^Rm3:9What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. ¹⁰As it is written:

   "There is no one righteous, not even one;
        ¹¹there is no one who understands,
       no one who seeks God.
    ¹²All have turned away,
       they have together become worthless;
   there is no one who does good,
       not even one." (Psa14:1-3;53:1-3 Ecc7:20)
    ¹³"Their throats are open graves;
       their tongues practice deceit." (Psa5:9)
   "The poison of vipers is on their lips." (Psa140:3)
        ¹⁴"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." (Psa10:7)
    ¹⁵"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
        ¹⁶ruin and misery mark their ways,
    ¹⁷and the way of peace they do not know." (Isa59:7,8)
        ¹⁸"There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Psa36:1)

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. - NIV

^Rm1:18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. ²¹For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. ²⁴Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. - NIV

^Rm1:26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. ²⁸Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved² mind, to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; ³¹they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³²Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. - NIV

^Rm13:7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. ⁸Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. ⁹The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁰Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. ¹¹And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. ¹²The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. ¹³Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery¹, not in dissension and jealousy. ¹⁴Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. - NIV

^1Jhn2:18Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that [the] antichrist is coming, so [even] now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹They went out from us, but they were not of [did not belong to] us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. ²⁰But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge [know the truth]. ²¹I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of [comes from] the truth. ²²Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This [such a man] is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. ²³No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses [acknowledges] the Son has the Father also. ²⁴Let [see that] what you heard from the beginning abide [remain(s)] in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵And this is the promise that he made to us [what he promised us] --eternal life. - ESV

^2Pet3:3First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. ⁴They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." ⁵But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. ⁶By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. ⁷By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. - NIV

1 - debauchery: indulgence in pleasure that lacks moral restraint, extreme indulgence in sensual pleasure. ^

2 - deprave: to make bad, to corrupt morally, degrade with unsound principles or moral values. ^

Faith   and   Love

Challenge:  True Life

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