Thursday, August 25, 2022
Romans 8:26,27 The Secret of Serenity
The Secret of Serenity
Atlee had a problem. His problem was his political opponent, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill. He had such a sharp wit.
Mr. Atllee is a modest man who has much to be modest about.
He is a sheep in sheep's clothing.
We have much to be modest about. Romans 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Rom 8:1.There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
We cannot even pray properly:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26,27
The Groan of sin vs the Spirit
The Groan in nature of death vs life
The Groan of the Holy Spirit towards heaven
The Holy Spirit is the source of comfort in trials.
George Mueller said, "I never remember … a period … that I ever sincerely and patiently sought to know the will of God by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, through the instrumentality of the Word of God, but I have been always directed rightly. But if honesty of heart and uprightness before God were lacking, or if I did not patiently wait upon God for instruction, or if I preferred the counsel of my fellow men to the declarations of the Word of the living God, I made great mistakes."
Mueller followed six basic steps to discern God's heart:
1. I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the knowledge of what His will is.
2. Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.
3. I seek the Will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.
4. Next I take into account providential circumstances. These often plainly indicate God's Will in connection with His Word and Spirit.
5. I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.
6. Thus, (1) through prayer to God, (2) the study of the Word, and (3) reflection, I come to deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two of three more petitions, I proceed accordingly."
Pray for Grace. Zech 12:10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child,
Pray for Growth.
Gal. 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Pray for Guidance.
John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid
John 16:12"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth,
George Mueller said, "I never remember … a period … that I ever sincerely and patiently sought to know the will of God by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, through the instrumentality of the Word of God, but I have been always directed rightly. But if honesty of heart and uprightness before God were lacking, or if I did not patiently wait upon God for instruction, or if I preferred the counsel of my fellow men to the declarations of the Word of the living God, I made great mistakes."
Pray for Godliness.
Romans 8: 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Eph 6:18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
Pray intelligently
Pray earnestly
Pray definitely
Pray effectually
A newsletter of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship said:
While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, I traveled every two weeks by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This requires camping overnight halfway. On one of these trips, I saw two men fighting in the city. One was seriously hurt so I treated him and witnessed to him about the Lord Jesus Christ. I then returned home without incident.
Upon arriving in the city several weeks later, I was approached by the man I had treated earlier. He told me he had known that I carried money and medicine. He said, "Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We waited for you to go to sleep and planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. Just as we were about to move into your campsite, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards."
I laughed at this and said, "I was certainly all alone out in the jungle campsite."
The young man pressed the point, "No sir, I was not the only one to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone."
At this point of my church presentation in Michigan, one of the men in the church stood up and interrupted me. He asked, "Can you tell me the exact date when this happened?"
I thought for awhile and recalled the date.
The man in the congregation then gave his side of the story. He stated, "On that night in Africa it was day here. I was preparing to play golf. As I put my bags in the car, I felt the Lord leading me to pray for you. In fact, the urging was so great that I called the men of this church together to pray for you. Will all of those men who met to pray please stand?"
The men who had met that day to pray together stood—there were 26 of them!10
What might have happened to that medical worker had the man back home chosen to ignore God's call to pray? What might have occurred had he said, "Well, Lord, this just doesn't make any sense to me. I'm getting ready to golf, anyway. I'll pray when I get home. In the meanwhile, why don't you teach that man to pray for his own needs?"
This dramatic story reminds us of the power of praying in God's will. But what if the missionary had no such story to report? What if the golfer never heard about what his prayers had accomplished? To be honest, that's the way it is with most of our prayers. We may feel an urging to pray for someone, but seldom do we hear of any "miraculous" answers in response. We may pray for something or someone for years and never see anything happen. Does that mean that nothing is happening, that we should give up and use our energy on something more productive?
No. God is at work in response to our prayers, whether we see something happening or not. If we are truly praying, "Thy will be done," forces are at work beyond our comprehension—and often, beyond our vision. But they are working just the same.
Questions for Bible Growth Study Groups
- Identify the landmark trials that have come your way:
- In what way does a future hope and the strengthening of the Holy Spirit in prayer assist you in these trials?
- How has your attitude in times of trial affected your spiritual health?
- How does discerning God's plan in our trials help?
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Romans 8 Super Conquerors
ROMANS 8:37 IN ALL THESE THINGS WE OVERWHELMINGLY CONQUER
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 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?33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.34 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.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?36 As it is written,
"For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God
What things do you fear?
A fellow was wandering through a graveyard… as he stumbled along in the dark on his way home from the pub, he fell into a hole.. it had been prepared for a funeral the following day.
He struggled to find a way out of the hole. It was too deep. The clay was slippery with the rain that night. After struggling for half an hour to get out he collapsed in the end of the grave. Suddenly there was a murmur from the other end. "You'll never get out of here!" He did! Of course the voice from the other end was someone else who fell into the same opened grave earlier that night. But it is amazing what fear will do to a man.
Superstitions.. sometimes they are about fears.. someone's father in law dies, should the bride cancel her wedding until the following year? Why? Fear of bad luck. Fear of the future.
Paul continued his encouragement by asking the rhetorical question, "What then shall we say to these things?" I understand "these things" to be the summation of Paul's teaching to this point: the depravity of humankind (1:18–3:20), justification by grace through faith (3:21–5:21), and sanctification by the Holy Spirit (6:1–8:30). As believers consider the course of salvation, they cannot miss the proactive role of God in bringing them along the path.
These things.. includes all the these things that are bad that work together for good to thise who love God.. these things includes the struggle you and I have with sin all our lives. These things are "one of those things" that occurs that distresses us.
Swindoll writes Make no mistake about it; there is plenty to oppose us in life. Hardships and tragedies relentlessly batter away at the hope of all believers. Persecutors and naysayers oppose us. Indwelling sin opposes us. Fear of loss opposes us. The evil one and those who serve him oppose us. And, eventually, death opposes us. But what are they compared to the power of God? "In all these things . . ." (8:37). What things? Everything the Christian experiences. From the initial elation of emancipation to the sobering reality of freedom, to the realization that our old slave master will not let us go so easily, to the struggle with the flesh, to the persecution of the world. The joys, the sorrows, the setbacks, the triumphs—all of it. In all these things we, the sheep (8:36), conquer."
n Christ Jesus our Lord.
THE SPHERE OF OUR VICTORY
"In all these things" What things? In verse 35 Paul gathers together most of the troubles we can imagine: "tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword." Here we have life at its bleakest, with circumstances at their most difficult—what he refers to in verse 18 as "the sufferings of this present time." Nothing that's painful seems to be excluded. Such is the sphere of our victory. Where you are saying, "I can't survive, and I can't achieve anything in this place, then that is the place God wants you lovingly to labour on, toiling and struggling." With that thorn in the flesh? Yes. In all this uncertainty? Yes. With these black clouds above? Yes. With your temperament and your limitations? Yes. That is the sphere God wants you to labour. With every appearance to the contrary that seems to saying one word – failure. There God is declaring, "Victory!"
It is "in all these things"—in the midst of them, while we are experiencing them, and by means of them, that "we are more than conquerors." "These things" form the arena in which our victory is being won.
"In all these things." Romans 8:28
Romans 7:24 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Negatively he lists the main sources of opposition that we shall meet and assures us that they will prove unable to separate us from the love of Christ. Then the positive heart of the apostle's answer is found in our text (v. 37), fourteen simple words, all but one of them words of a single syllable, but pulsating with power: "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Far from every "tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword"
There is no way for us to avoid them; we cannot even to stop their blusterings and threatenings. We cannot pretend that they are not there – those things that seem intent on separating us from the love of God and obscuring our sense of his love for us. There is no denying the fact that sometimes they place us under tremendous stress. We know that. They seem to imperil our souls, and affect our health of body and mind. They come crashing into our lives and they can seem to be all powerful. We cannot evade their full frontal attacks. But we know that there is only one way to the Celestial City and that is through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. But in those trials, and through the Valley we shall be more than conquerors.
Sometimes you hear a Christian saying, or you yourself say under your breath, "If only I had a different life, a different career, a different place to live, a different church – then what a conqueror I would be. What a great Christian! What a great life I'd live for Jesus. Change my environment and I'd be a hero for the Lord." "No!" says Paul, "not a different situation. No!" You must accept take your own things, your own place, your own position, your own providence in all its particularity as it is today. And in your today, and in the things you meet today, and in the circumstances of today you confront them! Don't wish for another battlefield, and other enemies, and another stadium in another age and locality. Don't be too earnest about having other sorrows and other anxieties and other difficulties. Don't long too much for that because in all these things, in every single one of them, God says they are the places and the times in which you are going to win the victory.
THE SOURCE OF OUR VICTORY
"Who is against us?" (8:31) No Foe Can Defeat Us
"Who will bring a charge against God's elect?" (8:33) No Failure Can Disinherit Us
"Who is the one who condemns?" (8:34) No Fault Can Distress Us
"Christ Jesus is He who died . . ." That's the doctrine of substitution. The Son of God paid the debt of sin on our behalf.
"Who was raised . . ." That's the doctrine of resurrection. The Son of God was raised to new life and, by our identification with Him, we, too, have new life.
"Who is at the right hand of God . . ." That's the doctrine of accession. The Son of God has received the title to the entire universe and now rules as its king and ultimate judge.
"Who also intercedes for us . . ." That's the doctrine of intercession. The Son of God is our advocate, our representative in heaven, faithfully looking out for our welfare.
"Who will separate us from the love of Christ?" (8:35) No Fear Can Deflate Us
THE STRENGTH OF OUR VICTORY
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
John Piper explains it: "A conqueror defeats his enemy, but one who is more than a conqueror subjugates his enemy. A conqueror nullifies the purpose of his enemy; one who is more than a conqueror makes the enemy serve his own purposes. A conqueror strikes down his foe; one who is more than a conqueror makes his foe his slave."
What Satan meant for evil , God uses for good, because God uses these attacks to work in us an even greater weight of glory than we would have experienced without them.
The Who of your salvation is greater than the who of your opposition and he transforms the opposition into the servants of his purpose.
This also explains that strange quote Paul gives in the middle.
36 As it is written 'Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.'
(The inclusion of this verse always confused me --b/c right in the middle of this soaring rhetoric Paul, Paul quotes a rather depressing lyric: "Because of you, we are being put to death all day long, we are
counted as sheep to be slaughtered.")
Paul is employing a teaching technique common to Rabbis of his day called a "remez" . They would s ing one lyric of a popular song , and your mind would sing the rest. Like if I sing " Ooh, I wanna dance
with… " your mind fills in the rest.
Psalm 44 was a well-known song of lament written at a dark time in Israel's history when it seemed like God had forsaken Israel because of her sin. Israel's enemies were all around them, crushing them , and so the psalmist asks if God had taken his eyes off of them forever.
Romans 8 is the Paul's answer to that, the gospel's answer to that: NO. If not even our sin could separate us from the love of God, could anything else?
If God didn't turn his back on u s when we had turned our backs on him, will he turn his back on us now?
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Some of you are living in Psalm 44 today. You think, 'Pastor , if you only knew what I was going through, and how much of it was my own fault, you wouldn't say God can turn it for good.''
But can I tell you something? If you are living in that dark , desperate, hopeless place of Psalm 44 , you are PRECISELY the person Paul is talking about here.
Your Psalm 44 is being swallowed up in Romans 8.
Do you feel like a sheep set to be slaughtered ? Paul calls you more than a conqueror .
Do you feel like darkness is your only friend ? Paul says that not even death itself can harm you.
God's purpose is unchangeable , his power is unchallengeable and his love is unconditional , so there is nothing I have to fear.
DMLJ: "Think, man! Are you afraid (v. 31)? You aren't thinking! Are you worried (v. 32)? You aren't thinking! Are you feeling guilty (v. 33)? You aren't thinking! Embrace the logic of free grace and justification! These aren't dry doctrines; they are life itself. And if you are not living right now with
overwhelming assurance and power, you haven't really understood them!"
My Saviour, Thou hast offered rest: Oh, give it then to me;
The rest of ceasing from myself, To find my all in Thee.
Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord, Oh, to be lost in Thee;
Oh, that it might be no more I,
But Christ that lives in me.
When William Carey was dying, he turned to a friend and said, "When I have gone, do not speak about William Carey, but think and talk about William Carey's Saviour. I desire alone that Christ might be ..." and then he used a significant word, "that Christ might be magnified."
It is the power of selfishness, It is the wilful I;
And ere my Lord can live in me, My very self must die.
There is a foe whose hidden power
The Christian well may fear; More subtle far than inbred sin,
And to the heart more dear:
How may I know the victory? so many cry. Commit thyself to Calvary. Consent to die.
You can't kill yourself. But you can consent to die, and God will bring you into the place of identification with Christ and the Cross, and to the place where you by faith are reckoning His death yours.
God's way of gain is seeming loss: We die to live;
And His life comes as to the Cross My life I give.
We must depend upon the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8 the apostle uses this little sentence which sums up the whole teaching: "The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free . . . " There is more to it than that, of course' but that is the summary. You see, it is the Holy Spirit who forms Christ in the believer, and who frees the believer from sin and from self. That is what the apostle means when he says in Galatians 5, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh." In other words, bring your life under the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit, and self will be kept in the place of subjugation and death, and Christ will increase. You can't do it yourself. It is not your own effort, your own struggling, your own striving. Self cannot deal with self. Self cannot subjugate self. But the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus can make me free from sin and self.
Romans 8:37 "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
Courage in hard times?
Five young men were burned for Christ in Lyons on May 16, 1553. John Calvin had written them a letter and urged them to be faithful: "Be ready to give your life at any time . . . May the Son of God be glorified by your shame . . .This is sufficient cause to despise the whole world with its pride, till we be gathered into that everlasting Kingdom where we shall fully enjoy those blessings which we now only possess in hope." His students proved true as steel. Dressed in gray shirts and tied together, they were taken in a cart to the place of execution. And as they passed through the streets, they began to sing. It was the ninth psalm. Listen to them:
Wholehearted thanksgiving to you I will bring;
In praise of your marvellous works I will sing.
For joy I will shout and exultingly cry in praise of your name,
Lord my God, O Most High.
The Lord is a stronghold, a refuge, a tower,
For all the oppressed in their dark, troubled hour.
Those knowing your name, Lord, trust you for your grace;
You have not forsaken those seeking your face.
When the five young men had been fastened to the stakes, they were bound together with a heavy chain and the fire was lit. They stood fast and for a little while, until they entered glory, they could be heard calling to each other, "Courage, brother, courage!" We who have gathered here today will never be exactly together again on this earth. But until we do meet once more, let us cry to each other as we separate and take up our crosses, "Courage, brother, courage!" "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
Back of all that foes have plotted, Back of all that saints have planned,
Back of schemes by men or demons, Moves a higher, hidden Hand.
Warp and woof are Heaven's making, All the pattern good and wise;
Tho' on earth's side oft perplexing, Clear and right to heavenly eyes.
All earth's agents act with freedom, Choosing, whether love or hate,
Faith in God, or bold defiance; None are shackled slaves of fate.
Yet the Hand that guides is hidden, Moving secret and unseen,
Firmly guiding life's great drama, Every act and shifting scene.
Even human wrath, unknowing, Serves the one controlling Will;
Man proposes; God disposes; All things His design fulfil.
To that goal of all the ages, All of history's windings tend;
And despite all foes or factions God proves Victor in the end. AT Pierson
Saturday, August 20, 2022
Henderson’s
PATRICK & MARIA HENDERSON (Nee: Morton)
Patrick Heron Henderson born 30 July 1822 Kirkgunzeon Scotland, arrived in Australia (age 26) in the capacity of 'Religious Instructor' on board the convict ship "Hashemy". A week later, Patrick (who was also a qualified "Civil Engineer") applied for a position with the Colonial Government. In this he was successful and his first appointment as Assistant Surveyor was on the 1st August, 1849. It is curious now to read how very little was known of this country then, even the most fertile imagination fails to conjure up an adequate picture of life lived by the early settlers. Of roads and fences there were none and separated by distance from all the advantages and privileges to which they were accustomed, these men were true pioneers who played a noble part in laying the foundations of future settlement.
John James Galloway (also an Assistant Surveyor) surveyed Warialda this same year (1849) and over the next three years Patrick surveyed the Gwydir District and the SW rangers of the New England Plateau. On the 6 June 1853 Patrick applied to the Surveyor General for the position of "Road Engineer", however the Surveyor General (Sir Thomas L. Mitchell) would not dispose of his services as a surveyor and we next find him surveying in the Cropper Creek area and the Moree District. This same year (August 1953) the future township of Inverell had its beginning, when Colin and Rosanna Ross and their young daughter arrived from Glen Innes to start a store for the settlers who had moved into this district. In 1855 a Post Office was established at the store of Colin Ross and this same year Patrick surveyed Bundarra, along the Gwydir River and Uralla. It was also this year that Patrick purchased land at Glen Innes and this was where he later built his Flour Mill.
The following year (7.7.1856) Patrick married Maria Morton born 29 March 1939 Port Macquarie (youngest daughter of Lt. Morton). Three months after his marriage (21.9.1856) he received instructions from the Surveyor General's Office in Sydney to survey two sites (Byron Plains & Green Swamp) where it seemed likely a town would at some future time be required. The Government preferred the first site and the people decidedly preferred the second site and so this became a matter of much dispute. The Green Swamp site won the day and the design that was originally prepared by Patrick and submitted as "A town at Green Swamp to be called Inverell" was approved on the 9 June 1858. Patrick meantime, had been appointed District Surveyor (1 June 1857) and continued his work surveying Arrawatta (on the McIntyre River), then the Dundee Village Site, the north road from Kempsey and many other areas in the northern region of New South Wales including Glen Innes, Armidale and Grafton.
In 1858 Patrick started operating his Flour Mill (the first in the Glen Innes township) - the Pioneer Mill, as it was called, was built in what is now known as the Mill Paddock. It was a stone Mill and then steam driven in the early 1860's. First leased, however after Patrick severed his connection with the Lands Dept, he assumed control for many years. In 1869 Patrick was listed as second only to Phillip Francis Adams, the "Surveyor General" - however, by 1871 had resigned as "District Surveyor". By this stage Patrick and Maria had six children (of whom they were very proud) and in a letter Maria had received from her mother (dated December 1864) in part read "I flatter myself you are now very happy having so many comforts around you, your sewing machine and your piano and a nice boat".
Between 1872-1879 he is listed as a licensed surveyor and indications are that he may have then divided his time between his interests at the "mill" and "surveying". The Government in 1883 resumed land at the Mill for Railway purposes, resulting in an arbitration case (evidence proving beyond the slightest doubt, that as a flour mill the property was absolutely ruined). In due course he was obliged to close down. Patrick then lived his life out in secluded retirement and died on the 24 August 1894. The funeral cortege was a very long one and was headed by the local brass band. His wife Maria died in Sydney 17 June
Henderson’s mill
Henderson’s mill
Henderson’s mill Glen Innes
Thursday, August 18, 2022
Henderson’s mill
Presbyterian Sunday School picnic at the 'Mill Paddock' C.1923
The boulder strewn paddock at the southern end of Grey Street was a popular venue for picnics and is now part of Craigieburn Tourist Park.
Called the Mill Paddock, it was the site of Patrick Heron Henderson's mill - Glen Innes' first flour mill, built in the 1850s.
Surveyor Henderson designed Inverell and assisted in the laying out of Glen Innes
Notice that most of this Presbyterian Sunday School group, except for some of the dare devils perched on top of the rock (note there are no girls amongst that lot), are wearing hats.
Tie and jacket for the men - and look at all those white frocks!!
The second gentleman from the left at the back I think is the minister, the Reverend Archibald and Christina Cameron's son, the Reverend Archibald Peter Cameron.
His first assignment after his ordination was to a charge on the coast. He borrowed a horse to ride to a church outside the town where he had to preach.
He was very nervous, and after having taken the service was asked by the elder in charge to wait outside while the congregation decided if they would accept him as a minister,
When called back in he was told …" we don't think much of your preaching but you can ride a horse so we will give you the job".
He served at Maclean 1896 to 1902 and that year he was called to Glen Innes as colleague to his father the Rev Archibald Cameron at St Andrews Church. He became minister in charge when his father died in 1905.
In 1903 the Session Clerk reported that there were 1,000 Presbyterians in the district; 50 children were baptized, 16 marriages were performed and there were six funerals
Services, often in private houses, then were held at Glencoe, Red Range, Reddestone, Wellingrove, Waterloo (Matheson) Stonehenge, Mount Mitchell, and Dundee.
By 1908 Blair Hill, Beaufort, Emmaville, Furracabad, Mt Slow, Fladbury, Shannon Vale, Grahams Valley and Kingsgate had been added to the list.
St Andrews Church was sold to the Department of Education after the Macquarie Street Cameron Memorial Church was opened in 1920.
The Christina Cameron Memorial Sunday School Hall opened three year later.
I remember the annual Daffodil Fair in the Hall – with the tartan covered stand in the centre carrying a multitude of vases of daffodils.
Sent from my iPhone
Saturday, August 13, 2022
ROMANS 8:26-34 IF GOD BE FOR US: HOW TO KNOW GOD HONESTLY LOVES YOU
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 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?33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.34 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
The news this week has been dominated with the passing away of Olivia Newton-John. She once said: Nature is the most beautiful thing we have. It's better than art because it's from the creator.. In 1974, Olivia she entered the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of the UK and sang Long Live Love. Grease and You're The One That I Want with John Travolta Hopelessly Devoted to You. A Little More Love. And I Honestly Love You. Did you get the common theme? She sang a lot about love. But how do you know if someone honestly loves you? Does God honestly love you? How can you know? Is it just words?
Perhaps he is too busy to care about us. Maybe we are too insignificant for him to give us even a second thought. What if our sins have caused him to regret that he brought us into being in the first place? Why should I then "live for Christ?" Maybe it is Christian hogwash? But is God really for us? How can we know that the great God of the universe is actually on our side?
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landside, No escape from reality
Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see,…. I'm just a poor boy nobody loves me -Queen.
But… how can you know that God loves you? Really? Is it just God blowing smoke? No! You know God loves you because God is for you!
What does it mean for God to be for you!
It means God loves you Actively. He does something about that love. God loves you Directly; it is you as an individual He loves. He has set His love on you personally. He loves you Deliberately! Every single thing that comes into your life is part of His purpose for you! He is watching you. His eye is on you 24 hours a day to love you.
GOD LOVES YOU ACTIVELY
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 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?
THIS IS ABOUT GOD.
God spared Him not (Gen 22)
Some people think of the atonement as something accomplished by a loving Jesus to change the mind of an angry God. They think that God is ready to condemn us, but Jesus enters the picture to plead for us. "I love these people," he says. "Look, I am dying for them, in their place. Spare them for my sake." So God, who initially is reluctant or hostile, eventually agrees. "All right," he says. "I'll do it since you seem to care so much." But the salvation of sinners by the death of Jesus is God's idea, that he, to use theological language, is the author or source of our salvation.
God "did not spare" Jesus. He could have spared him, but he did not.
This term here contains a strong reference to the story of Abraham's near sacrifice of his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. This is because the Septuagint (Greek) translation of the Old Testament uses the Greek word for "spared" that is found in Romans 8:32 to translate one of God's words to Abraham following the patriarch's amazing obedience to God's command to sacrifice his son. The New International Version translates it as "withheld" in the Genesis text, but it is the same word. God said, "... because you have done this and have not withheld [spared] your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore..." (Gen. 22:16-17). And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven16 and said, "By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.ESV
ἐφείσω (Gen 22:12 [LXXA]) καὶ εἶπεν μὴ ἐπιβάλῃς τὴν χεῖρά σου ἐπὶ τὸ παιδάριον μηδὲ ποιήσῃς αὐτῷ μηδέν νῦν γὰρ ἔγνων ὅτι φοβῇ τὸν θεὸν σὺ καὶ οὐκ ἐφείσω τοῦ υἱοῦ σου τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ δι' ἐμέ
You have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me: Abraham displayed his heart towards God in that he was willing to give his only son. God displays His heart towards us in the same way, by giving His only begotten Son (John 3:16).
The irony of the story, however, is that although Abraham was obedient to God up to the point of actually raising the knife to kill his son—that is, he did not spare him—God intervened to accomplish just that. God did spare Isaac, though Abraham was willing not to do so.
But the story also illustrates, and undoubtedly was also used by God to teach Abraham, that one day God literally would not spare his own Son but would allow him to die in order that Isaac and Abraham and all other believers down through the long ages of human history might be spared. Jesus is the only one who has ever deserved to be spared. Certainly none of us do. But by refusing to spare his Son, God spared us so that we might be saved and come to spend an eternity in glory with him. Somehow God taught that to Abraham on Mount Moriah, which is why Abraham named the place Jehovah Jireh, "The Lord Will Provide" (Gen. 22:14). God provided for us by giving up Jesus.
Trapp: " And yet what was this to that excess of love in God, that moved him to send his Son to die for our sins? He loved Christ far better than Abraham could love Isaac; and yet he gave him up freely, which Abraham would never have done without a command and to die as a malefactor, and by the hands of barbarous and bloody enemies; whereas Isaac was to die as a holy sacrifice, and by the hand of a tender father. How much more cause have we to say, Now I know the Lord loves me.."
God gave Him up for us (John 3:16)
Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned---every one---to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love Who ever lives and pleads for me.
Because the sinless Saviour died My sinful soul is counted free
For God the just is satisfied To look on Him and pardon me
Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Nah 1:7 The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.
1 John 4: 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins…16 God is Love
I was moved to tears this week, hearing again a Dottie Rambo song that Elvis sang.
He left the splendor of heaven Knowing His destiny Was the lonely hill of Golgotha
There to lay down His life for me
And if that isn't love Then the ocean is dry There's no stars in the sky And the little sparrows can't fly Yeah if that isn't love Then heaven's a myth There's no feeling like this If that isn't love
Even in death He remembered The thief hanging by His side
Then he spoke of love and compassion And He took him to paradise
GOD LOVES YOU DIRECTLY
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
THIS IS ABOUT YOU!
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Foreknown means to set love upon.
Deut. 7: 6"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,8 but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,
And it is foreknown in the context of our admission by adoption into the family of God.
And it produces the fruit of godliness because there is now association with the son of God as our brother.
In Romans 8:28 we are told all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Paul hasn't left his theme of ethics. He is saying; 1 Jn 4 We love Him because He first loved us!
God predestined you
My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.—PSALM 139:15–16
Henri Nouwen explains: From all eternity we are hidden "in the shadow of God's hand" and "engraved on his palm." Before any human being touches us, God "forms us in secret" and "textures us" in the depth of the earth, and before any human being decides about us, God "knits us together in our mother's womb." God loves us before any human person can show love to us. He loves us with a "first" love, an unlimited, unconditional love, wants us to be his beloved children
Before You Were Born, God Knew Your Complexity For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. —PSALM 139:13–14
Before You Were Born, God Knew Your Individuality Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. —PSALM 139:16
Before You Were Born, God Knew Your Dignity For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. —COLOSSIANS 1:16
Before You Were Born, God Knew Your Destiny Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.— JEREMIAH 1:5
In this passage God says four specific things to Jeremiah: I formed you. I knew you. I sanctified you. I ordained you.
God called you
You were called according to His Purpose!
You were called Personally to a relationship with Christ.
Criswell wrote "I felt that call. Didn't you, in your day and time? Didn't you? Something down in your soul and in your heart, didn't you? Like that old story of the mallard. When those wild geese came over, those native, those indigenous, those plain ducks, they just wander around in the farm yard. But when those ducks will fly north and began to call, that wild mallard who has been caught, he looks up and he tries to fly. And that snap pulled him back. But there was something in his soul that heard the call of the mallard and of the wild. You felt it in your life. There was a day when that thing pounded into you're soul."
Paul wrote of it in Galatians 1:13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles,"
It was an outward call of the gospel, heard in preaching of the good news. And the inward call of the Holy Spirit to faith in Jesus Christ. It is an irresistible call.
God justified you
It is God himself who has justified you! A few paragraphs back, I wrote that the greatest fear we have, if we think through our spiritual state carefully, is not that our consciences and/or Satan accuse us, but that the God who knows everything is our Judge. It terrifies us to consider that while we may harden our hearts or deaden our consciences and perhaps even fool Satan, we cannot avoid or fool God. It is God with whom we have to deal. Ah, but that very fact is our comfort. For if, instead of being condemned by God we are actually acquitted or justified by him, then who is left to condemn us? If we have been saved by God, who can possibly overturn God's judgment?
If we have actually been justified by God, the fact that causes us most to tremble is actually that which gives us most assurance and comfort.
Our greatest offense is against God, however great our offenses against other persons may be. So, if God has forgiven us, we are justified indeed. God knows the law perfectly ang He has justified us. Therefore, we need not fear that Satan (Rev. 12:10), will somehow find something we have done that has not been covered by the blood of Christ or some technicality that would make it impossible for God to justify us.
God is omniscient. He knows our outward sins and our inward sins. He knows the sins of our heart as well as the sins of our minds. Nevertheless, knowing all this, God has justified us. And the reason he has justified us is that he also knows what price He paid in sending His Son to be our Saviour. He knows the price is paid. You are forgiven. Justified by what Christ did at the cross for you. God has satisfied all possible claims against us; he has done this himself, through Jesus Christ. Romans 8:33: "It is God who pronounces acquittal." We are pardoned because of Christ's work. We are "justified," we are clothed with the very righteousness of Christ.
(1) our sin has been placed upon Jesus Christ and has been punished there, and (2) his righteousness has been placed on us, credited to our account.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones puts it: "To justify means more than to pardon; it means more than to forgive. God makes a declaration, a judicial declaration, to the effect that he has not only forgiven us, but that he now regards us as just and righteous and holy, as if we had never sinned at all.... God not only imputes my sin to his Son, he takes his righteousness and imputes it to me."
God has guaranteed you to glory.
My name is graven on His hands, My name is written in His heart.
I know that while in heaven He stands No tongue can bid me thence depart
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 8:35–39
Better than superglue. Twice Paul emphatically asserts that nothing can separate us from the love of God found in Christ Jesus (vv. 35, 39). Surely few would disagree that this is the greatest message of the Bible—that nothing in the entire universe can stop God from loving us. It simply cannot and will not happen.
We don't hang on to God's love; he says that God's love hangs on to us.
God's love doesn't depend on how well we love Him back. It doesn't depend upon whether or not we let go. We don't earn it, deserve it, or maintain it. Yet His love is wrapped around us, reinforced by His promises. It holds us perfectly and permanently. We may slip and fall, but we are not lost. As Paul wrote to Timothy, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself" (2 Timothy 2:13). Whatever happens, the rope holds fast. Nothing can separate us from His love.
John Calvin expressed beautifully and powerfully "'If God is for us, who is against us?' "This is the chief and therefore the only support to sustain us in every temptation. If God is not propitious to us, no sure confidence can be conceived, even though everything should smile upon us. On the other hand, however, his favor alone is a sufficiently great consolation for every sorrow, and a sufficiently strong protection against all the storms of misfortune."
This comfort consoles us. This comfort challenges us and controls us.
GOD LOVES YOU DELIBERATELY
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
THIS IS ABOUT CHRIST
You bring glory to Christ by your transformation
You are called according to his purpose. What is God's will for your life? God's purpose for your life is already spelled out. His will is that you be conformed to the image of His Son. God's will is more about what is happening in you than what is happening to you and around you.
But what about your trials?
Hey that's where we got on board this sermon today. We got on board with, "what of it doesn't feel like God loves you." When does it feel like God doesn't love you? In your trails and temptations. When are you most likely to believe that God doesn't love you? When you have fallen into sin through your temptations.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 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?
You bring glory to Christ by your trials. When you choose to trust in God's love in spite of not getting what you want when you want it, that is where God is glorified most in your life.
Job brought glory to God in His trials. He didn't know what God's purposes were in the severe trial of losing all his possessions, all his children in a catastrophic situation, being destroyed by thieves and robbers who destroyed all he had, and then by sickness, and unmitigated pain and shame. Do you know what God showed him? God showed him who He is. James 5:11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Here Paul reminds you of who God is!
God is Sovereign over your trials. God has a purpose for your trials.
Thursday, August 11, 2022
HOW TO KNOW GOD REALLY LOVES YOU
IF GOD BE FOR US: HOW TO KNOW GOD REALLY LOVES YOU
ROMANS 8:26-34
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 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?33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.34 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
Romans 8, we have discovered, is mainly about our salvation from the power of our sins.
But is God really for us? How can we know that the great God of the universe is actually on our side? Perhaps he is too busy to care about us. Maybe we are too insignificant for him to give us even a second thought. What if our sins have caused him to regret that he brought us into being in the first place? Why should I then "live for Christ?" Maybe it is Christian hogwash? Maybe life is nothing more than that make-believe Gold Coast suburb in Muriel's Wedding called Porpoise Spit.
GOD LOVES YOU ACTIVELY
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 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?
THIS IS ABOUT GOD.
God spared Him not (Gen 22)
Some people think of the atonement as something accomplished by a loving Jesus to change the mind of an angry God. They think that God is ready to condemn us, but Jesus enters the picture to plead for us. "I love these people," he says. "Look, I am dying for them, in their place. Spare them for my sake." So God, who initially is reluctant or hostile, eventually agrees. "All right," he says. "I'll do it since you seem to care so much." But the salvation of sinners by the death of Jesus is God's idea, that he, to use theological language, is the author or source of our salvation.
God "did not spare" Jesus. He could have spared him, but he did not.
This term here contains a strong reference to the story of Abraham's near sacrifice of his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. This is because the Septuagint (Greek) translation of the Old Testament uses the Greek word for "spared" that is found in Romans 8:32 to translate one of God's words to Abraham following the patriarch's amazing obedience to God's command to sacrifice his son. The New International Version translates it as "withheld" in the Genesis text, but it is the same word. God said, "... because you have done this and have not withheld [spared] your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore..." (Gen. 22:16-17). And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven16 and said, "By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.ESV
ἐφείσω (Gen 22:12 [LXXA]) καὶ εἶπεν μὴ ἐπιβάλῃς τὴν χεῖρά σου ἐπὶ τὸ παιδάριον μηδὲ ποιήσῃς αὐτῷ μηδέν νῦν γὰρ ἔγνων ὅτι φοβῇ τὸν θεὸν σὺ καὶ οὐκ ἐφείσω τοῦ υἱοῦ σου τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ δι' ἐμέ
You have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me: Abraham displayed his heart towards God in that he was willing to give his only son. God displays His heart towards us in the same way, by giving His only begotten Son (John 3:16).
The irony of the story, however, is that although Abraham was obedient to God up to the point of actually raising the knife to kill his son—that is, he did not spare him—God intervened to accomplish just that. God did spare Isaac, though Abraham was willing not to do so.
But the story also illustrates, and undoubtedly was also used by God to teach Abraham, that one day God literally would not spare his own Son but would allow him to die in order that Isaac and Abraham and all other believers down through the long ages of human history might be spared. Jesus is the only one who has ever deserved to be spared. Certainly none of us do. But by refusing to spare his Son, God spared us so that we might be saved and come to spend an eternity in glory with him. Somehow God taught that to Abraham on Mount Moriah, which is why Abraham named the place Jehovah Jireh, "The Lord Will Provide" (Gen. 22:14). God provided for us by giving up Jesus.
Trapp: " And yet what was this to that excess of love in God, that moved him to send his Son to die for our sins? He loved Christ far better than Abraham could love Isaac; and yet he gave him up freely, which Abraham would never have done without a command and to die as a malefactor, and by the hands of barbarous and bloody enemies; whereas Isaac was to die as a holy sacrifice, and by the hand of a tender father. How much more cause have we to say, Now I know the Lord loves me.."
God gave Him up for us (John 3:16)
Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned---every one---to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love Who ever lives and pleads for me.
Because the sinless Savior died My sinful soul is counted free
For God the just is satisfied To look on Him and pardon me
Nah 1:7 The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.
1 John 4: 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins…16 God is Love
I was moved to tears this week, hearing again a Dottie Rambo song that Elvis sang.
He left the splendor of heaven Knowing His destiny Was the lonely hill of Golgotha
There to lay down His life for me
And if that isn't love Then the ocean is dry There's no stars in the sky And the little sparrows can't fly Yeah if that isn't love Then heaven's a myth There's no feeling like this If that isn't love
Even in death He remembered The thief hanging by His side
Then he spoke of love and compassion And He took him to paradise
GOD LOVES YOU DIRECTLY
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
THIS IS ABOUT YOU!
God predestined you
My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.—PSALM 139:15–16
Henri Nouwen explains: From all eternity we are hidden "in the shadow of God's hand" and "engraved on his palm." Before any human being touches us, God "forms us in secret" and "textures us" in the depth of the earth, and before any human being decides about us, God "knits us together in our mother's womb." God loves us before any human person can show love to us. He loves us with a "first" love, an unlimited, unconditional love, wants us to be his beloved children
Before You Were Born, God Knew Your Complexity For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. —PSALM 139:13–14
Before You Were Born, God Knew Your Individuality Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. —PSALM 139:16
Before You Were Born, God Knew Your Dignity For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. —COLOSSIANS 1:16
Before You Were Born, God Knew Your Destiny Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.— JEREMIAH 1:5
In this passage God says four specific things to Jeremiah: I formed you. I knew you. I sanctified you. I ordained you.
God called you
Criswell wrote "I felt that call. Didn't you, in your day and time? Didn't you? Something down in your soul and in your heart, didn't you? Like that old story of the mallard. When those wild geese came over, those native, those indigenous, those plain ducks, they just wander around in the farm yard. But when those ducks will fly north and began to call, that wild mallard who has been caught, he looks up and he tries to fly. And that snap pulled him back. But there was something in his soul that heard the call of the mallard and of the wild. You felt it in your life. There was a day when that thing pounded into you're soul."
Paul wrote of it in Galatians 1:13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles,"
It was an outward call of the gospel, heard in preaching of the good news. And the inward call of the Holy Spirit to faith in Jesus Christ. It is an irresistible call.
God justified you
It is God himself who has justified you! A few paragraphs back, I wrote that the greatest fear we have, if we think through our spiritual state carefully, is not that our consciences and/or Satan accuse us, but that the God who knows everything is our Judge. It terrifies us to consider that while we may harden our hearts or deaden our consciences and perhaps even fool Satan, we cannot avoid or fool God. It is God with whom we have to deal. Ah, but that very fact is our comfort. For if, instead of being condemned by God we are actually acquitted or justified by him, then who is left to condemn us? If we have been saved by God, who can possibly overturn God's judgment?
If we have actually been justified by God, the fact that causes us most to tremble is actually that which gives us most assurance and comfort.
Our greatest offense is against God, however great our offenses against other persons may be. So, if God has forgiven us, we are justified indeed. God knows the law perfectly ang He has justified us. Therefore, we need not fear that Satan (Rev. 12:10), will somehow find something we have done that has not been covered by the blood of Christ or some technicality that would make it impossible for God to justify us.
God is omniscient. He knows our outward sins and our inward sins. He knows the sins of our heart as well as the sins of our minds. Nevertheless, knowing all this, God has justified us. And the reason he has justified us is that he also knows what price He paid in sending His Son to be our Saviour. He knows the price is paid. You are forgiven. Justified by what Christ did at the cross for you. God has satisfied all possible claims against us; he has done this himself, through Jesus Christ. Romans 8:33: "It is God who pronounces acquittal." We are pardoned because of Christ's work. We are "justified," we are clothed with the very righteousness of Christ.
(1) our sin has been placed upon Jesus Christ and has been punished there, and (2) his righteousness has been placed on us, credited to our account.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones puts it: "To justify means more than to pardon; it means more than to forgive. God makes a declaration, a judicial declaration, to the effect that he has not only forgiven us, but that he now regards us as just and righteous and holy, as if we had never sinned at all.... God not only imputes my sin to his Son, he takes his righteousness and imputes it to me."
God has guaranteed you to glory.
My name is graven on His hands, My name is written in His heart.
I know that while in heaven He stands No tongue can bid me thence depart
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 8:35–39
Better than superglue. Twice Paul emphatically asserts that nothing can separate us from the love of God found in Christ Jesus (vv. 35, 39). Surely few would disagree that this is the greatest message of the Bible—that nothing in the entire universe can stop God from loving us. It simply cannot and will not happen.
We don't hang on to God's love; he says that God's love hangs on to us.
God's love doesn't depend on how well we love Him back. It doesn't depend upon whether or not we let go. We don't earn it, deserve it, or maintain it. Yet His love is wrapped around us, reinforced by His promises. It holds us perfectly and permanently. We may slip and fall, but we are not lost. As Paul wrote to Timothy, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself" (2 Timothy 2:13). Whatever happens, the rope holds fast. Nothing can separate us from His love.
John Calvin expressed beautifully and powerfully "'If God is for us, who is against us?' "This is the chief and therefore the only support to sustain us in every temptation. If God is not propitious to us, no sure confidence can be conceived, even though everything should smile upon us. On the other hand, however, his favor alone is a sufficiently great consolation for every sorrow, and a sufficiently strong protection against all the storms of misfortune."
This comfort consoles us. This comfort challenges us and controls us.
GOD LOVES YOU DELIBERATELY
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
THIS IS ABOUT CHRIST
You bring glory to Christ by your transformation
You are called according to his purpose. What is God's will for your life? God's purpose for your life is already spelled out. His will is that you be conformed to the image of His Son. God's will is more about what is happening in you than what is happening to you and around you.
But what about your trials?
Hey that's where we got on board this sermon today. We got on board with, "what of it doesn't feel like God loves you." When does it feel like God doesn't love you? In your trails and temptations. When are you most likely to believe that God doesn't love you? When you have fallen into sin through your temptations.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 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?
You bring glory to Christ by your trials. When you choose to trust in God's love in spite of not getting what you want when you want it, that is where God is glorified most in your life.
Job brought glory to God in His trials. He didn't know what God's purposes were in the severe trial of losing all his possessions, all his children in a catastrophic situation, being destroyed by thieves and robbers who destroyed all he had, and then by sickness, and unmitigated pain and shame. Do you know what God showed him? God showed him who He is. James 5:11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Here Paul reminds you of who God is!
God is Sovereign over your trials. God has a purpose for your trials.
