Atlanta Bethel Community Church

> The LORD has done great things for us

The LORD has done great things for us

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Romans 8:1-2, 29-30
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death.

29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Psalm 126: 3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

As we continue through Lent, we get to meditate on the greatest of all things that God has done for us, the thing that brings us most joy. That is the sacrifice of the son.
Paul speaks of what this means for us in more depth-

No more condemnation. We once deserved it, but now we’re safe within Christ. We have been set free by the law of the spirit. Of course, through Jesus’s death, we have been given life through the spirit.

Paul then goes on to speak about 2 of 3 very important topics.

Justification and Glorification

But the thing is, he skips a topic we recently spoke about- Sanctification. It’s not a matter of him ignoring it, as if we don’t need to wash our robes, his omission of it is a show of great confidence that we too should have. He skips over justification as to say, he doesn’t even need to address it.

We also note that he says all of this in past tense. He says predestined, called, justified, and glorified- as if he was paraphrasing Jesus in the book of John.

John 10:28-29 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

Paul had such great faith in the lord’s sacrifice, God’s love. He knew so deeply the depths of what Jesus did. The Apostle Peter also spoke with such confidence when he said.

said, by the wounds of the Lord, we are healed. He said it as if it was all over, no more suffering, no more sin, no more illness deep within. But what do we see? But as we look at ourselves daily we may not have this confidence. We may be able to quote the same words of David, when he prayed

Psalm 8:4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

We aren’t great by any means on our own, and we often make many mistakes though he are saved, born again, new creations. But this is the truth of the Apostles of Old.

Peter and the other 11, they walked with Jesus for 3 years and still had closed hearts, still were immature, still were doing things through the flesh.

Paul, in Romans 7:24, he said “What a wretched man I am!” not a wretched man I was, but am.

These were the people of God, the apostles, and Yet the Lord loved and cared for them and he cares us so much. He cares for us, sick sinners.

Peter said that by his wounds we are healed, but, as we look at ourselves, it sometimes doesn’t look to be true.

We went over it on Wednesday, the duel image within us- The sinful nature that rages war against the spirit. But as much as we see our sinful image, our habits, our Cain image, we have to remember that God is faithful and able. We aren’t deserving but he is faithful and able to look past that and prosper us to purity.

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

Though it be one way. It will be changed. By God’s word, by the word of God, he commanded this. By the word he commanded it and preserves it, this sanctification process that we’re going through.

Psalm 119:9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.

Then down to verse 11 it says

Psalm 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

This is the necessary tool to build us up. the ingredient to make us whole, and the fuel in our heart, like fuel in a car that is used to get us from one place to our destination, that predestination of glory, perfectly emulating the image of Jesus. This is what prevents sin. The word cleanse sin, prevents it and sustains our purity and guides us.

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”

It commands us.

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

It commands us, dispels fears, and promises that as we walk this path, we have a partner there with us to the end. All through God’s word, his people are promised harmony, love unity- all things that we abandoned, we rejected, we forsook. Though we did this, the word promises that God will never leave or forsake, but be with us till the very end.

We have blessed assurance in the word. Where we can’t even trust ourselves, we can trust God’s word. We want to be pure, we want to be clean, but if we attempted to do so alone, we always fail.

Through Joshua 1 we see that true success is found in trusting God’s word.

Joshua 1:7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left,that you may be successful wherever you go.

I had a recent prophecy, a vision of me with a crown and scepter. I was reminded that, King David, he had everything given him by God, but then he coveted something more, forgetting he had God and his beautiful word. Jesus says the pure at heart see God. All he could see at this moment was the thing his sinful heart desired. He forsook God. But did God come to him with anger and punishment, no. The first thing said to through the Prophet Nathan is that if all he was given wasn’t enough, God would have given him more.

In this fight for purity, we have all we need for victory. We have the very word of God- the promises of God. We have the good seed mustard seed, the good mustard seed. And if we want to really believe in all that we have in Jesus, then we can put into action and prove it.

This is living faith- faith that leads to deeds as the book of James proclaims. We have the authority of the son of God given us who have been born again.
And we must never forget the holy spirit.

We have everything we need to live godly by the spirit

2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness
So, though this path be narrow, though we hit deep valley’s of darkness, we should fear not.

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness
We have everything- God has given us everything.

Though we struggles, we need to know that he has changed us forever. But also, we should never forget where we came from. Because if we do, we risk losing appreciation for his love and where it’s brought us, and we also risk becoming arrogant against others who are also struggling.

Luke 18:9-12 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

But we should remember where we once were, we should always remember where we personally once were and where mankind is before salvation. Dark and weary, wandering through life empty. Looking for this false god, this pleasure this to fulfill us. The Pharisee forget the state of humankind. He too needed grace. Any of his reputation came from God’s grace. But he forgot.

But as we remember, we see that the world puts everything on a pedestal, making them look so grand, but we had no peace with those things. None of the grand things of the world could save us- who came to this world to save us? Our savior came as a small child. A weak small child. He grew in the word and spread that word and now we have this relationship with God that has changed us forever.
Jesus came and gave us something we could never dream for or imagine. Now, and forever more, we must have conviction of this word, the word that cleanses us, and keeps us clean, fills us with faith.

The word of God, Old and new testament, we must trust in it and have our feeble lives made strong. On our own, we are merely dust and ashes. But the Lord, we are his body, his church, his children united.
We never boast like the pharisee.
Luke 18:13- 14 But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

But in our prayer, we become humble under his love- humble and contrite like this tax collector. We must never forget where we came from because if we do, we won’t repent of the missteps we take now on this road. But if he have this humble heart, we seek his forgiveness, his strength and we seek his help to walk with his help.
He is faithful and able and will raise us up and help us win this battle for sanctification.

Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
I pray that we can leave here now and forevermore that being confident of this, that he who began a good work in us, will carry it on till completion till we see Jesus.