It Is finished Pr Edi Giudetti 13-09-2019 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30) Romans 8: 28-39 Benevolent Purpose Confirmed Rom 8:28-30 28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he alsojustified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (7 identifiers) Foreknowledge = Purpose Determined Romans 11:1-5  I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 1 Peter 1:2 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. Elect according to the Foreknowledge of God would be a contradiction if foreknowledge = only know before Acts 2:22-23  Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: 23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Determinate Council and Forknowledge would be a contradiction if Forknowledge = Only Know Before Conformed To the Image of His Son The Benevolent Purpose Confirmed   Rom 8:28-30 28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he alsojustified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (7 identifiers) 2 Cor 3:17-18 17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 1 Cor 13:12 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 2 Cor 5:17 17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.   did predestinate to be conformed The Benevolent Purpose Confirmed Ephesians 1:3-11 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7 In whom

Hindrance To Heaven Removed What Hinders You? Acts 8:26-40 Pr Edi Giudetti 23/04/2017 Introduction To set the scene of this incredible event we need to consider the context. THE PASSAGE IN Chapter 8 is BETWEEN CHAPTERS 7 AND 9. It is AFTER CHRIST HAD died on the Cross and RISEN. The first Christian martyr by the name of Stephen had just been killed. The first persecution of Christians had begun in Jerusalem by the hand of a young man called Saul.  All this by Chapter 7. This Saul is the same man which is yet to have the Damascus road revelation of Christ in the next chapter, chapter 9. Who came to write some fourteen books of the New Testament and changed his name to Paul. So here we have this account, wedged between the first Christian Persecution in chapter 7, and the dramatic conversion of the first Christian persecutor in chapter 9! Two individuals are noted, one is Phillip who was one of the twelve disciples and now an apostle and evangelist, the other is a man of government, who was in the service of the Queen of his nation, Ethiopia.  This man was a Eunuch, (whether that be his physical state or his committed state we are not told, both the physical Eunuchs and those committed to a chaste life are spoken of in scripture), and he was a man of great authority, the treasurer of his nation. But we also see that he was a Proselyte to Judaism, he came to Jerusalem, not on business, but had come to Jerusalem for to worship (v27).  And now we see him returning South to the land of Ethiopia on the African continent. Now this land at the time was far greater than the Ethiopia of today, it extended directly below Egypt through what is modern Sudan and Eritrea into todays Ethiopia. It was bounded by the Upper Nile river on its Western Border and the Red sea on its East.  We see that this man seeks understanding of an ancient text, that is found in the Old Testament section of the Bible even to this day. It is a passage that reveals to him the work of a saviour, one who came to save people from their sins. One who this man of great authority will come to learn, gave his own life for the sake of his own very soul.  When he understands this, he believes it.  Many sins and guilt have weighed down his life, he longed for the relief of their burden and found it in what Phillip revealed to him respecting Jesus Christ, written about in that ancient text.  Perhaps you also have longed to be truly forgiven for your own sin. If so, learn from this man of great authority who we find willing to humble himself, to be set free from the burden of sin and guilt. Having now believed, he asks if there were any hinderance to be Baptised, the answer and his confession given in verse 37. The question for you to consider is, What Hinders You? There are hinderances that need to be removed, and we will find those hinderances are all of our own making.  God made the way and cleared the path, the only obstacles of eternal life are those we have placed in the way. Yet these can be easily removed. A Hindrance to Understanding Removed 27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, 28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.Acts 8:27-31 HUMILITY  Here we have a displayed for us a humility that is rarely witnessed, a high official, a great man of authority who directly serves the Queen of his nation, and having the charge of all her treasure, Here we have a man recognizing his lack of understanding

What is more important than evangelism for those who know the truth of the doom of the lost? It is simply impossible to think of anything more vital than to warn the lost of the danger of their souls. Brother Arne shares the sharp reality of God’s charge too Ezekiel. Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. 18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.Ezekiel 3:17-19 Each soul who has been mercifully saved is now a watchman for the souls of others. Someone shared the Gospel with every born again soul, someone prayed for every soul who has been moved to see their sin and sought salvation, every Christian was warned by a watchman of the danger their souls was in. All Christians who know the truth through the evident transformation of their lives and the joy of Christ in their lives, now have both a burden and a responsibility for those ignorant of the danger they are in. Jesus died for the sins of the world, that the world though him might be saved. It is incomprehensible to think that there is any higher duty to those who know the truth of what he did, to keep it to themselves. Perhaps we will not be in heaven for even a moment before our thoughts turn to those who we neglected to share the hope of the Gospel to. Even strangers will burden our hearts, those who we sat next to in the train, or the bus, those who stood near us in the supermarket, how much more our neighbours and loved ones? For what does the watchman care more to neglect such a responsibility and duty?

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All Things For Good Prayers Uttered On Purpose 26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.27And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27 In all that we have discovered so far respecting the new birth, the dramatically changed affection that we have within, the struggle with the residing sin nature and its own wrestling with the spirt that the Lord has given to us, it is not surprising that we have infirmities. for we know not what we should pray for as we ought How often it is that we come to our knees before the Lord and the words that come from our mouth are either done by rote or habit, or completely without consideration?  We desire the mind of the Lord as we pray because we know that he will do all things in accord with his will. But we are limited, at least according to this text. for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. I don’t truly know how this works in a practical level, it is not something that we seem conscious of, nor is it anything we can discern within, but this is given by revelation to Paul of that which is occurring daily in our lives. His claim is simple, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought No matter how fervent our prayers, there remain limitations to which the Spirit of the lord renders great assistance.  It is due to our natural infirmities, according to the text, that we are somewhat limited. But what incredible encouragement to know that there is intercession made on our behalf by the Spirit who knowns both the will of the father and searches our hearts.  The Spirit that bridges the gap between us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Mothers seem to employ this almost every day as they intercede between the child and his or her father. Such a wonderfully close relationship she has with both, she knows the will of the father, understands the heart of the child and WORKS ON THE SHORTCOMINGS OF BOTH, so mum intercedes. As wonderful a job that mothers do in this area, it certainly is a picture of the intersession made by the Spirit of God between the children of God and the Father. Naturally mums do not do this perfectly, but the Spirit of the Lord does. Why? 27And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. It is the Lord that knows the heart of all people, he has searched it, he knows its desires and its wants, and he also knows what is the mind of the Spirit. Only the recognition of the triune nature of the Godhead is this possibly able to be understood. Only God knows the heart of man and the Spirit who makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. In what does he intercede?  In our prayers.  How does this work? with groanings which cannot be uttered. Beloved we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (1 John 2:1) It is Christ also who makes intersession for us, and now here we have understanding that the Spirit also makes intersession for us on our behalf because of our own infirmities. As I said, I don’t know how all of the works, but what I do know is that we need as much help as we can get.  We are saved from the world, but live in the world, we are saved from the penalty of sin, but now struggle with sin, we are redeemed in our spirit to the father, but we know not what we should pray for as we ought James confirmed this when he said; Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (James 4:3). This is just one indicator of our need for an inter

Waiting For The Adoption Pr Edi Giudetti 15-09-2019 Waiting For the Sons of God 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,Romans 8:19-20 The days of creation had come and gone, and the purpose creation itself had the breath of life breathed into him by the living God. Each day of the creation account was particular in its detail, each day vital and each day pronounced as “good” by the one who spoke them into existence. Five days had gone by.  Space and matter was formed, and was preceded at the first by light.  On the third day vegetation on the Earth that we discovered was nourished by a mist that arose from the earth itself. Scripture teaches that there were waters both under the earth and above the earth, all of this vastly different from the day we live in today.  There was no rain at the time, nor was there rain until the day that Noah entered into the ark. Nevertheless, this third day too was blessed by the Lord. And pronounced as “good”. The fourth day two great lights were created, the sun to rule by day and the moon to rule by night. Almost making a mockery of the evolutionary considerations of photosynthesis, God wanted to make sure it was known that it would be he that created and do so in the manner he prescribed, for in the end of that forth day, he again pronounced it Good. O, and he made the stars also! The fifth day the waters were brought forth, the fish of the sea and the foul of the air, the creature producing life as it had not ever since the Earth began….well…four days earlier.  Life was blooming, flowers blooming, birds flying and fish in abundance, all of which being nourished in the manner determined by the Lord and it was yet another “good day”.  To these creatures  … God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Well, the five days had gone by and the morning of the sixth day approaches. Living creatures were spoken into existence, every beast of the earth and every creeping thing, all came to be after his kind and only after his own kind.  By now everything that would give life to every other creature on earth has been created but one. I would say to you that he left the best for last, but I would not be accurate. I would say to you that God had waited to put the pinnacle of his creation in its proper place, like the cherry on the cake…but again, I would not be accurate. The world today sees man as the problem of creation, but God had man as the very purpose of creation. He is not the best of it, nor the pinnacle of it, man is the purpose for it. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in hisownimage, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Gen 1:26-28) It seems almost that here also, all creation Waited for the appearance of those created in God likeness. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. Our passage in Romans seems to have a precursor to it. All that needed to be put in place was put in place, God preparing a place for man prior to taking man and putting him in his mansion, the garden. Seems there was another precursor. We don’t know when it happened exactly though. The he

Hunger for God Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 Introduction: Today’s passage is colloquially known as the Beatitudes; they are called this because they  embrace attitudes that we ought to BE and virtues that we ought to have.  One thing that we don’t want to do is regard these as pithy sayings; something that the world tends to do with the scriptures and the Beatitudes are no different. The particular focus of today’s message is verse 6:  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 I pray that today’s message highlights the depth contained in these 15 words The title of the message is “Hunger for God”. I’m sure that volumes have been written of the subject of righteousness and what it means to be righteous. The first four chapters of our Romans study certainly highlighted man’s depravity in contrast with the righteousness of God. So I will only give a brief definition.  The word Righteous may be defined as: To be just in accordance to divine law. When applied to persons, it denotes someone who is pure of heart, and observant of the divine commands in practice; as a righteous man. When applied to actions or deeds, it denotes agreement to the divine will or to justice: as in a righteous act.  Therefore: Righteousness may be defined as: Purity of heart and integrity of life; conformity of heart and life to the divine law. Righteousness, as used in Scripture and theology, is nearly equivalent to holiness, comprehending holy principles and affections of heart, and conformity of life to the divine law. It includes all we call just, honest and virtuous, with holy affections. Thus when applied to God it is almost synonymous to his perfection or holiness.  Keeping all this in mind: In Matthew 5:20: Jesus makes what might have been a challenging statement to its hearers.  As you read your bibles [and I pray that you do] you realize that Jesus challenges in many ways and in many areas of our lives. Here he says: “For I say unto you, That except your righteousnessshall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”  Matthew 5:20 This statement is challenging on several levels. Firstly: Because it implies to the hearer that he is less than righteous; we all tend to think more highly of ourselves than we ought:  “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.”   Proverbs 21:2 In this case the hearer might be offended. Secondly: And again, because we tend to think more highly of ourselves than we ought; the hearer might automatically think to himself: “No problem: Ten Commandments: I tick all the boxes”.  A certain ruler came unstuck when trying to make THAT claim and sadly walked away unable to give up all for the sake of Christ: his covetousness being exposed by our Lord.  Thirdly: For all intent and purpose the Scribes and Pharisees set a benchmark which might have been seen as  unreachable. Remember even Paul who described himself as a Pharisee of the Pharisees; and blameless according to the law of Moses.   This challenge may lead to a sense of defeat: …which isn’t altogether bad: especially if it leads to the pursuit of God. The Paradox of Hunger: “Blessed are they…” There is something of a paradox that we see in the Beatitudes which is this:  It is those who are in a position of need that are also in a position to have that need met. But before God can satisfy man’s emptiness, he must experience and acknowledge that need or emptiness; in this case hunger and thirst for righteousness.  If there is anything that can be said about our relationship with the Lord: He doesn’t want us to be SELF-SUFFICIENT.   [Turn to Deuteronomy 8:10-19] In terms of self-sufficiency: The Lord issues this warning

Heirs OF God, The portion of Romans chapter eight is one that gives the greatest anticipations for the Glory of Heaven and everlasting life. How those who have trusted in Christ are adopted Children of the living, infinite God of Heaven and how we share in the inheritance of Christ. Incredible. Why Wait? Why wait before you turn to the Lord? To what end is this temporary life and all its endeavours, when you can live with divine purpose and a calling that is absolute and an inheritance that can never fade away? Why would you go from the darkness of this temporary world and then into the darkness of eternal damnation, WHEN HOPE IS LAID BEFORE YOU? To what end is madness such as that? Only Jesus Christ offers the reward of everlasting life, ONLY HE has ever said and promised; “I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish” (John 10:28a) The passage in the Bible speaks volumes with regard to being an Heir of God and joints heirs with Christ. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.Romans 8:16-18 Several are the considerations that the passage alludes to and are explained in the sermon. The Exalted State Of Our Relationship The Inheritance Gained By Our Relationship The Experience Shared Through Our Relationship The Comparative Glory In Our Relationship To the Christian knowing he is saved, it is the most incredible hope to have, it is infinite in its scope and the mind of man certainly cannot even begin to comprehend; with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;Ephesians 3:18 Pr Edi

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A Confirmation of Relationship

Pr Edi Giudetti

18-08-2018

 

 

A Certainty of Life Everlasting

10And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

 

How can we do justice to the loveliness of Christ and the importance of him? No words can begin to show the value of the Saviour for what he has accomplished. In John 19:30, just before he “bowed his head and gave up the Ghost” his words “It is finished” do not seem to give to us an appreciation of all that he had done.

 

Nowhere is the word ‘Finished’ given a more fuller meaning than that passage in John, and we certainly will plough the depth of scripture for all eternity learning all that Christ accomplished for those who love him.

 

Here, in this passage in the book of Romans, though it is one the highest and certainly most profound chapters of all of the Bible, we have but one element of that which Christ our Lord has done for those who love him, do you see it?

 

10And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

 

Here we have the certainty of everlasting life. An exchange for that which is dead for that which lives to eternity. From the beginning of the Bible man was warned of the danger of sin. The primo uomo, the First man, Proto Man we could say, the prime representative of all mankind, was told directly by his creator;

 

“…. Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

 

But by chapter 3 he seemed to have forgotten the certainty of the words of God. Then we notice the woman was not there when God told this to Adam, she was not yet taken from man to become his ‘Help meet’.  Like many of us forgetful men, who knows if she might have reminded him of it if she was there?

 

But no, scripture tells us that the woman was in the transgression (1 Tim 2:14) and that the man was fully responsible for his conduct, and now, “by one man SIN entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men for all have sinned”! (Rom 5:12)

 

This is the doctrine of Original Sin. That is the state of man beloved, regardless of what it is the world dreams up as their personal preference to believe, that is the state of reality for all men in this very day. Not only do they so evidently still sin, but their bodies are this very day dead.

 

There is no life in man in the true sense of the word, for when the Lord speaks of life he does not refer to that which passes away, that which is temporary, he refers to that which is everlasting and eternal. To God, man is dead as he lives. No man has attained to any certainty of life everlasting.

 

Consider, what is the futility of man’s attempts today for immortality?

 

‘Immortality’ a word impossible to conceive of with the temporal bodies of this flesh. It literally means “without death”, but this is not possible in a mortal body! The very word itself comes from the Latin meanings specifically that which is “subject to death”. Beloved, a mortal body cannot ever be Immortal;

 

“…the body is DEAD because of sin..”

 

 

Immortality is a contradiction in terms in this body, this mortal must put on immortality!

 

Why do you think there is such tremendous effort today to create technology so advanced that a hope is given for some to place their minds (For they have no concept of the soul and think the mind is “Life”) into a Robot, a kind of Avatar for men!

 

According to a report in Business Insider Australia in April this year;

 

“Companies now offer the opportunity to freeze your brain after you die. Once technology advances, the brain could be transferred to a human avatar that

Christ Made Me Free

Pr Edi Giudetti

11-8-2019

The Spirit That Liberated

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:1-2

After numerous reconnaissance flights across the nation in the previous days, at 4:45 am on the 1stof September 1939 Germany invaded the nation of Poland and 2ndWorld War began.

During the next 6 years, the Hitler’s Nazi regime brought men, women, and children from many places around Europe to Poland to fulfill what they had come to refer to as “The Final Solution”, that is, the extermination of the Jewish people.

Two years after their invasion of Poland, on September 1941, Germany converted A Polish Army Camp to both imprison those determined for extermination, the Camp was called Auschwitz. It was a complex that contained 40 concentration and extermination camps and it lasted until it was finally liberated in 1945.

Poland had one of the largest population of Jews in Europe, but Jews were sent to the camps from Hungary, Slovakia, Yugoslavia, and other areas. It was not only Jews that were sent there but also prisoners of war from other areas, Gypsies, the disabled and homosexuals, 90%, however, were Jews.

The camps were specifically designed to destroy lives through labor enslavement, medical experimentation, starvation and Gassing, they had no other purpose.  The space given to individual prisoners was stifling, barracks were no larger than 400m2 each and would hold up to 774 prisoners, that is a concentration of less than 1m2 per person.

Robert Jan van-Pelt wrote that they;

“were deprived of the minimum space needed to exist”.

I won’t go into the daily lives of these people while they awaited certain death. Though many died under heavy labor and of starvation, most of them would be ushered into areas they were told were showers. They were stripped of all clothing which was amassed on heaps, then ushered into a cell room which did not have a single faucet. Crammed tightly together, cylinders of poisonous gas were emptied into the chambers through openings in the ceiling, which would result in the death of every person in the chamber.

At its height, work in Auschwitz toward The Final Solution numbered 15,000 people per day. A total of 1.1 million people were killed in this Camp Facility until it was liberated in January 27th1945 by the Russian Red Army. But for 7500 remaining prisoners, the camp was deserted.

The famous writer Victor Frankl was one of those liberated prisoners who wrote the classic Best Seller, in consideration of those years called ‘Mans Search For Meaning’, Sadly the book never finds what it’s looking for.

To those who had long-awaited death in these camps, there was not an immediate exhilaration of being liberated, but sullen emotionless disbelief that freedom was attained.  Bread was given to the people to replenish their starving bodies, sadly some had taken in too much too soon, their bodies not used to having a full belly, and these died as a direct result.

Each of us that are here for whom the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free, lived under a law of sin and death. Bound in sin, our malnourished spirit simply awaited the death identified in scripture. Prior to our liberation by Christ, the Bible says we were already “…dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1)

In our passage this morning Paul speaks in the first person, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. This is the Spirit that Liberated all those who have been saved by Christ.

No longer are they under that condemnation of the law of sin and death, no longer are they to be stifled in a manner of life in which none can truly live, now they are free, liberated, ‘there is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to them’, but true liberation, true and real freedom.

Perhaps it

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. You will be hard pressed to find a string of words anywhere that forms a statement more provocative or inspiring than the first 13 words of this verse.  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, 13 Words that contain, within its context, both the greatest hope for some and the most severe warning for others. 1.   Presently Atoned There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 Language is the framework by which we obtain knowledge. Without language it is difficult to KNOW anything. Language provides for us the building blocksof understanding and wisdom; language is emotional, language is logical, language binds thought and expresses ideas. Words through language is what is used to seal contracts,  instruct direction, construct buildings and monuments, navigate our oceans and send men to the moon.   Good use of Language can;  unite a nation, can inspire exploits, can Govern a people, can lead to warand bring about peace.  Language can condemn and language can liberate, both a man and a nation. Incredibly it is two of the smallest words in the English language, comprising a total of only three letters, these words can commit a man and a woman to a marriage that nothing but death parts them.  But the words “I do” have more meaning than just the initial phase of a commitment, they also have a tense.  And so long as that commitment is honored that tense will always bein the present! I know, for my life, that if the vows I exchanged with my wife almost 28 years ago were re-presented to me today the answer would still remain in the present tense. In fact, we see the importance of the tenses throughout the scriptures,  Turn in your Bibles to Mark 12:18-27. This is a fascinating use of the defense of an entire doctrine based on nothing more than the tense of a single verb.  In fact, it is also a true example of how you are to defend the teaching of error by the misuse of words, and the method is given us by none other than the Word himself. I can’t summarize the account better than simply reading it. 18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, 19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’s brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. 21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. 22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. 23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.  And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? 25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. 26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, Iamthe God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. (Mark 12:18-27) Did you catch that? Jesus defended the entire doctrine of the resurrection to men who have spent their entire educated lives rejecting its validity and did so using nothing other than the present tenseof the verb ‘I AM’. Jesus made no other argumentand expected the answer to be very simply recognized.  Notice there was no debate about ‘interpretation’either! It’s astounding how often that happens amongst people today. Clearly that is a false presumption, mankind will still be held perfectly accountable to the natural use of words, w