Welcome back to Basic Training! We are halfway through our training today.
Last week we looked at three items that are provided for us through the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ.; they are justification, sanctification, and assurance.
To be justiified means to be shown as right. You are cleared of all blame and guilt. Justification is a legal declaration issued by God when He pronounces that a person is free from any guilt or fault and that the person is now acceptable in His sight. Paul says, "There is now no condemnation for those who turn their faith to Christ."
To be sanctified means to be made holy. We are sanctified through Jesus Christ. His act on the cross made it possible for our sins to be forgiven. All we have to do is aske for it and we receive it.
We must be justified before we can be sanctified.
And the we looked at 4 assurances that we have through the righteousness of God. The first was God’s righteousness in our lives, the second was the Holy Spirit in our lives, the third was the fact that we are joint heirs with Jesus, and the fourth was the fact that the Holy Spirit is interceding on our behalf with God.
Today we are going to look at 2 more assurances that we have through God’s righteousness that are found in Romans 8.
Let’s pray,
Father,
Open my eyes so I can see Your truth.
Open my ears so I can hear Your voice.
Open my mind so I can understand Your Word.
And open my heart so I may receive all that You want me to receive.
AMEN
Today we are going to look at the assurance of God’s purpose in our lives and the assurance of God’s presence in our lives.
Let’s look at Romans 8:28-39.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
More Than Conquerors
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I cannot stress enough how powerful the book of Romans is! It gives us some of the greatest Biblical truths we can know so that we can live a right life for God.
This portion of Scriptures gives us the assurance that nothing can separate us from God’s presence in our lives and that His purpose for our lives is nothing but good.
The only thing that can separate us from these assurances is our own choices. The prophet Isaiah stated this in Isaiah 59:1-2. 1 Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
Our choices to sin separate us from God that is why I say we should always run away from temptation.
Paul tells is that nothing else can separate us from God’s love and God’s presence and God’s purpose in our lives.
In the midst of all that goes on in our lives, all the good and all the bad things, all the happy times and all the sad times, through the times we feel great to the times we feel pain, Paul gives us the assurance that if we stay focused on our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, that God will work our ever detail of our lives according to His purpose.
I would hate to paint a fictional picture for anyone and make them think that just because we become a child of God we would be free from any pain and suffering and bad things happening in our ives. That just isn’t true.
Yes, it is true that God has good plans for us but never did He say that bad things would never happen to good people. Being a Christian does not exempt us from bad thing happening.
God did promise that when those bad things do happen in our lives that He would always be there for us. If, we keep our eyes on Him. If we stay in a roght relationship with Him, He promised that He would not leave or forsake us.
Paul said, "Nothing will be able to separate us from His love."
Paul was speaking from personal experience as well as through his knowledge of the history of the nation of Israel.
After Paul became a Christian he was always in danger of persecution from the unbelieving Jews. He was beaten and whipped a number of times because of his love for God and his decision to follow Christ.
He also knew what it was like to suffer pain and illness and he knew what it was like to deal with temptation.
Paul also spoke through his knowledge of the history of the nation of Israel and their dealings with God. He knew that Jacob felt pain when he learned that his son, Joseph was killed. He knew of the pain Joseph felt when his brothers sold him into slavery. He understood the history of his nation and how they turned their backs on God time and time again.
Paul knew that through all things bad, God works for the good of those who love Him, who follow Him, whose eyes are fixed on His Son.
So we can believe Paul when He talks about the assurances that come through God’s righteousness.
We have the assurance of God’s purpose.
We are all called according to God’spurpose for us. Purpose is the last word of verse 28.
What is this purpose? It is spelled out in Romans 8:29-30.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. Romans 8:28-30 NIV
This Scripture can be confusing to some, thinking that all are predestined to be saved, even those who do not accept Christ as their Savior. It is true that God desires all to be saved but God also knows that man has a free will and that many will reject the truth of God.
God’s foreknowledge of man is based upon His original creation who fell to sin in the garden of Eden. God’s original plan was for mankind to live in harmony with Him. Sadly, that is not the way it turned out.
God’s foreknowledge of us and His love for us has been and will always be the same as the love that a father is suppose to have for his children. We as fathers always desire the best for our children and we hope that as our children continue from brith to adulthood that they will be drawn closer to us.
This is a good reason why we as fathers should be godly role models to our children. So that our children can be like us.
God’s original plan was for His creation to be like Him. Genesis tells us that God created manking in his own image.
That was messed up by Adam and Eve so God sent His Son into the world to that the problem could be fixed and His creation could be justified, sanctified, glorified, and have His assurance of these things.
Our future glory is that one day we will all be like Him. As we put our faith in God through Jesus Christ, we will all be conformed into His image one day.
What does it mean to be conformed into His image? In a word in means perfection.
Jesus said, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Matthew 5:48 KJV
Jesus was not speaking in hyperbole here, He meant what he said, According to John when Jesus saved the woman who was caught in adultery, after those who had accused her had left, Jesus told the woman to "go and sin no more."
If we go and sin no more, then we have come into perfection.
Man’s perfection then is our goal. When we are perfect we will be fully made into the image of our Father.
Then will the words of John come to past when we have been made pure in 1 John 3:2-3.
The word pure means to make clean.
That explains why so much of the focus of the Old Covenant dealt with the distinctions of clean versus unclean animal, clean versus unclean foods, and the blood sacrifices which made mankind clean so they could approach God.
All of the rules and regulations of the Old Covenant paint a picture of the ultimate state of God’s creation being clean and pure before the Maker.
Can we ever attain this perfection of holiness? Most people say that it is impossible to do.
This woudl be true if men and God were confined by the natural. But Jesus said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible."
Which brings us back to God’s plan fromt he beginning. For man to be without sin and for man to walk in righteousness with God. Today this is possible, not through the sacrifice of animals but rather through the sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
When we accept the gift of Jesus dying for us then we are assured that one day we will achive His perfection.
We are also assured of God’s continued presence in our lives.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? Romans 8:35
Our assurance of the eternal presence of Godin our lives is based solely upon the unfailing love of God. It is the love of God that keeps us in the palm of His hand, it is the love of God that cause Him to never leave or forsake us.
It is the love of God that is demonstrated to us through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Paul searched the entire universe to see if there was anything that could separte us from the love of God and the assurance of His presence in our lives. He went to the realm of life and death, he looked at the angels and the demons, he looked in the present, the past, and the future, he looked everywhere he could look and he found tht nothing could separate us from the unending love of God.
Even though the enemy stands against the church.
Even though the enemy stands against us, God’s children, nothing, absolutly nothing can separate you and I from the faact that God loves us.
There is no trial to big, no affliction to great that God would say He no longer loves us, remember that the only thing that will change the relationship between us and God is our own decision to turn away, and even then God is still loving us and hoping that we will return.
God’s love is extreme! He paid a debt we could not pay.
Could God have loved us and not sent His son to die for our forgiveness?
As much as God’s nature is love, His nature is also holy. His nature is opposed to sin and evil. When we choose to place ourselves in opposition to God by our sin, He has to turn away from the sin, but the whole time His heart breaks and He longs for us to come to Him.
God will do what ever it takes to break down the barrier that comes between His creation and Himself. Even to the extent of offering His only begotten Son to be the atoning sacrifice for us.
And when we accept that gift, we have the assurnace of His presence in our lives.
That is why Paul said, "with God we are more than conquerors. The Greek translation of this means that we are super conquerors. It signifies that we have an overwhelming advantage over the ememy.
To know these assurances, that God has a purpose for our lvies and that His presence can always be with us is a great comfort. Knowing that whatever is going on in our lives, God is going to be there and is working it all out for our good.
The key is to put your faith in God and keep your faith in Him. Keep your eyes focused on Jesus and you can be assured of all His promises.
CLOSE.
