ResponsiveReiding

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:12-13

It is the Author’s observation here, that sin is so deceitful, and hardens the heart against the sweet motions of the Spirit so quickly, that we need daily exhortations to guard against it.

One does not need to put butter in a blast chiller to get it to harden, they need only remove it from any heat source – just leave it alone.

This is how the souls of men are. There is an inertia to our remaining sinfulness. Even nature teaches us that a “body at rest tends to stay at rest”. If it is not moved – it will not move. Simply left to themselves, not brought near to the flame, our hearts congeal and harden without any additional influence. Time in the Word, time in prayer, exposing ourselves to spiritual matters from reliable sources which bring us before the throne of grace again to warm our hearts is a constant need, not some mere, perfunctory religious duty.

Beloved, find some time today, some place, to bring your heart near the flame of Christ’s loving grace and mercy so as to melt you afresh. It takes only the shortest amount of time for the hardness to begin settling in – for sin to deceive us that something else is more important, more necessary.

The text says to exhort one another every day while we are here in this regard. Consider this my attempt to exhort you. And if you can, encourage and challenge someone else to beware the deceitful and hardening tendency of indwelling sin. And if nothing else – exhort yourself. Don’t let the day go without some time spent drawing near to the throne of grace. Warm your own heart with a fresh visit to the Cross.

I am reminded of the strains of Fanny Crosby’s sweet hymn:

1 Jesus, keep me near the cross,

There a precious fountain;

Free to all, a healing stream,

Flows from Calv’ry’s mountain. 

Refrain:

In the cross, in the cross

Be my glory ever,

Till my ransomed soul shall find

Rest beyond the river.

2 Near the cross, a trembling soul,

Love and mercy found me;

There the Bright and Morning Star

Shed His beams around me. [Refrain]

3 Near the cross! O lamb of God,

Bring its scenes before me;

Help me walk from day to day

With its shadow o’er me. [Refrain]

4 Near the cross! I’ll watch and wait,

Hoping, trusting ever;

Till I reach the golden strand,

Just beyond the river. [Refrain]

Colossians 2:1-3 “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

Did you get that? All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are not just IN Christ, but are “hidden” in Him. They must be searched out. Sought for. Dug out. Mined. And that must be done everywhere in God’s Word.

Proverbs for instance, is such a treasure in God’s Word, but it does not always yield up its riches easily. In fact, as Prov. 2:3-5 notes – the wisdom found in it must be sought out if we would have it: “if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”

God delights to be sought out, pursued. For it is in the pursuit of Him that those who are genuinely His and those who merely make a profession of faith are weeded out. Those who won’t take the time or effort to know Him, will have the fruit of those non-labors. Nothing. And conversely, those who do expend the effort, as the text above says, WILL understand the fear of the Lord and find out the knowledge of God. The reward is infinitely valuable. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. God Himself in Christ.

So it is, when you get to a portion like Prov. 24, it is easy to just skim over the statements like a series of disconnected bits of advice, and fail to see that all the way through, things are being revealed to us about the blessed God we serve because of Christ. Let me tease some of those out below.

¹Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them, ²for their hearts devise violence, and their lips talk of trouble.

As we are to be taking on the character, the image of Christ in our Christian walk, we are called to lose all envy of evil men – because God Himself is a SATISFIED God. He is never envious of any.

What else is He?  

³By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; ⁴by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

            God is a WISE God. He never acts without a purpose and a plan, thoroughly thought through.

⁵A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might, ⁶for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

            God is an UNASSAILABLE God. His purposes and plans will all succeed.

⁷Wisdom is too high for a fool; in the gate he does not open his mouth.

            God is an UNKNOWN God by mere human wisdom. Perceptible, but unknown, except by the revelation        of the Spirit to the soul in Christ.

⁸Whoever plans to do evil will be called a schemer. ⁹The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.

            God is a HOLY God, and never the AUTHOR of EVIL.

¹⁰If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

            God is an OMNIPOTENT God. He never fails in any adversity. And He is OUR God.

¹¹Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

¹²If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?

            God is a COMPASSIONATE God, calling to the lost through the proclamation of the Gospel, and             providentially withholding evil from having its full sway.

¹³My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.

¹⁴Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

            God is a God of SWEETNESS to the soul. The more you come to taste Him in all of His goodness, the             more you crave Him.

¹⁵Lie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous; do no violence to his home; ¹⁶for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

            God is an UPHOLDING and PRESERVING God to all who are His.

¹⁷Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, ¹⁸lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.

            God is not a VINDICTIVE God. He takes no pleasure in the demise of His enemies.

¹⁹Fret not yourself because of evildoers, and be not envious of the wicked, ²⁰for the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

            God is JUST God, and a God of JUDGMENT. He will bring justice in due time.

²¹My son, fear the Lord and the king, and do not join with those who do otherwise, ²²for disaster will arise suddenly from them, and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?

            Contrary to the wicked, God is a BLESSING God. Warning and protecting from coming woe.

As you read your Bible, let the whole of Scripture constantly inform you of the goodness, greatness and wonder of our living, triune God.

If there is anything evident in our society right now, permeating every part of it, it is that so very many are suffering from a crisis of identity. With the result that even something as basic as human biology is no longer a guide to the most basic identity. So people are desperately trying to establish some sense of identity for themselves. This occurs from the mild to the extreme. From the socially acceptable like corporate dress, bumper stickers, displaying desired retail logos, hoodies, baggy pants/skinny jeans, to extreme body modification, tattooing, transvestism, androgyny, etc. Any symbol that marks one out as a part of any particular group, or allows them to communicate something about who they think themselves to be to others.

One of the things Scripture does from its very outset is give us data to help gain a sense of identity as human beings – and what it means to be a “person”, from the point of view of the One who created us. After all, who is better equipped to give us that identity than the one who designed us as we are according to His own will and purposes?

It is no surprise then that as a race in active rebellion against God over who has the right of supremacy over us, (to the point of many even denying that He even exists) that even Christians can (and do) suffer from this crisis of identity – IF – we do not take the Word of God seriously in this matter. Enter the little book of Colossians, and its emphasis upon clarifying this most important issue.

You see, it is one thing for each of us to have an identity – but quite another to know who we are in Christ Jesus. The phrase “in Him” pervades this letter. The Believer needs desperately to know the fullness of the person and work of Christ, and then to understand the nature of his or her identification in and with Christ. There is a cosmos and eternity of difference between being a sinner (which we all are) and a sinner saved by grace (which only believers are). The Christian is forbidden from ever thinking of him or herself solely in terms of him or herself – i.e. apart from Christ. Whoever and whatever we are – we are in Him, and not alone.

Now in his discussion, the Apostle Paul is going to argue that gaining a true, Biblical sense of our identity, is the best equipping for remaining stable, joyful and thankful in the storms, trials and complexities of life. And so he opens the letter by teasing out the key elements of the Christian’s identity. I’ll outline them briefly for you below to consider, marvel and rejoice in today.

When our endurance is the product of absolute trust in the loving goodness of our God toward in Jesus Christ, it produces an endurance in trials which is accompanied by joy and patience.

When trials have displaced our joy, or when patience has run out and we live in the frustration of those trials, the issue isn’t the trial itself, patience itself, nor joy itself – it is faith. Have I lost the confidence in the love of God I so desperately need? For the endurance we need is a supernatural one. We need to be “strengthened with all power, according to HIS glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.”

Believing I have an inheritance which far outweighs my current distress, and living in the thankfulness of its reality. If these are eclipsed, endurance is gone.

What then is my real status – regardless of the trials I currently face?

1. Each Believer is qualified by the Father to share in the saints’ inheritance.

2. Believers are delivered from the domain of darkness. Living in the truth of reality as God knows it.

3. Believers have been transferred to Kingdom, to governorship and care of the Beloved Son of God. We are citizens of His Kingdom, and subjects of His Kingship.

And who IS this Beloved Son into whose Kingdom I’ve been transferred? (15-20)

• The image of the invisible God.

• The Firstborn of all creation.

• The Creator of all things in heaven and on earth.

• The Creator of all things visible and invisible.

• The Creator of all ranks of human and angelic life.

• The One who stands at the head of all things.

• The One who continues to sustain the existence of all things.

• The Head of His Church.

• The Head of all the Resurrected.

• The One whom God has set as preeminent over all.

• The One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.

• The Reconciler of all things to Himself as God, through the blood of His cross. 

4. The Believer is granted full and free pardon for all my sins – more – not just judicially, but personal forgiveness from the God I have sinned against.

5. (21-22) The Believer is reconciled to the Father through His own death, that He might present us (me) to Him holy, without blemish and blameless

And it is the work of the Spirit to bring these home to the heart and mind as realities – realities which fuel faith. Realities based upon believing God’s Word.

Cementing this identity in our minds, will keep us steadfast and sure in the hardest of times.

Christian – know who you really are in Christ.

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Eph. 6:4

The immediate implication of this passage is simply – God does not interact with us, so as to exasperate us. So we in suit should treat our sons and daughters in like fashion. And what a sweet and encouraging thing that is to consider well.

How does God parent us Dads?

He does not pick at us.

He does not denigrate us.

He does not ignore us.

He does not discourage us.

He does not discipline harshly, rashly or out of anger – but only when it can do us the most good. More like a coach wanting to give their charge the best advantage of their wisdom and skill for their mastery.

He encourages us.

He is patient with us.

He accepts us in our failing.

He makes it known He will never withdraw His love from us.

He is easy to please.

He delights in us.

He is approachable with the stain of sin fresh upon our hands.

He bids us come to Him even when we fear or are faithless.

It makes me weep to think of how He has dealt with me like this over the years. In times of great failure and rebellion. Oh what a Father He is. And how often I failed to be a father in like kind. May we repent, and look to His Spirit to be more and more like this each day – to the praise of His glory, and the eternal blessing of our children in Him.

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.” (Eph. 5:22-28)

Passages like this one reveal a destructive tendency in all of us: We tend to read them in terms of how the other person is, or is not measuring up to their responsibilities, rather than focus on what addresses us.

He’s not doing X. She’s not doing Y. And I won’t do X or Y until he or she does.

All of which is wholly contrary to the nature of the love of Christ. For if He will not love us and act toward us in grace, forgiveness and sweetness until we rightly love Him – we are hopeless.

You and I, each of us are responsible for our part, irrespective of how any other parties do or do not take theirs up fully. My obedience can never be regulated and dependent upon whether or not someone else is obedient to Christ. Their failure never negates my responsibility. My privilege.

That said, here is a brief word to we husbands.

‎Husbands, how do you “present” your wife to yourself each day? Do you look on her with spots and wrinkles, or in purity and without either? The choice is up to you. You can choose to see her nakedness and behold blemishes, or you can choose to array her in finery and be ravished at the sight. See her cleansed from her sin in the blood of The Lamb. See her washed and clean and perfumed and dressed in the dazzling white of the righteousness of Christ. Keep her before you in that sweet aspect and you will not fail to find much to love and adore. Fail to do it, and you have but yourself to blame for a sight that repulses you – for you fail to see her in Christ. You will fail to deal with her, as Christ does with you.

So if on the other hand, you are preoccupied with blemishes, shortcomings, or simple dislikes and differences – do not be surprised if you lose attraction for her, and open yourself up to all manner of sins. You will be easily led to imagine other women as better. You will feed discontent in your own soul. And above all, you will not be able to love her as Christ loved the Church. You will grow cold, distant, demanding, frustrated and hard. Not because of who she is, but because of what you are. If she does not meet your standard, then think for a moment how much less you meet Christ’s. And move toward her as He does you. We are set here like our Savior, to bless, not to be blessed. And if we set about the business He has given us, if we transact in His name with the “talents” He has given us, in due time, we’ll hear His “well done.”

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Cor. 1:3-4)

First I note that God is a comforting God to His people. But I wonder if why we are often so poor at being able to minister to others, is that we have not consciously sought the comfort which comes from God alone in our own distresses. And so we fail to help them seek Him for comfort directly. In other words, because WE look to others, rather than to Him directly in our trials, we then cannot help others to look directly to Him for the comfort they need. For they probably do not need us as directly as we think. Yes indeed, God often uses us as the instruments whereby He administers His comfort, but not so as to make us into the “Comforter” – that is The Spirit’s title and domain. Others need us most to point them back to Jesus, to receive the comfort we did when He comforted us. To be examples of standing fast while looking to Him.

Secondly, let us look to Him not just FOR our comfort, but AS our comfort. We tend to think of Him as supplying comfort in some fashion, rather than His nearness and presence actually being the comfort we need. For the more we come to grasp His great love, His compassion, His sweetness, His willingness to be sought and found, His nearness, His tenderness, His infinite creativity in meeting our needs and all this culminating in the Cross – the more our hearts are comforted in ways those apart from Christ cannot even imagine. Spurgeon once wrote: “Depend upon it, there are countless holy influences which flow from the habitual maintenance of great thoughts of God, as there are incalculable mischiefs which flow from our small thoughts of Him. The root of false theology is belittling God; and the essence of true divinity is greatening God, magnifying Him, and enlarging our conceptions of His majesty and His glory to the utmost.”

Third I note that He is the God of ALL comfort. He is not limited to any one means. He knows what we need spirit, soul and body. Our physical needs, psychological needs, our spiritual needs, etc. There is no category of our lives where He is not willing and able to be our comfort in distress. There is no distress His children suffer which is outside His purview.

James’ admonition that we often “have not, because we ask not” is far truer than we are wont to imagine. We consciously or even sub-consciously put some things outside the circle of what we bring to Him. And we are the losers in that approach. He who numbers the very hairs of our heads, who hears our every sigh, personally administrates the next beat of our hearts, “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?” (Rom. 8:32) – not in terms of gross, fleshly consumption – but as the best and wisest of loving Fathers to His dear children.

Blessed indeed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the very Father of mercies. Oh how merciful to us He is – even in all the miseries we bring upon ourselves. And He is the God of all comfort. Pouring Himself into us, so that we may bring others to the mercy seat along with us when they experience trouble. That they may know Him that way too.

Run to Him Christian that you might know the comfort of Him in all things.

Run to Him sinner, that in fleeing to Christ, you may find the comfort of the forgiveness of sins, cleansing from guilt, deliverance from His just wrath, and entrance into His very family – because of Christ Jesus.

In J.I. Packer’s “God’s Plans for You” – he makes an impassioned plea for reformation in Evangelicalism. Reformation which must happen both on the personal level, as well as corporately. A reformation I might add – we are in true, desperate need of in our day. Given that this was written sometime between 1987 and a revision in 1999, we see the need all the more.

At one point Packer queries: What would a work of divine reformation in our churches today look like?” That is a vital question, and the 4 things he notes in response are truly a crying need. They are good not only for saying “we need this”, but especially – “is this me?”

May God be pleased to bless us accordingly in the days to come.

Here are the four things Packer lists:

• “First, there would be a sense of biblical authority—that is, an awareness that biblical teaching is divine truth and that the invitations and admonitions, threats and warnings, promises and assurances of Scripture still express the mind of God toward mankind. The Bible would be honored again as the Word of God, and the perverse pluralism of liberal theology, which still addles the brains and blinds the hearts of many, would wither and die.”

Let me ask you Beloved – does the Bible actually retain its divine authority for you? Or is it just good advice to help you achieve your goals? Does it call you to follow after Christ and to consider its teaching absolutely necessary truth in ordering your life? Is it God speaking?

• “Second, there would be a spirit of seriousness about eternal issues. Heaven and hell would be preached about, thought about, and talked about once again. Life in this world would once again be lived in the light of the world to come, and the Philippian jailer’s question, “What must I do to be saved?” would be seen as life’s basic question once more.”

Searching, isn’t it? How seriously do you take eternal issues? Does that actually inform your day to day thought process? Or are those things just part of your “religious” life?

• “Third, there would be a passion for God transcending any interest in religion or cultivation of religiosity. One’s relationship to God would be seen as the most important thing in the world, and a Bible-based awareness of the greatness and awesomeness of God the eternal Savior-Judge, in whose hands we ever are, would displace all cheap thoughts of God as just a useful pal.”

‘Nuff said.

• “Fourth, there would be a love of holiness, growing out of deep conviction of sin, deep repentance, deep gratitude for forgiveness and cleansing through the blood of Jesus Christ, and with that a deep desire to please God. Casualness about righteousness, cutting moral corners, areas of blatant self-indulgence, love of luxury, and broken commitments of all kinds have disfigured modern Christianity at all levels.”

Weighty and serious things to consider.

Oh how we need THIS kind of revival/reformation today.

Lord Jesus, be pleased to make it so in my own heart and mind and soul.

To many today in Evangelicalism, the name J.I. Packer is no longer a household word. Since his passing into glory in 2020 his star has sadly, quickly faded. But for countless numbers like myself, Packer’s writing was foundational and formative. His “Knowing God” was the “gateway drug” into Reformed Theology.

Growing up, my Dad’s library resided in my bedroom. As a result, the names that lined those shelves became my friends. Bunyan, Spurgeon, Clarke, Owen, Kuyper and others spoke of a Christianity that I did not encounter much in real life. And to be honest, I thought any who believed as they did – in a truly sovereign God – were all dead and gone by hundreds of years. That is, until I got my hands on a copy of Knowing God, which came out in 1973. And here, was a living, breathing, preacher and writer of that old Puritan (in the best sense of the word) ilk. I couldn’t believe it. And as that book laid out a solid theological base for me, I found the Word of God opened up in powerful new ways. But it was the sound Biblical framework Packer elucidated that was its most impactful feature. A theology with a true center of gravity: Christ Himself, in all of His sovereign glory. I will be forever grateful.

After reading Knowing God the 2^nd time through, I wrote to Dr. Packer, expressing my gratitude. Much to my surprise, I received a handwritten, wonderfully gracious reply. We corresponded a few more times and then finally met in 2002. This was Packer. Gentle, humble, a towering intellect, and not too busy to write a young yahoo from nowhere.

Now all of this is leading up to recommending another book of his to you: “God’s Plans for You.” While Packer was for many a promoter and crystallizer of Puritan and Reformed theology – he also fought fiercely against the notion that one could simply take this theological path, without it informing every part of how you lived your life. He had no truck with mere theologians. If their theology did not cross over into forming the character of Christ in them – they had missed the point of digesting those great, monumental truths. While he rescued Puritan theology from the lost archives, he was at the same time demonstrating that the caricature of Puritan and Reformed theologians, that all they cared about was doctrinal precision – was false. To be sure, there are always those in every group who think just “knowing” is the equivalent of actually growing spiritually. But that was not the norm among the Puritans and the Reformers. They were anxious to see Christ formed in their own lives and the lives of others. They knew full well such formation needed to be founded upon sound doctrinal truth, but they never dreamt of doctrinal truth alone being the end game. (Mere doctrinal precision a Pharisee doth make.) Christlikeness was the goal. It still is. And this is where Packer excelled, and what brings me to “God’s Plans for You.”

The book is not long – 218 pages. And it is not written full of theological jargon. It is an accessible handbook on living the Christian life in Biblical balance. Developing a true Biblical and Christian worldview. It is an understated masterpiece of PRACTICAL theology. How the great truths of Scripture inform, and are to be applied to every avenue of life. It is a discipleship classic. It brings symmetry to Christian living. Balance.

Where Packer interacts with differing theological views and their implications, he is always gentle and irenic in his correctives. He gives a wide berth for sincere Believers who may have missed the mark in some places. He never condemns, even while he confronts and corrects. He displays the very Christlikeness he is avering.   

I cannot recommend God’s Plans for You more heartily. It is a sweet and clear call to genuine Christian living in a wickedly complex world, and in many cases, a misdirected and confused Church. If you want some sense of what the Christian life is supposed to look like, well informed by The Word of God – couched in the most encouraging terms – this is it.

Buy it for yourself. Buy it for someone who wants to know what Biblical Christianity is all about. Buy it for a discipleship group with one or two others. You’ll find it refreshing, clarifying, edifying, and pointing you repeatedly back to the finished work of Christ and its implication in real life.

God’s Plans for You is not about self-centered mystical messaging. It is about living in truth and reality as God knows it. It is lifechanging.

“For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.” Romans 7:2-4

We were once married to the Law in this sense: We were obligated to do its bidding. But The Law was an abusive husband, beating us over every infraction. It gave us no encouragement, but only condemnation. It never spoke sweetly to us, but only shouted its accusations. It ruthlessly exposed our nakedness to the world. It battered us at every turn. It could not be pleased. It refused to be satisfied – and always glared its disapproval at every shortcoming. It held up a standard we could not live up to, and chided us with hateful barbs every failure. It imprisoned us in chains of fear and the constant threat of eventual and inevitable doom. It thundered and raged constantly. It gave no forgiveness, but rehearsed the record of our crimes perpetually on its tongue. It extended not the slightest hope, nor ever extended the slightest help to improve us.

But now, having died and been raised to a new life, we are married to another – even Christ. That we may do His bidding. Christ is the loving husband who holds us dear, encourages us, and draws us after Himself in sweet love. When we fail, He washes our feet instead of beating us. With His own blood, He washes our sin-stains away. He teaches us gently how to avoid the pitfalls and traps that challenge us. He reaffirms His love for us, and assures us we will one day have not even the slightest spot or wrinkle. He binds Himself to us with unbreakable oaths. He feeds us with the Bread of Life, slakes our thirst with the Spirit, binds up our wounds with oil and wine. He leads us beside still waters, and restores our souls. He makes us lie down in green pastures – knowing the rest we need from our labors. Because we are His, we know that goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives – instead of our criminal record. He grieves with us when we groan over our sins. He lifts up our eyes to see His beauty and glory lest we see only our sin-stains. He clothes us in robes of righteousness that He Himself has woven. He corrects in love, and never apart from instruction and encouragement. He lets us glimpse the light of the glory of God as He bids us look ever at His dear face. He rejoices over us with singing. We are betrothed to Him. And nothing can separate us from His love. No trouble or distress, not even persecution or the sword. Nothing in life, or even death itself can separate us. Not even the machinations of wicked angels. For He gave Himself up for us. He justified us in His own blood. He was raised up to the right hand of the Father, and ever intercedes for us. Our beloved is ours, and we, are His.

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 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. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 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.” Romans 5:1-5

What an astounding roster of benefits Paul enumerates in these short verses. What belongs to those who have believed the Gospel, and by means of faith have been declared to be in right standing with God – justified – declared righteous at the judgment bar of God the judge of all the universe.

4 things he camps on here:

1 – We have “PEACE WITH GOD.” Before believing, we were at war with Him. Traitors to His right to rule and reign over us. Renegades from our designed purpose to bear His image to the rest of Creation and make Him known in all of His glory, perfections, power and holiness. As Isa. 53:6 states it: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way”. And it was this great sin of rebellion – of each one of us going our “own way” which we needed both to be forgiven of and delivered from. And for which “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” And this peace is not a mere truce or cease-fire – it is complete and full reconciliation. Restoration to sonship and full acceptance in the Beloved.

2 – And as if that were not enough – we have “gained access by Christ into this grace in which we stand.” Access. We might approach Him at all times confident we come to one who looks upon us with the dearest and tenderest favor. God never receives His justified ones begrudgingly – but always with open, inviting and joyful arms because of Jesus Christ. We never walk on eggshells around Him because we are the darlings of His favor. We live in the perpetual sunshine of His smile and goodwill.

3 – But there is more! We also rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. What? We rejoice that God has promised to grant us one day to stand in the radiance of His unveiled glory! To “see Him as He is.” To look forward to what the ancients called the “beatific vision.” To see and apprehend Him so fully as to be utterly transformed by it so as to find absolute fullness and infinite joy in Him forever and ever and ever. To be on the mountain with Him in His everlasting burnings but without the slightest fear.

4 – All of which then also grants us even now to: “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 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.” Enabling us to seize upon every pain in life and redeem it for a blessing in due time. And what suffering to the new creature in Christ is more painful than eruptions of our sinfulness? We grieve and groan over it. Rightly so. But we can also rejoice in the midst of it – for in the hands of the Redeemer, even these things are turned for blessing. What a Savior!

And all of this Christian, because as vs. 6 says: In due time, He died for the ungodly. You and me in our sin.

Hallelujah! Let Christ Jesus be praised in the highest.