Grace, Truth, and Sanctification

Colossians 1:3-8

COL-049

Our subject is "Thanksgiving for the Colossians," number 27 in Colossians 1:3-8.

The gospel of free grace salvation came to the prominent, but pagan, city of Colossae. The Holy Spirit did His convicting work relative to sin, righteousness, and judgment on certain unsaved citizens of that city, to illuminate them to their lost condition which doomed them to the lake of fire. Some of those people under conviction responded to the gospel message with positive volition, and they were born-again spiritually. The power of the gospel to bring salvation to the lost was then repeated throughout the city of Colossae as the gospel spread out among the citizens. So, the apostle Paul observes that the gospel in Colossae in Colossians 1:6: "For the fruit (referring to born-again people) and that it increased," or that it spread out.

Furthermore, the gospel of grace spread beyond the confines of the city of Colossae through the surrounding areas about that city, and that part of the Roman Empire. And as it moved, a trail was left behind of saved people as the gospel message extended itself abroad. The powerful gospel kept expanding throughout the Roman Empire, saving those who believed it, just as it had within the city limits of Colossae. This expanded outreach of the gospel had been going on since the day when the Colossians first heard the gospel preached to them by someone who had heard it from Paul and brought it to them.

Please remember that the apostle Paul is writing to these Christians in this city, but he has never been to this city. He has never met these people. But he has learned a great deal about them from a man who was one of their spiritual leaders named Epaphras who was with him in Rome.

The Colossian experience of personal salvation enabled these people to get a really good understanding of the grace of God in their lives. These people had been in the depths of the worst kind of sin, relative to their religion alone. What they did down at the temple in the worship of their pagan gods was extremely degrading to them personally. It was the Baal worship that originated in Babylon, and it was extremely corrupt and degrading to them as human beings.

So, the fact that they were under an enormous amount of moral guilt was quite clear to them. And when the Spirit of God came on them with His convicting work, they knew that they were in big trouble. But when they believed the gospel, and they had that sense of peace; of forgiveness; and, the understanding that they were now absolutely righteous in God's sight, they had a personal experience of what it meant to be under the grace of God, and how it functioned in their lives. Those who accepted Christ as their Savior then proceeded to learn the full gamut of doctrine, and to learn how to walk by means of the Holy Spirit, so that Christ was not only their Savior, but also their Lord, and to move on from babyhood in the Christian life onto spiritual maturity.

So, in Colossians 1:6, we want to look at this expanded understanding of the grace of God. "Which" (referring to the gospel) "has come to you, just as in all the world" (the empire of Rome). Also, it is constantly bearing fruit (people being saved) and increasing;" that is, it is spreading like the tentacles of a vine moving out. It is developing: "Even as it has been doing in you (or among you) since the day you heard the gospel." And then we have this word "and understood."

This is one of those significant Greek words that'll help you to understand really what is being said here. This word for "understood" looks like this in the Greek Bible. It's the Greek word "epiginosko" (ep-ig-in-oce'-ko, E P I G I N O S K O. The word "ginosko" is one of the words for knowledge, or for learning, in the Greek New Testament. And what it means is to comprehend something by your experience. There's a different Greek word, it's a word ("oida"), and it refers to learning things because of intuition, or learning by sitting down and studying books, and learning how something works. It is a mental process. But "ginosko" is an experience. You are trained, and you use your hands, and you learn how to do something, and how to develop some area of knowledge. But when you add this preposition "epi," E P I, before "ginosko," that intensifies this word. What this word is saying is not only do you learn by experience, but you learn completely. You learn in great detail. You'll have a fullness of comprehension. That is what this word is saying. And to fully perceive something implies a positive volition which enables you to participate in a divine truth for your personal blessing.

This may be viewed as positive volition faith in a doctrinal principle which, then, as we pointed out in the previous session, results in being stored in your human spirit reservoir of truth. It is not just up in the mind where it may reside and be of no value. Please remember that system. It has been a long time since we mentioned it.

Here's the mentality. The mentality has the perceptive side, and it has the directive side. The perceptive side is where you learn. Here's your teacher, and this teacher is giving you information. This is in all areas of learning. And with that, you learn information, and you take it into your mental capacity.

Now, in the case of spiritual truth, you may respond to that positively or negatively. And below is the human spirit. The human spirit, which is guided and controlled by the Holy Spirit, is filled with various compartments. When you go positive to a point of doctrine that you have learned, that immediately is stored in a compartment: the appropriate category in your human spirit. You may not even be aware that it's there. It may slip away from your conscious mind. But have you ever heard somebody say, "I got to talking to this person, and spiritual questions came up, and things started coming to my mind. And I couldn't believe what I was saying – the answers that I was getting, and the way I was able to meet that issue that that person was bringing up." What are they saying? They're saying that they had sat and been instructed and received willingly, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the doctrines that they had been explained to them from Scripture, and they said, "Amen." And the minute they accepted it, that was an act of faith. You're saved by faith, and you learn doctrine by faith. You don't say that the Bible is a lie. You take it as the truth. You verify what you're told, but then it's the truth, and in it goes into your human spirit.

Now, the world does not like this. You cannot believe how much flak we Christians will take because we're simply teaching a principle of Scripture, and it applies to some area of society such that somebody doesn't like your calling attention to a deviation from the Word of God. It makes them uncomfortable, and it makes them mad. And suddenly you, who are the good person because you are declaring what is true, become their enemy. You become the person that they want to strike out against. Who's the leader of that band? Obviously, that is Satan. And his job is, first of all, to keep a person from being saved. But once you become born-again, this whole human spirit which was dead, comes alive. Now you have, in your perceptive mind, the capacity to learn doctrine. Positive volition puts it in your human spirit.

Now, a problem comes up, and here's a piece of information, and you have to make a decision. God the Holy Spirit comes and shines the spotlight, and says, "Here's the doctrine." Bingo. It pops up into the directive side of your mind. And you're able to make a decision on the basis of the mind of God. It's a beautiful system, and it works automatically. And the Spirit of God will not bring to your mind with peace and comfort that which is false. The Spirit of God will not store false doctrine in your human spirit. It stays up in your mind.

Now, if you hear a principle of doctrinal truth (maybe it's a matter of moral guidance – how you should conduct yourself in your social relationships, or in your business relationships, or your family relationships), you can say, "I don't want to do that." You are negative to a position of doctrinal truth. That's where it stays. It never goes anywhere. It's up there where I know it.

This is what James is saying in James 1:22: "Be doers of the Word as well as hearers." You cannot be a doer of the Word of God until you have learned it and have accepted it. Then it's ready to do the job for you. This, of course, is all conditioned upon your being in favor and in fellowship with God the Holy Spirit – you have all sins confessed that need to be confessed.

Well, this is what these people in Colossae suddenly experienced such that they were experiencing a relationship to God that was breathtaking. This was because, as they learned the Word of God, and as they were receptive to it, they suddenly found that it really did give them the guidance in life that they needed. And if you don't have this, what are you going to do? If you don't have the Spirit of God to guide you, then you go to human viewpoint, because all this in your human spirit is divine viewpoint. And everybody operates on one or the other.

Now, if a Christian steps out of line, then he no longer has divine viewpoint guiding him. This whole system is short-circuited right there. Consequently, nothing goes up to guide you to the issue that you have to make a decision on.

Grace

So, these people came to a full ("epiginosko") understanding of the truth of God. And it was not just information in their mind, it was stored in their human spirit as that to which they were receptive. And what was it that they understood? They understood grace. They understood "charis" (khar'-ece), C H A R I S. This word "charis" in the Bible refers to the kindness of God in expressing His love to those who do not deserve it, and who could never earn it by their good works. They are completely hopeless. The Scripture says that they are without Christ; and, they are without hope. But in comes God, Who has freed His love through what Christ has done on the cross. He is now free to express His love toward the lost sinner, and still retains His own holiness. And that's what happens. Grace is God's bestowing of divine blessing as a free gift to those who will receive it. Grace here is specifically associated with God in terms of what Paul is talking about; namely, the gospel of the grace of God. And it is God's grace that comes to us that enables us to enter into the truth of God.

Truth

Now, the truth here is related to this issue (the grace of God) in the gospel. Human viewpoint can never give you the answer on how to get to heaven – only God's divine viewpoint, which He has revealed in the Scripture. The gospel is the truth about how to get to heaven. All other plans are false. The gospel is God's truth. You notice that. It is the grace of God within the realm of truth. It is not a man-made plan, which is nothing but false hopes. The gospel of grace is a system of redemption which is based on the fact that God alone satisfies His own holiness. And He does that through Jesus Christ, which enables Him to save a believing sinner with the free gift of salvation. God's love has to be turned loose for him to bring a person to salvation. But He cannot turn that love loose until His justice has been satisfied. The wages of sin as death. Somebody has to pay it. Christ has done that. That, having been done, now he is free to extend his love toward the sinner.

God's grace is only connected with the truth of doctrine, or it is not grace. If you are a legalist; you act upon legalistic conditions; and, you have a legalistic lifestyle, then you are out of connection with the truth, and you are not dealing with the mind of God. And that is a terrible thing when it's in the realm of the gospel. A human viewpoint religion ends up being superstitions; ends up being fear of death; and, ends up being enslaved to Satan. It is all the worst of things.

1 Corinthians 1:21 points this out, "For since in the wisdom of God, the world, through its wisdom." There's the comparison: the wisdom of God – divine viewpoint, which is what we have in Scripture: "And through the world" (the unsaved world, through its wisdom – the wisdom of man, which is human viewpoint" "For since in the wisdom of God, the world, through its wisdom, did not come to know God." God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. And do you notice the word "believe" there? Believe what? A foolish message. What is the foolish message which is being discussed here in this context? The foolish message is: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll go to heaven." To people, that is so simple, and that isn't enough. You have to surely do something more. But the gospel of truth is the gospel of free grace. God's grace is only connected with truth. The idea is that God's grace is understood by the saved for what it truly is. It's the reality – by its power for changing their lives for righteousness. They realize that it is true. It needs no human effort or additions to make it work for their salvation.

This is why we are very careful not to try to give people something that they may do publicly as a step to salvation. And sometimes people will ask me: "Why is it that you don't give an invitation at Berean Church?" And I say, "But we do. Anytime we speak of the gospel, and anytime we expect explain the gospel, we always give an invitation for people where they are sitting to believe the gospel and except Christ. And that doesn't satisfy them because they're in the context of a church where people must come forward and make a public profession. And what happens often is that people attach salvation to that act. And many of them, then, end up being religious people (church members) who are completely unsaved.

The truth of the matter is that you don't need to improve on the gospel of the grace of God as an appropriation for salvation (a gift from God) – to change it into a commitment to live a righteous life. When you start making deals with God, and promising that you are really going to be a good person (as part of your acceptance of Christ), you try to make a deal, and you will not live up to it. Until you get a substantial amount of spiritual maturity, the sin nature is going to whip you. Grace is the expression of God's character which gives us salvation, and it also gives a spiritual maturity.

Now, grace has had an interesting history in the human race. It obviously began at the dawn of human history in the Garden of Eden. There, Adam and Eve were treated with nothing but the most magnificent expressions of the grace of God. There are so many things that scientists are discovering about the world that they understand that potentially existed before the flood – a world which was surrounded by an enormous canopy of water, and a world which, therefore, filtered out the rays that were deadly to human life, and that changed the whole climate of the earth.

One scientist has made experiments with the fact that, under those conditions, before the flood, and that canopy was removed, that the earth had two atmospheres of pressure. 14.7 is one atmosphere. Doubling that would be two atmospheres of pressure. Scuba people know that if they don't dive below 33 feet under water, they will never go over one atmosphere of pressure. Therefore, they can just keep diving, and keep going, because they don't have to worry about any nitrogen being retained in the blood system. But once you go below that one atmosphere, then you have to keep your time, and you have to keep track of how long you've been down, and leave at a proper time, and then stay out of the water for sufficient time for you to breathe out all of the nitrogen which has been impacted into your body system because it was under two atmospheres of pressure.

Well, what they discovered under experiments was that if you put a plant under two atmospheres of pressure, it grows like a wildfire. And it becomes a giant, which is probably the way vegetation was before the flood, which certainly is what the dinosaurs all needed. They've also discovered that if they put people in a pressure chamber, where they have two atmospheres of pressure, wounds will heal twice as fast on them. It has marvelous healing qualities just because of the atmospheric pressure.

Some scientists also believe that as the sunset came, there was a glowing pinkness about the sky, and it set up vibrations that created a melodic sound – a soothing musical sound that put people to sleep. And it's just terrific to think about what it must have been like under life in the Garden of Eden, in an earth that had not been contaminated by sin.

However, the day came when the only sin that Adam and Eve could commit (negative volition), they succumbed to. Eve believed Satan's lie that everybody is destined to be a God, and she'll become a God if she eats of that tree. And Adam, because he did not want to be separated from her, when he realized what she had done, joined her in the sin. And the result is that what wonderful things the grace of God had given to them was all messed up.

Well, that's exactly what we do today. We take the grace of God, and we cannot keep from messing it up. Just look what is happening to us as a nation. If there ever was a nation that was the product of the grace of God, it was the United States, from its very origin, and all through the centuries – two centuries of its existence, the grace of God has been what has carried this nation. And yet now all we have forces all about us, in high intensity, to change the moral ground of this nation, and to turn our backs upon the God of all grace. No nation can do that and survive.

We passed out an article today about one of the most destructive things: what would Jesus think about a church not being willing to have a homosexual vocal group performing in it? One of the things that is interesting to note historically (and students of history know this), is that great nations like Greece and Rome had a very moral context. They were not Christian, but the grace of God was recognized by their conscience. And their moral code was the moral code that actually was practiced among the Jews in the Old Testament. But when they began to degenerate morally, one of the things that quickly came in was sexual violation with homosexuality and lesbianism. And in a rapid period of time, not a single nation in history has ever survived when they got to that stage. Every nation has been destroyed by God because He calls it a loathsome abomination.

So, Adam and Eve turn their backs upon the grace of God, and they lost everything. And it's the same thing with us. We can turn our backs upon the grace of God. And we have certainly done that nationally. And if it isn't changed, we will lose everything. That is because grace is what God is. That is the essence of the character of God. Look how this applied when God walked in the garden and confronted Adam and Eve.

The Essence of God

God is eternal life. He knew what agony it would be for them to live forever under a sinful condition. God is omniscience. He knew the doom that they and their children would suffer. He was omnipresent, so, He was witness to everything that they had done, and to what others would do following them. He is omnipotence. He was fully able to have destroyed sinful man, and thus to solve the problem. He is immutability, so, His character cannot change to tolerate sin. And He is also veracity. He had to be true to His warning.

All of this was an expression of the grace of God, because what he did, instead of destroying them, was proceed systematically to provide a solution. Human beings are a sorry lot, but grace is God's way of dealing with us in our perversion – we who deserve nothing. Titus 2:11 says, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men." It is very important to be positive to the doctrine of salvation. It is important for your destiny after death. It is important for the good works of rewards. But you and I must relax and remember that God has to do that saving work for us. We are to thank Him for who and what He is, and for what doctrine brings into our lives.

Now, one of the great examples in the scripture of the provision of the grace of God is found in Romans 8:28-30. Please turn to that. God and His plans are perfect, and He has a perfect provision for our failures and our weaknesses. We Christians are constantly being challenged by Satan to substitute some systems of human good works, because He hates the divine good works of grace. A believer who is ignorant or negative to doctrine turns to his experience or his emotions to seek a relationship with God so that he can feel good. God's grace alone can carry us through from what this passage describes as foreknowledge, and ends with glory in heaven.

There are five satanic challenges to the grace of God to which we should be alerted. Romans 8:31: "What then shall we say to these things?" What things? The things in Romans 8:28-30, where the apostle says, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." There are three goods that God gives us, you may remember.

Sanctification

So, this is what he's talking about – that everything is going to work out for good. And it also means that it works out for good when we have stepped out of line. And I must again caution you. When some Christian does something terribly foolish, in terms of personal sin, and you wonder how anybody could have been so thoughtless, just take a look on the inside of yourself. Some of the arrogant, self-righteous Christians among us are those who never had a chance to do some good sinning. But if they did, their sin nature would rise to just as much of the vileness and the degradation as something that you say, "How could anybody do that?" We can do it when the Spirit of God is not in control of our lives.

Fanatical

God has a perfect plan and a perfect provision for our weaknesses. And the world system is constantly tempting us away from it. And while we may think that somebody does a terrible sin, it's only with us that we classify those as terrible. To neglect the attendance in a church service is equally sinful with God. You just get away with it more easily than some other sins that have lasting effects.

Foreknowledge

So, do not be self-righteous, and unfeeling, and insensitive when somebody has foolishly gone along with the world system. You are all capable of it. It is God's grace alone that carries us through. Romans 8:29, then says that here is a chain reaction without any break: "For whom he foreknew." The word "foreknowledge" has to do with God putting His arm around you and intimately bringing you into His life. It is not that God looked down the corridors of time, and saw who was going to believe the gospel. Why could that not be the meaning of foreknowledge? If that's how God had to find out who was going to heaven, that meant that He didn't have omniscience, right? That meant that He had to look down and see what was going to happen, and He says, "Oh, there's John Smith. He's going to believe the gospel." That isn't what foreknowledge means. The reason John Smith is going to believe the gospel is why? Because God the Holy Spirit says, "You're in the kingdom, and I'm going to bring you in." It's because God knows whom He has chosen. That's how He knows that. But the word "know" in Scripture has an intimacy, and the ultimate intimacy between two people in marriage, a man and a woman, is a sexual intimacy. Until that point, there is not what you would call a real knowledge of one another. But at that point, there's nothing left that is unknown. And this word foreknowledge has to do with the concept of intimacy – that God is bringing you into a closeness of relationship.

How does He do that? "He predestined us to become conformed to the image of His Son, that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brethren." Firstborn does not mean that He is the first one who came into existence at a certain point as the Son of God. In Scripture, the word "firstborn" means that He is the supreme ultimate one. He is the supreme one: "And whom He predestinated to be in the image of Christ, these He also called. And whom He called, these He also justified. And whom He justified, these He also glorified." So you go from an intimate relationship with God by His selection, in time, to an eternity in glory with Him.

So, Romans 8:31 says, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?" God's plan for the believer functions by means of doctrine, which is cycled up from the human spirit into the elements of the soul. It is doctrine that will guide your emotions. It is doctrine that will guide your thinking. It is doctrine that will guide your decision-making. Satan does not fool around with believers who are minus doctrine. He lets them play church successfully. He helps them to play church successfully. They are no threat or hindrance to his enterprise. But Satan eggs the no-doctrine Christians into a pseudo spirituality. And so what do they do? They go into pretending that they're talking in tongues. They go into self-crucifixion living. They go into legalism. They go into socialism, and the welfare state, and living off of the fruits of other men's labors. All of this is what Satan propels the no-doctrine-oriented people to do, because every one of those things is against the Word of God. So, if somebody does that, you know that this is a no-doctrine type of Christian, and Satan is the one who pushes people to those positions. God does not do that.

No sin, however, is too great for the plan of God. Salvation is not lost, nor are you eliminated from Christian service.

Notice this word "if" in Romans 8:31: "What shall we say to these things if God is for us?" That is a first-class condition "if." Therefore, you should translate it by what word? "Since." It's something that is true. There's no question about it: "Since God is for us, who is against us?" That is a tremendous knowledge – that God is for every believer. God is for even the believers that you don't like. God is for those tiresome, blues-singing Christians: "Nobody likes me." And most of the time we know why: "Why do I have troubles? Why does this happen to me?" And when they ask me that, I say, "I couldn't think of a nicer person for that to happen to." And they carry on about how God is mistreating them. Yes, God loves those people in their whining as well.

Who is against us? No one. No one can oppose us in God's plan because none is greater than what? His grace. That's why if God is for you, and He is, who can be against you? You've got all of the grace power of God in your corner. And as long as you keep yourself in the Word of God, and you keep yourself in temporal fellowship, and you're receptive to the truth of God, you will be a winner in life. You can't be anything else but.

Now, that doesn't mean that all of the instruction that you may receive within the context of the ministries of Berean Church, you will find readily acceptable to you. But if you find something that you're not quite sure of, do not be so foolish as to reject it outright, but put it on the back burner and wait for greater enlightenment. It just may be that you're wrong, and that the teacher is right.

So Satan challenges the grace of God with his opposition to the believer, and to the believer's total compatibility with the character of God through his salvation.

In Romans 8:32, Satan is against a provision. "He who did not spare His Own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also, with Him, freely give us all things?" What this verse asking is: what's the hardest thing that God had to do for you? The hardest thing that God had to do for us is qualify us to enter heaven – to make us as good as Jesus Christ, as per His standard, so that we could enter heaven. That was the hardest thing. And God has provided this. Therefore, the situation now is: it is impossible for Him to fail us, because He is immutable. He has provided us with salvation when we were His enemies (Romans 5:10). And all He has done is treated us with a pattern of grace.

So, what does this verse say? "He did not spare his own Son." He sent Him as a sacrifice to the cross. He delivered him up for us all. He went on the cross, and the Father judged our sin, and the payment of death was paid, and: "He has freely given us all things – we who are His enemies." We didn't earn, and we didn't deserve His blessing. Its grace all the way.

So, if God has saved you, what do you need in life that He will not provide? His logistical grace cannot fail you. He will provide you what you need. Never degrade yourself by thinking that you can come to some point in life where you won't have enough to take care of your future. If God gave you salvation, and now you're His child, how much more will He give you than what He has given you before? Parents will give their children much more than they will give to those who are not their children: "He will freely give," and that's a future condition. It covers all of our life. Grace is our condition as Christians. And the believer's needs are a challenge to the plan of God. No need is too great for God to meet. "All things" refers to more than the most which we already have, which is salvation in Christ.

So, what does he do? He takes our sorrows; He takes our spiritual failures; He takes our sinfulness; and, He takes our disasters, and He weaves them all together for our blessing and our good. That's what's important to remember. He will freely give us all things. You need capacity to overcome the problems of having stepped out of the will of God. He gives that to you. He has a plan that will be greater than all of your needs. You cannot step out of the blessing of that plan. God will let you work out your own problems, just as an unbeliever does, if you want that. But it'll always be a massive catastrophe. How much better to depend on Him for the guidance. And when you do that, and respond to His guidance, that's maximum blessing.

Criticism

The third thing that Satan opposes us with is in Romans 8:33: criticism. "Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies." Who would dare challenge the results of the grace plan of God for our salvation as believers? Satan challenges the plan of God. Demons build files on believers for Satan (Ephesians 6:12). They compile files on us. And Satan faces God with those bad things in those files, Revelation 12:10 says, in order to bring contempt upon God's claim of salvation. But Jesus Christ shows His wounds and says, "I've covered those sins. Yes, he did step out of line, but I've covered those sins." Some Christians think that there are some sins that they're capable of committing that God has not covered. Those are the people who think they can lose their salvation. That's an act of arrogance. No matter what it is, God has covered it, and has given us a way out.

The Bible Forbids Judging One Another

Who will bring a charge against God's elect? If there anybody who is going to bring a charge, it is God who has already justified these people. He's perfectly capable of dealing with them.

Now, we as a local church have the right to discipline people who are persistent in violating the Word of God in some respect. And parents have a right to discipline their children. And judges have a right to discipline criminals and the law-breakers. But Christians have a basic right to discipline themselves. Stay out of the lives of other Christians. Satan is never permitted to judge Christians. Satan is never free to impose his will upon the believers. And if you would judge yourself, the Word of God says, then God doesn't have to do it.

Sinfulness

Many years ago, when we were still in the little auditorium, we were closing the Sunday morning service, and a man came rushing down the aisle, and he said, I have to confess to the congregation what I've been doing." I said, "Not to this congregation you don't." And he had something on his heart, and he felt that he had to tell the world about it in order to cleanse himself. Somehow, he never got the point of 1 John 1:9 – that it is between you and God, and that is where it goes. So, these oddballs that want to bring people down the aisle, or want to get people to make a public declaration of their personal matters, or like the psychologist (the Christian psychologist) wants you to find some real bosom buddy that you can let your hair down to, and reveal your innermost problems. You have to be really stupid to do that. The Word of God says, "Who is the one who condemns us? Jesus Christ is the one who died for us. Rather, He was raised. He's at the right hand of God, and He's praying for us."

So, if you and I have a problem in some area, He has already paid for the sin, and He's up there, praying for us to get straightened out. He's seated at the power of the right hand of God the Father. So, look to Him, not to people. Get your orientation from the Word of God, and keep your privacy. And if somebody gets pushy, just tell them to butt out. Your life is between you and God. And don't go for that sweetness and light approach. That's just an approach to probe and to find out things that are between you and God.

Suffering

Finally, the last thing that Satan hits to undermine the grace of God is suffering. Romans 8:35-39: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it is written, 'For your sake, we are being put to death all day long. We were considered a sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer, through Him Who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 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."

In Romans 8:35, the answer to the question is that nothing can separate us from our salvation. Here are seven types of suffering listed, but the grace of God preserves us through all those seven items that can hit us in one way or another that are listed in Romans 8:35.

Verse 36 says that Satan seeks to destroy Christians with constant pressure upon them. Don't succumb. His grace will carry you through.

Romans 8:37 says that we have victory because God's plan works by grace, not by whether we deserve it. We have victory because we conquer through Him Who loved us."

Romans 8:38-39 list all the things of life that could possibly be covered, such that somebody might say, "This is too great for God to handle within the plan of His grace – His grace salvation, and His grace sanctification." The minute you were born into the family of God, you were in the plan of God. And anything that challenges your right to function in that plan under the grace of God will be challenged by Him. Grace means that it all depends on Who and What God is.

So, none of these five things that Satan uses to cause us to question that God's grace is carrying us through are true. Nothing can separate us from the grace of God. And it might be easy for you to say "Amen" now. But wait till you do something that brings foolishness of sin into your life. Wait till you say "No" to God when you should be saying "Yes," and then the roof crashes in on you. Wait till you grieve the Holy Spirit by persisting in something that's evil, and you won't cease and desist. Then you'll find that you will need grace to carry you through, because the discipline will mount. But when you admit and succumb to the will of God, then discipline turns to blessing.

How good it is to know that the Colossians, like we, learned in depth what it means to be related to God in His grace. The grace of God: that tremendous relationship – that's reality. And you should never forget that that's how you live the Christian life.

Dear God, we want to thank You for this time together, and for the truth of Your Word. We pray that you will help us to be encouraged, and to realize that we are victors. We are not losers, and we must live as those who can take in stride the temptations to be losers. We won't always make it, but we can always make corrections, and get back on track. We thank You, Father, that we are responsible for ourselves, and we pray that we will do a good job as Your priests, in that respect, as well as our service to You. Thank you for the offerings which have been given this day, and we pray that You will bless.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1995

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