Bible Commentaries
Romans 8

Verses 26-39

Some Things We Know

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

In the realms of the humanly unknowable and unknown, the Word of God is sure and steadfast. We can say, "I know this," or, "I know that," when God speaks, because God knows. God knows, for all things are from His hand. He knows history far back of the advent of man, because God was there; He knows prophecy far beyond the present hour of man, for He is there.

When God speaks we know that He will fulfill His Word; we know that God is true; and we know that God is able to perform His promises.

God's Word is "forever * * settled in Heaven." When the sun fails to rise, or the moon fails to shine, then will God fail to establish His Word. One is as sure as the other, yea, the Word of God is more sure; for Heaven and earth shall pass away, but His Word shall never pass away. As long as God lives, His Word lives; as long as God endures, His promises are sure.

How striking are the words, "The king's of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." Think you, then, that the wicked shall prevail against the Lord, and against His Christ? Nay! "He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision."

How soul thrilling are the words which follow: "Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion." "Yet" in spite of their confederacy against Me; "Yet" in spite of their counsel, their collusion; "Yet" in spite of their planning and their prating "Yet have I set My King."

I. WE KNOW THAT WE SEE (John 9:12 ; John 9:25 )

There were many things the blind man did not know; and he was frank to confess his ignorance. There was one thing, however, that he did know. He knew that, whereas he was blind, he could now see.

First, he knew that he was blind. Where is he who does not know the fact of his sin? We know that we were shapen in iniquity. We know that our heart is full of corruption.

The wreckage that is strewn along the shores of time; the sorrow and the sighing, the weeping and the crying, tells us of sin. The daily press carries a certainty of sin that cannot be denied. Page after page is filled with the gruesome realities of sin. Yes, we know that we were blind.

Secondly, we know that we see. We may not know how we see, but we know the fact of our sight. The blind man knew he was blind; the man whose eyes God had opened knew that he saw. No power on earth could change that conviction he knew.

We also know. We know that the burden of our sins is gone, we know that the light of God shines within. We know that we see.

It is a certainty the things we once loved, now we hate; the things we hated, now we love. Old things have, indeed, passed away. All things are become new. We know that we trust Him; and we know that we are saved.

Some one asked a saint, "Do you know you are saved?" He said, "Yes, I was there when my sins were forgiven, and I still have His peace within."

II. WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE BEEN SAVED BY THE BLOOD (1 Peter 1:18 )

The true believer knows that he is not redeemed by corruptible things. Silver and gold are precious, but their preciousness is nothing comparable to the Blood of Christ.

Even the blood of man is precious in God's sight. No sacrifice of human blood was ever allowed as a type of the shedding of the Blood of Christ. Have you ever valued the price of your own blood? One in dying, cried, "Millions for a moment of time." If your own blood is priceless, how much more is the Blood of Jesus Christ priceless! Through your own blood you, an individual soul, have physical life; through the Blood of Christ, you have life forevermore.

The Blood of Christ is precious in God's sight; surely it is precious in ours. It is precious because it is the price of our redemption. All of the gold and silver in the world could not purchase the salvation of one lost sinner. The Blood of Christ taketh away the sin of the world.

The Blood of Christ is precious, because of what it does. "The Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin," The Blood washes us and makes us whiter than snow. The Blood of Jesus Christ is precious because the life is in the blood. He who shed His Blood gave His life. He gave Himself a ransom for many.

The Blood of Jesus Christ is precious because it gives us a testimony that overcomes Satan and his hordes. "They overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of their testimony."

Others may repudiate the Blood of the Cross, but we know that the Blood is the price of our redemption. We are under the Blood now; we will stand by and by clad in Blood-washed robes; and there, we will join with the redeemed of all ages in saying, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, * * and honour, and glory."

III. WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE (1 John 5:13 )

Eternal life how far-sweeping is the thought. "He that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die" life forevermore! Eternal life is the result of salvation through the Blood of Christ. Since the life is in the blood, he that hath the blood hath life. The Lord said, "Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath eternal life." As our blood is the life of our body; so His Blood is our life forevermore.

The child received its life from its parents, and during gestation, the child lived by its mother. So also is our life, His life; and we live by Him. For this cause we read, "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."

Christ not only gave His life a ransom, but He gives His life as the security of our lives. It is because He lives that we live also, Christ was the Author of our life, He is also the Sustainer of our life.

The life of the vine is the life of the branch; so also is the life of our Lord the life of those who abide in Him.

The moment we are saved we have eternal life. We may pass through the valley of the shadow of death, but we can never be conquered by death, or, be held in the chains of death, because He tasted death for us, and now He lives with the keys of death and hell in His hand. No one can separate us from His love, neither can any one separate us from His life. Eternal life this is the gift of Gad.

IV. WE KNOW WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM (1 John 3:2 )

It is wonderful to know that we have eternal life! "And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only True God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."

It is, if possible, even more wonderful to know that we shall have eternal life with Him forevermore. It is even wonder upon wonder, that we shall have eternal life with Him, and be like Him forevermore.

We have already borne the image of His earth-body. It seems to us that when God created Adam, He created him in the image of that body which Christ was destined to bear. We read, "A body hast Thou prepared me."

We will bear the image of the Heavenly body. God will change these vile bodies of our humiliation, and fashion them like unto the body of His glory. What a wonderful body that will be! A glorified body, an incorruptible body, an immortal body, a body of strength, a body adapted to the spirit, even as the present body is adapted to the mind.

If we would know the body that we shall bear, we need only to study the body of His resurrection. It was a body that had flesh and bones; it was a body that bore wound marks; it was a body that could be touched and handled; it was a body that could partake of fish and bread. In other words, it was a real body, a literal body. It was not a body of ethereal imagination.

The body was a real body, and it will walk real streets, in a real Heaven, mid real abiding places. It was a real body, and yet it was a body that could enter through close-fast doors; and, a body that could ascend up through the clouds.

How blessed to know something of what we shall be! Our body will be a distinct body. Different from other bodies. It will be molded after the form of this present body, for each of us will have his "own body." We shall, however, be like Him, not alone in our bodies. We shall be like Him in spirit, in knowledge "We shall know as we are known."

V. WE KNOW THAT OUR LABOR IS NOT IN VAIN (1 Corinthians 15:58 )

The verse we have just read closes the chapter on the resurrection. The verse, therefore, links our labors here on this earth with our life over there in the Glory Land. "Ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

In the first chapter of First Corinthians we are called into business with Christ Jesus; in the fifteenth chapter we behold the fruitage of our toil.

The first chapter reads: "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship (partnership) of His Son." The fifteenth chapter concludes, "Your labour is not in vain in the Lord." The deduction is, "Therefore, be ye stedfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord."

It is most heartening to know that the full fruition of our labors will await us on the other shore.

We are not sowing seed that will be harvested here, and gathered into earthly garners; we are sowing for a harvest that Heaven alone can reveal. We are sowing unto life eternal. Our harvest will be reaped in Heaven.

We learn now, the reason for the delay of the Christian's rewards. God could not give us a just recompense until the harvest home time had fully come. Heaven alone can reveal the ripened grain.

Here is a wonderful incentive to service. We want to work on, unceasingly, filling every moment with deeds of love, because the "day shall declare it"; we shall face both the quality, and the quantity, of the labors which we have rendered.

And so, I'll toil onward, and count all but dross,

I'll bear ev'ry burden, and share ev'ry cross;

And then when He calleth me up through the skies,

I'll have my reward, and my glorious prize.

VI. I KNOW ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD (Romans 8:28 )

Here is a blessed "We know." It is so easy to become depressed by our distresses. It is so easy to lose the joy note of our faith. We allow our shadows to hide His face, instead of living above them in the sunshine of His smiles. We sit in the boat, pulling for dear life at the oars; instead of leaving the boat, and walking with Him upon the waters.

We sometimes say, "Some things work together for our good"; yet, Paul says, "All things." Our difficulty lies in the fact that we are shortsighted. We fail to look beyond the present; we weigh our burdens in the scales of an earth-bound vision. We judge our pictures while they are yet on the easel under the Master's touch and brush.

Let us learn to think into the far reaches of God's purposes for us; let us learn to look into the distant vistas of His grace. No trial may for the time be joyous, but it works out our future joy. Paul puts it this way, "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

The waves of our afflictions may be deep; yet, hidden in their deepest depths are pearls that will brighten and beautify our lives in God's great forevermore. The fires of our testings may wax hot; yet, those very fires will bring us forth as gold.

Mark God's promise, "All things work together for good." The tapestry must not have alone the colors of brightest hue, the darker shades must blend with the lighter, if the work is to stand approved, and beautiful.

The painting must have its shadowy background. The somber dark strokes of the brush only make the brighter strokes more radiant.

VII. WE KNOW HOW WE OUGHT TO WALK (2 Thessalonians 3:7 )

This may seem anti-climactic. Not so. We have been studying what we know concerning the new body, and Heaven, and rewards over there. It is in the light of "over yonder," that we ought to know how to walk down here.

It was after the three disciples had been with Christ on the mount of transfiguration, that they were prepared to go down and find the lad at the foot of the mountain needing help. Thus do we need to bring our Heaven to earth.

After the Holy Spirit had spoken with rapture of Christ's Appearing, and of our appearing with Him in Glory, He said, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth."

It is under the blaze of the glory of Christ's Coming Again that we learn to purify ourselves even as He is pure.

If we are children of the King, we know how we ought to walk. If we are about to be raptured to meet our Lord, we know how we ought to walk. If we are destined to meet our "walk" up in Heaven, we know how we ought to walk on earth.

We know that we should walk in love, for we are greatly beloved of God. We know that we should walk in the Spirit, for we are begotten of the Spirit. We know that we should walk by faith, for we were saved by faith.

Yes, we know how we ought to walk we know that we should walk in newness of life; we should walk honestly, as in the day; we should walk in holiness, for He who hath called us is holy; we should walk in love, for Christ hath loved us; we should walk in wisdom, pleasing God, for even Christ pleased not Himself.

Ye know how ye ought to walk,

Ye know how ye ought to talk,

Ye know how ye ought to serve Him, day by day;

He will give you power and might,

Help you walk as sons of light,

Guide you ever, upward, onward, in His way.

AN ILLUSTRATION

Here is an illustration that illumines Ramans Romans 8:28 .

WORKING BY CONTRARIES

"God many times worketh contrary to outward likelihoods. When the bricks were doubled, who would look for deliverance? As the Hebrew tongue must be read backward, or as the sun going back ten degrees in Ahaz's dial was a sign of Hezekiah's recovery, so is providence to be read backward, Joseph was made a slave that he might be made a favorite, Who would have thought that the dungeon had been the way to the court, that error is a means to clear truth, and bondage maketh way for liberty?" "Thus have we found sickness work for our health and poverty promote our wealth. Our worst days have turned out to be our best days, and our low estate has lifted us on high. When storms come we may welcome them, for they bring blessing on their wings; but when our calm is long and deep we ought to be on our watch, lest stagnation and disease should come of it. Science talks of curing by likes; but the Heavenly Physician heals both by likes and contraries; in fact, He bends all things to His gracious purpose. To judge His proceedings is folly and ingratitude. What can we know? Especially what can we know of His design and purpose while His work is yet on the anvil? Our judgments at their best are only moderated foolishness. We are neither prophets nor sons of prophets, and it would be wise if we would no more speculate upon the results of Divine operations, but firmly believe and patiently wait till the providence comes to the flower and to the seed, and God becomes His own interpreter."

C. H. S.