Merry Christmas - Happy New Year

From The Leadership team for the Men's Wednesday Morning Bible Study, we want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas!! and a Happy New Year!!


We will not meet the next two weeks 12/28/11 and 1/4/12, but we will resume back on January the 11th. 


See you then.

Romans - Chapter 11 (part 2)

ROMANS CHAPTER 11:25-36

All Israel Will Be Saved

 ²⁵ I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, ²⁶ and in this way^[e] all Israel will be saved.

1.      A "Mystery" in the New Testament sense is not something that cannot be understood, but is some plan or purpose of God that has been known to Him from the beginning, but which He has withheld from the knowledge of men until the time came for Him to reveal it.

The Mystery of "Israel's Blindness." This is not so much spiritual blindness as Judicial blindness caused by their rejection of Christ. This blindness is national and not individual, for we must not forget that the bulk of believers in the Apostles' day were Jews, and quite a few Jews have embraced Christianity since. The revelation of this Mystery to Paul was to account for what otherwise would remain a Mystery, the survival of the Jewish people as a race while scattered among the nations.

2.   “until the full number of the Gentiles has come in” – God knows the exact # of Gentiles that are called, the ticker is clicking, there is some person, perhaps wandering around right now, known by God since the beginning of time and when he or she gives their heart to Christ as Savior; Bam! Christ will come! – Maybe it’s just 1 more? Today guys, maybe you will run up against that person! Are you the one holding us all up?! In Christ’s name witness to somebody today!

3.       “come in” – Where?  God is setting a table for a great feast.  He’s calling all of us to the Wedding Banquet.                                                                                                                                             Matthew 22:1-14  The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

 ¹ Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.    ⁴ “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’     ⁵ “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. ⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

   ⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.    ¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

   ¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

4.    “all Israel will be saved” – this is talking about the remnant, not ALL Israelites.  They still will have to believe.

5.    As it is written:

 “The deliverer will come from Zion;
   he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
²⁷ And this is^[f] my covenant with them
   when I take away their sins.”^[g]                                                                                                                  

Isaiah 27:9  ⁹ By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: When he makes all the altar stones to be like limestone crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles^[a] or incense altars will be left standing.                                                                                                                               Isaiah 59:20 ²⁰ “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the LORD.                                                                                                                                                                     Jeremiah 31:33,34  ³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.  ³⁴ No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

 ²⁸ As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, ²⁹ for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

Deuteronomy 7:8  ⁸ But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

 ³⁰ Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now^[h] receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. ³² For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Romans 3:9  No One Is Righteous   ⁹ What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.

Doxology  (dok-sol’-o-ji (doxologia, "a praising," "giving glory"): A hymn or liturgical formula expressive of praise to God, as the Gloria in Excelsis (an expansion of Lu 2:14), sometimes called the Greater Doxology, and the Gloria Patri ("Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, world without end, Amen") also known as the Lesser Doxology.)                      

A PRAYER OF PRAISE.  PURE PRAISE! NO ARGUMENT

 ³³ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and^[i] knowledge of God!
   How unsearchable his judgments,
   and his paths beyond tracing out!

Psalms 92:5  ⁵ How great are your works, LORD, how profound your thoughts!

³⁴ “Who has known the mind of the Lord?     Many times I think I know & run out ahead or take a side route only to find I’ve been a fool and to be corrected.
Or who has been his counselor?”^[j]   Again, on occasion, I’ve had some ideas….. HE doesn’t listen

Jesus never asked for advice from the disciples.

Psalms 92:5  ⁵ How great are your works, LORD, how profound your thoughts!

Isaiah 40:13, 14  ¹³ Who can fathom the Spirit^[a] of the LORD, or instruct the LORD as his counselor?  ¹⁴ Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?                                                                                 Job 36:22  ²² “God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?

³⁵ “Who has ever given to God,
   that God should repay them?”^[k]                                                                                                                           Job 41:11  ¹¹ Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.   What have you ever given to God that He never first gave you?

³⁶ For from him and through him and for him are all things.
   To him be the glory forever! Amen.

1Corinthians 8:6  ⁶ yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.  Colossians 1:16  ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

From Him we come, through Him we live and grow and learn and to Him we are made, destined to return to Him, to account for our lives.

Or in another’s words:

In the final analysis, all of us are absolutely dependent on God.  He is the source of all things, including ourselves.  He is the power that sustains and rules the world that we live in.  And God works out all things to bring glory to himself.  The all-powerfull God deserves our praise.

TABLE TALK

1.      Do you spend time daily thanking God He chose you?  How?

2.      Can you help save a life today?  Will you?

Romans - Chapter 11 (part 1)

Romans 11:1-24

DECEMBER 7, 2011

ROMANS 10:19-21
 ¹⁹ Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,
   “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
   I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”^[a]
 20 And Isaiah boldly says,
   “I was found by those who did not seek me;
   I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”^[b]
 21 But concerning Israel he says,
   “All day long I have held out my hands
   to a disobedient and obstinate people.”^[c]

CHAPTER 11  The Remnant of Israel 

 ¹ I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. ² God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: ³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”^[a]?

 ⁴ And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”^[b]

11:3 1 Kings 19:10-14  - ¹⁰ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
 ¹¹ The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
   Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
   Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
 ¹⁴ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

⁵ So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

ROMANS 9:27 -  ²⁷ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.

⁶ And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

Romans 4:4 -  ⁴ Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.

 ⁷ What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, (GOD’S PUNISHMENT FOR THEIR SIN)

ROMANS 9:31 - ³¹ but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.                                                                                                                                                               

ROMANS 9:18 -  ¹⁸ Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

⁸ as it is written:

   “God gave them a spirit of stupor,
   eyes that could not see
   and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”^[c]

DEUTORONOMY 29:4 -  ⁴ But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.                                                                                                                                                                   

ISAIAH 29:10 -  ¹⁰ The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers).

 ⁹ And David says:

   “May their table become a snare and a trap,
   a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
¹⁰ May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
   and their backs be bent forever.”^[d]

11:10  Psalm 69:22,23 

Ingrafted Branches

 ¹¹ Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.

ACTS 13:46 -   ⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.  

¹² But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

 ¹³ I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry

ACTS 9:15 -   ¹⁵ But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.

¹⁴ in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.

¹⁵ For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

LUKE 15:24, 32 -  ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.  ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” 

¹⁶ If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

 ¹⁷ If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, ¹⁸ do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

JEREMIAH 11:16 - ¹⁶ The LORD called you a thriving olive tree
   with fruit beautiful in form.
But with the roar of a mighty storm
   he will set it on fire,
   and its branches will be broken.                                                                                                                                            EPHESIANS 2:11-13 -  ¹¹ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— ¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁹ You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

1 CORINTHIANS 10:12 -  ¹² So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

 ²² Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:2 -  ² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. (OBEDIENCE)                                                                                                               HEBREWS 3:6 -  ⁶ But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.                                                                                                                     JOHN 15:2  -  ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful.

 ²³ And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

2 CORINTHIANS 3:16 -  ¹⁶ But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

WE ARE A NEW CREATION (BUT) GRAFTED ONTO THE TREE OF LIFE WITH ROOTS OF ISREAL

TABLE TALK

1.      HAVE YOU EVER BEEN SO FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT THAT YOUR TESTAMONY, YOUR WITNESS WAS SO INVITING IT MADE OTHERS ENVIOUS OF WHAT YOU HAVE?

2.      DO YOU EVER CATCH YOURSELF FEELING PROUD OF YOUR DECISION TO COME TO THE LORD?

3.       OK, SO WHAT DO YOU NEED PRAYER FOR?  SPEND TIME PRAYING FOR EACH OTHER: NOW

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

The North Coast Men's Bible Study will be taking a week off for Thanksgiving. 

No meeting November 23, 2011.

From everyone on the leadership team - Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Romans - Chapter 8 (part 3)

Romans 8:31-39


Craig continued this week with the final look at Chapter 8.  Below is all his notes again.  Feel free to comment or give us feedback.  As we continue getting deeper into Romans, the power of the Holy Spirit and God's grace and love becomes more and more evident.

ROMANS 8 PART III

OUR ETERNAL SECURITY – CAN YOU LOSE YOURS?

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

CAN YOU LOSE YOUR SALVATION?  IF IT WAS BASED ON YOU – CERTAINLY!

 ²⁸ And we know (Do you know?) that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose. Not for everybody!  God asks us every day; “Do you trust me?”

²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Philippians 3:21 ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

 ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; (Jesus said; “My sheep hear my voice and they follow Me” Jn 10:27-30) those he called, he also justified; (declared righteous) those he justified, he also glorified (become conformed to His son).

Ephesians 1:5, 11  ⁵ he^[a] predestined us for adoption to sonship^[b] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—  ¹¹ In him we were also chosen,^[a] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

More Than Conquerors  CAN OPPOSITION DEFEAT THE CHRISTIAN?

 ³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (THE FIX IS IN!)

Psalm 118:6  ⁶ The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.    What can mere mortals do to me?

WILL WE HAVE THE RESOURCES?

³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

John 3:16   ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.                                                                                                                       Romans 5:8  ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

WILL OUR FAILURES REVERSE OUR JUSTIFICATION?

³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

Isaiah 50:8, 9  ⁸ He who vindicates me is near.  Who then will bring charges against me?  Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me!     ⁹ It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me. Who will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.

CAN ANYONE CONDEM US FOR ANY REASON?

³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Hebrews 7:25  ²⁵ Therefore he is able to save completely^[a] those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.                                                                                                             Hebrews 9:24  ²⁴ For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.                                                             1John 2:1   ¹ My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

WHAT KIND OF ASSURANCE CAN WE HAVE OF VICTORY?

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  (Paul experienced all of these)

³⁶ As it is written:

   “For your sake we face death all day long;
   we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^[j]

Psalms 44:22  ²² Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.                                                                                                                                                               2 Corinthians 4:11  ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.

 ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

1 Corinthians 15:57  ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

HIS FINAL GUARANTEE

 ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 1:21  ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Chapter 8 opens with a guarantee of “No condemnation”, and ends with a guarantee of no separation!

Can a man lose his salvation?  Yes!  If it depends on him:

·         The Armenian denies that the true child of God is eternally secure.  (You must persevere to the end or lose it.)

·         The Calvinist insists that, if he does not persevere in holiness, he was never regenerated in the first place.  (You were predestined but you won’t find out until the end.)

The Basis of our Eternal Security

1.      Upon His Sovereign Purpose                                                                                                                 
Eternal purpose declared: Ephesians 1:11-12  ¹¹ In him we were also chosen,^[a] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

2.      Upon His Solemn Promise                                                                                                                        
Our salvation depends upon His promise, and not our faithfulness: Romans 4:16  ¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.      (Our part is 0, just to accept the gift!)                                                                                      Romans 4:23-24  ²³ The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, ²⁴ but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.  (Believe in Christ and you shall be saved!)

3.      Upon His Infinite Power                                                                                                                       
He is free to save us.  Christ’s death has rendered God free to save us in spite of moral imperfection.  Our eternal security does not depend upon our moral worthiness.  Christ is the propitiation for our sins. (1Jn 2:2)                                                                                                                                                    He has purposed to keep us saved:  John 6:37-40  ³⁷ All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”                                                                                                                                                                                                      

John 17

Jesus Prays to Be Glorified

 ¹ After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

   “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

    ⁶ “I have revealed you^[a] to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. ⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹ I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of^[b] your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by^[c] that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

   ¹³ “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. ¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by^[d] the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 

Romans - Chapter 8 (part 2)

Romans 8:18-30

The New Creation

Craig Thomson continued our study of Romans 8.  The last line of my last post was "Christians will suffer", Craig through the Bible will show us why we suffer.  It is because of our sin.  Once sin entered this world through Adam, we have been suffering ever since.  In Romans, Paul even talks about the creation suffering and groaning in pain.  Genesis 3:17-19 To Adam he said, Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, You must not eat from it.

Listed Below are all the notes from Wednesday mornings Bible Study.

Romans 8: THE NEW CREATION

Romans 8

Verses

1-13                       Our deliverance from the flesh

14-17                     Realization of our Son-ship.  Not a son until “adopted”; only then able to inherit; once adopted you can never be disowned.

18-30                     Why do Christians suffer?  “Boot Camp” for Heaven?

Romans 8:16-17  ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.   -This is a conditional reward.  Many may arrive in heaven sorely disappointed!

1 Corinthians 2:9  ⁹ However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
   what no ear has heard,
   and what no human mind has conceived”^[a]—
   the things God has prepared for those who love him—

We can’t even imagine what God has in store for us!

Present Suffering and Future Glory

 ¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

There is a price for being identified with Jesus.

2 Corinthians 4:17  ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 

I wager to say the majority of the American church today is dismayed or disappointed with God that they should have ANY troubles!  You’ve heard it before; problems and human limitations have several benefits: (1) they remind us of Christ’s suffering for us; (2) They keep us from pride; (3) they cause us to look beyond this brief life; (4) they prove our faith to others; and (5) they give God the opportunity to demonstrate his power.  So do you see your troubles as opportunities?!

If you ever wonder; “why me?”, think of Job – “he was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.”

¹⁹ For the creation (this is ALL of ‘creation’ for all of creation is involved in the curse) waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration (KJV: ‘vanity = failure, decay or perishable) not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,

God judged the totality of His Creation along with people for their sin.

Genesis 3:17-19   ¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’  “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. ¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

in hope ²¹ that^[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay (and corruption) and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning (with intense longing) as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, (we have the ‘firstfruits’; 1^st installment or downpayment of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our resurrection life) groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

2 Chorinthians 5:2, 4  ² Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling,    ⁴ For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. (The moment we believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior!)  But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope (the word in the Greek, elpizo, is stronger than “know”: “to trust in.”  It is a confidence, sureness, of future things.) for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

 ²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans (or “groaning’s which cannot be uttered). Have you ever just been where you were so impacted about something or so distraught or confused about a situation that all you could do is say; “Father..”?  I sometimes find that when I read about some tragedy of a family loosing a child by some horrendous accident or illness.  The Holy spirit is interceding at that time.

²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Even though the Spirit’s words are not expressed, the Father knows what the Spirit is thinking.  The Lord Jesus also continually intercedes for the believers in God’s presence 
Romans 8:34 ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.                                  Hebrews 7:25  ²⁵ Therefore he is able to save completely^[a] those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

 ²⁸ And we know that in all things (ALL, not just isolated incidents) God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose.  (The three most important words: “And we know.”)

Note that God is not working to make us happy, but to fulfill his purpose.  Note also the promise is not for everybody.  It can only be claimed by those who love God and are called according to His purpose.  Those who are “called” are those the Holy Spirit spirit convinces and enables to receive Christ.

 ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed (not yet there) to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Spurgeon quipped: “God chose me before I was born.  I’m glad He did; otherwise He might have changed His mind!”

³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Ephesians 1:5, 11  ⁵ he^[a] predestined us for adoption to sonship^[b] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—  ,    ¹¹ In him we were also chosen,^[a] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

God’s purpose for people was not an afterthought; it was settled before the foundation of the world.  People are to serve and honor God.  For us who believe in Christ, we can rejoice in the fact that God has always known us.  His love is eternal.  His wisdom and power are supreme.  He will guide and protect us until we one day stand in His presence.

TABLE DISCUSSION

Oswald Chambers; “My Utmost for His Highest”

April 1- ‘Heartiness vs. Heartlessness Towards Others’ (taken from Romans 8:34, 27)

            Do we need any more argument than this to become intercessors – that Christ “ever liveth to make intercession;” that the Holy Spirit “make intercession for the saints”?  Are we living in such a vital relationship to our fellow men that we do the work of intercession as the Spirit-taught children of God?  Begin with the circumstances we are in- our homes, our business, our country, the present crisis as it touches us and others- are these things crushing us?  Are they badgering us out of the presence of God and leaving us no time for worship?  Then let us call a halt, and get into such living relationship with God that our relationship to other may be maintained on the line of intercession whereby God works His marvels.

            Beware of outstripping God by your very longing to do His will.  We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, consequently we get so burdened with persons and with difficulties that we do not worship God, we do not intercede.  If once the burden and the pressure come upon us and we are not in the worshipping attitude, it will produce not only hardness toward God but to people for whom we have no affinity, and unless we are worshipping God, the most natural thing to do is to treat them heartlessly, to give them a text like jab of a spear, or leave them with a rapped-out counsel of God and go.  A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to Our Lord.

            Are we in direct line of the intercession of Our Lord and of the Holy Spirit?