DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SUNDAY NOVEMBER 19:
DAILY BIBLE READING
Romans 7-9New King James Version (NKJV)
Freed from the Law
7 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that
the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who
has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if
the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then
if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an
adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she
is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my
brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ,
that you may be married to another-to Him who was raised from the dead, that
we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful
passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear
fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died
to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the
Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
Sin's Advantage in the Law
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I
would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known
covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."[a] 8 But sin,
taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil
desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the
law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the
commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin,
taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12
Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
Law Cannot Save from Sin
13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it
might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that
sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. 14 For we know
that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I
am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not
practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to
do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who
do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my
flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to
perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do
not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what
I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do
good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O
wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I
thank God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the
law of sin.
Free from Indwelling Sin
8 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ
Jesus,[b] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the
Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me
free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that
it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do
not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those
who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh,
but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For
to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not
subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in
the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of
God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is
not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but
the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him
who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the
dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells
in you.
Sonship Through the Spirit
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors-not to the flesh, to live according
to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but
if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For
you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received
the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit
Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and
if children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed
we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
From Suffering to Glory
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the
earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the
sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly,
but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself
also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation
groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that,
but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our
body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope;
for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we
do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what
we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession
for us[c] with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches
the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes
intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He
foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He
predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified;
and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
God's Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for
us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who
shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who
is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36
As it is written:
"For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."[d]
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved
us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor
height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Israel's Rejection of Christ
9 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief
in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for
my brethren, my countrymen[e] according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites,
to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the
law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and
from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the
eternally blessed God. Amen.
Israel's Rejection and God's Purpose
6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not
all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are
the seed of Abraham; but, "In Isaac your seed shall be called."[f] 8 That
is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of
God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. 9 For this is
the word of promise: "At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a
son."[g]
10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even
by our father Isaac 11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works but of Him who calls), 12 it was said to her, "The
older shall serve the younger."[h] 13 As it is written, "Jacob I have
loved, but Esau I have hated."[i]
Israel's Rejection and God's Justice
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!
15 For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion."[j] 16 So
then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows
mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I
have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be
declared in all the earth."[k] 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills,
and whom He wills He hardens.
19 You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has
resisted His will?" 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?
Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like
this?" 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump
to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known,
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us
whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As He says also in Hosea:
"I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved."[l]
26
"And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
'You are not My people,'
There they shall be called sons of the living God."[m]
27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:[n]
"Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
The remnant will be saved.
28
For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth."[o]
29 And as Isaiah said before:
"Unless the Lord of Sabaoth[p] had left us a seed,
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah."[q]
Present Condition of Israel
30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness,
have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but
Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of
righteousness.[r] 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it
were, by the works of the law.[s] For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.
33 As it is written:
"Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."[t]
Footnotes:
a.Romans 7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21
b.Romans 8:1 NU-Text omits the rest of this verse.
c.Romans 8:26 NU-Text omits for us.
d.Romans 8:36 Psalm 44:22
e.Romans 9:3 Or relatives
f.Romans 9:7 Genesis 21:12
g.Romans 9:9 Genesis 18:10, 14
h.Romans 9:12 Genesis 25:23
i.Romans 9:13 Malachi 1:2, 3
j.Romans 9:15 Exodus 33:19
k.Romans 9:17 Exodus 9:16
l.Romans 9:25 Hosea 2:23
m.Romans 9:26 Hosea 1:10
n.Romans 9:27 Isaiah 10:22, 23
o.Romans 9:28 NU-Text reads For the Lord will finish the work and cut it
short upon the earth.
p.Romans 9:29 Literally, in Hebrew, Hosts
q.Romans 9:29 Isaiah 1:9
r.Romans 9:31 NU-Text omits of righteousness.
s.Romans 9:32 NU-Text reads by works.
t.Romans 9:33 Isaiah 8:14; 28:16
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James VersionR. Copyright C 1982 by Thomas
Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
