“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 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 8:1-2, 38-39 NIV
There is heaviness towards the issues we have no answers to, yet.
And when we think about future, we become stuck because fear, uncertainties, and insinuations torment us.
Fear seems to ring the bell. (when we goes to the root problem of what torments us)
Fear reduces us to hopelessness, we cannot hope for a better future.
What causes us to fear? The sense of abandonment (no one is going to help me, lord is not standing by my side anymore)
- Even when you tell him/her the promises of God, god is doing good things through the trial, it will not make sense to her, for she feels abandoned and she cannot absorb any more of god's word.
- What causes fear in you? (Is it no money, being put into jail, not being liked?) --> it's the sense of abandonment
- God knows that, that's why Holy Spirit is given you -> the counsellor, to remind you of the right voice (Holy protector)
- Romans 8:1 - means no condemnation --> not forsaking you
Story of job
- If such a man like job (blameless, upright, fear god, and shun evil) suffered, who are you to say that you don't deserve suffering
- No one can say - I don't deserve it
- Satan roams through the earth -- sees every intention you indulge in, he sees through things
- You are not devoured now because god is protecting you by His grace, and restraining Satan from attacking you
- Job may not know: Giver of righteousness, giver of goodness (the grace given to him)
- Being righteous (doing right) doesn't Set you free from fear (what if others done unto you? Because sin exists)
- Knowing the giver of righteousness set you free from fear
- There are still loopholes in job's r/s with god (when something happen, he will doubt god's love for him) -- conditional relationship
- No one in the process of trial will like the situations that happened to them -- god are you fair to me? Spiritual battle is dealing with these voices with the promise of God
- 42:5 my ears have heard of you, and now my eyes have seen you
- What did he now understand? The grace of god -- the giver of all things (his righteousness, goodness...)
- Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes -- he has come to know, like all men, he's born into sin
- V10 now he became intercessor - and now god prosper him again --> v12 --> v16
Why is there pain and suffering.. Because there is presence of sin and evil
Presence of sin and evil
- Reality of sin and evil
- Not the blatant sin you see, but the presence (and it's influence) of sin in all aspects of your life --> evil freely work in sin --> thus we suffer
- Every fallen man will think that if he has done wrong -> he should correct! and pay back (compensation? -> it's to ease your feeling)
- But little do we think of sin and it's consequences like this -> receive the grace and redemption --> and receive the obligation to fight the sin by putting death the misdeeds
- You correct the wrong because you want to fight sin, that's why you don't want to be enslaved by it anymore, not taking it lightly
- Repentance is not correcting the wrong (easing the emotions) but you keep doing the right thing because you are so dreadful of the sin and keep nailing it on the cross until it weakens and lose hold of you
- Real enemy is not the wrong but the sin (we have to nail it on the cross and weaken it)
- What's wrong with Job?
- He fall short of knowing God's grace because he had not fully know the giver, the grace of god
- Look at the way he prayed for his children --> he was more mindful of the wrong they did than the influence of sin and distorted nature they had.
- That's why God has to sanctify him
- Satan's intention through inflicting suffering
- He wants job to curse God (so that you lose faith in God's promise)
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- Satan wants to prove that job is not having a genuine relatnship with god (he loved God for what he gave, not what he is,; job actually looked at the gifts than giver)
- Satan wants to put in Job the total sense of abandonment -> when you lament against God, you yourself affirm the forsaken feeling and satan will strengthen that hatred towards God (food for satan) -- you will come to think that you have nothing to do with god anymore.( job 3:1 - misery is so real and overwhelming that he cursed the day god gives him life - intense emotional protest against God)
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- God knows all these that are happening in your life --> that's why he allowed this so that you can know what grace is truly about. Break you down (your righteousness, goodness) --> refine your sanctity of your relationship with God
How to overcome the sense of abandonment
Humanity is fragile. Pain and suffering easily bring the sense of abandonment because of the
- Presence of evil (satan) --> he comes to you with all kinds of insinuations that are untrue (he is the father of lies, spirit of untruths --- be aware and prepared, so that you are not absorbed by devil's scheme -> reflect through why it happens on you so that you can cleanse yourself from all wrongful motives, because there must be reason why we were deceived! don't go around blaming everyone
- Promise of God (not your intellect and will power) --> the basis Holy spirit work
- “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”
- “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
Romans 8:35-37 NIV Romans 8:15, 18, 26-27 NIV
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- The promise of God is relational - He is your abba father, it is not abandonment but embracement
- It is always relational first - embrace you(nt correcting you, but loving you to reclaim you first)
- Intercedes with groans
- Why groans? Because HS is grieving (crying) -> when will he stop groaning? When you also groan and broken.
- How you know you are truly broken.. That's when you live in accordance to God's will (live as he says)
- You will reap from the sense of abandonment and be convinced of Ro 8:37-38
- More than conquerors
- Because you receive boldness from the Holy Spirit (that's why neither demons, power, sword..)
- Heb 12:4-6 even discipline is a relational discipline not punitive (it is to give us closer to god, not to punish us; to give us humility)
Al things work for the good
What did job become?
- Intercessors, and shepherds of sinners
- Continue to witness to people in field
- Earthly material blessings - wealth, health
- God rewards people accordingly so they can testify for Him
- God is not a stingy God --> face God with the right attitude, God will liberate you from your poverty and give you more than you have before
- Similarly, if you are serious in seeking God, god will also work beyond your physical limitations
- 140 years -> left behind remnants