A Study in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans – “On the Road of Righteousness” Chapter Three

Chapter Three: The Deeds of the Law vs. the Righteousness of God.

~ By James Fire

PART ONE – Doomed By Deeds
In this third chapter of Romans, Paul completes his thoughts on the Jewish person whose trust is in the keeping of the Law (humanly speaking, an impossibility), and the conclusion of the matter regarding the whole of humanity and our abject poverty of spiritual virtue.

He then proceeds from this examination of human beings and our sinful condition and nature to the blessed hope of our justification (from vs. 21 to the end of the chapter).

From there he goes on in chapters Four and Five, establishing the basis for our justification, and then, in chapters Six, Seven and Eight he brings up the next phase of our salvation, that being sanctification (dying to self: mortification (ROM 8:13; COL 3:5; and becoming more and more yielded to the Spirit of Christ to transform and enliven us (vivification): ROM 5:17; 6:4,23; 8:2)

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A Study in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans – “On the Road of Righteousness” Chapter Two: Guilty as Charged.

 ~  By James Fire

In ROMANS 3:10 of this Pauline epistle we read:

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. This is the conclusion he is working towards in his examination of humanity and all of its various aspects: from the pagan idolaters (ROM 1:21-32), to the Gentile moralizers (ROM 2:1-16), to the Hebrew ‘Judaizers’ (ROM 2:17-24) – all of us are equally blameworthy of sin and have a sinful nature; there is no one, based upon their own merit or code of moral conduct (or lack thereof) that can stand righteous before the LORD God.

It states elsewhere in Scripture:

JAMES 2:10
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

This sounds not only harsh, but unfair doesn’t it? Why would we be considered “guilty of all”, if we have kept ALL the Law . . . but fail only in one instance?~~ What I believe James is pointing out is that by committing a single, solitary sin during the course of a (theoretically) Law-abiding life, this reveals that we possess a sinful nature, which is a nature capable of sinning in any capacity.

The potential of committing each and every sin resides within the being of any sinful person – all that is necessary is time and availability for such a depraved nature to prove itself overtly “guilty of all”.
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Old Testament Examples of SPIRITUAL WARFARE: Conduct in the Campaign & Implementing the Victory of Christ in our Lives – Part 2 of 2

~ By James J. Fire

Eyes to See, Ears to Hear, Hearts to Understand and Obey – Part Two of Two 

RECAP on GOD’s RIGHTEOUS PROPHET –

In part one of this article, we saw how the prophet of God was victorious over the overwhelming numbers of pagan prophets introduced to Israel by Jezebel; on Mount Carmel the fire of God came down in answer to the prayer of Elijah, consuming the sacrifices, the dust, the water that drenched everything, and even the rocks that comprised the altar! The people of Israel bowed down declaring that YHWH was indeed God, and at Elijah’s bidding, the false prophets were seized and brought down to the river where the prophet of the LORD then slew them, down to the very last one. He then bid King Ahab to depart for the “sound of the abundance of rain” was heard by the prophet. Soon thereafter “the heavens were black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain” (1 KINGS 18:45).

Ahab reported what had happened to his wife, the Queen Jezebel and she in her indignation and malice declared concerning Elijah:

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A Study in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans – “On the Road of Righteousness” Concluding Chapter One

~  By James J. Fire

As we now pick up where we left off, I want to examine vs. 16 in Chapter One of this powerful epistle of the Apostle Paul a bit more closely:

ROMANS 1:16 
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 

I wonder if one could read the writings of pastors from a hundred years ago, and see which of these echoed the  sentiment that Paul here expressed, and then compare their convictions with those of pastors today and note the differences; how divergent those differences would be.

I fear that too many are losing, or have already lost such conviction in favor of ‘accommodation’, that is, being tolerant of extra-biblical views expressed even by those intellectual (and liberal!) Bible scholars who downplay, or even deny the inerrancy of God’s Holy Word and the Gospel message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified for the sins of the world (Follow the tracking of this downward spiral into apostasy in Paul Smith’s newest release New Evangelicalism: The New World Order.
Anne Kisly has posted a recent book report on this!

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TWENTY FOUR SIGNS of The LORD’s RETURN - A ‘Snap Shot’ of The Last Days

~~ By James Fire

(The following article is composed from sermon notes delivered at church on Aug. 28th 2011; neither the sermon nor this article is comprehensive, but is a summary treatment of this vast biblical subject of eschatology. There is enough information here to provide a basic understanding of “the last days”, “the Last Day”, the time of “Jacob’s Trouble” and related issues. It is the hope of TTUF that this will spur Christians into deeper and further study in this crucial issue and make the necessary spiritual preparations to meet our LORD JESUS CHRIST Who Returns Soon!)

A RAPTURE Scenario

~Another RAPTURE Scenario

Two questions:
1) Are we living in the Last Days?
2) What is meant by the expression “the Last Days”?

Note the expression: it’s the last days, plural not singular. There is something called the Last Day as well, and we must understand that the references to such doesn’t refer to a single 24 hr period, but a specified time frame or period, or an age. The Last Day is different than the last days; it refers to the time spoken of by both Isaiah and also Peter: it's the last age of this Earth which is the Millennial Reign of Christ, prior to the Great White Throne Judgment and then the eternal kingdom in the New Heavens and New Earth and the New Jerusalem!

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A Study in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans – “On the Road of Righteousness” Introduction and Beginning in Ch. 1

~ By James J. Fire

PART ONE of ROMANS CH. 1– 

This is an ongoing, expositional study in the book of Romans; it represents the second such series as found on TTUF and its associate site FROM the MIND of FIRE.

After seeking the LORD about which book to study and post articles on, I came down to two choices, either Romans or Hebrews (both are among my very favorite), and after some consideration and reflection, I decided on Romans (yet with the intention of getting into Hebrews, LORD willing, later on down the line).

Romans holds a very special place in my heart as this is the book that the LORD used to bring me into the Kingdom of God via the revelation of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ (ROM 4:1-5) was the specific passage that the LORD used to ‘turn on the Light’ for me!).

The book of Romans is considered the best and most thorough treatment of Christian doctrine in the entire New Testament. It logically, accurately, and with absolute biblical authority explains (1) how all are sinners and unrighteous before a Holy God, (2) how we may obtain righteousness via justification by grace and faith in the LORD Jesus Christ and His work of atonement on the cross, (3) how as Christians we may grow in Christ and Christ-likeness via that second aspect of salvation, sanctification, (4) the distinction between the church founded upon Jesus Christ and the nation of Israel, whose covenant with God has not been abolished or transferred to the church but will be fulfilled upon the return of the Messiah of Israel to Earth, (5) the service to and glorification of God in the life of the Christian, and (6) the primary motivation of such: the love for Jesus our LORD and SAVIOR.

Key verses are as follows:

ROMANS 1:16 
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

ROMANS 5:1 
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

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