JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH [Romans:8:1-39 ]. Lesson No.: 353 Class: Senior Memory Verse: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1, 2). Cross References: I Results of Justification 1. There is no condemnation in the lives of those who are in Christ Jesus, [Romans:8:1]; [John:3:18]; [1 John:3:20-24 ]. 2. Christ Jesus has made the newborn Christian free from the law of sin and death, [Romans:8:2-4 ]; [John:5:24]; [John:8:32]; [Galatians:5:1]. 3. The carnal mind, being enmity against God, is inoperative in the justified state, [Romans:8:5-8 ]; [Ephesians:4:17]; [Titus:1:15-16 ]; [1 John:2:15-16 ]. 4. The Spirit of God and Jesus Christ indwelling in the human heart produces a new life, [Romans:8:9-13 ]; [2 Corinthians:5:17]; [Galatians:2:20]; [Ephesians:3:17-19 ]. II The Spiritual Life 1. Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God, the Spirit bearing witness, [Romans:8:14-17 ]; [John:1:12]; [Galatians:4:4-7 ]; [1 John:5:6], [1 John:5:10]. 2. True faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to His commands produce hope of eternal life in the believer’s heart, [Romans:8:18-25 ]; [Romans:5:21]; [John:11:25-26 ]; [1 John:5:11-12 ]. 3. The Spirit of God makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God, [Romans:8:26-27 ]. 4. “All things work together for good to them that love God,” [Romans:8:28-30 ]; [2 Corinthians:4:17]; [Hebrews:12:11]; [1 Peter:4:12-13 ]. 5. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” [Romans:8:31-34 ]; [Hebrews:13:6]; [1 Peter:3:13]; [1 John:4:4]. III The Conquering Christians 1. In all things of this life the true Christian is more than conqueror, [Romans:8:35-37 ]; [Luke:10:19]; [1 John:5:4]. 2. Neither things present nor things to come shall be able to separate us from the love of God, [Romans:8:38-39 ]; [2 Timothy:1:12]; [Jude:1:24]. Notes: By Faith When Jesus told Nicodemus, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” that ruler of the Jews exclaimed, “How can these things be?” [John:3:3], [John:3:9]). It is impossible for the natural man to understand the workings of the Spirit of God. The Bible tells us: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” [1 Corinthians:2:14]). However, the true Christian has found that it is not necessary to comprehend all God’s ways, means, and methods in order to obtain the gifts that God has provided for mankind. In answer to the Philippian Jailer’s question, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” the men of God answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” [Acts:16:30-31 ]). True faith in Jesus Christ delivers a person from condemnation and sin, and brings about the state of being justified before God; but the Apostle, in the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, explained that in order to remain free from condemnation, a person cannot walk after the lusts of the flesh and the desires of the world but he must walk according to the leading of the Spirit of God and the Word of God. God’s plan of redemption rests upon the sacrificial death of His Son, which condemns sin in the flesh and opens the fountainhead of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and is fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Enmity of the Carnal Mind Two opposite facts are explained in the verses surrounding [Romans:8:8] -– the fact of the spiritual mind which is the result of the experience of the new birth or justification by faith, and the fact of the carnal mind which is the product of natural generation and the subsequent sinful life. The carnal mind is enmity against God, “for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” The carnal mind is death to the soul. The man who is living after the carnal mind -– that is, the man who is committing sinful acts -– is living according to the flesh and cannot please God; for sin is the very principle of rebellion, and therefore cannot be subject to God. When a man is justified by faith, he ceases to commit sinful acts, for God gives power to live above those things. God’s plan is not to palliate -– cloak, hide, or excuse -– sins in the lives of His children, but to give them power to live without committing sins. “Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” [Matthew:1:21]). The Lord owns as His children none of these so-called “sinning Christians.” When a man is saved, the old root or original nature of sin is dealt a stunning blow and does not show its head for a time; but sooner or later it will cause trouble, unless eradicated. The “old man” of sin is crucified with Christ, but it will do its utmost to come off the cross. The newborn child of God needs to go to God to be sanctified; that is, to have the old root of sin, the Adamic nature, removed through the second application of Jesus’ Blood to the heart. The child of God will then have a pure heart. The “old man” dies at sanctification and the child of God lives a full overcomer’s life. The Spiritual Mind “If Christ be in you.” Christ in your is the experience of justification by faith, obtained through the new birth. In another place the Bible says: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” [2 Corinthians:5:17]). This is the test by which a person may judge the state of grace in which he stands. When a person is redeemed from his sins, by the operation of the new birth, the Spirit of Christ comes into the heart and dwells there. That person no longer minds or performs the sinful things of the flesh, any more than a dead man performs the functions of natural life; but the Christian minds and obeys the things of the Spirit of God. To be spiritually minded is life and peace, and this new life has great recompense of reward. “If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” [Romans:8:11]). The Apostle showed that this high state of Christian grace could not be reached by man’s own ability. The Spirit of God is the guide for all true Christians, Jesus Himself leading and showing the way. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” “Ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” [Ephesians:2:12-13 ]). Believers are adopted into the family of God and are made heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. The Spirit of God bears witness with the spirit of the true child of God in confirmation of this most wonderful transaction. Tried People The Christian will be a joint-heir with Christ, “If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” Throughout the Bible the fact is expressed that God’s people will be a people tried with afflictions, distresses, and persecutions. This was true of the early Apostolic period, and this fact is still true today, and it will be true until Jesus takes His Church to Heaven. It has been said that Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people, and God uses largely the method of tests and trials to prepare His people for their eternal reward and abode. The unfriendliness of the world toward God’s grace and the suffering of afflictions often cause the child of God to long for his heavenly home. “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” [2 Corinthians:4:16-17 ]). “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” God knows the heart of each of His children, and He knows exactly how much trial each one can stand. He will never allow anything to happen to His children that He will not give strength enough for them to bear it. The load of a Christian may sometimes seem too heavy to bear; the trial may at times seem too great to endure; the cloud may appear too dark and thick for the sun to ever shine through again; but God abides faithful and His Word will never fail. In times like these, the Christian may feel that he is not able to pray: but if he will wait and cry before the Lord, the matter will have a successful ending. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” [Romans:8:26]). Foreknowledge of God Romans:8:29-30 are controversial verses of Scripture, but in them the Apostle simply shows the method by which God works, the order in which he several steps of full salvation -– from the new birth to glorification -– follow one another. The Apostle wrote to the Romans -– to the Gentiles. The Jew felt that they were the chosen people of God, and that no other nation or people were to be favoured of God or called to serve Him. The Spirit inspired the Apostle to write that God in His foreknowledge knew that the Jews would reject Jesus Christ as their Messiah and that His call would go out to the Gentiles in a measure greater than ever before, inviting them to serve Him in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (All things -– past, present, and future -– are in the eternal present with God; therefore the term “foreknowledge of God” is in reality an expression of God’s omniscience, contrasted with man’s limited understanding.) “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” [1 Peter:1:1-2 ]). God foreknew the Gentiles, and He called them to be conformed to the image of His Son. The Gentile people (being free agents with the power of choice to answer God’s call or refrain from doing so), who answered God’s call, forsaking their sins and evil ways, were justified. “Many are called, but few are chosen” [Matthew:22:14]). God’s justified ones will be glorified in due time, provided they persist in their justification and grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. It is the surety of the plan of salvation that the Apostle stressed in these verses, that each individual might avail himself of the opportunities that God has afforded. God has provided the means of salvation and all the assistance necessary for any man’s justification, but man has a moral obligation upon which he must act. Each man’s eternal glorification or eternal rejection will depend upon the action that he takes toward God’s wondrous plan of salvation. The Love That Binds As the Apostle considered all these things, it seems that his cup of joy ran over and the praise of his heart knew no bounds. With Spirit-inspired oratory, he rounded out this exhortation on God’s gift of salvation, free to all mankind. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Paul named many things of earthly nature that might cause some to fall from the Christian pathway, but he could say that in all these things “we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Paul knew, for he had gone through all these things and had come through victorious. God is no respecter of persons. If He takes one man victoriously through to Heaven, He is able to take all men through, who come unto Him. The chapter closes with these memorable words: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Even the adversary of the soul and the unseen dangers that every Christian must necessarily combat will not be able to separate the earnest Christian from Christ, for there is sure victory for those who fully trust in God. When a man is saved, then, is he eternally secure? Nothing that the Apostle mentioned can separate from Christ! A saved man is eternally secure so long as he chooses to remain in Christ’s hand -– so long as he chooses to do God’s will. But the individual man, himself, can take himself out of Christ’s hand. Questions: 1. Who are the people who are free from condemnation for sin? 2. What is meant by walking “after the Spirit”? By walking “after the flesh”? 3. What will happen to the people who are carnally minded? 4. What is the reward of the people who are spiritually minded? 5. Who are the sons of God? 6. How is it possible for a person to become one of God’s sons? 7. Who helps the saints of God when they pray? In what way? 8. Complete the quotation: “If God be for us, . . . “ 9. Who or what can separate a Christian from the love of Christ?
Posted on: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 10:36:49 +0000