He Died to Forgive Us.

 What is your greatest fear? 

Being separated from Christ.

If we can KNOW that we can't be separated from Christ except we literally and emphatically choose to be over and over again, then we most assuredly can have the peace that knowledge brings.  If we had to live in fear that every little thought we had could instantly rip us from Christ, how could we ever have Christ's peace? Our trust needs to be in the knowledge that Christ saves us, we do not save ourselves. We yield our lives to Him in its entirety. Every thought we possess belongs to Christ. We trust as we kneel at His feet, or lay prostrate before Him, seeking His forgiveness, the salvation He alone offers, that He will give it to us by His power, by the love that is His power. We come before Him seeking this indescribable forgiveness only He has and we do so as often as we need to, knowing He is WILLING to forgive us! He DIED to forgive us! 

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

Rom 8:39  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. 

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Excerpt - Articles on Romans by E. J. Waggoner Chapter 8

A Good Persuasion. 

"For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." Isa. 30:15. 

"For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." Heb. 3:14. 

Our faith is the victory. God alone is our strength and salvation. Therefore our strength consists in confidence in him. "Trust ye in the Lord forever;  for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Isa. 27:5.

The apostle Paul had been "in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft." He says: "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often,  in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." 2 Cor. 11:24-27. Surely he is one who can speak with the authority of great experience. Hear, then, what he says:

"Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 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."

No Fear for the Future. Only to those who wilfully reject the love of God is there "a fearful looking for of judgment." Christ says to us, "Be not therefore anxious for the morrow." He does not desire that we should have our minds filled with fear and anxious forebodings. Some people can never be at rest, even under the most delightful circumstances, because they are afraid that something terrible will happen by and by. Now it makes no difference what may come, since neither things present nor things to come can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are assured that things to come, as well as things present, are ours. 1 Cor. 3:22.  Therefore in Christ we may sing:

"Let good or ill befall,

It must be good for me,

Secure of having Thee in all,

Of having all in Thee.

Our Greatest Victory- Christ!

Mental exhaustion.

Spiritual warring.

Emotional upheavals. 

Physical tortures.

Some call this their way of life, their way of existence. They go day by day trudging through their pains, their extreme agonies. Finding relief from all this pain is a chore that seems hopeless. Yet, we go on. 

For those who believe in Christ they know all the great pains are temporary to eternity. They may not be temporary to this life, agony upon agony may be the lot of some people. Intense emotional suffering the lot of others. Extreme mental confusion a daily struggle. Physical torture is how some live each moment, trying to find relief is all but impossible, but oh how they try, we try.

No one wants to live this way with any of these agonies, or multiples of them. Why we have to live this way is a mystery. Why one has a pain free existence while another has pain every day, is a mystery. We need to understand somehow that God allows this for a reason beyond our full comprehension. We can know that ultimately all pain is temporary. Death will take away all pain, and when we are called to die after all the suffering we know that when we wake from death's sleep we will rise to meet our Lord in the air at His return, pain free in all ways forevermore! 

May we hold fast to our hope which is Christ eternal and the salvation He promises. All through His grace and mercy!  All through faith, the unseen but true.  

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Excerpt - Articles on Romans by E. J. Waggoner Chapter 8

Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. 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.

"In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." 

It must be so, since everything is for us. Since Christ suffered hunger, and distress, and peril, and even death itself, in order that he might deliver us, all those things are for us. 

It was through death that he gained the victory for us; therefore even in death we gain an overwhelming victory. 

Those whom Satan persecutes even to death, gain the greatest victory over him.  

That which seems to be a victory for Satan, is his most crushing defeat.

Behold what a wonderful provision God has made for our salvation! It is easy enough to see that if Satan did not trouble us at all, we should be saved. If our enemy would leave us entirely alone, we should have no trouble. So on that side we are safe. But he will not leave us alone. He goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Very well, God has so ordered it that even his attempts to destroy us help us along. Death is the sum of all the ills that Satan can bring upon us, and even in that we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

While We Were Yet Sinners, Christ Died For Us.

 

Satan Attacks, Christ Saves.

 Satan loves to attack us, make no mistake about it he will never stop trying to lure us from Christ. Once we find salvation in Christ, Satan stops at nothing to try to lead us to despair, to get us to lose the hope we have in Christ. Satan longs to get us to turn our backs on God, on salvation. Satan will tell us we are not forgiven, that we are too horrible to ever belong to God. He wants to drag us down to depths so deep that we can't even imagine climbing out. Christ is our  HOPE  Christ stands between us and Satan. Christ alone saves us, we do NOT save ourselves! We are horrible, but Christ is NOT horrible, and Christ is our REDEEMER.  We can't redeem ourselves, but Satan would have us believe that we can and that we fail to do so. We must never believe the DECEIVER, the FATHER OF LIES. We must believe in CHRIST OUR SAVIOR!

Excerpt - Articles on Romans by E. J. Waggoner Chapter 8

And thus we are brought to:

The Shout of Triumph; a Glorious Persuasion

Romans 8:31-39 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 anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 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. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. 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.

Everything for Us. The apostle has asked, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" The answer must be, "No one." God is greater than all, and none can pluck anything out of his hand. If he who has power to make all things work together for good is for us, then it is certain that everything must be for us.

But the question often arises in the minds of people, "Is God really for us?" 

People often wickedly charge Him with being against them; and even professed Christians sometimes think that God is working against them.  When troubles come, they imagine that God is fighting against them. Now that question is forever settled by one fact, and that is, that God is he who gives himself for us, and who justifies.

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's own chosen? Shall God, who justifies them? Impossible. Well,  God is the only one in the universe who has the right to lay anything to the charge of any; and since he justifies instead of condemning, we must be free. We are free if we believe it. Whom does he justify? "The ungodly."  That leaves no doubt but that he justifies us.

And what about Christ? Will he condemn us? How can he, when he gave himself for us? But he gave himself for us, according to the will of God. Gal. 1:4. "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:17. He is risen again for our justification, and he is at the right hand of God for us. He interposes himself between us and the death that we have deserved. Then there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.

"But," says one, "Satan comes to me and makes me feel that I am such a sinner that God is angry with me, and that there is no hope for me." Well, why do you listen to him? You know his character. "He is a liar and the father of it." What have you to do with him? Let him accuse all he will; he is not the judge. God is the judge, and he justifies. Satan's sole object is to deceive men, and allure them into sin, making them believe that it is right. Be sure, then, that he never tells an unforgiven man that he is a sinner. God does that by his Spirit, in order that the guilty man may accept the pardon that he freely offers.

The case then stands thus: When God tells a man that he is a sinner, it is in order that the man may receive his pardon. If God says that a man is a sinner, then he is a sinner, and ought to acknowledge it, but "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." And this is true, no matter who tells us that we are sinners.  

Suppose that Satan tells us that we are sinners; we do not need to parley with him, or to stop a moment to discuss the question; we can let the accusation go, and comfort ourselves with the assurance that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.

God doesn't condemn even when he convicts of sin; and nobody else has any business to condemn. If they do condemn, their condemnation does not amount to anything. Therefore there is no condemnation to those who trust the Lord. 

Even Satan's accusations may serve as encouragements to us; for we may be sure that he will never tell a man that he is a sinner, so long as that man is in his power. Since God is for us, everything is for us.

Predestined to Eternal Glory.

 Called, Justified, Glorified. 

Excerpt 

Romans 8:29-32

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born 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. 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?

Called, Justified, Glorified. 

"Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called,  them he also justified; and whom he justified, them be also glorified." 

This is completed action. We need not stumble over it, if we will but remember that everything is in Christ. In Christ we have already been blessed with all spiritual blessings. All men are called to that which God has prepared for them, but none are "the called according to his purpose" unless they have made their calling and election sure by submitting to his will. Such ones are predestinated to be saved. Nothing in the universe can hinder the salvation of any soul that accepts and trusts the Lord Jesus Christ.

And all such are justified. The death of Christ reconciles us to God. "He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:2. His death has secured pardon and life for all.  Nothing can keep them from salvation except their own perverse will. 

Men must take themselves out of the hand of God, in order to be lost.

Much more, then, those who accept the sacrifice, are justified. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that,  while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son;  much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

"And whom he justified, them he also glorified." Have we not read in the prayer of Christ for his disciples, not only for those who were with him in the garden, but also for all them that should believe on him through their word and therefore for us, "The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them"? Peter said that he was a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. God has left nothing undone. Everything that Christ has we have if we accept him. All that remains is that it should be revealed. "The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God."

When God asks concerning his people, "What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?" who shall presume to say that there is something that he has overlooked?

All Things Are Ours. But we have anticipated the apostle. Hear him: "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?"

How shall he not?" That is, How can he avoid giving us all things? In giving Christ for and to us, God could not do otherwise than give us all things, "for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth,  things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist." Col. 1:16, 17.

"Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." 1 Cor.  3:21-23. This, then, answers the question, "Who can be against us?" Everything is for us. "All things are for your sakes." 2 Cor. 4:15.

A general once telegraphed to the seat of government, "We have met the enemy, and they are ours." This is what every child of God is privileged to say. "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 15:57.

"This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith." 1 John 5:4. This is what makes us know that all things work together for good to them that love God. No matter how dark and forbidding the things may seem,  if we are in Christ, they are for us, and not against us.

We come now to the close of the eighth chapter of Romans. It is the Pisgah of the epistle, for from it the eye of faith sees the promised land a certainty. Perhaps at this point a very brief summary of the ground already passed over may be profitable. The following is perhaps about as briefly as it can be put.

In the first chapter we have the theme of the epistle put in a few words, the gospel of Christ, the power of God unto salvation. It is to both Jew and Gentile, and has been made known to all through the works of God. The condition of men who have refused to learn of God is then described.

Chapter 2 shows us that at heart all are the same; that all are to be judged by one and the same standard; and that knowledge and high profession do not in themselves recommend any one to God. Obedience to God's law is the only mark of an Israelite indeed and an heir of God.

Chapter 3 emphasizes the preceding points, and especially that there are no obedient ones. "By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." But there is nevertheless hope for all, because the righteousness of the law is put within and upon all who believe in Christ, so that a man is made a doer of the law by faith. One God justifies both Jews and Gentiles alike through faith. Faith is not a substitute for obedience to the law, but insures the doing of it.

In chapter 4 we have Abraham set forth as an illustration of righteousness gained by faith. We learn also that faith in Christ's death and resurrection is the only way by which to inherit the promise to the fathers, which promise embraced nothing less than the possession of the earth made new. The blessing of Abraham is the blessing that comes by the cross of Christ. And since the promise to Israel was only the repetition of the promise to Abraham, we learn that Israel consists of those in every nation who gain the victory over sin through the cross of Christ.

Abounding love and grace, and salvation through the life of Christ, may serve as the barest outline of chapter 5.

New creatures in Christ may serve to bring to the mind of the faithful reader the main thought of chapter 6. It sets forth death, burial, resurrection, and life with Christ.

In chapter 7 we learn how close is the union between Christ and believers. They are married to him, so that they are "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." The struggles by which freedom is secured from the first husband the body of sin, are vividly portrayed.

The eighth chapter, the crown of the book, describes the blessings of the free-born son of God. The hope of future immortality is the actual possession, through the Spirit, of the present life and glory of Christ. Those who are in Christ are predestined to eternal glory.

We Choose. We Are Chosen.

 Temporary or Permanent?

We all know that our lives upon this earth are temporary. We figure this out as we grow older and learn about death. The big question that follows our new knowledge of dying is what happens to us after we die. Jesus had this to say-

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 

Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. 

We know that when someone dies they enter a grave- a place of death. I'm not going to debate alternatives to being buried -either by choice or through circumstance. Our Savior tells us that a time will come when all in their graves will hear His voice.  When they hear His voice they will come forth to life or damnation, one or the other.

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

The Lord shouts!

When the Lord shouts the dead will hear that shout!

So logic dictates that we are in our graves until we hear the Lord's shout when He returns for us.  

How blessed are we to have this assurance, this hope, this promise of life eternal in Christ. We live in the refiner's fire right now. At every turn we are confronted with the blazing fire of choice- life or damnation, good or evil. And we must trust that faith in our Sinless Savior will see us through the refining fire, and His life, His goodness that are given to us are seen by Him. The good we do is believing in Christ, this is true goodness-- our Savior.

I choose to live a temporary life here and now knowing that my permanent life is promised to me in Christ on resurrection day at His return. I choose to enter a temporary death sleep when God deems for it to be my time to do so.  I don't believe death is permanent unless you make a choice for it to be so, and even then you will be woken from your first death to face your judgment and permanent non-existence- the second death.

Rev 4:11  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. 

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Excerpt - Articles on Romans by E. J. Waggoner Chapter 8

What About Predestination? The text shows that "whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren." God's thoughts toward men are thoughts of peace, and not of evil. Jer. 29:11. He ordains peace for us. Isa. 26:12. We read nothing about men being foreordained to destruction; the only thing that God has predestinated is that men should be conformed to the image of his Son.

But it is only in Christ that we become conformed to his image. It is in Him that we come "unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Eph. 4:13. Therefore it is that men are foreordained or predestinated only in Christ. 

The whole story is told in the following passage of Scripture:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good-pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

Everything is in Christ. 

We receive all spiritual blessings in him; we are chosen in him unto holiness; in him we are predestinated unto the adoption of children; in him we are accepted; and in him we have redemption through his blood. "God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thess. 5:9.

That is God's purpose and foreordination concerning man. Still further, "whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." Whom did he foreknow? There can be no limit; he must have foreknown all. If there were any exception, then God would not be infinite in knowledge. If he foreknows one person, then he foreknows every person. There has not been a person born into the world whose birth God did not foreknow. "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

Therefore, since every person has been known to God even before the foundation of the world, and those whom he foreknew he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, it follows that God has purposed salvation for every soul that has ever come into the world. His love embraces all, without respect of persons.

"Then everybody will be saved, no matter what he does," some one will say. Not by any means. Remember that the purpose of God is in Christ. It is only in him that we are predestinated. And we are free to choose for ourselves whether we will accept him or not. Man's will has been forever set free, and God himself will not presume to interfere with it. He holds sacred the choice and will of each individual. He will not carry out his own purpose contrary to man's will. His will is to give man whatever man decides will best please him.

So he sets before man life and death, good and evil, and tells him to choose which he will have. God knows what is best, and has chosen and prepared that for man. He has gone so far as to fix it beyond all possibility of failure,  that man shall have that good thing if he chooses it. But the wonderful kindness and courteousness of the great God is seen in this, that he defers in everything to man's wishes. If man, in his turn, will but defer to God's wishes, there will be the most delightful and loving companionship between them.

As For God, His Way Is Perfect.

 Excerpt - Articles on Romans by E. J. Waggoner Chapter 8

We have learned about our relation to God through the Spirit, and of the help which the Spirit gives us in prayer,  as well as of the assurance that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose." The grounds for that assurance are infinitely strengthened in the verses that follow.

The Unspeakable Gift Romans 8:29-32

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born 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. 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?

Foreknowledge vs. Foreordination. The word "predestinate" is the same as "foreordain." Volumes of speculation have been written about these terms, but a few words are sufficient to set forth the facts. With respect to these, as well as the other attributes of God, it is sufficient for us to know the fact. With the explanation we have nothing to do.

It is plainly set forth in the Scriptures that God knows all things. Not only does he know the things that are past,  but he sees the future as well. 

"Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." Acts 15:18.  "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thought afar off." Ps. 139:1, 2. Thus God can tell what people even yet unborn will do and say.

This does not make God responsible for the evil that they do. 

Some have foolishly thought it necessary to apologize for the Lord and to relieve him of the charge that if he is omniscient he is responsible for the evil if he does not prevent it, by saying that he could know if he wished, but that he chooses not to know many things.  Such a "defense" of God is both foolish and wicked. It assumes that God would be responsible for the evil if he knew it beforehand and did not prevent it, and that in order not to be in a position to prevent it, he deliberately shuts his eyes from it. Thus their "defense" really puts the responsibility for all evil upon God. Not only so, but it limits him. It makes him like a man.

God knows all things, not by study and research as man learns the little he knows, but because he is God. He inhabits eternity. Isa. 57:15. We can not understand how this can be any more than we can understand eternity.  We must accept the fact and be not only content, but glad, that God is greater than we. All time, past, present,  and future, is the same to him. It is always "now" with God.

The fact that God knew the evil that men would do, even before the foundation of the world, does not make him responsible for it, any more than the fact that a man can see by means of a telescope what a man is doing ten miles distant makes him responsible for that other one's actions. 

God has from the beginning set before people warnings against sin, and has provided them with all the necessary means for avoiding it; but he can not interfere with man's right and freedom of choice without depriving him of his manhood and making him the same as a stick.

Freedom to do right implies freedom to do wrong. If a man were made so that he could not do wrong, he would have no freedom at all, not even to do right. He would be less than the brutes. There is no virtue in forced obedience, nor would there be any virtue in doing that which is right if it were impossible to do wrong.  Moreover, there could be no pleasure or satisfaction in the professed friendship of two persons if one associated with the other just because he could not avoid it. The joy of the Lord in the companionship of his people is that they of their own free-will choose him above all others. And that which is the joy of the Lord is the joy of his people.

 

The very ones who rail against God for not preventing the ills that he forsees since he is all-powerful, would be the very first to charge him with cruelty if he did arbitrarily interfere with their freedom and make them do that which they do not choose. Such a course would make everybody unhappy and discontented. The wisest thing for us to do is to stop trying to fathom the ways of the Almighty, and accept the fact that whatever he does is right. "As for God, his way is perfect." Ps. 18:30.