[Romans 8:28 - 39] ------- ~ Our Spiritual Safari is observing truths that only the Spirit of God can make real to us. Pray for wisdom, judgment and discernment now, readers. Only the Holy Spirit can make this all real to our hearts; and only then if we are sincere about knowing God. Our last report left us camped out high on the mountaintop of God’s government; tucked into a comfortable bed of truth right here at verse twenty eight…. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. ~ Oh, how I wish we could just stay at this place forever. Friends, ‘’all things’’ means ‘’all things!’’ Remember Joseph, as he looked back over a life full of vicissitudes, disappointments and suffering caused by his own brothers, said to them, ‘’you thought evil against me but the Lord meant it for good!’’ If you are a genuine Christian you are going to look back over this life of suffering someday and say, ‘’it all worked out for good!’’ Job said, ‘’though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!’’ That’s the kind of faith we need in men of God today, friends. We know God will make good on His promises because He is the One Who is energizing and motivating His Own glorification to begin with. Jeremiah cried to God, ‘’why did you let me see trouble?’’ Do you know anything about that question? Well, many of us have that trouble. So, let’s get personal. Can you rejoice that you have a God that can shake the earth and destroy a city in an earthquake? Can you face life – and death – unafraid? Paul asked, ‘’what mean ye to weep and to break my heart?’’ Paul’s friends tried to dissuade him from going to Jerusalem, remember. Paul said he was ready to die but Paul DIDN’T say he WANTED to die! There’s a big difference. Either way, many of us would like to reach that place of total commitment to Him! This report is for those called ones and it is according to His purpose. My credentials to you come straight from the Lord Jesus Christ via the Holy Spirit; if you prayed for your understanding first as you were instructed to. I understand the entire safari in Romans so far has been difficult but these things are going to be borderline traumatizing to the right thinking mind. This report is a call to those who have received an invitation and have accepted it; they were born from above and they know the love of God in experimental form, my beloved. Alright, Paul describes three groups of people and they are the same three groups of people we have in the world today. Paul says, ‘’But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.’’ That’s first Corinthians in chapter one, by the way. The Jew trusted in religion and ritual. To them the cross was a stumblingblock. The Greeks trusted in human philosophy and human wisdom. To them the cross was foolishness. But then there are the called. They came from both Jews and Greeks! They were not chosen for their religion, wisdom, intellect or superiority; they were chosen because God chose them! The called heard God’s call, if you will. There isn’t a person on this earth that is being forced to be lost, either! Those who are lost have chosen their eternity. See, the invitation is legitimate and open; whosoever will may come! Whosoever believeth shall be saved. Henry Ward Beecher said, ‘’the elect are the whosoever will and the non elect are the whosoever won’t!’’ It’s all according to God’s plan and purpose; and, my Christian friend, if you are not reconciled in your mind and in your will to God Almighty – it’s past time to be doing that! You’re living on borrowed time, friend. The purpose of God IS going to be carried out; and God has the wisdom and power to do so! Whatever God does is right and when He does things He is right in doing them at that time, too! That includes the bad stuff. Anything that God does is just and loving. An old theologian named Simeon said he always preached only on Romans eight because it lays the ax to the root of pride and presumption – and to the root of despair! Believe me, we’re never going to pat ourselves on the back and say, ‘’we’re smart, we did it!’’ This is all His wisdom, His plan and His purpose. His sovereignty is something you and I will bow to one way or another! The deity of Christ comes from eternities past surrounded by angels that are calling Him Holy! You and I have absolutely no influence whatsoever over how God moves; and that goes for how God allows Satan to move in your life, too, by the way! This just happens to be the way God is doing things! ~ 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. ~ No one is ever elected to be lost; predestination and election are never used in connection with the lost man. The implication is always towards the saved. The ones that Paul is talking about here are the ones he is talking about in verse twenty eight! The Bible teaches that when God saves us then He promises that He is going to see us through. This is also another amazing section on sanctification but Paul doesn’t even mention being sanctified; because that’s the work of God in the heart and life of the believer! This is God’s eternal purpose, friends. When the Good Shepherd moves with His one hundred sheep then He is going to arrive on the other side with all one hundred sheep! He won’t even lose one single sheep! That means I will be there! This is not some frightful doctrine – although it is terrifying – this is wonderful and comfortable news in these uncertain days! Remember, Jesus gave a parable about the Good Shepherd – that’s a parable about Himself! ~ 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that justifieth. ~ These are some incredible verses, my friends. If we are safe as sheep it’s not because we’re smart; it’s because we have a Good Shepherd. Our Great Shepherd says we’re safe – I’m just repeating Him! See, God is going to give us everything that is necessary in this life and in the life to come. We can’t ask for anything more than this! God has placed His throne behind justified sinners! Christ did four things for us: (1) He died for us (2) He was raised for us (3) Delivered for our offenses (4) Raised for our justification – but that’s not all! Christ is at the right hand of God right now and He sees YOU – right now! Jesus is the Living Christ! If you need Him – go to Him! ~ 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. ~ That’s a frightful picture of sheep for saints; even in the day of grace if you ask me. It took me a long time to understand this verse. If you stand for God today it will cost you something. If it doesn’t cost you something then you are not a child of God! Terrible things are happening to saints today. I believe with all my heart that easy believism is the attitude of a Satanic system towards the child of God - even today. Thank Him that none of that will separate us from Him, either! ~ 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. ~ How can a sheep be more than a conqueror? Most people use this verse without a clue of the paradox we have here in Scripture. To ‘’be a conqueror’’ here means to gain the victory for that battle which we did not fight! Furthermore, with Christ fighting for us He never allows us to be defeated. He gets the victory; it belongs to Him alone and not to us at all! The ‘’victorious life’’ is not our life – it’s His life! ~ 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~ Did you pray for yourself this morning? You should have; but – if you forgot - then Christ didn’t forget to pray for you! He remembered you because He loves you! Christ never forgets to pray for us, friends. Nothing will ever separate us from that love! This is one reason that nothing can be laid to the charge of God’s elect. Does it feel like God has let you down? I think we have a brief biography of Paul’s life at verse thirty five – and God loved Paul. Death will take us, as believers, into His presence. Your death as a saved person will transport you directly into the presence of all the saved saints! Interestingly, Paul says, ‘’life’’ won’t separate us from the love of Christ! Let’s face it: it’s much more difficult to face life than it is it is to face death! Life has temptations, disappointments, failures, uncertainties, suffering – we can thank God none of that will separate us from the love that is in Christ! I think ‘’angels’’ in verse thirty eight means ‘’fallen angels.’’ ‘’Principalities’’ are spiritual enemies; ‘’powers’’ is a subject we’ll not deal with right now - ‘’present’’ means immediate circumstances. ‘’Things to come’’ means the future. There’s nothing even in the future that will ever be able to separate us from the love that is in Christ! Height and depth certainly speak to this space-age in which we live. If man colonizes the vast outer reaches of the universe he is going to find out that God is already there with a Bible in His hand! No invention is ever going to make the Lord Jesus Christ obsolete! Salvation is a love story and we love Him because He first loved us! We can rest knowing that nothing is going to ever be able to separate us from Him! We took a long time – four reports – nearly ten thousand words - in this chapter in our Spiritual Safari. We began with ‘’….there is no condemnation to those who love God….’’ And we ended with ‘’….all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose….’’ There is no separation from God. Can you improve on this wisdom? Perhaps there are portions you would like to counter? If you can find something better than this to write about - then, by all means, please let me know ~
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 07:45:24 +0000
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