"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?" had been Paul's despairing cry. Then in a moment of revelation, it changed to this shout of praise. The first words of the delivered man are most precious, "I thank God..." Tell me this: if someone gives you something do you thank the person who gave it or someone else? Why did Paul say, "Thank God"? Because God was the person who had done everything. Had it been Paul who did it he would have said, "I thank myself." But he saw that the self of Paul was a "wretched man" and that only God alone had met his need by delivering him from his wretched state; therefore he thanked God.
Today in the Church, it is the same. God wants to do all for us because He must have all the glory. God has done everything on the Cross in the person of Jesus Christ for our forgiveness, deliverance and justification. Forgiveness? Yes! Jesus sacrificed His natural life to pay the price of our sins by the shedding of His precious blood. Deliverance? Yes! Jesus included us in His death on the cross to the extent that we are separated from all bondage to Satan, Sin, Self and the World system. Justification? Yes! Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to the throne of all authority and power, taking us with Him (spiritually). We have a new justified status in Christ before God; we are seated with Christ in the Heavenly places! Christ has now become our Justification!
