Hey! Welcome to this blog post. I have been writing on this subject for a little while now and have previously published articles on it. I would encourage you to catch up with earlier posts if you have not read them. I trust that you would be edified by them.
In this piece, I would expound more on the Pillars of the Government of Grace which I already introduced: Faith, Hope, and Love.
The first pillar or anchor of the Christian's position in God's kingdom is Faith. The subject of faith is one of the most taught to Christians, yet there can only be further insight furnished to the diligent heart that considers it. It is the minimal requirement to be enlisted in God's kingdom.
But like a student is expected to have some knowledge to get admitted into a school, only to have to gain even more knowledge that will have to be proven, so it is with the Christian faith - It is required to begin, continually furnished, and will be continually tested while 'school' lasts.
Let me quickly spell out however, we shall only graduate from the school of faith when we see Jesus.
Thus, we would read about faith in the scriptures taking expression in any of the three forms:
A. The FAITH THAT ENLISTS
"God is always previous" (A.W Tozer)
There is nothing that precedes God, He precedes every idea of the beginning that the human mind can phantom, so that indeed even faith in God has it's origin in God!
God in his kindness desired, (and still desires) to have all men saved, so He prepared that Jesus would die for the sins of mankind from before the beginning of the world. He is the author of our salvation story - every soul's redemption story has as introduction - from before the foundation of the world.
Everyone living on earth will worship it except those whose names are written in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb slaughtered before the world was founded (Revelations 13 vs 8, CJB)
He wants all humanity to be delivered and come to full knowledge of the truth. For God is one (there are not may gods, there is only one true God); and there is but one mediator between God and humanity, Jesus the Messiah, himself human, who gave himself as a ransom on behalf of all, thus providing testimony to God's purpose at just the right time. (1st Timothy 2 vs 4-6, CJB paraphrased)
In God's wisdom, he prepared the sacrifice for salvation from sin before we were even formed!
Jesus, as an innocent lamb of God paid the price for our redemption and demonstrated this even physically by taking the nature of sinful flesh (as a human being) so that he might destroy sin's chokehold on us - Liberating us from it's rule, and giving us his Spirit who gives vitality to us - enabling us to live to please God.
I have tried to bring to fore from the quoted passage above that God's desire was, and is to have all men to be saved. The olive branch has been extended to all mankind, provided we put our faith in the sacrifice of Jesus.
His purpose as demonstrated above was clear from the creation of the world: To offer salvation to all mankind. This he demonstrated at the right time in the physical death of Jesus.
What more precedes our enlistment? How again is God previous, and at work before we even believe?
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. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8 vs 26-28; NIV)
In the above passage, Paul was expounding to the recipients of his letter that the Holy Spirit is such a wonderful help, that he helps the believer to pray. Paul explains that this is such a wonderful advantage, because the Holy Spirit helps us to particularly pray effectively, in that he communicates for us even with groans - sincerely, passionately, in a heartfelt manner (Remember Hannah, who prayed bitterly and with deep anguish).
What more? The Spirit is also able to pray so effectively for us because God knows exactly what the Spirit is thinking, or what he pleads on our behalf for, since the Spirit's communication always accords with the will of God.
For who knows the inner workings of a person except the person's own spirit inside him? So too no one knows the inner workings of God except God's Spirit (1st Corinthians 2 vs 11; CJB)
Further, Paul to the Romans was saying that we can thus be assured of the profound benefit in the Spirit's intercession for us because God's thoughts (God's will) for us are always thoughts of good and not of evil.
Let me show us the corollary of this passage from the old testament:
For I know the plans I have for you (God's will), declares the Lord, plans to prosper (is to prosper) you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29 vs 11-13; NIV)
Back to Romans 8
So Paul was actually saying in that latter part: that we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him (Those who love God are people who have turned away from sin and indeed obeyed his call - These are people who have turned their hearts away from the love of this world, and demonstrate by loving others that they have truly come to know God and His love for them - For again God is previous and the one who claims to love God must first know that He is loved), who have been called according to his purpose (Indeed these have already received God's call, as demonstrated here).
So Paul furnishes us with proof that God purposes only good for us, and uses an example that refers back to the very beginning, dating even back to when we were still by nature children of wrath, before we came to love Him, so as to reveal to us what really was God's purpose from the beginning.
For those God foreknew (God foreknew all of us), he also predestined (I have demonstrated that he purposed us all for salvation) to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the first born among brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called (through the Gospel); those he called, he also justified, those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8 vs 29-10; NIV)
So what he predestined us for is conformation to the image of his son. This conformation happens as we now fellowship with Jesus through his Spirit. The Spirit reveals to us the glory in the face of Jesus so that we become more and more like him as he is revealed to us. This is the glorification, the end also of which is God's predestination or purpose for all human beings.
The son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being... (Hebrews 1 vs 3, NIV)
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3 vs 18; NIV)
At the right time, Jesus came in the form of human flesh and went for us to the cross, bearing the weight of our sins. He was lifted up on a stake just as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness; so that those who now have faith in him can receive forgiveness of sin and deliverance.
The call is to sinners, to come out of the heathen, out from darkness, to repent of their wrongs and accept Jesus' sacrifice for sins; thereby receive justification - Forgiveness of sin.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luke 5 vs 32; NIV)
But we ought always to thank God for you brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 2 vs 13-14; NIV)
We lay hold on the provision of the sacrifice of Jesus by Trusting him to save us.
Moreover, God's work in previous times in relation to our faith is not just that he prepared Christ as propitiation for sin, foreknew us, predestined us, and called us; he also prepared us to be ready objects of the same salvation, even the now damned!
I will explain this in my next writing. Stay blessed.