The Glory that Will Be Revealed

This morning the Lord blessed me with Romans 8:18-21:

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.... the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." (NIV)

Paul says something that is vital for us to believe, that the weight of our present sufferings is nothing compared to the weight of the glory that will be revealed in us! Just as creation will be liberated from the curse upon it, so we, as adopted sons of God, have been liberated from the curse contained in the Law, a curse upon anyone who does not do everything written in the Law. Yet it is not obvious to the world that we are the adopted sons of God. However, there is a coming a glorious time when it will be revealed, a time when we will be finally and completely transformed into the image of Christ, both spiritually and bodily! We will be transformed into an existence perfectly suited for face-to-face enjoyment of God Himself! Pray that God opens your eyes to understand more of the great weight of this future glory, and how the weight of our present sufferings is nothing in comparison.

Who shall separate us from Christ's love?

Again this morning I was really blessed by Romans 8, this time by verses 35-39:

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be abled to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (NIV)

These verses acknowledge that we may very very well face trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakendess, danger, or sword. In fact, the Old Testament speaks of facing the threat of being killed for the Lord's sake all day long. The question is, will such things separate us from the love of Christ? The answer is, absolutely not! Instead, in the midst of all these things, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. As was mentioned back in verses 28-30, God has determined a day in the future when He will glorify us, finally and completely conforming us to the likeness of Christ! On that day, all the hardship will come to an end. And as verse 28 indicates, right now God is using the hardship to bring about His plan of conforming us to the likeness of Christ. This is the greatest love, to be freed from sin to stand face-to-face with Christ in holiness and purity, to be freed from sin to truly gaze upon Christ without shame! He is the greatest treasure!

Who will bring any charge against God's elect?

In my devotions yesterday, I was memorizing and meditating upon Rom 8:32-34. I was really blessed by them. Here they are:

"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? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemnds? 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." (NIV)

Paul raises the same question twice: Who will bring any charge against us? Who condemns us? Notice how he answers. The only person who has the right to condemn us is God the Father and His Son. Yet God, far from condemning us, has justified us, has declared us righteous! And His Son, far from condemning us from the throne of God, is interceding for us from the throne of God! So the implied answer is, no one condems us! Just the opposite is the case! Our judge has justified us and is praying for our well-being as we speak!

Often my flesh and the Evil One condemn me. My thoughts can go wild with self-condemning thoughts. These verses are so useful for combatting such thought patterns.

The Necessity of Believing in Jesus Christ

As a pastor, I am sometimes asked about the Jewish people today who believe the Old Testament, but not the New Testament. Are they saved? The Bible is clear on this. When Jesus Christ came, God revealed Himself as a triune God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are hints of this in the Old Testament. But it was not revealed until Christ came. Now that God has revealed Himself as a triune God, He holds man accountable to believe in His triunity. In fact, the New Testament speaks many times of the necessity of believing in Jesus as the Christ and the unique Son of God. This morning I came across one such verse. 2 John 9 says, "Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son" (ESV). In other words, now that Christ has come, if a person does not believe and follow the teaching of Jesus, they neither truly know God nor are in relationship with God nor can receive His greatest blessings. This reminds me of 1 John 5:11-12, which says, "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life" (ESV). Now that Christ has come, eternal life is found only in relationship with Jesus. The reason for this is that it is Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins. There is no salvation apart from Jesus and the blood He shed for those who will believe in Him. The good news is that He graciously invites all to believe in Him for salvation!

The Canaanite View of the LORD

We learn something very interesting in Joshua 9 about the Canaanite view of the LORD. In chapter 9, the Gibeonites deceived the leaders of Israel into making a treaty with them. They did so out of fear of the LORD.

The Gibeonites said to Joshua, "From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the LORD your God. For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth." (Josh 9:9-10 ESV)

Later when Joshua asked them why they had deceived Israel, they answered Joshua, "Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you--so we feared greatly for our lives because of you and did this thing." (Josh 9:24 ESV)

Word got around. The Gibeonites knew the name of Israel's God--the LORD (Yahweh). They understood that the LORD rescued the Israelites out of Egypt. They understood that the LORD gave Israel victory over Sihon and Og. And they understood that the LORD had commanded Israel to take possession of the land of Canaan and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land.

This tells us that the world was observing Israel, and that they recognized God's powerful working on their behalf. So it is with us. The world is observing us. Do they also recognize God's powerful working on our behalf? If not, why not?

Purposes of Romans and the Gospel

Romans is a fuller revelation of the gospel than any other book in the Bible. 1:18-8:39 is pure gospel. And Paul continues to cover gospel-related issues all the way through the end of chapter 11. The purpose of this gospel revelation is not primarily to evangelize the readers of Romans, for the epistle is addressed to believers (1:7). I see three main purposes of this gospel revelation.

One purpose is that believers would be spurred on to serve their Savior and would be transformed into the image of Christ. Paul's transition from gospel to Christian living is 12:1-2 "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (ESV).

A second purpose of the gospel revelation is that believers would praise and glorify God. The conclusion to Paul's presentation of the gospel is 11:33-36 "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?' For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen" (ESV).

A third purpose of the gospel revelation is to strengthen believers to evangelize the world. In Paul's introduction, he says that he and the other apostles "have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations" (1:5 ESV). "The obedience of faith" is the obedience to Christ that is produced by faith in Christ and the gospel. God had commissioned the apostles and graciously empowered them to lead the lost throughout the nations to faith in Christ and the resulting obedience to Christ. Paul speaks in chapter 15 of how he has been bringing about the obedience of faith among all the nations. "For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience--by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God--so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation" (15:18-20 ESV).

Then Paul's last words are a doxology in which he praises God for the strength He supplies to all believers for the task of bringing about the obedience of faith among all the nations. "Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith--to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen" (16:25-27 ESV).

This is a complex sentence. Let's break it down. The main thought is this, "Now to him who is able to strengthen you to bring about the obedience of faith, be glory." Paul says this is "according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ." In other words, the gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ compel and equip us to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations. Paul also says this is "according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations." This is a reference to the gospel just mentioned. Now that Jesus Christ has come, the gospel has been revealed. Our task of bringing about the obedience of faith among all the nations is of epic proportions, for God spent long ages preparing for this world-wide endeavor. Paul also says that this is "according to the command of the eternal God." In other words, our glorious God doesn't ask us to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, He commands it! Paul's words are in the form of a doxology, thus giving God the praise and glory for the work He is doing through us among the nations.

So the purposes of the gospel revelation in Romans include our service & sanctification, God's praise & glory, and evangelism & missions.

"Do not be angry with yourselves...for God sent me"

Joseph tells his brothers in Gen 45:5 "Now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life" (ESV). Joseph emphasizes this by repeating it in verse 7, "God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors" (ESV). Joseph knows that his brothers are now tempted to be angry with themselves for a bad decision they made in the past. We can completely understand such a response. Their decision involved sin against their brother and against God. We also have made bad decisions in the past that we are tempted to be angry about today--some that were plainly sinful, some that were foolish, and some that were neither of these but have nevertheless led to regret. But Joseph also knows that God was sovereign over his brothers' bad decision. God was in control, as He always is. God delights in incorporating our sin, foolishness, and bad decisions in His wise plan. And God's plan is good (Rom 8:28). Because God was sovereign over his brothers' bad decision, and used it to save the entire family from starvation, Joseph encourages his brothers, "Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves." And today God is saying the same thing to you if you are angry with yourself for a bad decsision you made in the past. May our thoughts not be filled with such regret, but may they be filled with prayer that God will gloriously fulfill His good purposes behind our past decisions.