Romans 5:12

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: How did we all become sinners? It began with our great-great- great-great- great-great-grandfather Adam. Adam sinned and then he passed that sin nature down to his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and on to us. Just like you might get your red hair from your father or your temper from your grandfather, you get your sin nature from your great-grandfather Adam. We are all sinners because of Adam. But we are sinners also by practice. We all sin. Sin is what we received from our parents and sin is what we do ourselves. We are all sinners and all in need of a Savior.

Romans 5:7,8

Romans 5:7,8 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was attacked by a would-be assassin in Washington, D.C. John Hinckley Jr. pulled out a gun firing six times in 1.7 seconds. At the first shot, District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty shielded the President with his own body, taking a bullet in the back of his neck. What an act of selfless heroism! There are many people who might give their lives to protect the President of the United States. But no one would give their life to save a worthless bum. No one but God, that is. Some might die for a good man, but only God would die for a sinner. Jesus Christ, God’s perfect Son, died for us while we were good-for-nothing, worthless sinners! What love! What an act of selfless heroism!

Romans 3:10,23; 6:23

Romans 3:10,23; 6:23 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I like to tell people, “first the bad news and then the good news.” The bad news is that we are all sinners. But the good news is that Jesus died for sinners. We are all guilty of our sins, but God forgives our sins and will give us a home in heaven if we but ask His forgiveness. Here is an example: I eat breakfast and don’t know it but I have some egg left on the side of my cheek. I don’t know anything about the egg. Everyone that I meet; I greet and say a big hello. But they are snickering. I have some egg on my cheek and they see it. But a true friend will give me the bad news, “Hey, you need to wipe your cheek.” At first, I am embarrassed. But When I hear that bad news, then I can do something about my messy cheek. I look in a mirror and wipe off my cheek and then I look clean. Just like our verses, first the bad news – I am a sinner. But then the good news – Jesus has offered me the gift of eternal life and paid for my sins!

Romans 3:4

Romans 3:4  God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. Do you like to be right? Yes. Do you like to be wrong? Of course not. Sometimes we are right and sometimes we are wrong. But our verse for today says that God is always right. God is always true. If anyone disagrees with God, they are always wrong. If anyone says something different than the Bible says, they will always be found to be wrong. God is true and everyone else is wrong. And that’s just the way it is.

Romans 2:13

Romans 2:13  (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. This verse isn’t about working for salvation. This verse is comparing the difference between hearing and doing. If your mother calls you for supper and you say, “Coming mother,” but you don’t come, is that good enough? When you say, coming, you have to do coming, and come to the table. It isn’t enough to hear your mother calling, you have to obey her voice. The same is with God. It isn’t enough to read God’s words; we must read and do God’s words.

Romans 2:4

Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? There are three difficult words in our verse for today. Let’s look at them: The first word is despise. Despise means something that we really don’t like. You may despise to take out the garbage. Or you may despise to eat beets. Or you may despise spiders. The other two words are forbearance and longsuffering. Have you ever been in a store and seen and heard a really bad kid? They are whining and crying and trying to get their way. You just want to give them a time out. If their mother is patient with them and gentle with them, she is looooooooooooongsuffering. But then our verse tells us that the goodness of God brings us to repentance. God has two opposite characteristics: God will punish wickedness, but God also wants to forgive wickedness. Both are true. We obey our parents because we will get into trouble if we don’t. But the best reason to obey our parents is because they love us. The same is true about God. God will punish wickedness, but God’s love brings us to repentance. We are afraid of God’s punishment, but we love God’s goodness.