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Articles 2014-2017
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Like Abraham, we have believed in the Lord; we have received the good news of His gospel. And because we have responded in faith to Him, He has mercifully accounted it to us as righteousness. Though we used to be at war with Him, we have since surrendered. Peace with God is not gained by armistice – where opposing sides agree to a ceasefire, but by total surrender. And such capitulation is not a one-time event; it is a lifestyle choice to be made every day.
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
While the world continues in its conflict against Heaven, God’s people have obtained access to, and are now standing in a realm called the grace of God. Immersed in and surrounded by grace! It was by His grace that we were first empowered to believe on Him (Ephesians 2:8). And since that day we have discovered that it enables us to follow Him and to minister in His name. Because we have seen to some degree what His grace has produced in us and in others, we are able to look upon the Church of Christ and even the nations of the earth with joyful hope that God’s glory will be revealed across the earth. Celebration and worship fills the house of God because we know that the grace of God is greater than and more powerful than the sin of man. And it is the guarantee of future glory.
At the same time, those in the world, those who are at war with God, do not look toward the future with an expectation of glory but with a sense of foreboding. They see how mankind has produced (along with great scientific advances) great destruction over the years and they fear what might come next. Is man the cause of changes presently occurring in our climate? Will catastrophe soon follow? What about the possibility of financial collapse? Or war?
The root problem is that fallen humanity lives as though the world belongs to them. And they make plans accordingly. But God promised it to Abraham and his seed (Romans 4:13). And since the seed of Abraham is Christ and all who belong to Him (Galatians 3:16, 29), futility lies at the heart of all that men try to accomplish while at the same time rejecting God.
Again, God’s people can joyfully worship Him with great expectation and hope in their hearts – even when in the midst of painful circumstances.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
We have seen God’s strategy. He is establishing in us the ability to walk with Him over the long term. For example, we know that a runner cannot train for a marathon race by simply walking around his living room once in a while. He must painfully press through running one mile, then two, then three, etc. And as he consistently presses into greater distances in his training, he is increasing his capacity for the long distance race. So also, God is establishing endurance in us as we keep turning to Him during times of trial and suffering. As He consistently reveals His empowering grace to trust Him and even to rejoice, He is working His character into us. And little by little, we are becoming more like Him. As a result, we have an increasing and enduring hope.
When we look at what we once were and see what God has done both in us as well as in others around us, we realize that His work in a few reveals His strategy for the many. The whole earth needs to be changed. While we do not know how many will turn to Him before the Church Age culminates, we do know that it is in His heart that many more would come to Him. Many times I have thought that the world would be so much better off if the Lord would just arise in glorious visibility. Why not thunder His word from the tops of the mountains through angels who glowed in the dark? But God has decreed it otherwise. People cannot even see His kingdom unless they are born again (John 3:3). And its slow penetrating nature is like hidden leaven gradually permeating its surroundings (Matthew 13:33).
And so our hope seems unexplainable to those who do not know Him. In fact, in rejecting the God of hope, they have no hope, just wishful thinking (Ephesians 2:12, 1 Thessalonians 4:13, 1 Peter 3:15). And we know that our hope is of an abiding nature; it is eternal in its roots and eternal in its fruits. And it will never let us down.
and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
The reason we are confident in God’s strategy among the nations is because He has joined us in His kingdom venture; He is with us. He did not just stay in heaven and issue orders for us to follow; rather, He poured himself into our hearts. He is so committed to His eternity-designed project among men that simply writing laws or sending angels was insufficient. We needed Him to be our strength, our ability to stand and having done all to stand.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
After the fall of Adam, humanity was weak and feeble; it was impotent. Mankind could not fix itself. No matter what men tried, they were unable to remedy the flawed condition of the human soul. And so today, the world stubbornly staggers on in its self-absorbed longing to redefine sin as normalcy. But two thousand years ago, God interrupted history and inaugurated the road back to true spiritual health for mankind when Christ took upon himself the judgment that was due us. And He did it at exactly the right time.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die–
We have all heard the stories of heroic soldiers who leaped on grenades to save the lives of their comrades and lost their own in the process. How awesome was their sacrifice!
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
As amazing as the heroic soldiers’ love was for their friends, God’s love is even greater yet. I have never heard of an Allied soldier in World War 2 who jumped on a grenade to save the lives of Nazi soldiers. Yet God intervened in the human race when we were enemies, opposed to Him and to His ways. Christ did not go to the cross because there was anyone anywhere on earth who deserved it. He did so as a demonstration of His amazing love and mercy, and also to become the foundation for His unfolding plan among men, His presently emerging house under construction, and the slow but inevitable increase of His kingdom.
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
Because of Calvary, we shall be saved from the destruction of the lake of fire. But God’s wrath is not only a future terror; it is a present reality. Paul describes it in terms of both a growing human acceptance of idolatrous foolishness (Romans 1:18 - 23) and the increasing approval of sexual depravity (Romans 1:24 - 32) – warped minds calling normal what common sense clearly sees as perverse. Indeed, God’s wrath is plainly upon our society. What does the Scripture say? Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:36).
Here is our salvation. We have been rescued from God’s present wrath abiding upon the nations of the earth. And those opposed to Him cannot even see His resident life in us – spiritual life that is the only cure for their spiritual death. They only see us as another sector of society, a political block with a religious agenda. As a result, they view our perspective as either irrelevant or absurd.
But we are God’s priestly people. So let us cry out to Him on their behalf that He would have mercy upon them and open the eyes of their hearts that they might see and receive His life.
And let us stay focused on our God and His emerging kingdom. Some among us have heeded the enemy’s call to drift back into the realm of blindness/destruction. Remember, total surrender to our God is not simply a one-time decision; it is a lifestyle choice to be made daily. But sometimes the pull of the world seems overwhelming to some. For those in such a time of conflict, Paul offers this wonderful promise.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
His life: our hope. It is not our strength of will, our determination that will save us. Rather, it is God himself, His life within us that is our hope, our staying power. Instead of letting our thoughts drift toward the world and its temptations, let us turn toward our God. Let us set our minds upon Him. Let us spend time in His presence in communion with Him. It is His life, His presence within us that will save us, that will make us whole spiritually. Is not life greater and stronger than death? Calvary proved it. So also our lives will bear witness to that proof as we simply learn to abide in Him. Those who do so will bear the fruit that God seeks among men (John 15:4).
In closing, remember God’s call for us to rejoice.
Rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:2)
Rejoice in our sufferings (Romans 5:3) knowing that He is at work in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). But at the root of it all is our call to simply:
Rejoice in Him. To know Him is eternal life.
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Donald Rumble – September 2017
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