Romans chapter 6, sanctification and salvation in the life of the Christian, illustrated from Leviticus chapter 14 and the cleansing of the leper. Three men, David, Abraham and Moses, 3 deaths, Christ, self and the Old Man, the doctrine of propitiation and expiation and justification by faith and living life in the light of the sanctuary, Romans 8, the altar Romans 12 and the congregation in Romans chapters 13 to 16.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Romans chapter 6 lies as a valley of decision between the two mountains of the death of Jesus in Romans chapter 3 for our sin and the new life of Jesus to be lived by the Christian in Romans chapters 6 to 8 and chapter 12 till the end. Up until Romans 6 we have been impacted by the death of 3 men: Death of Jesus for sin in Romans chapter 3 Death of Self to sin in Romans 6 Death of the old man in Romans 6 The challenge now is to be what we are and not to fall between the gaps of what God has made us in Christ and how we live for Christ. Do not fall between the gaps of deliverance and destiny, like the nation of Israel in the wilderness. Romans chapter 8 takes us to the sanctuary experience of the new life in Christ Romans chapter 12 takes us to the altar experience of the new life in Christ. Romans chapters 14 to 16 takes me to the assembly or church experience of the new life in Christ. Here is your new life in Christ, live your best Christian life now.
The cross of the Lord Jesus secures the finished work of salvation. Jesus has paid the price for sin, dying for sin and dying to sin. That same cross work of Jesus brings about a transfer of ownership, of Lordship from Adam to Jesus. It is now Jesus who is our head, our Lord, our Master. The old man was crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed that we should no longer serve sin. The typical picture of this truth is found in Joshua chapter 10 as Joshua heads out to defeat the 5 kings of the Amorites, headed by Adonizedek king of Jerusalem. The victory is secured by Joshua, the people of God now enter into their inheritance by claiming the spoils of war and possessing that which is vacated to them. The victory of God's people is sure and certain.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
The meaning and issues of baptism have significance and consequences forever. Our baptism by immersion into water symbolise our death to sin with Jesus, our burial and resurrection into new life in Jesus Christ. The qualification for baptism rests in the truth that baptism was first Christ's. As Christians we follow Jesus through those waters. This was first His baptism into death, burial and resurrection. We reference the practice of the Anabaptists, baptism by immersion, reference the error of baptismal regeneration and we see how our baptism declares our commitment to live for Jesus in newness of life.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
New Cumnock
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? The interpretation of Romans chapter 6 verse 2 is one of the most contested verses in the book of Romans if not the New Testament! What does Paul mean by this? Is the Christian immune from the power or influence of sin? Is sin no longer attractive to the Christian? Is the Christian no longer responsible for his sin? In this bible teaching message from Romans chapter 6 we present the case that Romans chapter 6 verse 2 and our death to sin is the condition for entry into the presence of God. Death is the personal consequence of sin rather than the judicial consequence of sin which we find in Romans chapter 3. This is the condition of entry back to Eden, back to God fulfilled in Jesus Christ who died our death that we might be raised into the life of Jesus. This is a truth pictured in baptism by immersion, referenced in Romans chapter 6 verse 4.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
The righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life, Romans chapter 5 verse 18. Why is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God so important? Why is it significant that it was the eternal Son of God who died for us at the cross of Calvary? The righteousness of Jesus is the subject in the bible of: Angels desire it - angels desired to look into it God demands it - only the righteousness of Christ is sufficient to sustain and survive the righteous wrath of God against sin The security if my salvation depends upon His righteousness.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
In Adam's fall we sinned all.
Death as the product of sin is not purely explicable in terms of individual personal sin. Personally committed sins and personal guilt is insufficient to explain the death of the innocent, the unborn nor the death and loss of the infant. Personal individual sin was not the cause of death reigning from Adam to Moses. In the pre law period of Adam to Moses God condemned humanity generically by flood in the days of Noah, by fire and flame in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, by famine in the days of Joseph and in the death of the firstborn in the days of Pharoah and the Exodus. This reign of death was the consequence not only of imparted sin and death but also as the consequence of imputed guilt and condemnation. It is this imputation of guilt and condemnation by contamination or association with Adam that is the corollary to justification by faith in Jesus. If my relationship with Adam brings death, how much more would my relationship with Jesus bring me righteousness, life and imputed justification.
Romans chapter 5 verses 12 to 17
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Romans chapter 5 verse 12 holds the key to understanding justification by faith, the declaration or imputation of God's righteousness which comes the believer by faith alone. Such a bold claim in the gospel seems strange and hard to grasp and yet it is founded on one of the the most common experiences of human existance, that of death. Just as in receiving the nature of Adam we receive with this his death and his sin, so too in receiving Christ, in being in Christ we receive a new nature and with it life and righteosness. That old nature was condemned in Adam and thus remains condemned when we receive it. The new nature is justified in Christ and remains justified when we receive it! In Adams fall we sinned all.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Bible Teaching From Romans
At times we can slip into unbelief. If there is a God then why is there so much hurt and hurting the in world? If God is real and if God is love why do I suffer? Why are there so many problems in the world if God is a God of love. Romans chapter 5 verse 8 takes us to the proof of the love of God, to the cross of Jesus Christ where God demonstrated and proved teh reality of His love towards us, a love we dare not miss. Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Joy and The Meaning of Life, Glory Transfused by Hope. Joy as a Christian is no small matter! Joy is glory transfused by hope (Romans chpater 5 vs 2). God's righteousness permeates the gospel in its entirety. The righteousness of God is demonstarted in His dealings with the sinner, justified by grace, in His own character as a righteous judge and in the dealings of God with Jesus, the Son, raised from the dead, justified in the Spirit and now glorified eternally in and by His people. Had the righteousness of God been compromised at Calvary, catastrophy would have ensued, the two on the road to Emmaus would have been right in their despair and depression, Satan, death and sin would have won. Do not judge God by a point in time! Judged God (if you must) by the point of time! Romans chapter 5 bible teaching from the Bridgend Gospel Hall, New Cumnock.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Happiness and joy may not be as far away as you think. For the two on the Road to Emmaus in Luke chapter 24, joy was only 7 miles down the road. Joy is to be found uniquely and supremely in Christ. On the road to Emmaus we learn the secret of the joy that is ours in Jesus (Romans chapter 5 verse 11) in the walk, the word and the worship of Jesus.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
It was when we were without strength in due time, at the right season, Christ died for the ungodly. Divine opportunity transects human crisis. Opportunity arises from Divine Decree, Personal Decision and thus human destiny. Romans chapter 5 verse 6 presents the primary and preeminent season of opportunity, that of Christ, His cross and salvation. In moments of crisis Elisha a prophet was anointed, in days of crisis, Samuel a priest was ordained and against the background of crisis David the king arose. Opportunity comes in the crisis of God's moments of purpose, don't miss them.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Hope does not make ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Ghost. Here in our grief and suffering is God's greatest grace, grief that brings me to grace that brings me to Glory.
J Stewart Gillespie
Romans chapter 5 verse 2 brings us to the first consequence of God's great salvation in Jesus Christ. Propitiation brings us into the blessings of expiation, the removal of guilt and justification, the covering of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Now enjoying peace with God, I have access in the name and with the authority of the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ. This brings me into the powerful blessing of prayer, transforming Grief to Glory.
Romans chapter 5 verses 1 to 5, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. How God transforms our grief to glory by His Grace. God's transforming grace as seen in the life of Esther.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Having bought His children with the blood of the Son of God on the cross, when we were yet sinners we can depend upon our God to not let us down now though the trials, afflictions, tribulations and problems of life. God's Grace is sufficient for the trials of the Christian, opening up for us God's Sovereign Power, prayer and access to God. It is through the trials and afflictions of the Christian life that God brings us to be what we ought to be, living reflections of the Glory of God.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Abraham was not only a man of faith, Abraham was a great man if faith. In Romans chapter 4 he becomes the father of all the faithful, not only the patriach of a nation, Israel but the patriach of the faithful! In Abraham's journey of faith he grasped 3 great truths: Trusted in the the Promises of God Rested in the Power of God Looked for the Glory of God Abraham appreciated that God's plans and purposes for us are not for us to fulfill or make happen, but rather they are called into being by God. The provision of the promised land, the abundance for the beseiged city of Samaria in 2 Kings was not a prvision of our making or doing. As believers we are called into what God Himself has done and provided, resting in faith in the one who provides this great and abundant provision rather than in the provision itself. Romans chapter 4, Abraham the father of the faithful.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Romans is in essence Paul's answer to a number of serious questions. Is it fair that some are judged never having heard the gospel? The answer is found in Romans chapters 1 to 3. Is justification by faith a new teaching, a new idea from Paul? The answer is found in Romans chapter 4. How can I know I am saved if I do not feel like I am saved? Romans chapter 7 contains that answer. Here in Romans chapter 4 we have the answer to the question, why does God save by faith. The reason for salvation by faith alone is that it is the only means to rest in God's infinite Grace. Since salvation is all of Grace then salvation is for the Glory of God alone. Dr J Stewart Gillespie
The story of Abrahams journey from failure and the flesh to faith and justification is an inspiring one. Like many of our journeys, Abrahams began with failure! His world at times fell apart. It was faith in his God that moved Abraham forward into covenant blessing in Genesis 15. Justification by faith was his by resting in a finished work, already complete rather than attempting to keep the law and establish his own righteousness. Like Noah, Daniel and Job Abrahams righteousness was his by resting in the Lord.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Romans chapter 4 verse 1 and Genesis chapters 14 and 15 recount the life changing decision made by Abraham to find the fullness of joy, hope and satisfication by rejecting the world, letting go of all the things he could get and resting in God Himself. Beyond all that he found he could get in this world, what he really needed was God. It was Melchizedek, a type or picture of Jesus who prepared Abraham for that fateful encounter and empowered him to make the right decision when he encountered the king of Sodom, refusing the goods of Sodom and moving ultimately forward in faith, resting in his God. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness. Abraham was amongst the very first to enjoy the blessing of justification by faith.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Systematic teaching from Romans
Justification boy Faith is traced back to Abraham in Romans chapter 4. Abraham discovered that salvation was by Faith and not by the flesh. Justification by faith is the beginning of a life of faith leading on from salvation to sustained by God, sanctification and glorification and satisfaction with God.
Righteousness, propitiation and redemption run like precious metal veins through the bedrock of scripture like gold, silver and blood. In Romans chapter 3 we see the two distinct forms of righteousness, with the law and wothout the law. The law of the leper in Leviticus chapter 13 and 14 establishes the point that the law is diagnostic and not therapeutic. There is no salvation in the law. In Romans chapter 3 we examine the claims of limited atonement and the all sufficient provision in the work of Jesus Christ.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
The most awful place for a Christian to be is to doubt the faithfulness and righhteousness of God. It is here that the fall began in Eden with Adam and Eve, it is at this place the despair of the two on the road to Emmaus began and it is at this place we find Elijah in Horeb in 1 Kings chapter 19. The righteousness of God in Romans chapter 3 verse 21 has 2 sides, 2 faces. The righteousness by the law condemns, as it did in Leviticus chapter 13, identifying and rejecting the leper. It took the work of Jesus Christ in atonement and propitiation to bring cleansing of sin and justification. God's righteousness is a righteousness which can either judge or justify.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Romans chapter 3 verse 25 is arguably the most critically important verse in Romans to grasp and understand. The work of Jesus in saving the sinner is presented in terms of the Old Testament picture or type of the mercy seat on top of the ark of the covenant and of the work of the day of Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement. On the the day of Atonement a double sacrifice was offered, the burnt offering or ascending offering of Leviticus chapter 1 and the Sin Offering. A two fold offering pictured a two fold work of Jesus in His atoning death. Jesus both provides for expiation and the removal of sin and guilt as well as justification, the imputation of righteousness. Here is a full salvation bringing us to the mercy seat and the place of union and communion with God.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Chapters 1, 2 and 3 of Romans sets out man's sin and failure. We are tested against the first and great commandment to love the Lord our God with our heart soul and mind and we fail. We are tested in Romans chapter 2 against the 10 commandments, the law of God and we fail. We are tested against the 14 fold character of Jesus in chapter 3 and we fall and fail. In making this discovery of our own sin and need we make an even greater discovery! We discover the greatest and glory of Jesus. As much as I have fallen short of the Glory of God, God is able to restore that Glory, righteousness and image of Christ in me by His Holy Spirit. Justification by faith is the beginning of the rest of the Christian life. Dr J Stewart Gillespie
