. His words and miraculous works were enough to show anyone who was paying attention that He was the Christ of God. But to those who didn’t have spiritual ears to hear, Jesus’ parables hid the truth (Mk. 4:11-12).

This is why Jesus refused to acknowledge His identity to the crowds who were looking for the wrong kind of Messiah. It would be like giving what is sacred to dogs, or throwing His pearls before pigs (Matt. 7:6). Their attitude was, “Show us a good trick, a miracle, and we’ll believe.” Jesus knew better.

But to those who believed in Him, Jesus gladly revealed who He is. Peter’s confession became the rock on which the church was built, and Peter was given authority to open the kingdom to both Jews and Gentiles--which he did at Pentecost in Acts 2 and at the house of Cornelius in Acts 10. Anyone who is willing to believe the truth about Christ will find it.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Here’s an important principle from Jesus: “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether My teaching comes from God or whether I speak on My own” (Jn. 7:17).

In God’s program, obedience always comes before insight. This principle holds true for believers too. The growth of our spiritual understanding will be determined by our commitment to obey the truth we know. Today, why not clear away any obstacles that may be keeping you from obeying God?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 26:57-66
In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven. - Matthew 26:64
TODAY IN THE WORD
One thing we learn in Scripture is that the reaction of people to Jesus the Messiah ran the gamut from humble worship to furious violence.

Consider the prophets who revealed so many details of the Messiah’s person and ministry. They were clearly in awe of this Mighty One who would perfectly fulfill God’s law, redeem Israel, and become the Savior of all mankind.

Prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah must have been puzzled at times as they wrote about things far in the future which no one had ever witnessed. Peter even indicates that these servants longed to look ahead and see the unfolding of their prophecies (see tomorrow’s study). The prophets were faithful to record every detail of the revelations they were given under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration.

The people of Israel in Jesus’ day were an interesting mixture. The passages we have read over the past few days show people reacting to Jesus with everything from open ridicule to hesitant faith.

Israel’s religious leaders were another story. They did little more than yawn when they found out that the “King of the Jews” had been born in the unimportant village of Bethlehem (Matt. 2:1-6). But that indifference quickly escalated to hostility when Jesus presented Himself as Israel’s Messiah-King.

Their full fury fell on the Lord at the trials that preceded His crucifixion. Jesus’ trial before the high priest Caiaphas wasn’t even good legal procedure. The witnesses had no evidence against Christ, so they blatantly lied.

But here’s the interesting thing. After guarding His identity from unbelievers, Jesus readily confessed to the high priest that He was the Messiah.

Jesus was just hours from His death. There was no reason to be concerned about the nation reacting to Him in the wrong way. It was more important that the high priest and those on the Jewish council understand exactly who it was they were condemning to death. They were crucifying God’s Messiah and Son!
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
If we’re honest, we’ll have to admit that sometimes our response to the Lord ranges from worship and obedience to indifference.

But our commitment at Today in the Word is to help you follow the Lord in loving, obedient, and growing fellowship. Why not find time today for a short “retreat” with your Lord, a time where you can worship and adore Him?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 13:16-17; 1 Peter 1:10-12
Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. - Matthew 13:16
TODAY IN THE WORD
Corrie ten Boom left a legacy as the heroine of The Hiding Place, who helped her father and her sister Betsie hide Jews from the Nazis in their home in Holland during World War II. Betsie died in the Ravensbruck concentration camp where she and Corrie were imprisoned before Corrie was released on a clerical error. Corrie ten Boom, who lived to be ninety-one and touched millions of lives around the world, once said she wished Betsie could have lived to see the way God used their horrible suffering to reach so many people for Christ.

Aside from their circumstances, the ten Boom sisters help to illustrate the relationship between the Old Testament prophets and believers on this side of the cross. Peter said that those who spoke prophetically of the Messiah’s ministry longed to know the “glories that would follow” the sufferings of the Messiah (1 Pet. 1:11).

Isaiah and the other prophets recorded God’s Word so that we could sit down every day and read all about the Messiah’s person and work. We benefit today from what theologians call the progress of revelation--a blessing we can’t afford to take lightly.

Jesus put things in a little different light in Matthew 13 when He contrasted the disciples’ blessing with the spiritual dullness and lack of understanding on the part of those who refuse to believe. In other words, we’re not only blessed to have the whole revelation of God. We need to respond to the truth we have.

Maybe you never stopped to consider that you know things about Jesus Christ that a person like Jeremiah or Isaiah would have given anything to know. When you hear the message about Christ clearly and faithfully taught, you’re hearing truth that some of the most righteous people in the Old Testament never heard.

We’re privileged, to say the least. Where the prophets saw only glimpses of Messiah’s coming, we enjoy the benefits of Christ’s first coming as we eagerly await His return!
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
When we realize the treasure we have in Scripture, we understand why it’s so important to make sure that we pass God’s truth along to our children and grandchildren.

You may be in the process of raising your own children, or offering support and help to parents as a grandparent, relative, or friend. Whatever opportunity you have to help teach God’s Word to the next generation, be encouraged to know that your efforts are very important, and will make a lasting difference.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Revelation 1:1-18
I am the First and the Last. I am the living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! - Revelation 1:17-18
TODAY IN THE WORD
The more than two million limestone blocks used to build the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt were cut at various quarries and brought to the site by workers, then hauled up into place by other workers. The pyramid was originally covered by a layer of white casing stones cut with such precision that from a distance, the huge pyramid looked like it was cut from a single stone. Even without the casing stones, the Great Pyramid is one of the most impressive buildings ever constructed.

The Holy Spirit did some very impressive “construction work” of His own in giving the apostle John a vision of the risen Messiah, Jesus Christ. This is an amazing passage which brings together many of the images of Messiah from the Old Testament and the Gospels. The picture becomes complete when He is revealed riding out of heaven on a white horse (Rev. 19, our study for tomorrow).

In today’s passage, verse 5 alone gives us at least four descriptions of the Messiah in His glory. Jesus Christ is the “faithful witness” (see Isa. 55:4) who brings God’s Word to the nations, the “firstborn from the dead” in resurrection, and the King who rules over the earth. Best of all, He is the Savior whose death has “freed us from our sins.”

It just keeps getting better too. The book of Revelation is the story of Christ’s triumphant return, the day of salvation and vindication His people have longed for since the time of the patriarchs.

The particular focus of this first vision is Christ’s relationship to the church, which He bought with His own blood and of which He is the Head. Christ appeared to John for the purpose of delivering His message to the church. That’s why John saw an awe-inspiring figure moving among seven lampstands, symbolic of the seven churches.

This was Jesus Christ, of course, dressed as a Priest, with white hair symbolizing wisdom and blazing eyes representing piercing discernment and judgment. He also held the keys of death and Hades. Here is a picture of unquestioned authority, Christ preparing to speak to His church.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
John was so overcome by this vision of Christ he fell down in holy fear and worshiped at Jesus’ feet.

We tend to think of things like this as something that happened back in “Bible times.” But remember John was seeing Jesus Christ as He really is today in His majesty and authority. Maybe it’s time for the church in the twenty-first century to recapture the “fear of the Lord” that leads to holy living and authentic worship. Let’s pray for this today.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Revelation 19:1-21
Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great! - Revelation 19:5
TODAY IN THE WORD
If you were offered the choice between attending the most lavish wedding in history, or the most terrifying war ever unleashed on the earth, how long would it take you to decide?

That’s not a hypothetical question. One of these two events is in the future for every person, because Jesus the Messiah is coming back as the Bridegroom of His church and the Judge of the world. Revelation 19 presents these stunning contrasts side by side as history and prophecy climax in the second coming.

Messiah’s return will be a time of both vengeance and celebration. Every act of evil will be judged, and every righteous person who has suffered injustice at the hands of the wicked will be vindicated. Christ’s judgment is a cause for rejoicing in heaven. This is a victory of righteousness over evil that creation has been groaning for since Adam and Eve sinned (Rom. 8:19-23).

Notice the reaction of the saints and the world to Christ’s return. The saints have been eagerly waiting and watching for Him to come. His bride, the church, “has made herself ready” (v. 7). It’s time for the wedding feast of Christ!

But those who have rejected Christ are not included in the wedding and will instead gear up for war against Christ. He will ride out of heaven on the white horse of a conquering general to take on the armies of earth, under the command and control of the antichrist (v. 19).

The battle of Armageddon will then take place--but notice that even before it begins, Jesus is already described as the absolute victor who smashes His enemies and takes control (v. 15). The outcome is never in doubt.

What a sobering picture of God’s wrath poured out on sin!

As believers, we’re looking forward to a wedding, not a war. Christ’s return and rule are not to be missed. Let’s make sure we are ready to meet Him ourselves, and are doing everything we can to bring others with us.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The angel’s command to John, “Worship God!” (v. 10) seems like a good place to end this study.

Some wonderful things begin to happen when we learn how to live in a daily attitude of worship before God. First, we will get our own lives in line because the Holy Spirit has the freedom to search us and make God’s will known to us. Second, we will begin to see other people and situations through God’s eyes--which does wonders for a Christian’s prayer life! Ask God to help you develop the mindset of a worshiper.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Luke 20:20-21:38
They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. - Luke 20:26
TODAY IN THE WORD
Thomas Jefferson once said about politics, “Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.” Such was the condition of the Pharisees' behavior.

Having long abandoned any true commitment to their responsibilities as religious leaders, the heads in the Jewish community were striving for political control alone by the time Jesus came to Jerusalem.

We read yesterday of two instances in which Luke describes the Pharisees' concern for Jesus' popularity (19:48; 20:19). Today we read about covert attempts to discredit Him in the eyes of people, indict Him in the eyes of the government, and even diminish the esteem that other religious leaders had for Him. All the while, though, Jesus continued to faithfully teach the Word of God.

Luke's account makes it clear that the spies expected Jesus' answer to incriminate Him. Nothing in Jesus' teaching in the Gospels would suggest He opposed taxation, so it's likely that the greedy Pharisees secretly condemned paying taxes to Caesar. They supposed Jesus would brazenly denounce the practice. But Jesus didn't share the Pharisees' obsession with money.

He directed His followers to give to God that which was God's—their very being which bore His image. The widow, whose poverty may have been deepened by the money-grubbing Pharisees (20:47), is the ultimate model of giving all to God.

The Sadducees tried a different, although equally ineffective, tactic. They thought Jesus' belief in the resurrection would make a mockery of Jewish legal practices, discrediting Him and embarrassing the Pharisees. The deceitful spies tried to back Jesus into a corner, but Jesus trumped them by teaching truth, and He continued to do so every morning (21:38).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Jesus promised that the world would face chaos before His return and believers would face persecution. But His direction to His disciples is one that we should heed as well: stand firm. As the world manufactures archeological theories in attempts to disprove Scripture and discredit believers, don't allow their attacks to dishearten you. Don't allow their contentious debates to prevent you from presenting the truth of the gospel and ask God to give you the words (21:15).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Luke 22:1-38
I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. - Luke 22:15
TODAY IN THE WORD
When Jesus sent out the twelve disciples in chapter 9, and later the seventy-two in chapter 10, He instructed them to leave behind the traditional equipment for travel. God provided for them through people who believed in Jesus. When they faced rejection, they were free to move on to the next town with little or no heavy opposition. It was as if the disciples were in no danger at all. After the Last Supper, Jesus told them, the mood of safety was about to change.

After tempting Jesus for forty days, Satan left until a more opportune time (4:13). Although his minions had approached Jesus many times, Satan's entry into Judas was Satan's next major attack, and it brought perilous results. The plotting between Satan, Judas, and the Pharisees gave them the opportunity to arrest Jesus without an outcry from the masses.

But at this point, nothing was a surprise to Jesus. He knew every last detail that would transpire, from the fact that a seemingly random servant would lead His disciples to a place furnished for them, to His betrayal at the hands of Judas. He knew that He would suffer, and He attempted to brace the Twelve for what would happen. The disciples responded with a severe case of selective hearing.

Jesus said He wouldn't eat the Passover again until the kingdom was in place; the disciples thought that might be days away. He said one of them would betray Him; they worried only about the identity of the traitor with no apparent concern for the outcome of the betrayal. He stressed genuine service; they wondered who would be greatest. He said Peter would deny Him; Peter denied the possibility. He told them a fight was coming; they assumed they could win with a pair of swords. The disciples just weren't grasping what Jesus was saying, and the point arrived when Jesus simply had to say, “That is enough.” They would soon find out that everything would be exactly as Jesus had said and exactly the opposite of what they had thought.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The beginning of the disciples' misunderstanding was rooted in their selfish ambition for their own glory. Don't allow personal desires to cloud what God is saying to you. When we employ selective hearing, we can manipulate Scripture to boost our confidence in misguided attitudes and foolish decisions. Seek God's heart before you try to determine God's will. When the Holy Spirit is guiding your desires, your decisions will follow God's plan.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Romans 1:1-17
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. - Romans 1:16
TODAY IN THE WORD
Dr. Joseph Stowell says that even though centuries have passed since it was written, “Paul’s letter to the Romans still resonates with explosive power. Tradition tells us that Chrysostom requested that Romans be read to him every week. [Romans] so challenged Martin Luther that it sparked the Reformation. Coleridge pointed to Romans as the most profound book in existence.”

This month we will study Paul’s powerful letter to “all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” (v. 7). Here’s an outline of the book that captures the basic flow of Paul’s thought:

1. Introduction and Theme, 1:1-17

2. Our Need for Righteousness, 1:18-3:20

3. God’s Provision of Righteousness, 3:21-5:21

4. Our Need to Grow in Christ, 6:1-8:39

5. God’s Righteous Dealings with Israel, 9:1-11:36

6. The Practice of Righteousness, 12:1-15:13

7. Closing Greetings and Messages, 15:14-16:27

The opening verses of Romans give us some key information about the believers in Rome, Paul’s relationship to them, and his reasons for writing this letter. As the capital of the empire, Rome was a predominantly Gentile city with a Jewish minority. We don’t know for certain how the Roman church began. Maybe the “visitors from Rome” (Acts 2:10) in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost were saved and took their faith home.

Paul had not yet been to Rome to visit these Christians (vv. 8-13), although such a trip was high on his list of ministry priorities (see Acts 19:21). His personal greetings in Romans 15 show that he already knew many of the believers there.

From verse 1 it’s obvious that Paul had one all-consuming subject to communicate to the Romans: “the gospel of God.” Paul’s calling as an apostle to the Gentiles was a mandate to preach the gospel of salvation in Christ alone.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
At Today in the Word, we believe each day spent studying Scripture is a “divine appointment” with God. We often hear from readers who tell how the devotional helped meet a specific need in their lives.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Romans 1:18-32
Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities––his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen. - Romans 1:20
TODAY IN THE WORD
Author and Bible teacher Tony Evans writes, “Imagine a person who is found guilty of theft. The judge asks the defendant if he has anything to say before the sentence is pronounced. The guilty party responds, 'Your honor, I have never killed anyone. I have obeyed the traffic laws. I love my children and am devoted to my wife.’

“The judge will respond, 'Those things are nice, but they are irrelevant to this court. You are being sentenced for the theft you committed.’ ”

Paul says the entire human race is in the same predicament as this imaginary criminal. In fact, the illustration begins to break down when it comes to human guilt before God, because we don’t have any good works to offer Him. Our best deeds are “filthy rags” in God’s sight (Isa. 64:6).

The second half of Romans 1 is one of the most bluntly honest and accurate descriptions of sinful human beings ever written. Paul told the truth about our sinfulness as he began building his case for God’s verdict: “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Rom. 3:10). We can’t appreciate the magnitude of God’s gift in Christ if we don’t understand the extent of our need for forgiveness.

However, the world rejects God’s verdict against sin for the very reason Paul explains in these verses. Sinful men and women willfully suppress, or “hold down,” the truth about God and themselves because they don’t want to acknowledge that God’s judgment against sin is right.

People sin because they want to, and they choose to deny God. These willful choices lead to further blindness and ignorance to the extent that some people end up worshiping the creation instead of the Creator. And because sin exerts a strong downward pull, denying God’s truth opens the door to actions that become increasingly wicked.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Nothing shows our humanness more than our innate tendency to excuse our sins and shortcomings.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Romans 2:1-16
To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, [God] will give eternal life. - Romans 2:7
TODAY IN THE WORD
As a teenager, C. S. Lewis abandoned his nominal Christian beliefs to become an atheist. But God pursued the young scholar as he matured, and Lewis wrote of feeling “the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly did not desire to meet.” One night in 1929, Lewis “gave in and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed.”

The young C. S. Lewis would probably fit into the category of people Paul addressed in the opening verses of today’s reading. We could call these people moralists, those who feel they are doing just fine in life, but who are devoid of God’s saving grace.

In Romans 2, Paul narrowed his focus from the human race as a whole to certain groups. He knew a morally sensitive person might read 1:18-32 and say, “That certainly doesn’t apply to me. I don’t practice that kind of perversion.” But people who depend on their own goodness to please God need Christ just as much as those who proudly display their wickedness.

Paul shows us why human standards of goodness fall so far short of God’s standards. First, we aren’t consistent even when we’re applying our own guidelines. That’s why Paul accused the moralist of doing the same things he condemned in others.

Second, the only way we can be acceptable to God is by meeting His criteria of goodness, not ours. God does not judge on the basis of appearances, or according to fickle human standards. Instead, God’s judgment is based on truth (v. 2), which means He evaluates us according to His righteous character. By that measurement, no one is justified in His sight.

God’s judgment is also impartial (vv. 5-11). Paul’s reference “to the Jew first” doesn’t mean that Jews receive preference. The apostle goes on to argue that the Jews did not keep the law. By referring to Jews and Gentiles, Paul means God would judge everyone in due time without “favoritism” (v. 11).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We all know people who live upright lives and trust their personal moral code to satisfy God.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Romans 2:17-29
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. - James 1:22
TODAY IN THE WORD
A nationwide survey taken just before Thanksgiving last year indicated that one-fourth of all Americans believe they are descended from the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony--even though the actual number of Pilgrim descendants makes this impossible. Apparently, many people want to believe they are related to the brave souls who came to America on the Mayflower, survived the harsh New World, and celebrated the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

Most people would be proud of the fact that they have a noble ancestry. Take the Jews, for example. They have a unique and rich spiritual heritage. God reached down and chose Israel out of all the nations on earth to be His covenant people. He gave the Israelites the law, the sign of circumcision, and the blessing of His covenant promises. If any people could claim a special relationship with God and exemption from His condemnation of the human race, it would be the Jews.

Paul knew that most of his fellow Jews believed they inherited a special position with God. And the apostle didn’t deny that being a member of God’s covenant nation had advantages (he says so in 3:1). In fact, in verses 17-20 Paul named at least eight ways in which the Jews benefited from their unique heritage as the recipients of God’s law.

But there was a problem. While many Jews tended to look down on the Gentiles as uncircumcised, spiritually ignorant pagans, the Jews themselves were not keeping the law they professed to follow (vv. 21-24). Their disobedience had become a scandal even among the Gentiles.

The Jews didn’t understand that (as Paul would argue later in Romans) the law was not given to save anyone, but to show the awfulness of sin. Since that was true, Jews needed to face the same reality as Gentiles: they stood condemned as sinners in the sight of God (cf. Rom. 3:9).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Moses expressed the goal of God’s law when he wrote, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Romans 3:1-20
There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. - Romans 3:10-11
TODAY IN THE WORD
Bible teacher Chuck Swindoll says there is a lot of confusion about the biblical doctrine of depravity, the idea that human beings are totally sinful by nature and have nothing within them that can satisfy a holy and just God. Swindoll offers this helpful clarification: “Depravity doesn’t mean we’re as bad as we can be. It means we’re as bad off as we can be.”

That’s a very good summary of Paul’s argument in Romans 1:18--3:20, the section we’re finishing today. The apostle recognizes that not all sinners are equally depraved in expressing their sinful nature. While some people may practice gross sexual immorality or idolatry, for example, others live by a strict moral standard.

But the end result of God’s judgment is the same for all people. The human heart has been corrupted by sin, and there is no hope for redemption apart from Jesus Christ.

Paul didn’t want his Jewish readers to think he was dismissing the blessings of Judaism. Not at all. The Jews had the tremendous advantage of being “entrusted with the very words of God” (v. 2). But the apostle points out that Israel had proved unfaithful to this trust, and the Jews came under the same judgment as Gentiles.

Beginning in verse 5, Paul turns to one of his favorite techniques for dealing with objections to his teaching. He anticipated a reader’s hypothetical question and answered it immediately. The first objection or charge is that God is unfair in judging the Jews.

That can’t be, Paul answers, because if God were unjust in dealing with His chosen people, He would be unfit to judge the world--and that is impossible given God’s holy nature.

Someone else might argue that if human sin only makes God’s glory shine brighter, why does God turn around and judge sinners when they are actually helping Him? In other words, people ought to be allowed to do evil because good will come from it (v. .
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
This is an intense section of Scripture that doesn’t leave us with any illusions about the depth of human sin.