Have you ever heard someone say, "I wish I had faith like you do. For some reason I just can't seem to believe." They may sense something inside that prevents faith. For them it's a struggle to believe God exists or that they could have a relationship with Him. Faith is a remarkable quality. For some it comes as naturally as breathing while others find it hard to even imagine a spiritual realm exists. Why is this? Are some people "wired" by nature to perceive spiritual realities and others not? Actually, I suspect there is some truth to that statement, but in the passage we'll study today Paul says faith is available to all. He says when the gospel is preached, faith is present. God offers if to us as a gift. It Isn't something we can produce naturally; it's a miracle that's given to us, but we still have a part to play: that gift must be received. And that's where the problem lies. There are powerful forces at work in the human heart that can prevent people from receiving faith. Real faith is a miraculous change of mind implanted in us by the Holy Spirit, so any human being, regardless of their background, can believe and be saved when they hear the gospel. Yet many don't. Today let's listen to Paul explain why, and then let's reflect on how a believer can pray effectively for someone who struggles.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series.

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well!

To some people their need for God's mercy is obvious. They've lived a terrible life. They've done many things of which they are ashamed, so no one needs to convince them they are in trouble with God. They know their spiritual condition only too well. For these the challenge of the heart is to believe God actually loves them and wants them to be with Him in heaven forever. These are the ones who are amazed at His grace.But not everyone has lived a wild life. Not everyone rebels against the rules. Not everyone walks away from their family values or their religious upbringing. Some continue to go tochurch and give and serve. They say "no" to the voices that tempt them to "just try it once." And as a result they escape the havoc that tears apart the lives of some of their friends. Their families tend to stay together, they often succeed in what they do. They don't embarrass themselves or their loved ones, and people are proud of them. They are held up as examples of how people ought to live. And this kind of success is just what the Bible says will happen to those who obey its rules. Yet, there is a challenge of the heart for this group as well. It can actually be harder for them to be saved. These are the ones especially in danger of stumbling over the "stumbling stone."

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series.

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well!

What must I do to be saved? That question is the subject of much debate and much confusion as you might expect. But in our lesson today Paul answers that questionwith plain, unmistakable clarity. He says, "...if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." There's nothing confusing in that statement. A child can understand it, and anyone can do it. He's telling us that God has already done all the work. He has provided everything we need for salvation and now requires of us only that we confess and believe, assuring us that if we do we will most certainly be saved. So why is that so hard for so many people? All the work has been done, and the response required of us is easily understood and quite doable, yet something inside the human heart still wrestles against it. Apparently, being saved is easy, but getting the human heart to take those steps is not. Confessing a Lord requires humility, a quality not initially present in most of us. And believing in a resurrected Savior means acknowledging my own desperate need and accepting as fact the most profound miracle imaginable. So the steps I need to take are simple, but preparing my heart to take them is not.

Paul isn't offering us mere words to recite here. Salvation doesn't come from a superficial prayer. He's inviting us to make two deep heartfelt decisions... and to continue in those decisions for a lifetime: To confess Jesus as our Lord and to live out the implications of that confession, and to cling to Him as our risen Savior, trusting that He forgives us and is our righteousness no matter what condemnation and shame try to come our way. So simple, but yet so hard!

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series.

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well!

Following Jesus can be very lonely sometimes. His moral standards and attitudes toward people are so different that the more we obey Him the more we find ourselves at odds with our culture. Awkward moments increase when we have to say "no" to something or "yes" to something others think is crazy. People view us with suspicion and wonder If we've taken this religious thing too far. Some friends stop socializing with us, employers may look for an opportunity to fire us or at least pass us by for a promotion. Teachers may drop our grades because they don't like what we write. Even family may act strangely around us. What was once a close relationship may grow strained and awkward.

Jesus, of course, said all of this would happen. He said the world doesn't like Him, so if we follow Him, it won't like us either (Jn 15:18,19; Mt 10:34-37). But when that process actually starts, it still comes as a shock. Surely our family and friends will see the good things God is doing in our lives. Surely in the bottom of their heart they know His ways are right. Surely when they hear our story they too will believe. And thankfully, some do, but others don't, at least for a long time. Even religious people, those who call themselves Christians, may grow angry and push us away. It seems the gospel, the real one that is, tests the human heart separating those who believe from those who don't. There have been seasons in history and places on earth when large numbers have believed. But at other places and times, those numbers grow small... and those faithful few can feel very much alone. The Bible has a name for these. It calls them "the remnant."

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series.

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well!

Some people, even after genuinely becoming a Christian, are not content in the Lord. They still hunger for the world. There's a feeling about them. They're restless and see their commitment to the Lord as a collar around their neck. They may be outwardly obedient, but inwardly they wish they were free. Apparently, they aren't able to rest until they "backslide." A backslider is not someone who openly renounces Jesus but who gradually becomes disloyal and falls in love with the gods of the world. Sadly it seems that the only way they can find fulfillment in Him alone is to discover how bitter life can be without His blessings. Backsliding is a dangerous game. We can get in way over our heads and become enslaved to forces we foolishly invite into our lives (Ro 6:15,16). We can get in so deep we can't climb back out. But if at any point in the process we repent, God will take us back, and not as a second-class citizen. He'll love us like a husband cherishes his wife and restore us so completely that the world will marvel and say, "Surely God is your father for He cares for you like you are His child!"

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series.

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well!

In the middle of an explanation about why so many Jews were rejecting the gospel Paul echoes one of the deepest questions that comes out of the human heart: "God, why did You make me like this?" For some reason most of us are displeased with what we see when we look at ourselves. This is true whether we're focusing on our physical appearance, our intelligence, our career path or even our spiritual gifting and call to serve Him. Something perverse in us always wishes we were like someone else. We consider what they do to be a great success but what we do to have little meaning or to be altogether a failure. We initially blame ourselves for this and set about to try harder, but as time passes, we discover there's a deeper root to the problem. We discover God has made us certain ways, and the more we struggle to change, the more apparent that truth becomes. I'm forced to admit I've been made a certain way, and there's no escaping it. And that's when Paul's words in these verses become so healing. He stops us in our tracks and asks, "...who are you, 0 man, who answers back to God... does not the Potter have the right over the clay to make... one vessel for honor and another for common use?" His words heal us because they go right to the root of the problem. It's only after we finally submit to the Potter that we find joy and become an honored vessel.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series.

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well!

God plays by the same rules He sets for us. When He created and ordered the universe, He established not only physical laws; He also established moral laws. And His moral laws are absolute and unchanging because they express His unchanging character. God isn't simply asking us to behave a certain way. He's asking us to become like Him. This means that right and wrong are standards which apply not merely to us, but to God Himself. He is not above His own moral laws, but, of course, He has a vastly different perspective from ours. Some people when reading this passage assume Paul is warning us that we dare not question God on matters of justice. After all, they say, He is God, so He can do anything He wants, and the way in which they say this seems to mean He can't be held to the same moral standards to which He holds everybody else. But if that were true, He would be a tyrant. Tyrants are people who do what they want because they have so much power no one can stop them. Tyrants answer to no standards at all beyond their own desires. But the Bible pictures God very differently. It reveals a deity completely consistent with His own standards because they express His eternal character. So let's listen again to Paul's words and this time hear him call us to trust God, to drop our defenses and rest in His arms even when we don't understand what He is doing.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series.

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well!

The Bible clearly teaches that God is good, and there is nothing evil in Him at all (Jas 1:17), so when we come across a passage that seems to suggest He is responsible for hardening a person's heart, we naturally find the idea troubling. It reopens the question of God's character. Is He pure goodness, or does He have a dark side? Could He be responsible for causing a person's stubborn disobedience, or is it our own choices that cause this? We need an answer because these two views of Him actually represent two different Gods. Can I trust that everything He does is good? Can I run to Him with any problem and assume His will is to save and restore? The statement that "He hardens whom He desires" raises this troubling issue.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series.

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well!

Does God love all humans and want to save them, or does He love certain ones and hate others? This portion of chapter nine which we are reading today is a central passage to which people will turn to "prove" that God chooses who will or will not be saved. According to that doctrine, the most important truth to emphasize about God is His sovereignty, meaning His control of everything. It is assumed that if humans have any choice in the matter of their eternal destiny, then God isn't totally sovereign. So repentance is renounced as a basis for salvation because it involves the human will making a choice. Even faith in Christ is discounted. This doctrine says faith is something God gives to a person only after He regenerates them, meaning after He places His Holy Spirit inside them. Those who teach this say it is wrong to think a person can choose to believe the gospel. We don't choose God; He chooses us, they say. This makes grace all the sweeter, they say. And on what basis, you might ask, does God choose one person but not another? The answer, they say, is found in this passage of Romans. After all, God loved Jacob but hated Esau before the twins were born or had "done anything good or bad" (v11). So there you have it, they say, the decision of who will or will not be saved is determined by God before we are born. And if you take this passage out of its context, you can indeed make it say that. But the God you end up with is very different from the loving Father Jesus reveals to us. And the conclusion you draw is very different from Paul's own conclusion at the end of the chapter (vs30-33). Though all of this may sound like a pointless theological debate, what's at stake is nothing less than the character of God. These two views of Him are so different they really present two different Gods.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series.

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well!

Paul opens this new section of his letter to the Romans with a revelation about himself so shocking he feels the need to assure them he is not lying or self-deceived. He says, "I am telling the truth in Christ," meaning he is conscious that Jesus will judge the truthfulness of what he is saying (Gal 1:20). Then he adds that both his human conscience and the Holy Spirit within him bear witness it's true. And what is this revelation about himself that needs such confirmation for us to believe it? It is that he lives in a constant state of grief over Judaism's widespread rejection of Christ. He says his compassion for his brethren is so strong it led him to do the unthinkable. There had been times when he tried to bargain with God on their behalf asking that whatever curse had fallen on Judaism be transferred to him so they would again be given mercy. If it could be done (which it can't), he would have willingly forfeited his own eternal life in order to save his "brothers," his "kinsmen according to the flesh." His literal words are, "For I was praying myself to be accursed (anathema) from Christ on behalf of my brothers...." Knowing how confident he was of eternal life (Ac 9:3-8; 2Co 12:1-4; Php 1:21-24), the thought that he would even consider such an exchange Is breathtaking. Few of us love even family members to this degree, let alone our persecutors.

To receive a free copy of Dr. Steve Schell's book Understanding Romans, email us at [email protected] and ask for your copy at no charge. The book has all the notes from each sermon in this series. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge.

And if you would like to receive a copy of Pastor Steve's newest book Study Verse by Verse: Revelation at no charge, we are still giving this book out as well!