If God is for us, who can be against us?
-- Romans 8:31
There is a beautiful Robert Frost poem that ends:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Reflect on that poem, then read all of Romans 8:31-39, then claim these five promises before you sleep:
There will be no termination, ever, of a Christian's personal relationship with God. "Who can be against us?" No one, no body, no thing, not even your no good self can cause you to lose God's gracious gift of salvation. You didn't earn it, though you will prove it, and you cannot lose it.
There will no limitation upon the blessings God has bestowed upon you in Christ. "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?" "All things" include unlimited forgiveness, the permanent presence of the Holy Spirit, and the indescribable inheritance awaiting you in Heaven.
There will be no accusation anyone can ever make against you that can discredit or disqualify you from being a child of God. "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies." We will all be like the baptized Delmar in "O Brother, Where Art Thou," who claims absolution for every sin his fellow sojourners could throw at him, claiming "Neither God nor man's got nothing on me now ... it's the straight and narrow from here on out, and Heaven everlasting is my reward!"
There will be no condemnation, as Paul stresses this at the beginning (vs. 1) and end of the glorious chapter. If you are pardoned by the blood of Jesus, there is no punishment, no purgatory, no penalty whatsoever. "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." Jesus Christ is Lord, Savior, and unfailing Advocate (ref. 1 John 2:1).
And fifth and finally, there is no separation from a genuine child of God from his or her Heavenly Father, forever. Paul belabored this point, having personally experienced six of the seven trials and tribulations mentioned. His life would be ended by the seventh. The afterlife, however, is infinitely longer than this present life, where absolutely nothing "will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
These five promises give us five priorities for the present:
Repent, and keep on repenting before the Lord. Develop a holy hatred of sin, and keep a tender heart before God. Confess your sins to Him regularly and keep your accounts clean.
Believe, and keep on believing in the Lord. Repentance and faith are the gifts that keep on giving. They are God's gifts, which you keep on giving back to God. Live by faith. In other words, be faithful, to God, and to others to whom you have made commitments.
Be baptized, and act in accordance as a baptized believer in Jesus Christ. Baptism is a holy ritual and a high honor. Those who ignore it refuse grace. Though we are not saved by works, we are saved to perform all the works God has prescribed in His word, like baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Join Christ's church, commune with the saints every Sunday while you are here on earth. You'll be seeing a lot of them in Heaven. Not all in the visible church are members of the invisible church, but those invisible in the visible church will not be in that number when the saints go marching in, either.
Obey God's word. You cannot earn salvation, it is by grace, but you can prove it. As John MacArthur wrote in "The Gospel According to Jesus," "Obedience is the only proof that a person really knows Jesus Christ."
The sovereignty of God is "lovely, deep and dark," like the Robert Frost poem. The ways of salvation are His "promises to keep," all of which you can find in Paul's epistle to the Romans. Trust the Lord with your life, so that in death, you will arise and awaken in His glorious presence, where you will live forever and ever.
Chuck DeVane is the pastor of Lake Hamilton Baptist Church. Call him at 501-525-8339 or email [email protected].