Habakkuk, the prophet, looks around his world and he is perplexed for the righteous are suffering while the wicked prosper. He can make no sense of it, so he asks God a series of questions. If Habakkuk was discouraged without such answers, he becomes even more discouraged when God answers. How should Habakkuk then live with this tension between the world as he wants it to be and the world as God has determined it will be? The name Habakkuk means “one who embraces” and the idea or concept Habakkuk ultimately decides to cling to is simply this… “the righteous will live by faith”. Three New Testament books quote Habakkuk 2:4 “The righteous will live by faith”. The book of Romans, the book of Galatians and the book of Hebrews. In Romans, the emphasis is on the first part of that declaration… “the righteous”. In Galatians, the emphasis is on the middle part of that declaration…“will live” and finally in Hebrews the emphasis is on the latter part of that declaration…“by faith”. This is the first part of the series...the Book of Romans.
Sep 17, 2018 7:18 AM America/Chicago
Paul makes the closing arguments of his case against mankind’s righteousness. His objective is to show that neither Jew nor Gentile merits God’s acceptance or approval; therefore, everyone needs the merit of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Sep 10, 2018 7:28 AM America/Chicago
According to Paul there is a three-fold division of mankind when it comes to spiritual matters. In chapter 1, Paul addressed the defiant rebellious person who openly rejects and resists God. In the beginning of chapter 2, Paul addresses the decent respect
Sep 3, 2018 7:47 AM America/Chicago
In his letter, Paul now anticipates that some people reading his description of the defiant rebels in Chapter 1 might be prone to think, "I am definitely not a defiant rebel like those described in Chapter 1. I'm more of a decent respectable morally respo
Aug 27, 2018 8:21 AM America/Chicago
In Romans 1: 24-32, Paul describes three manifestations of God’s present wrath to various types of sinners. All three manifestations share three things in common. First, each group has received some revelation about God which is undeniable. Second, each
Aug 20, 2018 7:43 AM America/Chicago
This week we discuss how God has revealed Himself to mankind and it is undeniable, yet mankind rejects this revelation and it is inexcusable. How has God plainly revealed Himself? We explore the undeniable proof of God's existence as we continue in the Bo
Aug 13, 2018 8:11 AM America/Chicago
The first seventeen verses in the book of Romans are Paul’s introduction of himself to the church at Rome. In that introduction he reveals a lot about himself. It reveals his primary sense of his identity, from whence he derives his fundamental understa