Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 37 in the hardback timbrel, number
37. Let's all stand together. O Lord my God, when I in awesome
wonder Consider all the works Thy hands have made, I see the
stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe
displayed Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When through the woods and forest
glades I wander And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur And hear the brook,
and feel the gentle breeze. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God to Thee. How great thou art, how great
thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And when I think that God, His
Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden
gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When Christ shall come with shout
of acclamation And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration
And there proclaim, My God, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, My Savior
God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Please be seated. Well, we just don't know, do
we? We don't know. I'm glad we know what we do know.
That's only by faith in that day. How'd that line go? We'll shout with acclamation.
How great, how great thou art. I want to read from Hebrews chapter
four for our scripture reading tonight. Hebrews, Hebrews chapter
four. I hope that our Lord will show
his greatness by ministering grace to our hearts and give
to us a place of rest. You've come here from hard labors. Some of you have been in traffic
all day. Some of you have been working in the world all day.
And then of course there's the labor of our sin that burdens
our souls. If the Lord's pleased to speak
peace to our hearts, it'll be a place of rest. Look at Hebrews
chapter four. Let us therefore fear lest a
promise being left us of entering into his rest. Any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it." Oh, Lord, give me faith. Open the eyes of my understanding.
Cause me to believe. For we which have believed do
enter into rest. As he said, I, as I have sworn
in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. Christ is the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a
certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did
rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place
again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it
remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it
was first preached entered not in because of unbelief." They
thought that That seventh day of the week was their rest, and
they thought their lack of labors on that day was the hope of their
salvation. Again, he limited the certain
day saying to David, today, after so long a time, as it is said
today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if
Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have
spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. For he that has entered into
his rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did
from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. piercing
even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, and
of the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing them,
therefore, that we have a great high priest that is passed into
the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. What is our profession? It is
finished. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Let's pray together. Our gracious, merciful Heavenly
Father, how thankful we are that We have a high priest who is
able to be touched with the feelings of our infirmities for having
bore our sins in his body upon that tree. He knew the infirmity
of thy wrath, thy judgment, and thy justice. Lord, we ask that you would send
your Holy Spirit in power that you would enable us to labor
to enter into that rest, to enter into Him, to find Him
to be the one who has satisfied all the demands of thy holy law,
to find Him to be the one who has put away our sin once and
for all by the sacrifice of Himself, to find Him to be our Savior Lord, we pray that your word
would cut us under, divide the soul from the spirit, the marrow
from the bones, and discern our hearts. Enable us, Lord, to see
ourselves for what we are, sinful, and to see Christ for who he
is. Glorious Savior, of sinners. We ask it in his name. Amen. Let's all stand together again. 1 25. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small, Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me thine
all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find thy power
and thine alone can change the leper's spots and melt the heart
of stone. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. For nothing good have I Whereby
thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white In the blood
of Calvary's Lamb Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save, my lips
shall still repeat, Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sid had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Please be seated. If you turn with me in your Bibles
to Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter eight. I am always encouraged to hear
a message that gives to me assurance of my salvation. In preparing this message, the
Lord has given me rest, encouraged my heart, and I hope he will
yours. I hope that we'll leave this
place tonight with the hope of salvation. Oftentimes messages
come to mind as a result of conversations that preachers have. And I had
one this week. A man asked me what I did. I'm
always a little cautious to answer that question because people
prone to get real religious when they find out you're a preacher.
But I told him and he said, well, you must be a born-again Christian.
And I said, well, I said, the only kind of Christian there
is, is the one that's been born again. And most folks that call
themselves Christians don't know anything about the new birth.
And he said, well, what do you mean? And so I had an opportunity
for about 20 minutes just to try to share the gospel with
him. And the Lord gave me liberty and clarity and he was listening. And I was hopeful that maybe
he was hearing something. And then he said, when I finished,
he said, well, he said, I think being a Christian has to do with
how you live, how you live. I want to live a life that honors
the Lord. I want to live a life that's,
that's moral. I want you to live that way. But if the hope of our salvation
is found in how we live, then we're either going to be hypocrites
or we're going to be Pharisees, one or the other. We're going
to lie to ourselves and convince ourselves that we are saved or
we're going to be so overwhelmed with fear, not knowing if we're
saved. I've titled this message, What
is a Christian? What is a Christian? And I want
to try to answer that as simply and clearly as I can. And I hope
the Lord will say so much more than I'm able to, to our hearts.
from his word. His word is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword and able to divide us under,
the soul from the spirit, the bones from the marrow, and reveal
the intent of our heart. I hope that he'll reveal to us
the hope that we have in Christ. and give us that place of rest
that we just read about in Hebrews chapter 4. What is a Christian? Verse 24 of Romans chapter 8,
for we are saved by hope. Now, don't think that hope here
is just a feeling. Well, I'm hopeful. Talked to
somebody else this week and they're on their deathbed. And, uh, the
hope of their salvation is based on a feeling. Shared the gospel
with them and they didn't believe it, but they've got hope. You
know, I've, I've been a good person all my life and, and,
uh, done my best and God's always been there for me. And, and I
know he's going to be there for me in my death. Um, that's a
false hope. This passage says we are saved
by hope. This hope is not just a feeling.
This hope is a person. Look what he says. For we are
saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what
a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for it? Colossians chapter 1 verse 27
says that God would make known unto you the riches of his glory,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Am I looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ alone for all my righteousness? Has He revealed the intent of
my heart and shown me that every imagination of my heart is only
evil and that continually? Has He stripped me naked and
left me with no righteousness whatsoever and forced me, forced
me to have no other choice but to look to Christ for all my
hope? Christ in me is my hope of glory. It's not one that we can see.
A hope that can be seen is not hope. Why should one hope for
something that he can see? We believe. You see, salvation,
being a Christian, there's a whole lot of folks that are living
outwardly moral lives in this world. I suspect that there's
folks that are living more outwardly moral than we may be, believers
may be. Being a Christian has everything
to do with what and who we believe. Job said it like this, the hypocrite's
hope shall perish, whose hope shall be cut off and whose trust
shall be as a spider's web. dangling over the very fires
of hell, holding on to a spider's web. That's what, that's what
the scripture says about those who have a false hope. I don't
want to have a false hope. I want to have a hope that is
sure and steadfast. Turn to me to Hebrews chapter
six, Hebrews chapter six. Am I looking in faith to the
Lord Jesus Christ work of redemption on Calvary's cross as the only
hope of having the justice of God satisfied and my sin put
away? Is he my hope? We're saved by
hope. We're not saved by a feeling,
we're saved by a person. Look at Hebrews chapter six,
and we'll begin reading at verse 18, that by two immutable things,
things that cannot be changed, in which it was impossible for
God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for
refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us. which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth in within
the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus
made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. When
that veil was rent and our Lord bowed his head and said, it is
finished father into thy hands. I commend my spirit. The blood
that he shed on Calvary's cross was placed on the mercy seat,
not the mercy seat made with hands, the one in heaven. And
the Lord said here, I will meet with you. That's my hope. It's all my hope. You know, we
have lots of things we hope for, don't we? But generally, we hedge
our bets when we place our hope in temporal things, don't we? Well, I hope this is going to
work out this way, but if it doesn't, we've got another option.
To hope in Christ means that you have no place else to go.
You've got all your eggs in one basket. You're not hedging your
bets. You're not hoping that, you know,
that, well, if it doesn't work out, we got something else. No,
we've got a high priest who went in through the veil and put his
blood on the mercy seat. And the hope that we have is
the anchor for our soul, both sure and steadfast. What is a Christian? A Christian
is one who has all their hope in the hope. I want to have a strong consolation
I want you to have a strong consolation. If you look to the way you live
your life, if you look to the feelings that you have, the prayers
you've prayed, the best thing you've ever done as the hope
of your salvation, you're not going to have hope. Not if you're
an honest person. You're not going to have hope.
But here's a hope. Here's a hope that's sure. Here's an anchor for the soul
that cannot be moved. All the storms come as they will.
Let's go back to our text, for we are saved by hope. When Paul introduces himself
in 1 Timothy 1, he says, Paul, an apostle called of God and an apostle
of the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. Our hope, right there at
the beginning of the epistle in 1 Timothy 1.1, he calls the
Lord Jesus Christ his hope. What's your hope? Who is your
hope? Is all your hope bound up in
his glorious person and in his accomplished work? If it is,
you can be sure. You can be sure, you can have
a strong consolation. See, we lose the assurance of
our salvation when we look anywhere else other than Christ. We look
to the circumstances we're in, we look to our obedience or lack
thereof, and we look anywhere other than Christ, we lose our
hope. Be of good courage. And he shall
strengthen your heart. All ye that hope in the Lord
is my hope in him. Romans, you have your Bibles
open Romans chapter eight there. Turn back with me just a couple
of pages to Romans chapter five. Verse one, therefore being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We rejoice
in hope of the glory of God. John said, He came and tabernacled
among us. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. Here's all
my hope. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope. These are necessities. God didn't give us more than
we could bear. We'd never need him. And if he didn't put these
troubles on us, we would not find our hope in Christ. We'd
find our hope in the peaceful circumstances of our lives. And
hope, look at verse five, hope maketh not a shame. Why? Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Romans chapter 8, for we are
saved by hope. I'm asking you this, not what's
the evidence that you're a Christian in anything other than where
is your hope? All your hope. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth. Now, reading on in Romans chapter
8, look at verse 25. But if we hope for that which
we see not, then we do with patience wait for it. If your hope is
bound up in something you can see, then it's not hope in Christ. If your hope is bound up in your
circumstances, If it's bound up in your behavior, it's bound
up in your life, if it's bound up in anything you can see, then
your hope's not in Christ. The natural man cannot see this.
It's got to be what the Lord said, Nicodemus, Nicodemus, you
cannot see the kingdom of God unless you're what? Born again.
The guy asked me, you're born again Christian. If you've been
born of the spirit, And He's giving you eyes to see that the
Lord Jesus Christ is everything in your salvation. He's the Lamb
that was slain before the foundation of the world. He established
all your righteousness before God. He settled justification
by shedding His precious blood as a covering for our sin and
satisfying God's justice. He ascended back into glory.
He's seated at the right hand of God. He's your advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, and you're waiting
for Him to come again. We just sang that hymn about
the glory of God and the glorious expectation that we have in His
return. Let me clarify something because
I feel particularly maybe some of our young people have had
some concern about the things that they hear us say oftentimes
about Looking forward to leaving this world and seeing him as
he is and being made like him. We've got two natures. There's
the old man, which is the flesh. If this body gets sick, I'm going
to do everything in my power to save it. And so are you. If our young people think we're
anticipating dying to the point that we're just not even going
to... No, your flesh is going to hang on to its last breath. It's going to do everything it
can to survive in this world. That's just our flesh. Because
it knows that when it's dead, it's gone. Now, if an overwhelming
fear of death is your experience, then you've got to wonder if
you only have that one nature. My flesh doesn't look forward
to dying. My flesh is going to hold on to life. My flesh is
going to fight dying tooth and toenail. But I've got a new nature. And that nature longs for the
day. longs for the day when I see
him as he is and be made like him. And that new nature knows.
You see, the old man doesn't have any faith at all. But the
new man, all he's got's faith. And he's got perfect faith. And
he knows, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that though this old
man's hanging on to this world and hanging on to life as much
as he can, the new man knows that when it's God's time to
put this old man in the grave, I'm gonna get a new body. This
corruptible is going to be made incorruptible. This mortal is
going to be made immortal. I'm going to see him as he is
and I'm going to be made like him. And that new man rejoices. Rejoices in hope that one day
we're going to see him. We're going to be made like him.
Does that make sense? This talk that we... And we do.
We rejoice in that. We have great longing for that
day. This old flesh is still going
to hang on. I hope that will be helpful. Our hope is in Christ. My flesh is not hoping that something
horrible is going to happen to it and it's going to go through
the experience of dying. Go back with me to our text. Verse 26, likewise the spirit
also helpeth our infirmities. It's our flesh. Our flesh is
nothing but an infirmity. And the old man serving the new
man and that he's driving this new man to seek the Lord and
to ask him for his help. And so he says, the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities, for we knoweth not what we should
pray for as we ought. You know, we've got things we
want to happen in this life, but we don't know if it's the
Lord's will. When we conclude our prayers by saying, in Jesus'
name we pray, we're not just announcing the end of our prayer,
we're saying, Lord, if it be thy will. We don't know what
your will is. We know what we would like to
happen. We know the comforts that we would like to experience.
We know the conflicts that we'd like to avoid, but maybe that's
not your will. And so the Spirit of God enables
us to pray knowing that we don't know what's best for us, but
the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. you ever been to that place where
you just so troubled your circumstances are so out of control you don't
know what that what's gonna happen you don't know what's good and
you just you just grown Lord help me or do you I don't even
know what to ask for I don't I don't know what's the best
thing here's the promise of God if your hope is in Christ you
have the Holy Spirit and he's interceding for you He that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. I don't know the
will of God, but the spirit of God knows the will of God. So
if I've got the spirit of God praying for me, then I can be
certain that whatever happens is going to be God's will. If I'm a Christian, if my hope
is in Christ alone for all my salvation, I've got the Spirit
of God. If you have not the Spirit of God, you're none of His. And
in those times when I don't even know how to pray, the comfort
that I have is that the Holy Spirit is interceding for me
and He knows the will of God. And I can rest there. I can rest
there. I can find hope and comfort in
believing that the Holy Spirit is praying for me right. For we know, for we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. God has purpose
to save a people. His purpose is always accomplished,
always. His purpose in creation, His
purpose in salvation, His purpose in providence, everything. We
know this. How do I know if I'm a Christian?
Because though I may not like things the way they're happening,
I'll say, I've said this, it's been a while since I've made
this quote, it's not original, I got it from somebody else,
but if you and I had the power of God, we would change pretty
much everything in our lives. We'd tweak everything, wouldn't
we? If we had the wisdom of God, we'd change nothing. And faith
is resting in believing that God knows best and everything
He does is right. Faith is believing that all things
work together for good for them that love God and those that
are the called according to His purpose. If in a time of difficulty some
man comes up to you and quotes Romans 828 and expects you to
hold up your chin and don't, no. But if the Spirit of God,
the Holy Spirit convinces you of it, this will be a great comfort
to your soul. That's my hope. There are five things mentioned
in the next few verses that Christians believe. Christians believe. All Christians believe this.
Every single one of them. And there are five results that
are given in the following verses as a result of the things that
we believe. Let me tell you what the results
are. The results are in light of oftentimes when God writes
his word, he gives us the doctrine first, and then he gives us the
application of that doctrine. And that's what we have in the
rest of Romans chapter eight. We've got the doctrine stated.
The doctrine is predestination for knowledge, predestination,
calling justification and glorification. That's the doctrine. And every
Christian believes that. And the result of that doctrine
in the believer's life is no intimidation, no prevention,
no accusation, no condemnation, and no separation. Now that's
what I need. I need, in my relationship with
God, I need to have no intimidation. I don't like to be intimidated.
I hate intimidation. It's a form of fear. You've experienced
it, haven't you? You've been intimidated. If the
Lord has foreknown us, then there's no intimidation. Look what he
says in verse 29 for whom he did foreknow
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren and Moreover
whom he did predestinate them. He also called and and whom he
called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he
also glorified." So here it is, foreknowledge, predestination,
calling, justification, and glorification. God does it all. What do they
say? That a chain's only as strong
as its weakest link? These are five links in a golden
chain, and it cannot be broken. And if you weaken any one of
these links, it ruins the whole chain. and it won't hold up your
soul. You'll be hanging on to a spider's
web is what you'll be doing. Look at verse 31. Now here's
the application of these doctrines. What shall we say then to these
things? Here's the first thing we say. In light of the foreknowledge
of God, the first thing we say is, if God be for me, who can
be against me? For knowledge doesn't mean that
God, just because he's omniscient, knew about us beforehand. It
means that he loved us with an everlasting love. And when the
scripture speaks of something everlasting, that means it never
had a beginning and it never has an end. It's the nature of
God. Everlasting is not something
that starts now and lasts forever. When he told Jeremiah, I've loved
you with an everlasting love. If that be true, if God's known
me, if the work was finished before the foundations of the
world, if the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the
world, if God placed me in Christ and was pleased to love me before
the foundation of the world, then I don't have to be intimidated. I don't have to be intimidated
by man. I don't have to be intimidated
by Satan. We sing that hymn that Martin
Luther wrote, and though this world with devils filled should
threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed
his truth to triumph through us. A mighty fortress is our
God, a bulwark never failing, a helper he amid the flood. of mortal ills prevailing. No reason for God's people to
be intimidated. If God be for us, who can be
against us? No need to be intimidated by
Satan, by circumstances, by my sin. God be for me, who can be
against me? Look at verse 32. He that spared not his own son
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Now he's talked about predestination
and calling. God ordained in his purpose all
things. in creation, in salvation, in
providence, everything is ordained of, it's all predestined by Him.
No man can say unto Him, what doest thou? No man can stay His
hand. He's the potter, we're the clay.
Oh, what a... I can rest there. I'm very thankful,
very thankful that there's nothing that can prevent Him from Blessing
me with the blessing of salvation. There's no prevention before
God Shall he not freely give us all things Now here's my hope
My hope is that in salvation my will cannot prevent God from
saving me Cannot prevent God from saving
me Scripture says that he makes
his people willing. I love what Jeremiah said in
Jeremiah 31. He said, Lord, you turn me and I shall be turned. You give me faith. You open the
eyes of my understanding. You there's no preventing God.
Shall he not freely give us all things in salvation? Yes, grace
is completely irresistible. The other thing I like to think
about in God's predestinating and calling his people is that
no sin is too great to prevent me from coming to God. Now this predestination doesn't
keep people away. Irresistible call doesn't keep
people away. It's the only open door to heaven
that there is. If God didn't predestinate a
people, if he didn't foreknow a people, if he didn't sovereignly
and irresistibly call a people, nobody would come. The only access
I've got is that this salvation is of the Lord. And so there's,
there's no intimidation and there's no prevention. There's power in the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We sing that hymn sometimes dark,
the stain that soiled man's nature, long the distance that he fell
far removed from hope in heaven. into deep despair and hell. But there was a fountain opened,
and the blood of God's own Son purifies the soul and reaches
deeper than the stain has gone." That's what I need. I need a,
I need, look what he says. Verse 32, he that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely, freely give us all things? And I love
what Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 29. I know the thoughts that
I think toward you. Thoughts for good and not evil,
that you may come to an expected end. He'll freely give us all things.
Everything necessary to get us to glory is exactly what's happening
in our lives right now. coming from the hand of a loving
Heavenly Father for His glory and for our salvation. All things. Sometimes we hear verse 28 quoted,
you know, all things work together for good. I think the most important
words in that verse are oftentimes left out. And you know. Do you know that? I mean, you're just absolutely
convinced. You may not like the things you're
going through. It may be a great burden to you, but you know.
You know this is true. You know God's sovereign. You
know that He has foreknown and predestinated and called and
justified and glorified a people and that nothing can separate
you from Him. Let's read on. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. The law cannot charge the child
of God with disobedience. Truth is, you and I have never
been able to keep one of God's laws, not for one single time,
but that's not the hope of our salvation. Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He's
fulfilled it. Every jot and tittle of the law.
So the law no more. The law's been silenced. The
law cannot say guilty. The law's mouth is shut. Christ
has justified us from the demands of the law. Cursed is everyone
that hangeth upon a tree. God was satisfied and the law
was fulfilled through the justifying work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our conscience cannot charge
us. Listen to this. I have the answer of a good conscience
towards God. This is scripture. Can you say,
I have the answer of a good conscience towards God? If you're like me,
your conscience is generally pretty much always feels guilty. I mean, I, But I have the answer of a good
conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
who has gone into the heavens and is at the right hand of God
and has made all things subject unto Him. Now if I'm looking
to my resurrected Lord seated at the right hand of God with
everything subject to Him, then whatever my conscience says and
whatever the accuser of the brethren, Satan, says is a lie. It's a
lie. It's just a lie. Every time you
wallow in the shame and guilt of your conscience, looking away
from Christ and thinking that somehow that's going to somehow
appease the justice of God, it's a lie. His head has been
crushed. He can't say a word. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elected is God that justifieth. Verse 34, who
is he that condemneth? There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. You say, well, I have to be walking
at a certain spiritual plane in order to have no condemnation?
No. No. If you have the Spirit of
God, the Spirit of God has led you to know that all you are
is sin. He said, when the Spirit of God
comes, He will convict the world of sin because they believe not.
Lord, my problem is my unbelief. I'm so full of it. I need one
who has perfect faith to stand in my stead before God. And in him there is now therefore
no condemnation. to them that are in Christ's
shoes, walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free
from the law of sin and death." Now just before this in Romans,
I'm reading from Romans 8 verses 2, verses 1 and 2 right now.
And just before that in Romans chapter 7 Paul said, I'm a slave
to sin. And I'm sold under sin. And now
he's saying I'm free from sin. For what the law could not do
and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin
in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
And believing God's given me the spirit of God to enable me
to believe. that the law's been satisfied,
there's no condemnation. Who is he that condemneth? It
is God that justifies. It is Christ that died, yea rather
is risen again through the death and the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God's satisfied and I'm justified. He was offered up for our offenses
and raised again because of our justification. This is what a
Christian is. Look at verse, go back with me
to our text. You remember in the book of Job
when Elihu, the gospel preacher, came to Job in chapter 32 and
the scripture says, Elihu was filled with wrath because Job
justified himself rather than God. You can't justify yourself
before God, but oh, if you're found in him. If He justifies
you, you're justified. Do you know what justified means? Here's what it means. It's a
very simple term. It means you've never sinned.
Ever. Ever. You've not had a sinful
thought. You've not spoken a sinful word.
You've not ever done anything in violation of God's law. You're
perfect in the presence of God. That's what it means to be justified.
How are you going to be there? Here it is, look. Who is he that
condemneth? Verse 34, it is Christ that died,
yea, rather it is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. I've got, oh, my little
children, I write unto you that you sin not, but if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous
one, who ever lives to make intercession for us. And when the Lord Jesus
Christ is interceding for his children, they're sinless. They're sinless before God. Now
in closing, I'm just going to read these verses. There's no
separation. No separation. We saw that there's
no intimidation, there's no prevention, there's no accusation, there's
no condemnation, and now there's no separation. Look at verse
35 who shall separate us from the
love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or
famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Is there anything that
can separate us from the love of God? Anything in your life
anything? No, because God's God sent it
all by his love These things aren't separating me from his
love. These things are because he loved me and As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded. What is your persuasion? What
are you, I mean, you're persuaded of it. We got a lot of thoughts
and a lot of feelings, a lot of beliefs about a lot of things.
What can you say, I am persuaded? Can you say I'm persuaded? That neither death, nor life,
nor death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able, shall be able, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. In closing, let me just make
this observation. Verse 39, verse 37, verse 35,
verse 34, twice in verse 32, once in verse 31, once in verse
26, the word us is found. I want you to have a strong consolation. I want you to have assurance
of your salvation. God's written this to us. We're in this together. There's
nothing here that doesn't apply to every single one of us. I find some encouragement in
that. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
oh how we pray that you would Bless us with your spirit, enabling
us to have faith in Christ, our hope. For it's in his name we
ask it, amen. 272, let's stand together. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veils His lovely
face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. His hope, His covenant, His blood
supports me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When He shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in Him be found, Crest in His righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. Okay, yeah, we can do that.