Read an Excerpt

Free by Divine Decree

Living Free of Guilt and Condemnation

---

By Paul Johansson

Morgan James Publishing

Copyright © 2013 Paul Johansson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9781614483700

---

Riding my motorcycle down a lonely trail in Masaai country Kenya, East Africa, I passed among fields full of beautiful zebras and light-footed impalas. I was returning from a church planting and was unaware of the huge ditch obscured by brush along the right-hand side of the road. This ditch measured six feet wide, six feet deep, and several miles long. It had been dug years earlier to stop elephants from crossing over from the game reserve into the villages.
I was traveling along well until I hit a muddy spot on the trail, which flipped me upside down and left me dangling from a low hanging branch positioned over the elephant ditch. As I hung upside down, my forehead sizzled on the cycle’s exhaust. I fought my way off of the tree branch and into the ditch. Stunned and con- fused, I awakened to the sight of two Masaai women tilling their gardens. I called out to the women for help and soon we pulled the muddy motorcycle out of the ditch before pushing to get it started. I knew right away I would need healing from my injuries.
Along the path of each of our lives, there are many hidden dangers when we slip off the designated road. Usually, we remain unaware of the pitfalls until we go a different way and find our- selves in the “elephant ditch.” Romans immediately describes the pit we were in, the off-road dangers, and the effects of the resulting injuries. It continues on to reveal a personal Savior full of protection and benefits for those who cry out for help. Christ places us on His trail and takes us straight away from the miry pit. This Savior sets us free from guilt and fills us with faith to travel on. He then gives us a personal “travel guide” by the name of the Holy Spirit who leads us and holds us on-course. Now, nothing “else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (NIV, Rom. 8.39b).
Do you find yourself struggling with sin and condemnation? Do you desire instead to enjoy the overabundance of God’s grace you are receiving? Do you feel like a failure when you don’t live up to God’s good requirements? Would you rather know you are a success story apart from measuring up to human assessments? Then this book of God’s transforming grace is for you! You are invited to learn of what God has done for you as revealed in the transforming book of Romans. God has forgiven you. The love of God does not forgive you; the justice of God forgives you. He died for you because He loves you. Through His death, you are justified. God would be unjust not to forgive you when the price for your salvation has been paid in full by Jesus Christ. Romans is the book for understanding the basic foundation of this super salvation.
Romans is a book for the whole person. It deals with your body, your soul, and your spirit. In this commentary on the book of Romans, every area of your life will be touched. Nothing will be untouched because, although Paul authored the book, the Holy Spirit inspired it before it was delivered, most likely, by the hand of a faithful believer named Phoebe.
A Legal Justification
The book of Romans calls you to enter not a ballroom, but a courtroom. Whether or not you are justified before God in His courtroom depends not on your feelings, but rather on the fact that the eternal Judge of the universe has pronounced you “Not guilty.” It is a logical conclusion, therefore, that what you do is not what justifies you; but rather what the Judge decrees is what justifies you. The issue of your salvation is not dependent on how you feel; it is dependent on what the just Judge declares based on the evidence.
How many days do you and I wake up to a “blue Monday” or a “blue week?” We are in the pits because we feel God, Satan, our- selves, or others may hold something we have done against us. We cannot seem to comprehend the word “breakthrough.” What we can comprehend is that the heavens are as brass. You might say to yourself, “Well, I had a really bad day, but I’m praying and fasting.” Praying and fasting are good and right, but the victory is gained first by believing. There are certain things that come forth by adding prayer and fasting; everything good comes forth by believing. Someone might argue that if a person has a drinking problem, it is prayer and fasting that will conquer that problem! Not true. Belief conquers problems. Victorious actions only follow right beliefs. Only believing will give the strength to embrace the truth.
LOOK FOR GOD TO FREE AND RELEASE YOU TO BE ALL THAT HE WANTS YOU TO BE, AND THEN TO PLACE YOU IN A SETTING WHERE YOU CAN BE YOURSELF IN SERVICE TO HIM.
The book of Romans is fully understood only by revelation. It is a revelation that will dawn on you. We may have built a system of beliefs that requires us to earn our salvation. Some people may mistakenly think that serving God well will earn a way to heaven. No deeds can purchase our salvation. It costs too much. It cost Jesus Christ His life. Only Jesus Christ was able to afford to pre-pay the full extravagant price of our salvation with His perfect sacrificial death. His payment was the final evidence that the Judge of all mankind needed to declare you and me, “Free, by divine decree.”
May the release of the Holy Spirit be real in your life. May He free you in every way in your body, soul, and spirit. Look for God to free and release you to be all that He wants you to be, and then to place you in a setting where you can be yourself in service to Him.
Out of this freedom come hearts full of praise, worship, and joy. Out of this freedom come bodies willing to serve as living sacrifices. Out of this freedom come gifts that are described in Romans chapters 8 and 12. Paul explains the outworking, the over- flow, and the freedom that come from Christ’s greatest gift--the gift of salvation. This purchase was not made by anything that you or I did or ever can do.
The revelation that comes from the book of Romans is able to free you from all bondages, or anything else that would hold you back. It frees you from unnatural relations, from the worship of created things, from cursing and bitterness, and all of the other sins addressed in the Romans book and elsewhere. It frees you into increasing measures of faith, hope, and love. You are free by the Judge’s decree!
There are at least three basic ways of studying the book of Romans: a simple outline approach (see Appendix 2), a tree metaphor outline (see Appendix 3), and a courtroom metaphor. In this book I will major in the courtroom metaphor where our salvation was legally declared.

Continues...

---

Excerpted from Free by Divine Decree by Paul Johansson Copyright © 2013 by Paul Johansson. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---