2 Chronicles 4:1-6:11, Romans 7:1-13, Psalms 17:1-15, Proverbs 19:22-23
Today is the 21st day of July welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian and it’s great to be here with you, it is wonderful to be here with you just have this place, this Global Campfire to be at. When life has its ups and downs it is so good to have this daily rhythm to come together and just continue to retell ourselves the story of our faith and to continue to grow deeper in it. So, let's…let’s dive in for today. We began the book of second Chronicles yesterday in the Old Testament and we picked up with the reign of Solomon, which is where we’re at right now. The temple is under construction. And, so, we’ll continue with that story before moving forward in the letter to the Romans in the New Testament. But first, second Chronicles chapter 4 verse 1 through 6:11.
Commentary:
Alright. So, it’s really easy when we read through the letters of Paul and we hear things like, “you are free from the curse of the law” and stuff like that. It’s really easy to go, “well…than the law is a bad thing. I’m free from its curse. Thank God. Like I don’t have to…I don’t have to do all that stuff.” And, so, we can think that the law of God, or what would be known as the Mosaic law is…is an outmoded or outdated or antiquated or somehow a less powerful thing when we read through Paul. And that is what the people hearing Paul at the time of Paul were accusing him of, speaking against the law of God. Actually, what Paul is doing is interpreting the purpose of the law differently than had been customarily understood. What Paul is saying is, “look, the law came from God, the law is good, but its purpose is to show us our sin, so we have a law, and we know when we break it. If it hadn’t been there, we wouldn’t know about our unrighteousness. Now we know. And in trying to obey that law, we see a larger story and that is that nobody can achieve this perfectly ongoingly so as to become ultimately righteous before God. So, therefore the law is revealing that we have an inability, that we are utterly hopeless to achieve this. No matter how hard we try, and no matter how many animal animals get sacrificed, in our own strength we cannot achieve righteousness and perfection before God. That teaching or that posture definitely got Paul in a lot of arguments and in a lot of trouble. Even though he was a scholar, even though his interpretation of the law had merit. Like he wasn’t making this stuff up out of whole cloth. He was arguing this theologically. It still constantly kept him in trouble. So, we continued with that discussion of the law and sin today that’s been ongoing here for the last little bit. And today Paul explains how it is that we are free from that curse…how we are free from the law. And he explains it in a way that we can understand because the principles that are ancient are actually still in effect until this very day, and that is the laws of…of a covenantal marriage relationship, right? And, so, Paul’s like. “if a woman gets married, then she’s bound. She’s bound by law and covenant for her life until death do us part, right? But if the husband dies while she’s married to him then there is no law or covenant for her to obey anymore. She’s free from it to move forward into another covenantal relationship.” Paul’s using that example as a way for us to understand what is happening with the good news of the gospel of Jesus. Jesus died and was resurrected back to life by God. According to Paul, the firstborn of many brethren to follow and that would be us. Christ was the first born into this new thing God was doing. This restored humanity where there are no…where sin is no longer an issue or a category of separation from God. Jesus is the firstborn. We who follow Him by believing through faith in Him, we also go through a spiritual death and resurrection, and when we are resurrected in Christ sin is no longer a category in our existence unless we choose to be a slave to sin. So, when it comes to living up to this law and constantly finding failure after failure after failure, what Paul is saying is, “you died though so that law doesn’t apply. All the sin that law was revealing to you in your previous existence, it’s no longer held against you. You are actually and truly free to live righteously before God and before your fellow brothers and sisters upon this planet. You can be a righteous person, like the righteousness of God in Christ is what we are supposed to look like.” And thank God for that freedom. I mean as we go through Romans, we are really at a fundamental level understanding the implications of the good news of the gospel. And if we truly understand these implications, then we should also understand that we really are new creatures. We really have absolute full-blown permission to be righteous people upon this earth, imitating and being exactly like Jesus. That’s the good news. May we embrace it fully.
Prayer:
Father, we invite you into that, what we just said, that we embrace it fully. We are so often half-in-half out and tomorrow it will be the other half and just…we’re so all over the place all the time when what you’ve invited us into is a stable covenantal forever relationship in which we are clean, we’re not running from anything, we are true. That’s freedom and You’re inviting us into it. Help us to live it we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Good morning, good morning, good morning. Giving all praise and glory and honor to my Lord and savior Jesus Christ who is the head of my life. This is Laura Walking in the Wilderness in Georgia and I want to send a word of encouragement to Colton from Georgia, the 13-year-old who called in and said that he started strong in July reading the Bible or…or…or following the DAB and then in February because of school going back non-virtual he was just overwhelmed. And, so, he started back July 14th and he heard a message that made him realize that he made a mistake and knows that when he has issues or when it seems overwhelming that we don’t turn away from God, we turn more towards God. And son, I will be lifting you up continually in prayer. You so touched my heart this morning. And please know that we all fall…come short of the glory of God every day but thank God He’s always there with His arms stretched wide to receive us, to welcome us where we are. And son, you continue to draw your strength from the Lord. And I will continue to lift you up in prayer. And please, call in every chance that you get. I lift you up as you prepare for school that will be starting soon, that God will strengthen you, will guide you, and give you that extra dose that you need every day. I lift up all the prayer warriors and those who are needing a touch from God. All these I pray in Your precious son Jesus’ name. Amen. Peace.
This is Laquita from Veneta. You mighty man of valor you have fought the fight to overcome and to continue seeking after the word of God. What a blessing it was to hear you, hear your repentance, hear your desire. And Lord I just pray that You continue to bless him. I pray that You continue to encourage him. I pray Father Lord that You would help him with his schoolwork. I pray that You would surround him with Your peace and Your wisdom. I pray Father Lord that the anointing of Your Holy Spirit will be upon him and that You would lead him and direct him down that path that You have for him. You don’t know what a blessing you were to me. We all struggle but to see you overcome is so great. God bless you.
Hey 13-year-old Colton Pole from Georgia. I think that’s your name. This is Grandpa Bob from Michigan. I just want to thank you for sharing your call and your struggle. We all have trouble sometimes when the world pulls us away from our time with the Lord. So, you’re not alone. But man, you encourage me. For such a young man being willing to share his soul and desire to be closer to the Lord. So, I’m praying for you man. I’m proud of you. You’re a good kid and the Lord is going to bless your efforts. So, stick with it. Check those blocks off when you read that day and let app be an accountability partner for you. If you get behind, just catch up. We’re proud of you man. Keep it up. God bless.
Hey DAB family this is Jessica from California. I was listening to last week’s prayer and encouragement, and I heard a call from Alicia from Michigan and she’s a stay-at-home mom with two children and she lives out in the middle of nowhere and she’s experiencing some health problems and stress and I just want to say a prayer for her. So, dear heavenly father I just come before you on behalf of Alicia Lord. I just wanted her to know that she is heard. Even though she’s out there in the middle of nowhere she’s connected to this great family that you’ve set up for her Lord and that all of us that have heard her prayer are standing with her and standing around her and giving her our support. And I just want her to know that raising two children is…at home is a very hard job and a very honorable job. And I just…I pray Lord that you help her to have less stress and to feel the support of her brothers and sisters here and also any family that she may have, that they see her struggling, that they see her…what she’s going through. She feels like she’s under stress and maybe feels like she’s drowning in responsibility and maybe people don’t acknowledge the work that she puts in. And I just pray that…Lord that they see her, they see how hard she tries to do her best and I just thank you that she’s called in and she’s asked us for help. And you see her, we you know that Jesus. So, thank you and we love you Alicia and we hope it gets better. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Hi, I’m Cindy from California. Today is July 17th. This is the second time I called. I have RSD. The past two years it’s been 7/24 with pain. I’m experiencing lately my two legs and my two arms hurting so bad. I’m asking all of you my daily family to please please pray for me. This pain is getting unbearable. I pray for everybody that is experiencing RSD. It’s the most horrible pain you can live with. We’re so blessed to have Brian and this family to say how we feel and to pray for all of us. So, if you’re experiencing pain right now, I know God is going to heal us because He will take the pain, like today. It’s been horrible. Thank you so much Brian. I love…I love God He’s my healer in the name of Jesus. Amen.