The Blessed Assurance of the Believer

Romans 8:28-29. Lesson 13-a…
God Assures Deliverance (Freedom) from Struggling and Suffering.

The glorious message of Romans is that God assures deliverance (freedom) from struggling and suffering—through Christ...

This is the whole point of all that has been written thus far in Romans...

Man desperately struggles against the pressures and forces both within himself and alien to himself… Alien means, unfamiliar, unknown, strange, foreign…

He struggles against the weight and discouragement of trials; against the pollution and corruption of life; against the relentless accusations and bombardments of his own conscience; against the pain and decay of his body; against the striking fear and hopelessness of an eternal judgment hereafter.

He struggles against the unknown and against pain, hurt, sorrow, loneliness, alienation, aging, death, and hell… And somehow, through his suffering and struggle throughout life, he feels that his suffering and struggling are due to a wrong relationship with God…and more times than not, when we do suffer, it is a direct result of our not living in a right relationship with God…

Therefore, man views his many problems as really being one supreme problem: How to get right with God…

If he can establish the right relationship with God, he feels sure God will help him through his trials and take care of his future hereafter…

This is the very message of Romans… Man needs to get right with God, because, without God, he is under the condemnation and wrath of God..

Man needs a right relationship with God; he needs to be justified, that is, declared righteous by God (Romans 3:21-5:21)…

Man needs to be freed from the struggle of sin, because sin corrupts and leads to death (Romans 6:1-23)…

Man needs to be freed from the bondage of law (spiritual legalism); for the law enslaves, accuses, condemns, and strikes hopelessness within the heart (Romans 7:1-25).

"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24).

"I thank God [that] Jesus Christ our Lord" shall free me from struggling and suffering (Romans 7:25a; cp. Romans 8:1-39).

All the discussion in Romans 8 up to this point has now moved to the summit, (peak, high point)… .

Those who love God and are called by Him will definitely be freed from the bondages and corruptions of this life and ushered into glory…

God assures this… Nothing, absolutely nothing, shall prevent God's settled plan and purpose from coming about in the life of the believer…

God's settled plan and purpose for the universe shall be consummated…(Completed, carried out, accomplished…)

He has determined two supreme things (Romans 8:29).
I) Believers shall be conformed to the image of His dear Son (Romans 8:29).
II) His Son shall have many brothers, among whom He is to be honored as the first (the most preeminent) Person (Romans 8:29).

1) (8:28) God works all things out for those who Love Him…
This is the first assurance of deliverance…

What a comforting declaration!
Scripture actually declares that "all things work together for good" to the believer…

Think about it: nothing could assure the believer any more than God working all things out for his good…

Note four things.
1.The words "all things" go well beyond the great events of the world… God does control the events of the world, but He controls much more…

He rules over "all things"—all the events and happenings that occur in the life of the believer… He works "all things" out for good in behalf of His dear child...

2. The words "work together" mean to create and eliminate… place and replace… connect and group… interrelate and intermingle… shape and forge… press and stretch… move and operate… control and guide… arrange and influence…

The words "work together" are also present action which means that all things are continually working together for good... God is in control of the believer's life… Daily, moment by moment, God is arranging and re-arranging all things for the believer's good…

3. The word "good" means for the ultimate good…
We cannot see the future; we cannot take a single event and see all the lines and ramifications that run from it…

We cannot see all the things that result from one single event, much less see the results of every event…

But God does; therefore, God takes all the events of our lives and works them out for our ultimate good.

4. There is, however, a limitation on this glorious promise, a limitation that desperately needs to be noted...

God works all things out for good only to those who love God and are called according to His purpose

a. This fact is graphically seen in the Greek… The clause "to those who love God" is placed first in the sentence: "But we know that to those who love God all things work together for good…"

Scripture makes sure the point is not missed.. God only looks after the affairs of the person who loves Him...

~~~Think about it for a moment, it is the only reasonable conclusion…
If a man does not love God—does not place his life into the hands of God—how can God take care of Him?

God works all things out for good only to those who love God and are called according to His purpose…(Those who have responded to the call of God)

He is not going to make mechanical robots out of us, forcing us to live at His beck and call… Such is not love; it is only mechanical behavior…

What God wants is love that flows from a heart that chooses to love Him...

The choice is ours: Either we turn our lives over to Him in love, or we continue to take our lives into our own hands…When we take our lives into our on hands, we just hurt ourselves and others severely…

b. Note the words, "called according to his purpose…"
The believer's deliverance is purposed by God… God calls him for the glorious purpose of being saved from the struggle and sufferings of this life…

Note a significant fact: The believer's position and behavior are both involved in the call of God...

a. Positionally, God chooses the believer by setting him apart through the Holy Spirit and through belief of the truth… (What is the truth?)
"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thes. 2:13-14).

b. In behavior, God calls the believer to a life of purity and holiness…
"For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness" (1 Thes. 4:7).

The point is this: God delivers the person who is positioned in Christ and who lives an unpolluted and holy life…

The person who truly loves God and is living a godly life is the person who experiences all things being worked out for his good…

It is the godly person who loves God that will be delivered from the struggling and suffering of this corrupt world...

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13).

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all" (Psalm 34:19).

"Fear thou not; For I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness" (Isaiah 41:10).

"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (Isaiah 43:2).

Contrast the carnal attitude of Jacob and the spiritual attitude of Paul.
· Jacob said, "All these things are against me" (Genesis 42:36).
· Paul said, "All things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).

2) (8:29) God has determined to fulfill His Purpose for the believer…

This is the second assurance of deliverance…
Note three significant points.
1. This passage is often abused and misused…

It is not dealing so much with theology or philosophy, but more with the spiritual experience of the Christian believer…

If the pure logic of philosophy and theology are applied, then the passage says that God chooses some for heaven and others for a terrible hell...

But this is simply not the meaning God intends for the passage... What God wants believers to do is to take heart, for He has assured their salvation…

God knows the suffering that believers go through daily…

God "did foreknow" even before the foundation of the world (Romans 8:29).

But no matter how great the suffering, no matter how great the opposition, no matter how great the struggle, God is going to complete His purpose for believers…

God has "predestinated [believers] to be conformed to the image of His Son," and absolutely nothing can change that... Why?

"That Christ might be the first-born [have the preeminence or superiority] among many brethren" (Romans 8:29).

We must know that God loves His Son in the most supreme way possible…

God has ordained that His Son shall have many brothers (adopted brothers) who will love and serve Him as the first-born, that is, as the first Person or the most preeminent Person of the universe…

God has ordained that Jesus Christ shall hold the highest rank and position: that He be the exalted Head of all creation and the One to whom all men look…

Therefore, God is going to allow nothing to permanently defeat believers… God is going to allow no fallen child of His to ever remain down permanently…

God is going to fulfill His purpose in every child of His, and nothing can stop His purpose…

Jesus Christ, His Son, will have a multitude of brothers and sisters who worship and serve Him throughout eternity…

2.(2nd of three points) Believers will be conformed to the image of God's dear Son… The words "conformed to the image" mean both an inward and an outward likeness…

a. "Conformed" means the very same form or likeness as Christ… Within our nature—our being, our person—we shall be made just like Christ... As He is perfect and eternal—without disease and pain, sin and death—so we shall be perfected just like Him… We shall be transformed into His very likeness...

b. "Image" means a derived or a given likeness…

The image of Christ is not something which believers merit or for which they work; it is not an image that comes from their own nature or character…

No man can earn or produce the perfection and eternal life possessed by Christ…

The image of Christ, His perfection and life, is a gift of God…
To be conformed to the image of God's Son means...
· To become a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).
· To be adopted as a son of God (Ephes. 1:5).
· To be holy and without blame before Him (Ephes. 1:4; Ephes. 4:24).
· To bear the image of the heavenly: which is an incorruptible, immortal body (1 Cor. 15:49-54; cp. 1 Cor. 15:42-44).
· To have one's body fashioned (conformed) just like His glorious body (Phil. 3:21).
· To be changed (transformed) into the same image of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18).
· To be recreated just like Him (1 John 3:2-3).

3. (3rd point) Note what it is that assures the believer's deliverance from the suffering and struggling of this world.

It is two things…
a1. The foreknowledge of God. The word "foreknow” is used three different ways in Scripture…
It means...
· ·to know something beforehand, ahead of time.
· ·to know something intimately by loving and accepting and approving it.
· ·to elect, foreordain, and predetermine something.

Scholars interpret the present passage differently… Note that the second and third meanings are much the same. When a person is loved and approved, selection or election is involved…

The person becomes a very special or select person…
Again, the point to see is not the pure logic of the theological or philosophical argument… This is not God's purpose in this passage…

God's purpose is to assure the believer:.. The believer is going to be conformed to the image of Christ, and nothing can stop the glorious process...

God foreknew the fact, saw it even before the world was ever founded…

He has always loved and approved the believer, electing and ordaining him from the very beginning…

"Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18).

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29).

"God hath not cast away his people [Israel] whom he foreknew" (Romans 11:2).

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity" (2 Tim. 2:19).

b2.The predestination of God… The word predestination (means to destine or appoint before, to foreordain, to predetermine...

The basic Greek word means to mark off or to set off the boundaries of something…

The idea is a glorious picture of what God is doing for the believer… The boundary is marked and set off for the believer..: The boundary of being conformed to the image of God's dear Son…

The believer shall be made just like Christ, conformed to His very likeness and image…

Nothing can stop God's purpose for the believer… It is predestinated, set, and marked off…

The believer may struggle and suffer through the sin and shame of this world; he may even stumble and fall or become discouraged and downhearted…

However, if he is a genuine child of God, he will not be defeated, not totally.

He will soon arise from his fall and begin to follow Christ again…
He is predestinated to be a brother of Christ, to worship and serve Christ throughout all eternity…
In addition, Christ will not be disappointed.

God loves His Son too much to allow Him to be disappointed by losing a single brother…

Jesus Christ will have His joy fulfilled; He will see every brother of His face to face, conformed perfectly to His image…

He will have the worship and service of every brother chosen to be His by God the Father…

The believer's eternal destiny that of being an adopted brother to the Lord Jesus Christ, is determined…

The believer can have The Blessed Assurance of this glorious truth... God has predestinated him to be delivered from the suffering and struggling of this sinful world...

"According as He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will" (Ephes. 1:4-5).

"According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom [Christ] we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him" (Ephes. 3:11-12).

God has given us His Blessed Assurance…That…
1) God works all things out for those who Love Him…
2) God has determined to fulfill His Purpose for the believer…

Minister Robert N. Graves, Sr.
Oak Grove Baptist Church…
Grays, S.C. October 4, 2010

The Blessed Assurance of the Believer… Romans 8:30-33.

The book of Romans is more than a theological explanation of God’s redeeming grace…it is a letter of comfort and confidence and assurance, addressed to you and all true believers everywhere!

The Word of God is so full of great promises that have been inspired by God and then written down by holy men of God for our own edification…

(My job is to edify you, the body of Christ…Read Ephesians 4:11-12)
So with that being said, I want to continue teaching about The Blessed Assurance of the true Believer…

Now remember, these assurances are only for the true believer…

3) (8:30) God has set the glorification of the Believer once-for-all…

This is the third assurance of deliverance.
It must be remembered throughout this passage that Scripture is talking about the genuine believer…

A genuine believer is a person who sincerely believes in Jesus Christ and diligently (Carefully) seeks to please Him by living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world (Titus 2:11-13)…

Now if you are only seeking to please yourself in this life, then you are going to be pushed to the back of the bus…

If you are out to see just how much you can get from people, you will end up with very little to show for your life…

Remember…If you are always taking and never giving then you are not doing what God would have you to do…It is better to give than receive…

It is the genuine believer whose glorification is predestinated, set forever and ever by God…

The true believer can rest in this glorious truth, because God has done three wonderful things for him…

God has called, justified, and glorified him…

Notice that all three steps are in the past tense; all three steps are something already accomplished…

The believer's glorification has already taken place in the plan and mind of God...

God already sees believers glorified; He already sees believers in His presence… It is assured and predestinated—already written down in the annals of heaven, never to be erased…

God's purpose here is to give enormous assurance to the true believer: He or she shall be delivered from the struggling and suffering of this sinful world…

He is going to be freed—(if he is a true believer)—freed from all the sin and shame, failure and shortcoming, pain and death...

He is going to be glorified right along with God's dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ… (Notice now these three steps that are put in place by God)
1st step

1.God has called the true believer.
Some time ago the Spirit called and stirred the heart or summoned the true believer to come to Christ…(Read John 6:44-45, for God's part and man's part in salvation.)

The believer responded to the call and came to Christ… Therefore, the call was effective; the call worked... The believer did respond to Christ…

Scripture definitely teaches that the believer had a choice… He could have chosen to respond or not to respond...

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, (Hear My Call) and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" (Rev. 3:20).

2.God has justified the true believer.
Again, note the past tense… There are some sub points to note about justification… First sub-point:

1. Why justification is necessary:
a. Justification is necessary because of the sin and alienation of man… Man has rebelled against God and taken his life into his own hands… Man lives as he desires...
· fulfilling the lust of the eyes and of the flesh…
· clinging to the pride of life and to the things of the world…

Man has become sinful and ungodly, an enemy of God, pushing God out of his life and wanting little if anything to do with God…
Man has separated and alienated himself from God…

b. Justification is necessary because of the anger and wrath of God… "God is angry with the wicked every day" (Psalm 7:11)…
Sin has aroused God's anger and wrath... God is angry over man's...
· rebellion· sin· hostility · ungodliness· unrighteousness· desertion

Man has turned his back on God, pushing God away and having little to do with Him…

Man has not made God the center of his life; man has broken his relationship with God... Therefore, the greatest need in man's life is to discover the answer to the question: How can the relationship between man and God be restored?
Next point

2. Why God justifies a man: God justifies a man because of His Son Jesus Christ…

When a man believes in Jesus Christ, God takes that man's faith and counts it as righteousness…

The man is not righteous, but God considers and credits the man's faith as righteousness… Why is God willing to do this?
a. God is willing to justify man because He loves man that much…

~~~God loves man so much that He sent His Son into the world and sacrificed Him in order to justify man (John 3:16; Romans 5:8).
b. God is willing to justify man because of what His Son Jesus Christ has done for man…
Jesus Christ has secured the Ideal righteousness for man…

He came to earth to live a sinless and perfect life…

As Man, He never broke the law of God; He never went contrary to the will of God, not even once… Therefore, He stood before God and before the world as the Ideal Man, the Perfect Man, the Representative Man, the Perfect Righteousness that could stand for the righteousness of every man…

Jesus Christ came into the world to die for man…
As the Ideal Man He could take all the sins of the world upon Himself and die for every man… His death could stand for every man…

He exchanged places with man by becoming the sinner…
(2 Corinthians 5:19 (KJV) 19 To wit,(accordingly) that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

He bore the wrath of God against sin, bearing the condemnation for every man…

Jesus Christ came into the world to arise from the dead and thereby to conquer death for man…

• As the Ideal Man, His resurrection and exaltation into the presence of God could stand for every man's desperate need to conquer death and to be acceptable to God…
  ~~~His resurrected life stands for the resurrected life of the believer…
  
  Now, as stated. when a man believes in Jesus Christ—really believes— God takes that man's belief and...
  
• Counts it as the righteousness (perfection) of Christ… The man is counted as righteous in Christ…
• Takes that mans belief and counts it as the death of Christ... The man is counted as having already died in Christ, as having already paid the penalty for sin in the death of Christ…
  
• Takes that mans belief and counts it as the resurrection of Christ... The man is counted as already having been resurrected in Christ…
  
  Very simply, God loves His Son Jesus Christ so much that He honors any man who honors His Son by believing on Him…
  
  ~~~He honors the man by taking the man's faith and counting (crediting) it as righteousness and by giving him the glorious privilege of living with Christ forever in the presence of God…
  
  3.How God justifies a man: The word justify is a legal word taken from the courts… It pictures man on trial before God...
  
  Man is seen as having committed the most heinous of crimes; he has rebelled against God and broken his relationship with God…
  
  How can he restore that relationship?
  
  ~~~Within human courts if a man is acquitted, he is declared innocent, but this is not true within the Divine Court...
  
  When a man appears before God, he is anything but innocent; he is utterly guilty and condemned accordingly…
  
  But when a man sincerely trusts Christ, then God takes that man's faith and counts it as righteousness…
  
  By such God counts the man, judges him, treats him—as if he was innocent…
  
  The man is not made innocent; he is guilty… He knows it and God knows it, but God treats him as innocent…
  
  "God justifies the ungodly"—an incredible mercy, a wondrous grace…
  
• Justification has already taken place for the true believer…
  
  The point is clear... If the believer has been truly called, if he has been truly saved, then his deliverance from struggling and suffering is assured…
  

His deliverance is a past fact and it is set eternally by God…No matter how deeply the believer senses his shortcoming and failure, his struggle with the sin and suffering of this world, he is a child of God...

Every time he comes short or stumbles and falls, he needs to get up and begin all over again…

He must not become discouraged and defeated, self-accusing and incriminating, feeling unworthy and undeserving, unwanted and rejected..
~~~Such a state of mind is one the most useful strategies of the devil— A strategy which he uses to defeat believers by the multitudes… God has called the believer, so he must arise and begin to diligently follow Christ once again…

Every believer who is walking about defeated—no matter how great his fall—should arise right now and turn back to Christ. This is our call, our duty…
"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6:11).

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:1-2).
Paul the apostle, who was a converted murderer, is a dynamic example of this victorious attitude, the very attitude needed so desperately by all believers...

"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13-14; cp. Job 17:9; Psalm 84:7; Proverbs 4:18; Hebrews 12:4).

3. God has glorified the believer. The word "glorified" means "to receive a glorified body at the resurrection…" It is good as done… God has DONE so much for you and me... What can we say? Praise the Lord! If God be for us, who can be against us…

This, too, is past tense: the glorification of the believer is an accomplished fact, a fact that has already taken place in God's mind and plan…
God already sees and counts the believer as glorified in His presence for eternity…

"Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Phil. 3:21).

"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory" (Col. 3:4).

4) (8:31-33) God has acted for the believer, not Against him...
This is the fourth assurance of deliverance.
This is the greatest truth in all the world…

God did not have to act for man, but He did… God loves every man, no matter his condition or sin and shame…

Therefore, believers can rest assured that nothing, absolutely nothing shall ever separate them from the plan and purpose of God…

God's love is absolute… It is perfect… And God shall have His perfect love expressed by completing His perfect plan and purpose for each life…
The believer can have absolute assurance that God will work all things out for his good, even things that fail and are painful to the heart…
The true believer shall be conformed to the image of Christ and glorified with Him (Romans 8:29-30).

The point is this: God Himself is the believer's assurance…

God Himself has acted for the believer; He has done everything necessary and then more:.. "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

1. God is our Savior…
It was God who "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (Romans 8:32)…

The words "spared not" mean that God did not hold back or refrain from giving His Son…

He did not refuse or even hesitate to give His Son…
~~The picture is that of God weighing man's eternal separation from Him against the sacrifice of His Son…

He had a choice to make and He made it; He deliberately chose to sacrifice His Son for us…

God knew exactly what He was doing… He wanted man delivered from this struggling and suffering world, and there was only one way for man to be saved:

· Someone had to bear man's penalty for transgression and sin, which was the judgment of death…

Therefore, God handed His own Son over to die for us—in our behalf, in our stead, in our place, as our substitute…

God spared not His own Son…He delivered Christ Jesus up for us all…

What a glorious, marvelous, wonderful love!

And just how wonderful His love is, can be clearly seen in this: It was while we were sinners, acting and rebelling against God, that He gave His Son to die for us…

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6).

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

2. God is our Provider…
Since God has done such a great and glorious thing, how shall He not also give us all things?

Giving His own Son for us was the greatest gift in all the world; therefore, He is bound to give us everything else…

Nothing could ever cost God anything close to the price He has paid in giving up His Son; therefore, God shall give us everything else.
Note three points.
A1. God's provision includes spiritual, eternal, and material gifts…
· The spiritual provision is the fruit of the Spirit…

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Ephes. 1:3).

· The eternal provision… It is the gift of eternal life, of living gloriously conformed to the image of His dear Son, Jesus Christ
· The material gifts are the necessities of life

"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?...But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:31, 33).

B2. The provision is freely given… God's gift of His Son was freely given; therefore, all that God provides for man is freely given…

No man can merit or earn God's provision… God provides and meets the need of the believer because He loves the believer…

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephes. 2:8-9).

Next. C3. The provision of God comes through Christ and through Him alone…

Note the words "with Him,in vs 32…" It is with Christ that God gives us all things…

If we are with Christ, then all things are given to us…
We shall be delivered from struggling and suffering…

Believers can rest assured of this…
No matter how much we struggle and suffer through the sin and shame of this world, God will see us through it all…

He is going to conform us to the glorious image of His Son.
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

3 God is our Justifier...
This is the most glorious truth: God does not charge us with sin… In fact, He does not lay anything to our charge; He justifies us …
Note the question: Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?

It is God; only God can charge us with sin and shame…

But note: if we have truly trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior, if we are one of God's elect, he does not charge us with sin… He justifies us…

He forgives our sin and counts us righteous in Christ Jesus…

If we are God's children, no one can charge us with anything… We are God's; we belong to God…

Man is not our judge; therefore, man cannot judge us, only God can… God is our Judge, and this is the glorious truth:.. God does not judge His elect…

He does not lay sin and shame against His children; He justifies His children… No matter how much we have struggled and suffered through the sin and shame of this world, God delivers us…

No matter how far we have fallen, no matter how discouraged we have become, if we are truly God's child, He picks us up and justifies us in Christ Jesus and continues to conform us to the image of His dear Son…

God does not leave us down and defeated, nor does He go around charging us with sin and shame…

God justifies us and continues His work of forgiveness and grace in our lives...

"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).





Minister Robert N. Graves, Sr.
Fisherman For Christ Oak Grove Baptist Church…
Grays, S.C. October 17, 2010