What then 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 is to condemn? 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.
Paul completed his Romans doctrinal statement on justification by faith with verse 30! He lays out how we have obtained access into God’s grace, in which we now stand, by faith, with admittance into His very own glory. We are to consider ourselves dead to sin, alive in Jesus Himself, because sin has no more dominion over us. We are in the Spirit and not in the flesh because Christ Jesus, in fact, dwells in us. He predestined us; He called us; He justified us; He glorified us!
It started in chapter 1, verse 16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Paul concludes this doctrinal statement with this declaration: “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those he called he justified, and those he justified he also glorified.” (Romans 8:30)
The Bible declares we have an active adversary waring against born-again persons; he is a very powerful and persistent enemy! He is unseen in his natural state, but very visible through, deceit and many subtle disguisable effects. His constant effort pops up in our self-life through subtle cultural nuances, through personal biases and desires.
His purpose is to hinder and prevent the glory of our Lord within us. Another way to say it, his purpose is to attack us individually, so that, our faith becomes distorted, our understanding of God’s truth becomes perverted and we do not enter into personal intimacy with each of the three Persons of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus and our Father God. Satan is a very effective adversary and we need to prayerfully take heed to scriptural warnings.
Paul is taking on satanic arguments with statements concerning the nature and character of our God of glory in this passage, verses 31-36. People continuously make arguments against God’s truth but Paul, anticipating these scriptural attacks, counters with the reality of whom we are here dealing; it is our God almighty! He is our Father and we are His children. He is not only a jealous Father God, but loving with agape love; He is faithful to His children! How can Satan or anyone one in all creation stand against what God has established as eternally true, making us eternally secure within the pasture of His care.
Our enemy is the Angel of light, appearing as an innocent, alluring with specific intent to corrupt truth in Jesus and His Word… attacking our individual trust in God, attacking our personal faith! The threat is very real but he cannot penetrate our faith when we are walking in it! David, as a young man, with five stones and a sling, against the mighty Goliath, is our example!
But we are children, learning to walk spiritually, learning to trust our Savior and hear the voice of our Holy Spirit. The strength of our faith requires testing, yes it does! We learn best through conflict and threat, like David. We learn through spiritual conflicts and testing, while at the same time, our heavenly Father is observing and protecting. We are in “basic training.”
David’s success with Goliath was an act of consuming God’s grace! Like David, we are called to be spiritually learning, to be discerning, to be faithful and wise! Like David, we also have many spiritual things to process through mistakes, but God is faithful, watching and protecting!
There are two main spiritual arenas of vulnerability. One is the worldly culture in which we are living, the other is the fleshly jar of clay in which we dwell. Our weaknesses and vulnerabilities will individually vary according to personal differences in both mind and body. But each of us has our own calling, and we all, in Christ Jesus, have His faithful love overshadowing and leading our journey.
All our temptations are also within our Lord’s Spiritual training ground. It is in this conflict we learn our own weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Through faith, we learn to discern spiritually, while at the same time, growing in the grace our Lord Jesus who is constantly working through our indwelling Holy Spirit.
Given who we are in Christ Jesus, redeemed, justified and glorified, how can any power in all creation challenge what God has accomplished in us and is still providing through His agape love and grace. Our task is burdensome on the one hand, while a blessing and source of strength, on the other.
Our last GraceNotes reviewed our current identity in Jesus as we live temporally in our aging jar of clay. Power belongs to God, not to us, but our self-life, in this jar of clay, continually rears its defects as a sin reminder of our self-life. What is not of faith is sin!
God’s agape love pervades everything; God’s love is turning truth and righteousness daily into a spiritual reality. The law of the Spirit of life, not self-life, has set us free from the law of sin and death! While we might be serving our self-life, Jesus is supplying resurrection power and light leading us away from self-life into faith and His glory!
But if we take a personal look backward, we will recognize that it is our-self that is the weak link in our salvation chain; it is Satan’s attacking point!
Our Father God has reconciled Himself to us through Jesus, now it is our choice to reconcile ourselves to Him. God respects the choices we make! We cannot lose our salvation, BUT, our faith by faith choices determine whom we become grace upon grace! Once we have made our believe choice, then, we are justified and glorified but we are called to be so much more. The stronger our faith, the more grace we are given to consume!
Without faith it is impossible to please God but He rewards those who seek Him! Our faith links us to God’s source of power; we need to be constant in receiving and consuming God’s grace. It is our growing faith enlarging our capacity to consume more grace! But it is also God from whom we receive our faith. This means our faith is dependent upon on active intimacy with our Father God! Faith becomes defined by spiritual activity with our Lord Jesus Himself. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
Since very God of very God is dealing with us on a personal basis, how can we not walk in His grace, glorifying Him as our prime desire and purpose? The Psalmist put it this way: “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek.’” This should be our prayerful yearning. By faith, we glorify our Father God.
God’s salvation plan is given for our limited and lacking (L&L) human minds to internally process. Our spiritual capacity to understand Romans 8 and related passages, displaces our L&L comprehension because our new Spiritual resource is the Holy Spirit of God; in Christ Jesus, we do have the mind of Christ! God has equipped us to grow in agape love and grow in His grace, to grow in His fullness even while still walking on earth in clay! Are we now experiencing His reality while living in our flesh? Are we being distracted by other temporal interests? “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” May your mercy grant us faith to consume your grace!
The lens of our soul is now focused into our Lord Jesus. Looking externally into the face of Jesus Himself and His word, instead of looking self-ward, internally. We now have access to absolute truth, purity and the righteousness of Jesus Christ; it is here for us to consume. Our focus now targets agape love in Jesus and the fruit of His righteousness, not our inward pride. Biblical faith is probing God Himself rather than our internal temporal self-life. Knowledge of God and His word, essential as that is, does not replace the glory of God Himself, as a Person, and our loving Father.
Our loving Lord and savior, is working in each one of us according to our faith! We are in His presence at all times. At this very moment we are seated with Him on the right hand of the Father! Is self-life interfering with our consciousness in Jesus; are we seeking Him, are we using our spiritual ears to hear Him? Are we growing in grace, in His love and experiencing Him as a living, alive person here on earth? Our faith is a measurement of “seeking His face.” Seek the things that are above where Christ is seated on the right hand of God.
Faith is organic and exposes our hearts to living grace. Our faith needs to be spiritually aggressive, not passive, actively looking to Jesus, our divine author of grace; Jesus is waiting to agape love those who love Him!
Once we enter into the Spiritual realm as a new creation in Christ Jesus, where God lives and has His being, we acquire Spiritual focus. This is exactly what happens when we are born-again. God’s Spiritual surgery is equipping us with our spiritual capacity to hear Him, see Him, and grow in Him.
God is Love! God created our temporal universe with a plan and purpose centered around you and me. He had us in mind before He created time and physics. He does not change! His is loving us now in whatever circumstances we are now experiencing.
Humanly speaking, pondering this seems utterly preposterous. Yet how utterly beautiful and glorious, because it is true!! What can we possibly say … rather, we pause in awe. Since God is for us, His adopted children, His family, who can possibly be against us?
We are called, because we are HIS children, we are “born-again” righteously in Him and called to live in Him by faith! For He who is in you is greater than He who is in the world. Faith is trusting Who He is in us, not second place; we are not giving 1st place to anyone else, especially not our own SELF!!
If what we are suggesting here seems a little exaggerated, at least beyond our personal experience, it is not! We do not know how to pray as we ought, but our indwelling Holy Spirit prays with us on our behalf. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. The law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death! Consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
If you feel led to probe the possibilities in Christ Jesus a little deeper, we suggest turning to A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, and prayerfully consider his council. We need to experience God as a Person and not limit ourselves to knowing about Him in the Word!
May we share Paul’s prayer for the church at Ephesus:
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith– that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God.
Now unto him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:14-21.