Not thank you for that song.
I'm glad I'm saved by Sovereign Grace, and if you are saved,
that's the only way you are saved. I want to read two verses of
Scripture. I want to read Romans 8 verse one, and then I want
to read the last verse of the chapter. Romans chapter eight, verse one. And I call your attention to
three little words in both these verses. There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. And back in verse
39, Paul asked a question back in verse 35 about who shall separate
us from the love of Christ. And in those verses, he lists
all these things. And in verse 39, he says, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate
us from the love of Christ, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. That'll be our message in Christ
Jesus. I begin to think about these
verses. Last Sunday morning I was sitting at the breakfast table
just eating a bowl of cereal and the mail just happened to
be laying there and I picked up this, I guess it was a newsletter
or a flyer from one of the local churches just out the street. And it had this article in there
and the more I thought about it, you know, there was just
several different emotions that I had. I was first angry, then
more than that I was just mad. Then I was just broken hearted.
I think sometimes we just forget how bad it really is. The message
that's being preached in our day. I looked again this evening
where Paul told Timothy, he said, you preach the word. He said,
the time will come when men will turn away their ears from the
truth and they will turn them unto fables. And I'm getting
ready to just read you some of that newsletter, some of that
fable. And that's what it is. I have
family members who are lost or sitting under this thing called
a fable, a fable, an untruth. It's just a fictitious story.
And that's all it is. We've been trying to preach there
on the radio some there in Cottageville, and I'm hoping that these people
heard something. That's why they wrote this, but just listen.
And I quote, they said, every lost soul brings tears to God's
eyes. pain to his heart. He, God, wants
all to be saved. Then they gave the proof text,
1 Timothy 2, where we would have all men to be saved, and they
sure don't read the context. And then where they would say
that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and he doesn't,
and I'm glad he doesn't. But then they went on to say,
and they made this statement, now listen, Some people feel
unworthy of God's love. Here's one that does. But see,
they're trying to appeal to men because they tell all men that
you're worthy. They said, why would God want
to save somebody like me? And they said, it's not about
us and what we've done, it's about God and who he is. And
they get four reasons why God wants to save somebody like you.
First of all, they said, He made you all, you're His handcraftsmanship. Oh, you're just so valuable to
Him. And then they said, He bought
you. They said, He has so much invested in you. And they said, well, He chose
you. Well, that's right, He did. He chose somebody, but their
text was, Mark 16, going to all the world and preach the gospel
to all creatures. And what they were saying is
God chose you to be one of his little servants, to go tell everybody
about that God that loves everybody. And their last one was, He loves
you. They said God loves the rich,
the poor, the educated, the uneducated, the up and comings, the down
and outs. God loves all sinners, every sinner, each sinner, everywhere,
all the time. And most important is he loves
you. And something else they said,
now listen to this. God does not expect perfection. He looks for good and faithful
servants, not perfect ones. He knows we make mistakes. Does that not bother you? That
bothers me. We know that's what's being said
all over this world. They tell everybody indiscriminately
that God loves you. But I read there in Romans 8
verse 39 that the love of God is in Christ Jesus. You know
where it's at? That is where it's at. And that's
what they don't understand. If what they say is true, what
hope does any sinner have? None. None. If God loves all men, then that
means he loves those in hell as well as you. And his love
could not keep them out of hell, so where is the hope that you
won't wind up in hell? If Christ bought and died for
all men, then the price he paid could not keep those people out
of hell, so where is the hope that we will be brought out of
hell? If God is not willing that any
should perish, then why do men perish under his wrath? They
do every day. Where is the hope that I won't
perish? They said it's not about us and
what we've done. Oh, it is. We've rebelled against
the holy God. And because of that, God is who
he is. He is a God of justice. This is what I want us to think
about in Christ Jesus. If one word, somebody said, could
you describe God in one word, what would that word be? God
is holy. God is holy. And if God is holy,
how can God love somebody like you? How can God love anybody
like us? Because he's holy. Since God
is so holy and righteous, how can he have anything to do with
us? I'm not going to tell you this evening how good you are
because you're not good. Like you said, we're like worms
and maggots. God has to bring you to the place
that you see who you are, a dead, depraved, helpless sinner. And apart from being perfect
in God's sight, he cannot have anything to do with you. God is perfect. He dwells in
a life that no man can approach. The stars are not pure in his
sight. How much less man who drinks
iniquity like its water? Here's what Job asked, and he
asked this question. How can a man be justified with
God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? What I want us to look at this
evening, everything that God has, And everything that God
is, is wrapped up in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is
in Christ Jesus. Don't forget that. It is in Christ
Jesus. I've heard Barner say it many
times on messages years ago when he said, they say, don't put
all the eggs in one basket. Not as old as I am, probably
don't know what that means. What that means is if your parents
tell you to go get the eggs out of the chicken house, you don't
put them all in one basket, because if you drop them, you're going
to break all the eggs. You may understand something a little
different. If you're going to invest your money, you don't invest it all
in one company. That company may go bankrupt
and you lose it all. But God put all his eggs in one
basket. He put everything, everything that he has in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Everything. It says in him dwelleth the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. When something dwelleth and it's
the fullness of it, that is the fullness of it. This glass is
not quite full. If it was the fullness of it
would be that there's nothing left. And in Christ Jesus, in
him, dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead in a body. In Genesis chapter 24, verse
36, you remember when the servant went to get Rebekah and the servant
said, my master, him and his wife, they had a son. His name's
Isaac. And he said unto him, hath he
given all that he hath? He didn't say give him part of
it. He said he has given him all that he has. Everything Abraham
had was in Isaac. If Abraham had any grandchildren,
Isaac has to have them. The only way. Oh, God's blessings, all of his
promises, all of his purposes, and all of his decrees hang upon
one person. Jeff Vandal read this scripture
last Sunday in Isaiah chapter 22 verse 23. I will fasten him
as a nail in a sure place. God hangs everything on that
nail. Who has saved us? 2 Timothy 1.9. Who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling? Not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus when? Before the world was made. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Christ is the sole channel from
which all God's blessings flow. Outside of Christ there is no
blessings. Only curses, only wrath. Outside of Christ, God Almighty
is a consuming fire. That's it. You remember Noah? God told Noah to build an ark,
to build a boat. And God saved Noah and his wife
and six others, saved eight people. We don't know how many millions
or they say could even be billions of people that were on this earth
when that took place. He preached. Noah preached to those people
for 120 years. And God brought Noah in that
ark. And God shut that door, that
ark. Noah was safe in that ark. But you know what was on the
outside of that ark? The wrath and judgment of God. And everybody
outside that ark perished. You see what I'm saying? It's
in him. Outside that ark, you're going
to perish. I can see people start beating on the side of that ark.
I can see them screaming, trying to hang on to it. It's too late
now. There's no sign on the outside of that boat. There's no bumper
sticker that says, smile, everybody. God loves you. But Noah could put one on the
inside of that ark and get up every morning and just smile
real big and say, smile, Noah. God loves you. He sailed above the wrath of
God. And he came out on the other
side while he was in the ark. All God's love is in his Son. God is love. His love is holy. His love is infinite. His love is eternal. His love
is sovereign. His love is unchanging. And it
is in Christ Jesus. Because God loves his people
in Christ, now listen to me, he loves them as Christ. And if God ever enables you to
get that, that will sell your boat. Won't it? Listen to what
he's saying. John 17, 23, I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world
may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou
hast loved me." Man, the only way I can even get a little bit
of that in this peanut brain is by God's grace that He loves
me, that He loves me like He loves His Son. That's the only
way he can. Because God loves some sinners,
he chose them in Christ. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. He chose them.
He set them apart before the world was made to them that are
sanctified in Christ Jesus. Love chosen, sanctified, and
he displayed his love for his people, and he spared not his
own son, but delivered him up for us all. And if he did that,
how shall he not with him also freely give us, what's this,
all things? He didn't say some things, all
things. How is he going to give them
to you? Freely. Freely. I think that's what this sinner
needs to hear. And having loved his own, which
were in the world, he loved them into the end. All the promises
of God, every promise that God has, every promise that God has
ever made, he made to one person. And they're in him. Do you remember
the first promise? The seed of the woman shall be
used to head of the serpent. They're all in him. Every one of them. Don't everybody
read Romans 8.28? Somebody was telling me the other
day, it was Jeff's brother, Joe. He said when he was small, he
had broke his arm or his leg or something and he had a cast
on his leg. And some woman come up, you know, people used to
ride on the cast and she wrote Romans 8.28. You know, you look at the Bible
and you see those verses and it's got little A, B, C. It said,
Romans 8, 28a, for God's... Somebody quote it for me. All things were together for
good. And that's where they stopped. All things were together for
good. To them who love God. To them who are the called according
to his purpose. That's a great promise. to his
son. If I'm found in his son, that promise
is to me. All the promises of God in him
are yea, and in him, amen. There is not one promise outside
of Christ. Paul did not preach a yea and
nay gospel. He did not halt between two opinions.
There's no deviation here. There's no hope so or maybe so. It's all in Christ and it is
all yay and twat. Amen. Let it be so. And it will be so. Every promise
hangs on Him. Ain't you glad it does? Brother Robert Hawker said, until
I have Christ, I have no claim to a single promise. And this
world takes this book and they try to claim them promises to
themselves and they don't apply. He's speaking to somebody. Every
promise. We are loved in him, chosen in
him, and we are accepted in him. the praise of the glory of his
grace. Paul didn't go far, but he just
had to just stop, didn't he? Let's praise and give him the
thanks who hath made us accepted in the beloved. And as I thought
about that verse, I couldn't help but think about our friend,
Brother Rupert Reichenbach. He loves to sing this song, In
the Beloved. And it says, In the beloved,
God's marvelous grace, calls me to dwell in this wonderful
place. God sees my Savior, and then
he sees me in the Beloved, accepted and free." Accepted? Accepted. I saw a thing on the
Internet the other day. This girl had been rejected to
Duke University. And they'd send her a letter
of rejection. Well, she sent them a letter back rejecting
their rejection. They're just not letting her
in. She was not accepted. And the only way you're in is
for God to accept you and accept you. Not anything less. Accept
you in Christ. He sees my Savior and then He
sees me. A voice came from heaven one
day saying, this is my beloved son whom I'm well pleased. He only accepts the one in whom
he's well pleased with. I can just see that girl gets
unbearable when she got that letter and she just probably
got mad. I can't believe they rejected
me. Don't they know how much money
my family has? Don't they know the graves I'm,
I got a 4.0 ravaged? They all just let me in. They
go, no, you ain't getting in. You can work your fingers to
the bone. And outside of Christ, you're rejected.
It ain't good enough. God won't accept anything less
than perfection. I heard Fortner say one time,
said somebody asked him one time, says, how good does a person
have to be to go to heaven? He said, as good as God. But this world today knows nothing
about that God. Because the God they talk about
loves everybody. Everybody's good. We are risen in him. But God,
who is rich in mercy for his great love for which he loved
us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ, by grace are ye saved, and hath raised us up
together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus." If a sinner is accepted in Christ,
loved in Christ, chosen in Christ, redeemed in Christ, risen in
Christ, sitting in heavenly places in Christ, in that center, they
are not condemned. You know there's enough inside
of you to condemn yourself. You condemn yourself. Your conscience
condemns you. You know it does. You're guilty. I'm guilty. Let's just admit
it. There is, therefore, Romans 8.1. Now, no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus. None. Can't condemn you. You know why? In Christ, you're
perfect. I'll read that, and I might remember
it in about 15 minutes after we leave this building. I'm going
to forget it all over again. Isn't that it? God reminds us who we
are and teaches us to look to Christ, not ourselves. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit." Something else, our life is hid in Him. For you are dead and your life
is hid with Christ in God. You mean it's hid? It's hid. We are one with him. You know
what Paul said? Philippians 3, the first part
of the chapter, always talked about he taught everything he
used to do. He said, it's nothing but dung.
Boy, I used to glory that I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. I was of the tribe of Benjamin,
buddy. I was probably named after the
first king, King Saul, who was of the same tribe. Benjamin,
buddy. And now he says it's a bunch
of dung. And he said, I was one time found in that mess. And
now I want to be found in him. That's where I want to be found. I don't want to be found outside
the ark. I don't want to be found outside Christ. I don't want
to be found out there where the curses are and God's wrath and
God's judgment. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
2. I want you to see this. Colossians 2, beginning in verse
9. I've already mentioned verse
9, but I want to read it again. Colossians 2, verse 9. I want you to see this. If you
don't mind marking your Bibles, you might want to mark this.
For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye
are complete. in him. Could it be any plainer
than that? I don't know if I've ever completed
anything. I'd like to. I probably have deceived myself
into thinking that I did. But you are complete. In him. That it sounds partially
complete. I am so Thoroughly and completely
complete. It is though that I'd never,
ever even thought about sinning. Isn't it? Isn't that complete? You say, preacher, is that the
truth? That's the truth. And I have to be made complete. or I'll perish. And it's not me adding one fingernail
to it. He did it. He that hath begun
a good work in you will finish it. Complete. What I want you to see that it's
all about this union with someone. It's a union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And there are several of these
in the scriptures. Let me just give you three. There's the one
of the husband and his wife. It says, Husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
the water by the word, that he might present it to himself,
a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy. and without blemish. Do you know when two people get
married, and this is even legally, this is law, when those two people
get married, whatever he has becomes hers. Isn't that it? That's right. And the way it's supposed to
be, I didn't say the way that it is today, and modern thinking,
but the way that it's supposed to be when that girl marries
that man, she loses her identity. She takes his name. I mean, that girl's been married
five years. She used to be Marley. She's not Marley anymore. Her
name is Sandra Marley Walker. Isn't that right? And I like it so, and so does
she. And what she did, you say, well, what about Sandra Marley?
No more. She is Sandra Marley Walker. No more twain, but one flesh. Listen to this, Jeremiah, chapter
23, verse 6. In that days, in his days, Judah
shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his
name. whereby he shall be called the
Lord our righteousness." Go over about 10 chapters, Jeremiah 33
verse 16, it reads it almost exactly the same. In those days
shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this
is the name whereby she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Well, how is she called that?
Because she's joined to him? No more twain, but one flesh. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ led the church, and he gave himself for her. He said, she's mine. I love her. I have loved her
and I will always love her and I give my life for her. She is now identified by his
name. And that's how I'm identified. They become one. Then he gives an illustration
of a body. The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ
is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body.
The body cannot live without the head. They are one. They're one. Then he gives another
union of a vine and a branch. You don't walk up and see, you
walk by and go, well, there's a bunch of pretty vines and grapes,
vines and branches. No, it's a great vine. We don't
even notice the branches. Isn't that us? It's all about
the vine. Look at them pretty great branches.
Hmm. Let's see how long they live
by themselves. Yeah, that's about us. It's about the vine. Do you see it? And we were a
wild olive branch that he engrafted us in. You ever seen somebody
grab something? I've seen my grandpa. He'd take
an apple tree, and he'd come out on the end of that branch,
and he'd cut that limb off. It may be a golden delicious. And he'd take a red delicious,
and he'd split that limb, and he'd put that red delicious in
that golden delicious, tie it up, and put beeswax around it,
and he'd go out there every few days to see if that one that
he put in there, if there was any green on it, and he'd say,
do y'all believe it's alive? And you'd go out there and you'd
see golden, delicious apples on that tree. But you know what
was on that graft? Red delicious. How'd it live? It got its life
from that tree. Job said it's the root of the
matter. That's what I'm talking about. It's this union. Separate
it. You can't. You can't do it. We have been
joined to Christ from all eternity. It's not something that happened
in time. We try to put it in time and we can't. I don't know. I don't know when
I begin to believe. I just one day I heard him speak
and call my voice and call my name and said, live. And let me tell you this, this
union. can never be severed. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father and preserved in Jesus Christ." Me and Sandy like to put up the
serfs. She'll put them on the counter and you'll hear them
start popping. Well, that means they are preserved and they are
kept, and you can put them on the shelf and go back three or
four years later and get them. You know why? They're kept. And this union is experienced
by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul writing to Timothy and said
that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are
able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith. which is in Christ
Jesus. Most everybody has faith in themselves. Isn't that it? In their merits,
in your promises, in what you hope to do. Christ is the object
of our faith. It's not faith that saves, it's
the object of faith that saves. Without faith it is impossible
to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. It is all in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Amen.