Angelic Conflict part 319: Current work of Christ – Rom 8:31-39; Psa 42:9-11; 44:20-26; 1Co 5:20-26.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 319: Current work of Christ - ROM 8:31-39; PSA 42:9-11; 44:20-26; 1CO 5:20-26.

 

 

Christ has released to all men through faith in Him and His word to live free of the tyranny of satan dethroned, though they still experience the effect of his world system.

 

Every possible form of demonic power has been subjugated to Christ and that power, released to all men when Christ was enthroned at the right hand of God, is for all who have faith in Him and His word, but not to rebuke satan or to cast out demons, but to live free of their tyranny though walking in the midst of their world system.

 

ROM 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

 

ROM 8:32He 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?

 

ROM 8:33Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies;

 

Herein lies the application of justification of life. All condemnation has been taken away from the accuser of the brethren.

 

ROM 5:18

So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.

 

Justification of life is to walk in life as one who is justified before God despite the charges that are brought against you as Christ's elected one. Again, don't forget that the charges are impersonal and from a flesh that has already been judged. Don't fight back and don't let it get to the core of you by taking it personal and thus enabling stress in your soul. Adversity is inevitable but stress is optional.

 

ROM 8:34who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

 

ROM 8:35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

 

ROM 8:36Just as it is written,

"For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long ;

We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

 

This quote is from PSA 44:11 and repeated in verse 22. Israel had suffered defeats because of sin, but in this Psalm it is written that the people were faithful.

 

The point is that even the faithful suffer defeat. But no amount of defeat will ever separate a believer from the love of God.

 

God has not forsaken us in defeat but rather is strengthening our faith and our resolve. Our great warrior, poet, priest and King will deliver us in His perfect timing.

 

PSA 44:20 If we had forgotten the name of our God, Or extended our hands to a strange god;

 

PSA 44:21 Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.

 

PSA 44:22 But for Thy sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

 

PSA 44:23 Arouse Thyself, why dost Thou sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever.

 

PSA 44:24 Why dost Thou hide Thy face, And forget our affliction and our oppression?

 

PSA 44:25 For our soul has sunk down into the dust; Our body cleaves to the earth.

 

PSA 44:26 Rise up, be our help, And redeem us for the sake of Thy lovingkindness.

 

And, in the midst of Israel's defeats, those who were not slain were taken as slaves to other pagan nations and the enemy ridiculed them.

 

PSA 42:9 I will say to God my rock, "Why hast Thou forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"

 

PSA 42:10 As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me,

While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"

 

PSA 42:11 Why are you in despair, O my soul?

And why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,

The help of my countenance, and my God.

 

We have to love with the love of God and continue to trust in our Father. A thorn in the flesh can be a great source of strength when that weakness leads one to depend solely on God's strength.

 

ROM 8:37But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

 

ROM 8:38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

 

ROM 8:39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

The ill effects of the fall of both angels and men and the earth must continue until the end, but no believer needs to be enslaved to them.

 

1CO 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

 

1CO 15:21For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

 

1CO 15:22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.

 

1CO 15:23But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming,

 

1CO 15:24then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.

 

1CO 15:25For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

 

1CO 15:26The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

 

1PE 3:21 And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you —  not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience —  through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

 

1PE 3:22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.

 

It is not a literal washing with water, but the baptism of the Spirit that enters a believer into union with the Christ seated at the right hand of God, identified (baptized) with Him in death and in resurrection. We are seated with Him at the right hand of God, in the eternal holy of holies, forever, victorious and free. Reign in life and do not be subject to the yoke of slavery all over again.

 

In the same context Peter notes, after His resurrection, Christ preached His victory to imprisoned spirits in Hades.

 

1PE 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

 

1PE 3:19in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,

 

1PE 3:20who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.

 

Not every being in the cosmos acknowledges Christ as deserving the highest honor and authority. Believers who are ignorant of this will become cognizant at their own resurrection. Positive believers acknowledge this in time as well as eternity. Unbelievers and fallen angels who refuse to acknowledge Christ as the only Savior will in the end be subject to His rule and authority through the judgment that has been handed to Him by the Father. Thus, all things will be reconciled unto Him.

 

We are slaves to the flesh, the world, and the KOD no longer. Indeed, we are not only no longer under satan’s authority, but in Christ, as slaves of Christ, we are far above it.

 

We are higher than the elect angels and so certainly we are higher than demonic forces.

 

HEB 1:13 But to which of the angels has He ever said,

"Sit at My right hand ,

Until I make Thine enemies

A footstool for Thy feet  "?

 

HEB 1:14Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

 

We are allowed by God’s grace to share in the victory that Christ accomplished on the cross, and by which all believers were forever justified before the Father.

 

We have a wonderful example of this in the gospels.

 

MAT 19:27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?"

 

MAT 19:28 And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

When Peter voiced this concern the Lord made this incredible statement regarding the disciples. At the last Passover something similar occurred. It went from "what's in it for us," to "who among us is the greatest."

 

LUK 22:24 And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest.

 

LUK 22:25And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called 'Benefactors.'

 

LUK 22:26"But not so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.

 

Here is application of the example that Christ has set for all of us through His cross.

 

LUK 22:27"For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves [He washed their feet].

 

Here He reveals the great distinction and conflict between the world's idea of what makes one great and God's idea. If you saw a person reclining at a table and another serving them or washing their feet you would conclude, from an earthly point of view, that the one at the table was greater. Man looks at the over appearance, but God looks upon the heart. All the doctrine in the world as knowledge in your soul means nothing if it is not mixed with faith and application from which we would become like Him, the one among you who serves!

 

LUK 22:28"And you are those who have stood by Me in My trials [you have unresolved issues but you haven't quit];

 

LUK 22:29and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you [they are of the Church]

 

LUK 22:30that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

While this promise seems to be unique to the twelve apostles, the winner CA believer is promised a similar rulership with Christ over Gentile nations.

 

REV 2:13

'And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations;

 

REV 3:21

'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.