Hymn of Security...

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 delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?  Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written:


      “ For Your sake we are killed all day long;
       We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  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 created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.--Romans 8:31-39

Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,

John MacArthur calls this the believer's hymn of security.  What a great passage this would be to memorize!   Paul begins by asking the question "if God is for us, who can be against us?" It could also read, "since God is for us."  The Father is for us...He did not spare His own Son to give us the free gift of salvation when we were still His enemies. He has already given us the greatest gift and paid the highest price. He has sacrificed His Son for us, there is nothing...nothing that He would not give.

Verse 33 asks, "who will bring a charge against God's elect?  It is God who justifies.  We have been declared righteous by God. Our sin has been pardoned, our debt has been paid.  When we believe, God imputes Christ's righteousness to our account.  If then God has declared us righteous, who can accuse us?  Paul goes on to ask, "who is he that condemns?  It is Christ who died, and furthermore is risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.  Do you see what is being said here, girls, The answer is NO ONE can condemn us.   I (we) am the defendant.  Christ died in my place for my sin.  The Son of God...for me!  And what is more...He is risen from the dead and is at the right hand of the Father interceding for me!  The Lord Jesus not only died for me, He prays for me for my good!  God has committed judgment to the Son.  If He does not condemn me...no one can.

Next, Paul gives the list of what cannot separate us from the love of Christ.  NOTHING CAN BANISH US FROM HIS PRESENCE.  NOTHING!  OUR SALVATION IS SECURE.  Check out the list for yourself...it is pretty inclusive. John 10:27-30 says this:

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.  I and My Father are one.

”Believers often face much suffering and persecution in this world.  Paul understood this better than most.  The sheep reference reminds me that the Lord is my Shepherd...He leads, I follow.  Nothing can separate me from Him.  I am secure...I have everything I need.

Because of our identification with Christ we die daily and are at times persecuted for our faith...as David writes and Paul quotes, we are killed all day long...we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Persecution and death will not separate us from Him.  The bible tells us when we are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord. When we awake after death, we awake in His likeness.

Here is my favorite verse..."Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Instead of drawing us away from God, sufferings and persecutions draw us to Him and through them we bring glory to God and blessings to ourselves.  All you need do to understand is to look to the cross and see the glorious result of the One who suffered...the just for the unjust. The darkest moment in history was in reality the brightest light and the greatest gift the world would ever know.  We are secure in Him. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.  No matter what I face in this life...He will always be with me.  No one....no one can take Him from me...not even me.  "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me;"  WHAT COMFORT!

Love
Mom

Some verses that were encouraging to read...

Rom_8:17, Rom_5:3-5; Mat_5:10-12, Mat_10:28-31; Luk_21:12-18; Joh_16:33; Act_14:22; Act_20:23-24; 2Co_4:17, 2Co_6:4-10, 2Co_11:23-27; 2Ti_1:12, 2Ti_4:16-18; Heb_12:3-11; Jam_1:2-4; 1Pe_1:5-7, 1Pe_4:12-14; Rev_7:14-17