Day 18 - Matthew 18 and Romans 7-8

Matthew 18

18:1 In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?"

18:2 Jesus called a little child to himself, and set him in the midst of them,

18:3 and said, "Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

18:4 Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

18:5 Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me,

18:6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea.

18:7 "Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that person through whom the occasion comes!

18:8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire.

18:9 If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the fire of hell.

18:10 See that you don't despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

18:11 For the Son of Man came to save that which was lost.

18:12 "What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn't he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray?

18:13 If he finds it, most certainly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.

18:14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

18:15 "If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother.

18:16 But if he doesn't listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

18:17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector.

18:18 Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven.

18:19 Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.

18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them."

18:21 Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?"

18:22 Jesus said to him, "I don't tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.

18:23 Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who wanted to reconcile accounts with his servants.

18:24 When he had begun to reconcile, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.

18:25 But because he couldn't pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

18:26 The servant therefore fell down and kneeled before him, saying, 'Lord, have patience with me, and I will repay you all!'

18:27 The lord of that servant, being moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

18:28 "But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him one hundred denarii,  and he grabbed him, and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!'

18:29 "So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will repay you!'

18:30 He would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay back that which was due.

18:31 So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceedingly sorry, and came and told to their lord all that was done.

18:32 Then his lord called him in, and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me.

18:33 Shouldn't you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?'

18:34 His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due to him.

18:35 So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don't each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds."

Romans 7

7:1 Or don't you know, brothers, for I speak to men who know the law, that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives?

7:2 For the woman that has a husband is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of the husband.

7:3 So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man.

7:4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit to God.

7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law, worked in our members to bring forth fruit to death.

7:6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.

7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn't have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn't have known coveting, unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."

7:8 But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

7:9 I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

7:10 The commandment, which was for life, this I found to be for death;

7:11 for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.

7:12 Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.

7:13 Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful.

7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.

7:15 For I don't know what I am doing. For I don't practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do.

7:16 But if what I don't desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good.

7:17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.

7:18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don't find it doing that which is good.

7:19 For the good which I desire, I don't do; but the evil which I don't desire, that I practice.

7:20 But if what I don't desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.

7:21 I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.

7:22 For I delight in God's law after the inward man,

7:23 but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.

7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?

7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God's law, but with the flesh, the sin's law.

Romans 8

8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don't walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.

8:3 For what the law couldn't do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

8:4 that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

8:6 For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;

8:7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God's law, neither indeed can it be.

8:8 Those who are in the flesh can't please God.

8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn't have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

8:10 If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

8:11 But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

8:12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

8:13 For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.

8:15 For you didn't receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;

8:17 and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.

8:19 For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

8:20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

8:21 that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

8:23 Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.

8:24 For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?

8:25 But if we hope for that which we don't see, we wait for it with patience.

8:26 In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don't know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can't be uttered.

8:27 He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit's mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

8:28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

8:29 For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

8:30 Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

8:31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

8:32 He who didn't spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?

8:33 Who could bring a charge against God's chosen ones? It is God who justifies.

8:34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

8:36 Even as it is written, "For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter."

8:37 No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.