Convincing & Explosive Truth

"What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who can condemn us? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us."
Romans 8:31-34

I first came across this quote in Saving Private Ryan, where one of the soldiers says it like this 'If God's on our side, who the hell can be on theirs!' It was the first Bible verse I learnt and it's a gooden!

Paul’s reasoning is step by step, convincing and explosive! He starts with the promise that God is for us. This phrase in itself is so glorious it should change everything! If we were to all spend our lives reflecting and living off of this verse alone we would all be radically different.

God is for me and as a sign of His commitment to me, He sent Jesus. He knew what needed to be done to bring me back to Him, and He did it, not even sparing His son. Can you even begin to imagine the torrent of affection and emotion that must exist inside someone who is willing to do this?! The words of the song ‘How He Loves Us’ by ‘Jesus Culture’ go a little way in conveying this emotion; this deep unrelenting affection that He has for me! Check out the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoC1ec-1Yps

Paul’s statements are logical and ste by step: if A=B and B=C, then C=A!

Each statement flows out of the previous:
1. God is for us. He did not even withhold His son.
2. He will not withhold any good thing from us.

AND

1. God, the ultimate authority, has justified us.
2. Who then can bring charge against us? Who can condemn us?

Do you see how secure you are?! Do you understand?! Do you grasp how permanently you’re loved?! Do you see how deeply you’re cared for?!

If you're a Christian then you can say:

In Christ I am immovably wedged in God.
In Christ I can never be taken or parted from God’s love for me.
In Christ I have seen the passion that God has for me.
In Christ I know how much I’m loved.
In Christ I am secure.

COME ON!!!

In Christ

We had a great time on the weekend away, having loads of fun together doing things like grass sledging, abseiling and pot holing.

We also had some great sessions of learning about God, and on Sunday we talked about what it means to be in Christ. I summarised it in 4 main points:

1) The wrath of God has been absorbed in Christ.
God is a holy God. Sin is completely disgusting and offensive to him, because he is so holy, and his wrath is the just anger that he feels towards sin. Because he is just he can't allow sin to go unpunished, but because he is also merciful he doesn't want us to have to face his wrath, so he sent Jesus to face it instead. It says in 1 Peter that Jesus bore our sins in his body when he was on the cross, he took the punishment for them and absorbed the wrath of God that should have been poured out on us.

2) We have been transferred from Adam into Christ.
Romans 5 talks about this. It tells us that “sin came into the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” We are all born into sin, and are in Adam; it's like being on a sinking ship. But Romans 5 also says “as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.” Jesus' act of righteousness, going to the cross, led to justification and life for us, he is like the lifeboat that has come to rescue us from Adam's sinking ship, we have been transferred from Adam's sinking ship and into Christ's lifeboat. The cross was the transfer fee that he paid to get us there.

3) We have been clothed in Christ.
Since we have been transferred into Christ, the bible tells us that we can approach God with boldness, because we are now clothed in Christ's righteousness. We looked at Zechariah 3, where it talks about how God removes our filthy garments and replaces them with pure ones.

4) We are secure in Christ.
Romans 8:37-38 says it best: “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation , will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Nothing in all creation can separate us from God!


Hope this is helpful!

Mary