If God be for us Part 3

Romans 8:31-34.

God is for us because His Son is not bringing man into condemnation but always interceding for him.  The Only One who could condemn us does not. God doesn't bring a charge against the elect because He charged the sin of the elect to the Savior.  And the Savior will not condemn the believer because He was condemned for them.  Jesus was fully indicted and condemned to death as the whole of humanity once for all.  And there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

He never came to bring man into condemnation.  It is unfortunate that the Church has taken up what Christ Himself refused to engage in.  The ministry of Christ was to bring many sons to glory; not castigate them into a just judgment for their crimes.  He came not into the world to condemn it but to seek and save that which was lost.  Jesus would not bring the guilty into sentence but while He was here He relieved the noose that was put around humanity's neck by the law.  I can't help but think of the woman caught in adultery (the very act.)  Jesus said, "where are your accusers...neither do I condemn you go and sin no more."  His role is not condemnation ever.

Jesus intercedes instead of condemns.  Paul says in our text that the only one who could condemn is at the right hand of God ever living to make intercession for man.  This means that God (who could bring charges against the elect) will not judge but rather takes action to make men right and the one who could condemn rather stands in the gap for them always.  This is a hard truth to swallow because we are so used to hearing how God judges sin and punishes the guilty.  We rarely hear that He has worked on behalf of men. 

In the courtroom; we have an advocate with the Father.  What does He plead?  Does He pull out a listing of the good deeds we have done that will out weigh the rap sheet against us?  No.  There is only one basis for our defense.  The blood of the Son of God Jesus Christ.  Upon this foundation we have right standing before God; we are forgiven and released solely on the Finished Work of the Son.  God is not against you; but is for you.  There is no need for any condemnation and guilt.  All is forgiven all is at rest.  Be at rest.

If God be for us Part 2

Romans 8:31-34

Often times when we fail we get into our minds that God is on HIs throne and we are waiting to be judged.  That is what we have been told.  And every negative thing that happens in retribution for the crimes that we have committed.  Our belief is that God is just in the punishment He deals out even though we are grieved at the severity.  The sin we committed is worthy of all penance we have to endure.
But then I read scripture like the above text and realize that the courtroom is arranged in a different way.  "Who shall bring charge against the chosen ones?" This question comes on the heels of Paul's declaration of the Finished Work of Christ.  John says that "IF we sin we have an advocate with the Father."  Christ has become the satisfaction of the demands of the Law as us setting us free from the judgment.  This truth is demonstrated in Romans 8:32 when Paul answers the question of who can bring charge; He says, "It is God who justifies."  God does not bring condemnation He makes the condemned righteous.  It is God who JUSTIFIES.  What powerful words.  The One seated on the throne is not up there waiting for us to fail and then He gleeful "lowers the boom."  But He has already made provision and by that has forever acquitted us.  We are declared righteous by the Holy Judge.  And there is no longer any need for penance.  For it is Christ who as punished for our peace (Isaiah 53:5) 
As for the negative things that happen, well that is just life.  Things break down, people get sick, and situations arise that should evoke faith in us.  We make them worse by believing that God is punishing us for our mistakes.  Live in the knowledge of God's righteous judgment over your life and that is is always for you. 

IF God be for us Part 1

Romans 8:31-34

How is God for us?

"He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all."  First, God is for us that He dealt with sin once and for all through the death of His Son Christ Jesus.  The penalty for sin is death and He satisfied that demand by delivering up His own Son as us.  The blood that was shed doesn't cover sin it takes it away.  Our sin is taken away in the crucified Jesus.
"How will He not also with Him freely give us all things."  I love this scripture.  God didn't just send Christ to the Cross so that we might be forgiven of our sins, and then when we die we can go to Heaven.  But through the redemption God blesses us continually with ALL things.  Too many Christians are accepting "poverty" of all kinds in the name of Christ.  But Paul tells us that with the gift of Christ flows all things.  Blessing under the Old Covenant was wholly contingent on man's ability to live righteously.  Which he could not.  But because Jesus was obedient to the Father we get the Blessing of all things. 
He is not for us because we act perfectly or do the right thing all the time.  God is for us because His Son paid our debt and gave us the Holy Spirit. 

Defeating Temptation

   The root of all temptation is a lie.  The object of the lie is to suppress the truth and cause men to unbelief.  When Satan first tempted Adam he did not try and make the tree attractive, he challenged the truth of who God was and what He gives.  Adam wasn't drawn away because he had a sin nature; he fell because he stopped believing the truth that God had given.  But when Jesus was tempted (the second Adam) He refused to let go of His faith in the Father.  He knew the Father and was not going to let that truth be suppressed.  Jesus remained faithful to the reality that His Father was good and that the things He had given were right and true.  Temptation is defeated by faith.
    We so easily fall to temptation because we don't know the truth.  Sure we read and study the bible, but we haven't come to unite that with faith.  The writer of Hebrews said of the Children of Israel that the word that heard did not profit them because it was not united with faith.  If we are to combat the lie of all temptation we must unite the word with faith.  At first we hear the word, then we may consent that it is true, and the final step is that the heart is convinced that it is true.  That is when we come to KNOW rather than just believe.  My Dad used to say that we need to KNOW that we KNOW.  If we know God then no matter what temptation arises we have an escape; faith.  John said that faith is the victory that overcomes the world.  You don't need will-power to overcome temptation you need faith. 

The New Law of Life

  Believers are so weighted down with guilt and condemnation.  It reminds of poor old Jacob Marley in The Christmas Carol; he forged chains in life that caused agony and anguish in his death.  This is the way that many Christians still live their life and expect when they die.  They can't shake the overwhelming dread of sins past and present causing them to live in disqualification and fear.  It is a oppressive fear that paralyzes a person so much they can't live in the freedom of the Finished Work of Christ.  They interpret every negative thing as God's retribution either for a past or present failure.  Some continually live bound by a sense of guilt and disqualify themselves for God's gracious blessing.  What is the answer?  The Gospel.
    The Gospel is the good news and good it is.  See the whole scriptures teach us that God is in the business of redemption not condemnation.  His program is love and salvation.  Look at John 3:15-19.  This details God's program out for you.  He says that He is lifted up for salvation and it is His work not ours.  We don't have to work for our salvation; He did it.  All we do is look to Him in faith and we will be saved.  For God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes should not perish but have everlasting life.  That is why He came; not to beat man down in guilt and condemnation but to save Him from it.  The one who believes is not condemned; the one who does not believe is condemned already.  This is how God worked.  He took all His anger out for our sin in the body of His Son so that we might be freed absolutely from it. 
   It was for freedom that Christ set us free now don't go back into slavery again.  What slavery?  The one that is from living under the law of sin and death.  Christ's death brought us into a new life.  He was born into this world and died as our sin; so that we could die to our sin and be born into His life. This is the new law of life in the Spirit.  The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus set you free from the law of sin and death.  There was a law at work in Jesus that overcame the law of sin and death.  It is a greater law; greater than all the sin of humanity.  Wow!  The law of sin and death no longer is master over you.  The New Law of life means that you are redeemed, righteous, holy, and qualified for the blessings of God.  No more condemnation, ever!
   Here is the law of the New Creation; Every man who is in Christ is a new creation, old things are gone, new things have come.  Sin and death are not included in the new things.  Stop living in guilt and condemnation; live in expectancy of God's unmerited favor. 
  

The Testimony of Jesus Rev. 19:10

 To read and study the bible is an excellent thing.  But we must do so with the  right context in order to understand God's message to the world.  The writer of Hebrews said that in the old days God spoke through the Patriarchs and Prophets but in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son.  If we just read the Old Testament without understanding the foundational thread that  runs through we get bogged down in stories, laws, and dogma.  But when we come to realize that all is revealed in the Finished Work of Christ we see the true revelation of God.

    Jesus on the road to Emmaus sat down with two disciples and beginning with the law and the prophets explained Himself in the text.  He took the Old Testament and preached Himself.  We ought to study the Bible not to try and figure out what is right, what is not right, how to get right and how to stay right. (I use to say this religiously)  But we delve into the Old Covenant in order to understand the Finished Work of Christ.

    I have heard men quote revelation that cursed is everyone that added to the word of God and took away from it.  But there is a revelation in Revelation 19:10 that tells us what the spirit of prophecy is.  It is not about future events only but before all it is the testimony of Jesus (His work on the cross and resurrection) that teaches us what full of the bible is all about.  It is all about Jesus. 

   I pray every day that The Spirit would reveal the Son in everything I read in the bible. I now see Him in every story, picture, and teaching. Let Emmaus be your standard for study.  May your heart burn within you as you do so.

Grace and Truth (John 1:17)

   Grace and Truth were realized through Jesus Christ.  This statement overwhelms my life as I ponder on what Christianity is all about.  This is a great misunderstanding in the Church and world what it means to be Christian; it is about Grace and Truth.  We have believed it to be about moral living in an immoral world.  Yet, this is not what Jesus came to reveal.  Moralism was given through the Mosaic system of law, and the church has mingled moralism and redemption for many years.  Christianity is not about making bad people good; it is about bringing dead people to life.  There is only one foundation by which this activity can truly be accomplished; Grace and Truth. 
    The law can tell people what sin is and the punishment for it, but it can't be the foundation for salvation.  It kills, period.  But Grace and Truth set the stage for God to kill His Son by the Law, and raise Him back up for man's redemption.  Man is never "redeemed" by the law, but the Grace and Truth of God provide a rock solid basis to bring man to life and glory.  Jesus revealed that Grace and Truth in everything He did because He was full of it.  He was not full of moralism but full of the unmerited favor of God founded on the truth of God's righteous holiness. 
    What is Christianity about? Simply Jesus; the revelation of God's grace and truth.  That is it.