I Am Persuaded
Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 24th August service and hymns are below.
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Our principal verses are:
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I Am Persuaded
The doctrines of the Bible are not a checklist of what is to be believed to get to heaven. They are much more important than that. Bible doctrine is God’s revelation of who He is, and His explanation of what He has done to accomplish the salvation of His elect and secure their glory. Paul was fully persuaded of his own salvation (and the salvation of others) because God showed him how and by whom it had been obtained. Paul was assured of the church’s inseparable union with Jesus Christ because the Lord explained how it had been achieved.
Assurance is trust
It is not special or extraordinary revelation that brings assurance of salvation. Those who go through life seeking a mystical ‘word from the Lord’ or ‘a sign from above’ to validate their faith have been poorly taught. Our hope and confidence of everlasting life is founded upon God’s nature and promises. Our Lord Jesus told His disciples, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’. God has revealed His love, exercised His grace and fulfilled every requirement of justice in and by Jesus Christ. God has spoken and by the gift of faith we believe Him.
Convinced by truth
Paul was persuaded nothing could separate him from the love of God because God’s love is everlasting and effectual to save. Love formed the basis of God’s choice of certain sinners in election. Individuals were ordained in the mind and purpose of God before ever time began. They were predestined to be conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. In love they were set apart in Christ, committed into His care and keeping, justified by the merits of His blood and deemed righteous. Nothing in time can disannul God’s purpose in eternity.
A well-reasoned persuasion
In this chapter Paul has set out the doctrine of grace. He has shown the believers at Rome, and us with them, how the love of the Father, the intercession of the Son and the witness of the Holy Spirit all validate and endorse God’s purpose of grace and promise of salvation. What God has taught us of Himself, His sovereign will and the roles and offices fulfilled by the persons in the Godhead, demonstrate the absolute commitment of God to our present good on earth and our eternal glory in heaven.
A sound argument
The Apostle proposes a list of foes to convey the extent of his confidence. According to Paul neither the powers of evil nor the laws of nature can thwart God’s goodness to His church. Death itself cannot separate us from the love of God. Nothing in this created world such as angels, principalities and powers, by which may be meant wicked angels, earthly rulers and false teachers, can dissolve our love-union with Christ. No event or circumstance in this present life, and nothing future, can sever the elect from God’s love or disinherit you and me who believe.
Saved means safe
So entire is our security by God’s divine will and sovereign grace that nothing in heaven, earth or hell can separate us from Him. Holiness and justice are our friends. Once saved always saved. Under the covering of Christ’s blood we are reconciled and sheltered. Such is the unchangeable nature of God. He who has justified will never condemn. He who has redeemed can never relinquish. He who has quickened, He who has called, can never deny Himself.
For His own name’s sake
Nothing in heaven above, nothing in earth beneath, nothing in hell below can disturb what we have been given in Christ. It is fixed and sure. Paul is persuaded and we should be, too. No creature can remove us; not a devil, not an angel, not a man. Not our own foolish heart, not our fallen nature, not our evil mind can pluck us out of God’s hand. The new man may be called to struggle and fight to withstand the evil, yet overcome he will and conquer he must, for God’s own honour is at stake.
Everything in Christ Jesus
God’s love is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord. Divine love with every divine grace that love inspires is communicated to us by Christ. All God’s goodness and mercy is in Christ. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights to His church in Christ. Our God delights to give good gifts to His children and He shall have all His pleasure. Be persuaded, nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing shall frustrate our inheritance in Christ.
Amen
Hymn 74
Election Excludes Boasting. 1 Cor. 1. 26-31
I. Watts C.M.
1
But few among the carnal wise,
But few of noble race,
Obtain the favour of thy eyes,
Almighty King of grace!
2
He takes the men of meanest name
For sons and heirs of God;
And thus he pours abundant shame
On honourable blood.
3
He calls the fool and makes him know
The mysteries of his grace,
To bring aspiring wisdom low,
And all its pride abase.
4
Nature has all its glories lost,
When brought before his throne;
No flesh shall in his presence boast,
But in the Lord alone.
Hymn 229
The Fight of Faith. Ps. 61. 2-4; Rom. 8. 37
C. Wesley 104th
1
Omnipotent Lord, my Saviour and King,
Thy succour afford, thy righteousness bring.
Thy promises bind thee compassion to have;
Now, now let me find thee almighty to save.
2
Lord, thou art my hope; o’erwhelmèd with grief,
To thee I look up for certain relief;
I dread no denial, no danger I fear,
Nor start from the trial if Jesus be here.
3
Yes! God is above men, devils, and sin;
My Jesus’s love the battle shall win;
So terribly glorious his coming shall be,
His love all victorious shall conquer for me.
The Apostle Paul was persuaded that all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life are safe and secure from all our enemies. That trust is founded upon God's revelation in His word, the preaching of the Apostles and the testimony of the Lord Jesus. God has spoken and we are persuaded.