In our distress, God's enduring goodness and love enable us to live without fear and enter His presence with confidence. In every season, His goodness and love always give us a reason to praise Him.

In this Psalm we meet people from various backgrounds coming to find salvation in God, as they cry out to Him in their distress and despair. And as God saves them, the natural response is to tell their story, to proclaim God’s goodness.

The highest form of all goodness and beauty is found in God. We find our truest selves when our hearts are ultimately captivated by Him, praise of God helps us become the truest sense of who we are and why we exist.

In our suffering, despite us feeling like God has abandoned us, or is punishing us, Paul wants us to know God is profoundly and presently comforting us and even through us enabling others to be comforted.

After over 400 years, the Israelites are finally about to step foot into the promised land, but the raging Jordan River is opposing them. God makes a way for his people, and remains faithful to His promises to them. Yet, on this momentous day they first step foot into this promised land, God commands the Israelites to do something, to remember Him, by setting up 12 rocks collected from the middle of the Jordan River.

For the Israelite wondering if God is now done with His covenant people, Paul’s answer is, by no means! God is still rescuing His people from both Gentiles and Jews.

Paul in Romans 10 begs the question How do we recieve salvation?

And his answer is incredibly simple. We call on Jesus, but people can't call on him if they don't believe, and they can't believe if they haven't heard. Salvation is possible by faith. Maybe God has put someone in your life right now who needs to hear that good news from you.

Paul addressed the question: since not all Israel, or all people, are saved, is God unjust? Has His love failed us somehow? His answer is a firm “No”. God is not unjust; He is merciful!

Paul reminds us that God is for us. We can be confident of this because He gave His Son for us, declared us righteous through Christ, and loves us with a love that nothing can ever separate us from.

Along with all creation, we groan, awaiting the renewal of our bodies, which God has secured for us in Jesus. In the waiting, God’s Spirit also groans within us, aligning us with God’s purposes.

Everything we have received from God for salvation has been by the work of the Spirit applying Christ’s benefits to us.

Paul takes us into the ongoing inner battle we face against our flesh, even as those who have been inwardly spiritually renewed and destined for eternity.

In Christ we’ve been freed from the slavery of sin and brought into a new way of life that leads to eternal holiness. The path we’ve been freed to walk is obedience - to a good and loving master.

Church is not merely about what we get out of it like a spiritual service station to fill us up for the week, it is the billboard for displaying the plan of God and merely turning up is a way to glorify God.

God’s church is called many things: a building, a body, a light, but also a family. Of all the things families do, one thing they all do is fight. How do we live as God’s people in a family that will inevitably argue and fight? By seeing and treating each other the way God has treated us.

What does the Lord desire for and from us as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper?

Paul goes on to answer the question of how the great benefits of the Gospel become ours. It’s our association with Christ, with Him as our representative before God that we are able to receive life. Faith moves us from being found in Adam, under the reign of death, into the righteousness and eternal life Jesus offers.

When someone comes to trust in Jesus there is the great promise of forgiveness and eternal life. The benefits of being made right with God, however, are not things simply limited to the future, they begin right now. In Romans 5 we have a listing of multiple benefits to those who trust in Jesus. These benefits help us to live life now finding our confidence in God’s love for us.

Today, we look at three key topics in this text: righteousness, The Promise and justification. Paul uses these three topics to show us that righteousness is God's gift that opens the door to an unbreakable friendship with God.