I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Romans 8-10.

    Today’s passage continues a theme which Paul began writing on in yesterday’s passage. I did not touch on it yesterday because the thoughts did not come together. Today Paul talks about how we no longer need to follow our sinful nature because of what God has done for us. We are no longer enslaved to our sinful nature but are free to allow the Holy Spirit to control our lives. If we do the things that please the Holy Spirit, we are controlled by the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, if we do the things which please our sinful nature we will be controlled by our sinful nature. This entire passage often seems either plainly self-evident or complexly confusing. However, having read it year after year as part of writing this blog I have come to realize that Paul is talking about something I discovered some time back, and still fail to fully implement in my life. If we do the things which we know that we should be doing we will not have time to sin. The more we do the things which God desires us to do, the less opportunity we will have to succumb to temptation. The Holy Spirit will direct us in what we should do. If we follow its directions we will not yield to temptation. Yet, this is not what saves us. We should allow the Holy Spirit to guide us because we are saved, not think that we will be saved because we do as the Holy Spirit directs.

    In chapter 10 Paul gives the best summation of the Gospel message

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

That is from verse nine and is often misinterpreted as cheap grace. In verse ten Paul explains that believing in our heart makes us right with God, and as the Book of James explains, if we believe in our hearts our behavior will change. Further, Paul explains that the open acknowledgement that Jesus is the source of our salvation, not any action of our own, saves us. From there Paul goes on to remind us of the Scripture which says that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Which leads him to give the most succinct explanation of our purpose as Christians and the purpose of the Church.

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?

When I was growing up, I perceived that just about everyone I knew had heard the Gospel message at one point or another. I know now that it was fewer than I had realized, but most people had still been exposed to that message. Today, most people I encounter have little familiarity with the Gospel. Of course our society is drifting ever further from god, because so few of the people in it have ever actually heard about Him. And our Churches are, all too often, failing to send anyone to tell them. Is your congregation dying? If so, when was the last time someone from it went out and preached the Gospel to people who were not already familiar enough with Christ to seek out the Church?