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Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.
This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.
Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The
Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 30.
when Adam sinned, sin entered the world.
Adam's sin brought death.
So death spread to everyone.
For everyone sinned.
Yes, people sinned even before
the law was given, but it was
not counted as sin because there
was not yet any law to break.
Still, everyone died.
From the time of Adam
to the time of Moses.
Even those who did not disobey an
explicit commandment of God as Adam did.
Now, Adam is a symbol, a representation
of Christ who was yet to come.
But there is a great difference between
Adam's sin and God's gracious gift for the
sin of this one man, Adam brought death to
many, but even greater is God's wonderful
grace and his gift of forgiveness to many.
Through this other man, Jesus Christ,
and the result of God's gracious gift
is very different from the result of
that one man's sin for Adam's sin led
to condemnation, but God's free gift
leads to our being made right with God,
even though we are guilty of many sins.
For the sin of this one man, Adam
caused death to rule over many.
But even greater is God's wonderful
grace and his gift of righteousness
for all who receive it will live
in triumph over sin and death
through this one man, Jesus Christ.
Yes, Adam's one Sin brings condemnation
for everyone, but Christ's one act of
righteousness brings a right relationship
with God and new life for everyone.
Because one person disobeyed God.
Many became sinners, but because
one other person obeyed God,
many will be made righteous.
God's law was given so that all
people could see how sinful they were.
But as people sinned more and more, God's
wonderful grace became more abundant.
So just as sin ruled over all people
and brought them to death, now
God's wonderful grace rules instead.
Giving us right standing with
God and resulting in eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Well then should we keep on sinning
so that God can show us more
and more of his wonderful grace?
Of course not.
Since we have died to sin, how
can we continue to live in it?
Or have you forgotten that?
When we were joined with Christ
Jesus in baptism, we joined
him in his death for we died.
And were buried with Christ by baptism
and just as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glorious power of the Father.
Now, we also may live new lives since we
have been united with him in his death.
We will also be raised to life as he was.
We know that our old sinful selves
were crucified with Christ so that
sin might lose its power in our lives.
We are no longer slaves to sin.
For when we died with Christ, we
were set free from the power of sin.
And since we died with Christ, we
know we will also live with him.
We are sure of this because
Christ was raised from the dead
and he will never die again.
Death no longer has any power over him.
When he died, he died once to break
the power of sin, but now that he
lives, he lives for the glory of God.
So you also should consider yourselves
to be dead to the power of sin and
alive to God through Christ Jesus.
Do not let sin control the way you live.
Do not give in to sinful desires.
Do not let any part of your body become
an instrument of evil to serve sin.
Instead, give yourselves
completely to God for you were
dead, but now you have new life.
So use your whole body as an instrument
to do what is right for the glory of God.
Sin is no longer your master for you.
No longer live under the
requirements of the law.
Instead, you live under
the freedom of God's grace.
Well then since God's grace has
set us free from the law, does
that mean we can go on sinning?
Of course not.
Don't you realize that you become the
slave of whatever you choose to obey.
You can be a slave to sin, which leads
to death, or you can choose to obey
God, which leads to righteous living.
Thank God once you were slaves of
sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey
this teaching we have given you.
Now you are free from your slavery
to sin, and you have become
slaves to righteous living.
Because of the weakness of your human
nature, I'm using the illustration of
slavery to help you understand all this.
Previously, you let yourselves be
slaves to impurity and lawlessness,
which led ever deeper into sin.
Now you must give yourselves to
be slaves to righteous living
so that you will become holy.
When you are slaves to sin, you
are free from the obligation to
do right, and what was the result?
You are now ashamed of the things you
used to do, things that end in eternal
doom, but now you are free from the power
of sin and have become slaves of God.
Now you do those things that lead to
holiness and result in eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death, but
the free gift of God is eternal
life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now, dear brothers and sisters,
you who are familiar with the law,
don't you know that the law applies
only while a person is living?
For example, when a woman
marries the law, binds her to her
husband as long as he is alive.
But if he dies, the laws of
marriage no longer apply to her.
So while her husband is alive,
she would be committing adultery
if she married another man.
But if her husband dies, she is
free from that law and does not
commit adultery when she remarries.
So my dear brothers and
sisters, this is the point.
You died to the power of the law when you
died with Christ, and now you are united
with the one who was raised from the dead.
As a result, we can produce a
harvest of good deeds for God when
we were controlled by our old nature.
Sinful desires were at work within
us, and the law aroused these evil
desires that produced a harvest of
sinful deeds resulting in death.
But now we have been released from
the law for we died to it and are
no longer captive to its power.
Now we can servee God, not in the old
way of obeying the letter of the law, but
in the new way of living in the spirit.
Well then am I suggesting
that the law of God is sinful?
Of course not.
In fact, it was the law
that showed me my sin.
I would never have known
that coveting is wrong.
If the law had not said, you must not
covet, but sin used this command to arouse
all kinds of covetous desires within me.
If there were no law, sin
would not have that power.
At one time I lived without understanding
the law, but when I learned the
command not to covet, for instance, the
power of sin came to life and I died.
So I discovered that the law's
commands, which were supposed to bring
life, brought sp spiritual death.
Instead, sin took advantage of
those commands and deceived me.
It used the commands to kill me,
but still, The law itself is holy
and its commands are holy and right
and good, but how can that be?
Did the law, which is good cause my death,
of course not sin used what was good to
bring about my condemnation to death.
So we can see how terrible sin really is.
It uses God's good commands
for its own evil purposes.
So the trouble is not with the
law for it is spiritual and good.
The trouble is with me for I am
all too human, a slave to sin.
I don't really understand
myself for I want to do what
is right, but I don't do it.
Instead, I do what I hate.
But if I know that what I am
doing is wrong, this shows that
I agree that the law is good.
So I am not the one doing wrong.
It is sin living in me that does it.
And I know that nothing good lives in me.
That is in my sinful nature.
I want to do what is right, but I can't.
I want to do what is good, but
I don't, I don't wanna do what
is wrong, but I do it anyway.
But if I do what I don't wanna do,
I am not really the one doing wrong.
It is sin living in me that does it.
I've discovered this principle of
life that when I want to do what is
right, I inevitably do what is wrong.
I love God's law with all my heart,
but there is another power within
me that is at war with my mind.
This power makes me a slave to
the sin that is still within me.
Oh, what a miserable person I am.
Who will free me from this life
that is dominated by sin and death?
Thank God the answer is
in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
So you see how it is in my mind.
I really want to obey God's
law, but because of my sinful
nature, I am a slave to sin.
So now there is no condemnation for
those who belong to Christ Jesus.
And because you belong to him, the power
of the life-giving spirit has freed you
from the power of sin that leads to death.
The law of Moses was unable
to save us because of the
weakness of our sinful nature.
The so God did what the law could not do.
He sent his own son in a body
like the bodies we sinners have.
And in that body, God declared an
end to sins control over us by giving
his son as a sacrifice for our sins.
He did this so that the just requirement
of the law would be fully satisfied
for us who no longer follow our sinful
nature, but instead follow the spirit.
Those who are dominated by
the sinful nature, think about
sinful things, but those who are
controlled by the Holy Spirit.
Think about things that please the spirit.
So letting your sinful nature control
your mind leads to death, but letting
the spirit control your mind leads
to life and peace for the sinful
nature is always hostile to God.
It never did obey God's
law and it never will.
That's why those who are still
under the control of their sinful
nature can never please God.
But you are not controlled
by your sinful nature.
You are controlled by the spirit.
If you have the spirit
of God living in you.
And remember that those who do not
have the spirit of Christ living in
them do not belong to him at all.
And Christ lives within you.
So even though your body will die
because of sin, the spirit gives
you life because you have been made
right with God, the Spirit of God
who raised Jesus from the dead.
Lives in you.
And just as God raised Christ
Jesus from the dead, he will give
life to your mortal bodies by this
same spirit living within you.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters,
you have no obligation to do what
your sinful nature urges you to do.
For if you live by, its
dictates you will die.
But if through the power of the
spirit you put to death the deeds of
your sinful nature, you will live.
For all who are led by the spirit
of God are children of God.
So you have not received a spirit
that makes you fearful slaves.
Instead, you received God's spirit when
he adopted you as his own children.
Now we call him Abba Father for his
spirit, joins with our spirit to affirm
that we are God's children and since
we are his children, we are his heirs.
In fact, together with Christ,
we are heirs of God's glory.
But if we are to share his glory,
we must also share his suffering.
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared
to the glory he will reveal to us later.
For all creation is waiting eagerly for
that future day when God will reveal
who his children really are against.
Its will.
All creation was subjected to God's curse.
But with Eager hope, the creation
looks forward to the day when it
will join God's children in glorious
freedom from death and decay.
For we know that all creation has
been groaning as in the pains of
childbirth, right up to the present
time, and we believers also groan
even though we have the Holy Spirit
within us as a foretaste of future
glory, for we long for our bodies to
be released from sin and suffering.
We too wait with Eager Hope for the day
when God will give us our full rights
as his adopted children, including
the new bodies he has promised us.
We were given this hope
when we were saved.
If we already have something, we
don't need to hope for it, but if we
look forward to something we don't
yet have, we must wait patiently
and confidently, and the Holy Spirit
helps us in our weakness, for example.
We don't know what God wants us
to pray for, but the Holy Spirit
prays for us with groanings that
cannot be expressed in words.
And the Father who knows all hearts,
knows what the Spirit is saying.
For the Spirit pleads for us believers
in harmony with God's own will, and
we know that God causes everything
to work together for the good of
those who love God and are called
according to His purpose for them.
For God knew his people in advance and
he chose them to become like his son,
so that his son would be the firstborn
among many brothers and sisters.
And having chosen them, he
called them to come to him.
And having called them, he gave
them right standing with himself
and having given them right
standing, he gave them his glory.
This concludes today's
Immerse Reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.