Five Words That Can Change Your Life – Empowered

I continue the series on Romans 8 entitled, Five Words That Can Change Your Life. We’ll focus on five words that provide five themes for this chapter: freed (1-8), empowered (9-11), adopted (12-17), transformed (18-30), and loved (31-38).

Today, we discuss how we are Empowered. The dictionary defines the word like this: to give power or authority to; authorize, especially by legal means; to enable or permit. Through Christ’s death on the cross and the indwelling power of Holy Spirit, Christians are empowered by God. 

How? Romans 8:9-11 helps answer that question.

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Five Words That Can Change Your Life – Freed

We continue our series on the blog entitled, Five Words That Can Change Your Life. The first word is found in Romans 8:1-8: freed. Because of our Savior’s sacrifice on the cross and the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, we are free from the power of sin in our lives.

Warren Wiersbe said, “Romans 8 is the Christian’s Declaration of Freedom, for in it Paul declares the spiritual freedoms we enjoy because of our union with Jesus Christ.”

 

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“What Can the Righteous Do?”

Yesterday I quoted Psalm 11:3 and wrote a post called “If The Foundations Are Destroyed.” I noted how two essential foundations of our society have eroded: the authority of the Bible and the primacy of the family. Today, I want to deal briefly with the second half of this verse: “What can the righteous do?”

What can the righteous do when the foundations are destroyed? How are followers of Christ supposed to respond to the issues of homosexuality and same-sex marriage? As with everything else in life, there is certainly a biblical principle to be applied here.

Ephesians 4:15 instructs us to “speak the truth in love.” Now, in its context, this passage is dealing specifically with unity within the church but I believe this principle extends beyond the church. There are several other places in Scripture where you see a balance of “grace and truth” as well. (John 1:14 is one example)

Let me deal briefly with two simple principles as we think about what it means to speak the truth in love. It is important to find a biblical balance.

1. Love without truth leads to liberalism- Biblical love doesn’t mean ignoring, accepting, or condoning sin. It means loving the sinner enough to tell them the truth; seeking to reach the sinner with the gospel. No matter who you are, your personal opinion will never change the truth of God’s Word. While we are to love homosexuals, we cannot affirm their behavior according to the Bible.

2. Truth without love leads to legalism- Holding to truth means  never compromising the biblical standard of righteousness. On the issue of homosexuality the Bible is clear. Therefore, we must uphold the truth- it is sin, an abomination. But this does not mean that we hate, shun or despise homosexuals. On the contrary, we love them as Christ loves them and seek to win them to the truth.

Admittedly, this is a difficult balance to discover. Only the Holy Spirit of God can help the believer avoid the traps of legalism and liberalism as you learn to “speak the truth in love.”

“If The Foundations Are Destroyed…”

The Psalmist asks in Psalm 11:3, “If If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The foundations of our nation are under attack. Any honest person cannot disagree that the moral fabric of our society and the source of our law is based upon the Word of God.

How do you destroy a society based on the Bible? It’s simple, seek to discredit the Bible at its very core. “God didn’t create the heavens and the earth as the Genesis account declares. Instead, we are a product of random chance, natural selection and Darwinian evolution.” Once you convince a population to believe such things, you can win them over to a morality of your own choosing. If there is no objective standard of righteousness, “evolving beliefs” and personal preference win the day. God help us!

How would I destroy this country if i were the enemy? I would attack it at the very core on two major fronts: the authority of God’s Word and the primacy of the family.

1. The authority of the Bible- In many ways, the enemy has won the battle against the Bible. Whether the issue is creation, the exclusivity of Christ, homosexuality or abortion, it seems that he has convinced the masses that God’s Word is outdated and antiquated.

2. The primacy of the family- Once a society is convinced that God’s Word no longer matters, any moral degradation is possible and likely. Remove the foundation of biblical authority and “home” and “family” can be completely redefined according to social norms, political posturing and personal preference.

It might not be popular to say, but the first signs of the fracturing of the family began with the epidemic of divorce. If the enemy can convince a society, even professing believers, that divorce is no big deal, he has struck a damaging blow to the very core of the family – marriage.

From there, it is only a logical next step to redefine marriage. In fact, if God has no right to condemn divorce, He has a right to condemn same-sex marriage. Since the Bible no longer has any authority, God’s opinion on homosexual marriage is irrelevant.

Another clear evidence of this attack is abortion. When the Bible no longer matters and we believe we are the result of random chance, life is devalued to a simple “choice.” How has the enemy convinced us to destroy the next generation? By framing the debate around the rights of women instead of the rights of unborn children. It has become simply a matter of convenience.

The primary issue in our upcoming elections will not be economic, political, international, or social. It will be moral. The enemy wants to destroy our society by destroying the family. How? By murdering unborn children and destroying the foundation of marriage. “If the foundations are destroyed, what will the righteous do?”