Believe the Truth, Not Lies

To Be Like Him

Summary Romans 8:1-30

 

God the Father, by sending Jesus Christ, God the Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who WALK (in conduct) NOT according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

 

In other words, Jesus Christ died on that cross to save us from our slavery to sin. He died that we might die with him to sin and that we might live to him and to his righteousness. For if we set our minds on the flesh, it ends in death, but if we set our minds on the Spirit, we have life with Christ and peace in him. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

 

Thus, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if we live according to the flesh we will die in our sins. But if by the Spirit we are putting to death the misdeeds of the flesh, then we will live with Christ for eternity. For it is us who are being led by the Spirit who are the children of God.

 

This doesn’t mean we are perfect people. No! We daily must die to sin and self and live to Christ and to his righteousness. And the Holy Spirit helps us by giving us counsel, encouragement, strength, and power to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Christ’s return (Tit 2:11-14; Lu 9:23-26).

 

Also, we who believe in Jesus were predestined of God to be conformed to the image (likeness) of Jesus Christ. We are to be like him in all that we are, do, and say. We are not to be like the world and like the ungodly, for Jesus called us out from the world to be holy unto him.

 

If God is For Us

Romans 8:31-32 ESV

 

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

 

Who is the “us” in this passage of Scripture? We can’t pull these verses out of context and apply them broadly to everyone who makes a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The “us” is those who are walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. For if we live according to the flesh, we will die in our sins. But if by the Spirit we are putting to death the misdeeds of the flesh, then we will live with Christ for eternity.

 

God is on our side. He is for us who love (are obeying) him, who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and who are living to Christ and to his righteousness in the power of God’s Spirit living within us, who are daily dying to sin and self and who are following Jesus according to his ways.

 

But this is not saying that we won’t have opposition. We will! Satan is our enemy, along with all his hordes. We will have human enemies, too, who are doing the bidding of Satan, some willingly and others not knowingly, but who still know that what they are doing is wrong. Jesus promised us we would be hated like he was.

 

He’s Interceding for Us

Romans 8:33-36 ESV

 

“Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 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. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

 

“’For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’”

 

So, it isn’t that no one can be against us, but that if God is for us that they will not be able to overpower us unless we let them. For God has given us everything we need in him to live victoriously over our enemy Satan and over anyone who would come against us. God will carry us through every hardship, every heartache, and every trial we will face on this earth.

 

No matter what we are going through, God is still completely sovereign over all that he has made. He is still on the throne. He is still in charge. He is still in control. Nothing can touch us but what God allows it for his purposes and he will work it out for good in our lives, to prune, purify and mature us.

 

So, we need to take everything to God in prayer. We need to trust him with the circumstances of our lives and not give way to fear. For, if we belong to Jesus, he is watching over us, and he is interceding for us to the Father. He has not abandoned us. There isn’t anything we are going through that he didn’t tell us in advance that we would experience.

 

More than Conquerors

Romans 8:37-39 ESV

 

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

Satan is a BIG FAT LIAR. When we go through trials and troubles he will try to convince us that we are helpless against whatever it is that is coming against us. He will try to convince us, too, to worry and to fret, and to take matters into our own hands, rather than to pray and commit it to the Lord.

 

We must not listen to his lies! God is still on the throne. Jesus is still King of kings and Lord of lords. If we are living according to the Spirit and if we are not living by the flesh, we are more than conquerors through him who loves us, because we are depending upon his strength and power to see us through and we are not relying on our flesh.

 

So, let me just say this here. This is NOT a promise to everyone who professes the name of Jesus but who are still living for the flesh, and not according to the Spirit, that their sinful lifestyles will not separate them from the love of God. The Scriptures teach the opposite of that. They teach that if you walk according to the flesh you will die in your sins.

 

So, don’t believe Satan’s lies which say you can be “in Christ” and be on your way to heaven and that you can still live in sin. Read the whole chapter. You will be separated from God for eternity unless you repent of your sins and turn to follow Jesus Christ with your lives. So, stop believing the lies, and believe the truth, for your eternity depends on it.

 

Pray, Pray, Pray  

 

An Original Work / September 6, 2012

Based off Various Scriptures

 

Pray that eyes may enlightened be,

So they may know Christ.

Pray that they may Him better know,

Strengthened by His pow’r.

Pray that they may grasp

How wide and long

And high and deep

Is Christ’s love.

Pray that they may be filled

To the fullness of God’s love.

Pray with thanksgiving.

 

Pray for an open door for me,

So I may share Christ.

Pray when the gospel is proclaimed –

Shared with clarity.

Pray words are given me so

I declare the gospel fearlessly.

I pray for you to be active

Sharing your faith, too.

Pray continually.

 

We oft not know for what to pray,

So we ask for help.

The Spirit intercedes for us –

Words cannot express.

Just keep on praying for the saints

With all kinds of requests to God.

Pray they may have faith to

Please their God in ev’ry way.

Pray with joyfulness.

 

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