Romans 8:31-39 – 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 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.
Verse 36 explains being sold out for Christ.
36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
Rather we face death all day long to ourselves, or we do so in true martyrdom sense, we need to be dead to our old selfish sinful nature.
Galatians 2:20 – 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Here is our King and His example. God and Jesus didn’t have to participate in our redemption. They chose to do so out of love. God gave His Son. Jesus chose to die for us. Sometimes it can be hard to grasp the three persons, because on one hand they work together and can’t stray apart and still are three Persons in One. The Lord shed His blood for us so we may be saved.
We need to now die to that old sinful nature and live now for Him. Two good reasons exist right off the top. One, sin destroys life. Just look around you. Two, we were wonderfully made in the image of God. We need to get back to what that is. Only through the Holy Spirit can we begin act right and help others get back to the Lord.
Think of it like this. There is a burning building and your one of God’s firemen. We need to go in and help as many people out before the place burns down. Yes, there is a chance we may perish, which brings us to the second part of our scripture.
We are sheep. We certainly are. Who are we going to follow? If you’re following yourself, you just bought the lie that the devil fed to Eve. If we choose to follow Christ, we need to do what’s best for the Kingdom of God, not ourselves. Many have chosen to follow Christ and it cost them their life here on earth. However, everyone on this earth will die to this earthly body sometime.
Matthew 10:32-33 – 32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
Your life on this earth without Jesus leads to an eternity without anything, but the things promised to those who have rejected God’s redemption. As we all know life on this earth goes fast and there is no guarantee of what tomorrow brings. However, if you are saved, we know it brings eternity with our Lord.
If you haven’t accepted Jesus as Lord, please do so now. Don’t hide in the burning building. Come out and start serving the Lord, forever.
I have put a page on how to do so, as well as why we need to do so, on the right column of the blog page.