Bible Prophecy and Inspiration

Do you do something special?  Is it earned?

Almost every time you see someone that is an heir, they’re in the bloodline.

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.

I never look at myself as anything but a grateful sinner that God loved and allowed me to be saved through the sacrifice of His own blood through His one and only Son.  So when I read those verses I tend to think to myself a grateful sinner who was a lost mess much of my life an heir?

Then it dawned on me.  What earthly son deserved to be the next king on an earthly kingdom?  Isn’t it just because he is next in the bloodline that he qualifies?  Now he may make a great king, but he didn’t do anything accept be the son of the king. 

Eureka!

When we choose Christ as Savior we become children of God.  We are in the bloodline of the King.  Nothing deserved but in this case we do need to choose to become part of that bloodline.

How is an heir of God supposed to act?  In the Spirit, not the flesh.  Seek God and leave the flesh and worldly desires behind.  We have a short time left to work for the King before he returns.  Make it count.

Hebrews 13:5 –Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

   “Never will I leave you;
   never will I forsake you.”

Who’s God talking to?  Everyone?

God first told this to the Jews in Deuteronomy. 

Deuteronomy 31:6 – ⁶ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

So Moses was letting the Jews know who were getting ready to take the Promised Land, God would be with them.  Why?  Because this is the generation that was ready to serve Him, after the last one had died in the desert for their disobedience. 

God is not telling just anyone that He will never forsake them, just those who are His children.  Being Jewish clearly didn’t count for being His children, because a generation died out in the desert.  Not only that, but only ten verses later after verse six He tells Moses that the Israelites are going to rebel.

Deuteronomy 31:16-18 – ¹⁶ And the LORD said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. ¹⁷ And in that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?’ ¹⁸ And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.

Contradiction? 

No.  It concludes a very important fact.  The people who took the Promised Land as a whole knew the Lord and He wasn’t going to leave them or forsake them.  The future generations after them are not the same people. 

God will not leave or forsake those who have chosen Him.  He will not forsake His children.

What if you’re not His child?  In verse 17 it indicates if you don’t know Him, He’ll hide His face from those people and they will be forsaken.

The message for us is be God’s child.  We are in the church age and we are to accept Jesus as our Savior to be His child.  If we become His children, He will not leave or forsake us.  It has nothing to do with works or even poorly serving Him.  This is about being His child.  The problem with many people is they are serving a God that’s not the God of the Bible.  The Israelites later on were prostituting themselves off to other Gods.  God hid his face from them.

Seek the one true God and His Son.  The one you read about in the Bible.  Then He will never leave you or forsake you.

The first time I remember I really allowed this to get in my spirit was after I lost my brother to congestive heart failure almost 9 years ago.

It’s those times that remind someone that ultimately we’re not in charge.

Matthew 6:27 – ²⁷ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

I believe the Lord loves us so much and only He sees the future.  He knows when to be able to do things in our lives when they need to be there.  We may not always understand at the time what is going on and that is why we need to trust Him.

Psalm 40:4-5 – ⁴ Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.  ⁵ Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done.  The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.

Proverbs 16:20 – ²⁰ Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.

Ultimately He has our back.  We can still affect the decisions He makes as we have freewill to choose the things we do, but as His children I believe He still has our back.  He doesn’t allow us to get away from Him if our hearts truly love Him.

Deuteronomy 31:8 – ⁸ The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

I don’t believe He’ll allow us to be put in a situation or temptation we can’t face.

1 Corinthians 10:13 – ¹³ No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

To be forgiven and a redeemed child of God, we have ultimate victory because of our loving Lord.  However, we need to accept that free gift He has offered.  We need to accept Him as Lord. 

We need to realize that if God says its okay, then for the purpose of the Kingdom of God, its okay.  He loves us and will not forsake us.  If we can’t trust God, who are you going to trust?

You can trust God.

Colossians 2:6 – ⁶ As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

The church in America really hasn’t been focusing on this one since the fifties as a whole.  Understandably some do and I am very blessed to belong to one of those churches.  Thank you Pastor Skip and Gale.

Jesus let’s everyone know that He is the Son of God and that He and the Father are One.  It is by Him and Him only that we may have our sins forgiven.  How do we do that?  By accepting His death in the place of ours and acknowledge that He has risen in victory.

When we do that, we are supposed to now live for Him.  Repent, of our old sinful nature and now seek the new life in the Spirit that God wants for us.

Luke 9:23-26 – ²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? ²⁶ Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Jesus is saying if you want to be with me and serve me, you need a change of plans from your old sinful nature.  He is saying you now need to serve Me and do things My way.

“Just As I Am” is a great song.  That is exactly how He accepts us and we shouldn’t be waiting another second to accept Him as Lord if we have not.  After we have done this, however, we need to start seeking Him more and making the transformation that the new spirit inside you is trying to make.

Much of part 4 and covering Romans 8:34 will be linked to verse 33 that we went over last time.  If you haven’t had a chance to read that yet it will help with today.

Romans 8:31-39 – ³¹ What, then, shall we say in response 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, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 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. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:  “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered 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 convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, 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.

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.

In part 3 we discussed the one who tries to condemn and that is Satan also known as the devil.  We went over three different passages of scripture in which he tries to do this.  Verse 34 makes it clear that no one has that authority, but God alone and He is making it clear that those whom He has chosen will never be condemned.

The rest of the verse states that Christ died and has risen.  It is very important to know that if Jesus is not risen, you’re victory isn’t there.  He did rise from the dead and for those who accept Him as Lord and Savior are saved.  He sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us.

1 John 2:1-2 – ¹ My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

No one can condemn those who have made Jesus Lord.  We are more than Conquerors because of our King and Savior!

Romans 8:31-39 – ³¹ What, then, shall we say in response 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, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 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. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:  “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered 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 convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, 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.

Today we will be looking at verse 33.

Romans 8:33 – ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

I can tell you who is trying.  That would be Satan or the devil himself.  Here we have him telling God that Job is only loyal because he is blessed by God.

Job 1:6 – ⁶ One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
 9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

Next we have Satan again at God’s right side trying to be the accuser.

Zechariah 3:1 – ¹ Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”   

In Revelation we see that the devil is trying to accuse Christians that love God.  However, in verse 12 we see that Satan is thrown down to the earth and his time becomes short.

Revelation 12:10-12 –  ¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah.  For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.  ¹¹ They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.  ¹² Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them!  But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

In Romans 8:33 it finishes by speaking of God who justifies us.  That He has, when His blood was shed on the cross and then rose for all whom will accept it.  His Blood, through His Son, and that is all the justification everyone on the earth and those who will ever live, will need.