I'd like to start this morning
in the eighth chapter of Romans, if you would turn there with
me. Romans 8, 31. The title of my message this
morning is, If God Be For Us. What a glorious thought, if God
be for us. Verse 31 reads, what shall we
then say to these things, if God be for us, who can be against
us? Now notice that the first question
that Paul asked here is, what shall we say to these things?
What things? What's he talking about? It's
important to know. You see, it's important because
these things are the things that shows us that God is for us. I want to know if God is for
me. Don't you? What shall we say? What do you
and I say? What does God say? This is talking
about God and us. If God be for us. This concerns both God and us.
Are you interested in knowing if God is for you? Do you have
any concern that God may be against you? Do you have any interest if you
are included in the us spoken here? The question is, if God
be for us, who can be against us? Who are the us spoken of
here? Well, let's answer that question
first. Let's get that out of the way.
It would be helpful to know. Who are the us that God is for? Paul's letter here to the church
at Rome was addressed to the beloved of God. That's who the
us are, those that are beloved of God. Those, in verse seven
of chapter one of Romans, it says those called to be saints.
That's who it's talking about. To the church at Corinth, Paul
wrote to those who were sanctified in Christ Jesus, to those who
were called to be saints. To the church at Galatia, Paul
shares the gospel with those to whom Christ gave himself for
their sins. This is talking to a particular
people. This is not addressed to the world. These epistles,
these letters are God's love letters to his people, not to
the world. When Paul said that God is not
willing that any should perish, he didn't mean the whole world.
He meant any of His people. To the church at Ephesus, he
wrote those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. That's who he's writing to. That's who he's talking to.
To those who in Christ have become holy and without blame before
Him in love. To those who are in Christ predestinated
and adopted as children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will. That's who He's talking to. That's
who He's writing to. That's the us of whom He addresses. To those who are by the glory
of His grace have been made by Christ to be accepted in the
Beloved. That's who God is for. Us, all
who are described in these letters of love from God. To the church
at Philippi, they're called saints in Christ Jesus. To the church
at Colossae, they are called the saints and faithful brethren
in Christ. To the church at Thessalonica,
the Holy Spirit calls them brethren beloved. Friends, these epistles,
these letters, are written to the children of God. Believers
in Christ, the elect of God. Sinners saved by God's mercy,
grace, and love. Boy, it's important to understand
that. If you do not love, worship, and trust in Christ as your substitute
and sacrifice for sin, God is not for you. Contrary to popular preaching,
God's not trying to save the whole world. That's never been
God's intention, never been God's purpose. God never tried to do
anything. God hath from the beginning chosen
His people to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
in what? Belief of the truth. God ain't trying to save anybody,
He saves. Whomever He wills. If you don't
believe what this book says about how God saves sinners, then you
can know most assuredly that God is not for you. And this
is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
So who is God for? Who is the us that God is for? His people. Those that He chose
and called and justified before the foundation of the world.
So let me ask again, I don't want to get ahead of myself.
What are the things that show us, teach us, reveal to us, cause
us to say that God is for us? Let me also say this. I think
that every saved sinner will tell you this. I believe that
I am a child of God. I believe that His Spirit bears
witness with my spirit that I am. I pray that I am a trusting child
of faith. I believe that I'm growing in
the grace and in the knowledge of my Lord Jesus. Those of you
that know God, you'd say the same about yourself. I hope that
I am beloved of God, sanctified, set apart in Christ Jesus. You
see, because my hope is in Christ, so it's a good hope, I know that. And I'm telling you, I rest my
eternal soul upon the blessed revelation that Christ took my
sin upon Himself and gave me His perfect righteousness, which
Brother Parks preached so ably last week. I believe He took
my sin, I really do, upon Himself and made me the perfect righteousness
of God in Christ. I believe that Jesus Christ died
the just for the unjust to bring me to God. I desire more than
anything else in this world to be one whom God is for. Paul gives us four things here.
Look at verse 29. God is for us because He conforms
us to the image of His Son, verse 29, to whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn
of many brethren. God has to be for us since He
predestinated And that simply means predetermined, or determined
beforehand, before the foundation of the world. That's what the
scriptures say. If you want to argue about that, then you argue
with God about it. I'm just reporting what God's
Word says. Before the foundation of the
world, that His people should be conformed to the image of
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is a very, very important
lesson right here. Election is not salvation. Election is unto salvation. Being conformed to Christ is
salvation. Why do people miss that? We make
election the gospel. It's not. Election just removes
all doubt about who does the saving. Election shows us who did the
saving. Election shows us when God determined
to save us. When did He determine to save?
Before you ever were born. It removes from you any opportunity
to boast on what you've done to be saved because God chose
to save you before you ever were. Salvation is being conformed
Being made perfectly holy, righteous, and just before God by the work
of righteousness that Christ would accomplish in the fullness
of time. Don't miss that. Christ came at the appointed
time to accomplish and finish what God had purposed in eternity. Isn't that what this verse says?
God foreknew certain people. Those whom He foreknew. God predestined those certain
people. He determined before they ever
were that they would trust in Christ alone for their redemption.
God decided. God determined. God predetermined
that those whom He called would be made just like His Son. Matter
of fact, he's going to conform them into the image of his son. That's salvation. That's what
salvation is all about. God chose these people for no
other reason than it pleased him to do so. No other reason. Only because it seemed good in
his sight. God wasn't influenced by anything
outside of himself. There was nothing in the chosen
sinner that obligated God to save him. Do men and women really
believe? I'm being serious here. Do men
and women really believe that God looked ahead in time and
chose sinners based on a future good work that they might do?
Well, that's ridiculous. First of all, because no man
can do any good work. Everything we do is tainted by
sin. All our works are works of filthy
rags. That's giving the dead sinner
a lot of credit that they don't deserve. God looked ahead in
time and you know what he saw in me? Sin. Nothing but. He looked ahead in time and saw
me shaking my fist at his providence. Speaking of Jacob and Esau, God
said, for the children not being yet born, neither having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election,
according to God's choosing, might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth. We know these verses by heart.
We've got them in our head anyway. Do we have them here is the question.
Well, preacher, that doctrine of election, that stirs up a
lot of doubt about sinner salvation. No, sir, it doesn't. It removes
all doubt about who saves sinners. Preacher, you teach election
and you're shutting certain sinners out. No, I'm not. In election,
God is bringing certain sinners in. God's having mercy on some
when all deserve to be shut out. Isn't that right? Don't tell
me that election shuts sinners out. It doesn't do no such thing.
Matter of fact, every sinner by nature is already out. They're
without. They're without God. They're
without Christ. They're without hope in this
world. Without. You're without if you
don't have Christ. No sinner deserves salvation.
Grace would not be grace and mercy would not be mercy if sinners
deserved either. We say this frequently, it's
good to say it again. Grace is God giving sinners what
they don't deserve. And mercy is God not giving sinners
what they do deserve. The glory of God is found in
His sovereign choice of being gracious to whom He'll be gracious. And showing mercy on whom you'll
show mercy. That's what he told Moses. Moses
said, show me your glory. He said, okay. I'll be gracious
to whom I'll be gracious. And I'll be merciful to whom
I'll be merciful. There's my glory. The glory and
the salvation of sinners by a work that only God could do for sinners. As the potter molds the clay
according to his own will, even so God does according to his
good pleasure in the molding of the vessels of honor and dishonor. Isn't that right? Jeremiah, let's
go down to the potter's house and we'll show you something.
Oh, and he showed him, didn't he? He said, as that clay is
in the potter's hand, so are you in my hands. This is the
God with whom we have to do. If God wants to have mercy on
a sinner, it's His prerogative to do so. And if God's not pleased
to intervene into a sinner's life, that too is His prerogative. And yet God has never turned
down or passed over a sinner who sincerely desired to be saved
from their sin. Why? Because He's the one who
put that desire in their heart. Second thing, God is for us because
He calls us. Verse 30, moreover whom He did
predestinate, them He also called. And you know, I was thinking
about this. The Word of God puts great emphasis on the calling
of sinners by God. Do you know why? Because if God
does not affectionately call a sinner out of spiritual darkness,
They'll never come. They'll never see. They'll never
be enlightened. That's why great emphasis is
put on God's calling. Because without it, no sinner
would be saved. God called Abraham out of idolatry. Abraham was
sitting there in Ur of Chaldees worshiping idols. God said, you
leave your father's house. You get out of there. And you
know what? Abraham packed up and moved.
He packed up and moved and didn't even know where he was going.
How does that happen? By the effectual call of God. None can resist His will. Who
hath resisted His will? Paul asked. None can resist the
call of God. God's call is always effective.
The gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. Romans 11, 29. You see, when
God calls his people to himself, he never changes his mind. God's
not a man that he should repent, change his mind. He always remains
faithful to the call that he's given. He said, for I am the
Lord, I change not. Therefore, Therefore ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed, Malachi 3.6. And you know what that simply
means. It means that if our salvation
is based upon our changing faith, the wrath and judgment and justice
of God would consume us. But thank God, my salvation not
based upon my faithfulness, but upon he who is faithful. Third
thing. God is for us because He justifies
us. Verse 30 again, moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called,
them He also justified. Now when God calls a sinner,
He's sure to justify that sinner. Justification is the act of being
made just, being made perfect, being made holy and without blame
before Him in love. Justification is a supernatural
act where God absolves the chosen sinner from sin and its guilt.
And He does so by putting that sin and guilt on the spotless
substitute, Jesus Christ. Justification is being stripped
of our self-righteousness and then wrapped completely about
with the perfect righteousness of Christ. So that God only sees
Him and not us. Oh, by that divine transaction
of God, we've been conformed to Christ. And it didn't come
about by our works of righteousness that we've done, but according
to His mercy He saved us. That's what the Word of God says.
And if God declares me to be innocent, who can charge me with
guilt? Isn't that what He says in verse
33? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn the elect of God? Look at verse 34. It's Christ
that died. Charging me with sin is the same
as charging the sinless Son of God with sin. If God be for us,
who can be against us? If God acquits us, it matters
not who condemns us. If God absolves us, it doesn't
matter who's against us. God makes us righteous by the
imputation of the righteousness of His Son. Christ was made to
be sin. His people were made to be righteous
in Him. That's what we saw in the first
hour. God is for us because He's justified us. He's predetermined,
He's called us, and He justifies us. And the fourth thing, God
is for us because He will glorify us. Now listen, child of God,
one day, soon, soon, and I say that to the youngest one here,
Well, this life flies by pretty quickly, doesn't it? One day
soon, this mortal will put on immortality. You know why? Because God is for us. This corruptible shall put on
incorruption. Why? Because God is for us. Our Lord has raised us up together. I love that language, don't you? God's raised us up together and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2.6. God was for us before the foundation
of the world. God was for us or he would have
never given his son for us, right? God was for us and he would have
never caused us to seek his face. If you have an interest in God,
it's because God has already done a work of grace in your
heart. So just for a few minutes, I want the scriptures alone to
show us many of the things that God has done for us. I said in
the Sunday school hour and it's so true that the scriptures shine
a lot of light on our preaching. David said, the Lord hath done
great things for us. They're great things because
He's great. Everything God does is great, isn't it? Because He's
great. The Lord's done great things
for us, therefore we are glad. He's certainly done great things,
and I tell you, I'm certainly glad. First thing, Christ came
into the world for us. We make that such a flipping
thing. Men and women everywhere say, well, I know Jesus came
into the world and died for me and saved me from my sins and
blah, blah, blah. But we don't really think a whole
lot about what it means that Christ came into the world for
us. You see, the Holy One came into
the world to be made sin for His people. Boy, now that puts
a little more Importance on why he came, doesn't it? You see,
God could not die and man could not save, so God became a man
and the God-man could both die and redeem. You see, only one
who is perfect can justly pay sin's wages. Paul told Timothy,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's why he
came into the world. to save sinners, Paul said, of
whom I am chief. God could save no one until Christ
came into the world. Why? Because sin had got to be
dealt with. Sin's got to be dealt with. God's
not going to just sweep it under a rug. It's got to be dealt with. Holy justice required that the
debt of sin be fully paid in order for the sinner to go free.
Therefore God the Son must come into the world. And what great
humiliation, huh? What a condescending that required. Philippians 2 verses 7 and 8
said Christ Jesus made himself of no reputation. He who was
God made Himself of no reputation, and He took upon Him the form
of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being
found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross." What humility! It was Christ's death on the
cross that paid in full, satisfied, and appeased the holy justice
of God. I'll tell you another thing to
think about as far as Him coming into the world. The ageless and
eternal One. He who is without beginning and
who is without end. He who is the first and the last
and all in between. He who is Alpha and Omega. The
ageless and eternal One took on flesh and lived just a little
over 33 years. Isn't that an amazing thought? In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory,
the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. You know, the incarnation of
Christ was the uniting of the divine and the human into one
being. One person. Jesus Christ was
fully God, and Jesus Christ was fully man. He was the God-man,
and He's the only one that could redeem sinners from their sin. That's why He came. Oh, don't
take that lightly. He had to become a man to redeem
man. He had to take on the nature
of man to give man a new nature. A new nature that was conformed
to his own image. Christ came in the world for
us so that He could put away our sin. Second thing, Christ
gave Himself for us. He gave Himself for our sins
that He might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father. Galatians 1 verse 4. Paul said,
I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. Paul told Titus, who gave himself
for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify
unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Titus
2.14. Christ gave himself a ransom
for his people. 1 Timothy 2.6. He gave himself. Christ suffered for us. Acts 2.23, Jesus Christ being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
Suffering involved. 1 Peter 3.18, For Christ also
hath suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened
by the Spirit. You remember those two fellows
on the road to Emmaus? They were heartbroken that the
Lord had died and the Lord Jesus, they didn't know who He was.
He walked along with them and He said, why are you so sad?
And they go, are you a stranger from around here? Do you not
know what's going on? And they told Him all the things
that happened. You know what He said? He said,
ought not Christ to have suffered these things to enter into His
glory. Christ suffered for sin. Do you
see that? Christ suffered for us, His people. The just ones suffered for the
unjust ones. Why? To bring us to God. You're going to have to be brought.
You're going to come willingly, but it's only because you're
brought. He was put to death in the flesh. That's why He had
to come into this world. That's why He had to give Himself. That's why He had to suffer for
sin. That's why He had to lay down His life. That's another
thing. He laid down His life for us. Hereby we perceive the
love of God because He laid down His life for us. And we ought
to lay down our lives for the brethren. Christ laid down His
life for us. It was a voluntary thing. No
man took His life, He laid it down. In John 10 He said, Therefore
doth My Father love Me, because I laid down My life, that I might
take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but
I lay it down Myself. I've got power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of My Father. Christ laid down His life for
you, child of God. Christ died for us. You're in
Romans 8 still, right? Turn back with me to Romans chapter
5. Romans chapter 5, look at verse
6. Christ died for us. For when
we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for
us. Who? The ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Who did Christ die for? He died
for the ungodly. Who did God commend His love
to? Sinners. While we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Now that would be the best news
you ever heard if you were a sinner. If you have no need of a physician,
that won't have much effect on you. Christ was delivered up
for us. Amazing thought. 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? Right here, Romans
8, 32. Christ was made to be sin for us. My, we won't need
to spend much time on that after what we heard last week. For
He, God, hath made Him, Jesus Christ, to be sin for us. Who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God and Him. Christ obtained
eternal redemption for us. Oh, doesn't that sound sweet?
Eternal redemption for us. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Well, preacher,
do you believe once saved, always saved? You better believe I do.
Absolutely I do. Because Christ hath obtained
eternal redemption for us. It's eternal. Can't lose it. If God saved me, I'm saved forever. Now if I save myself, or if mama
saved me, or grandma saved me, that's a different story. But
if God saved me, why? Because He hath obtained eternal
redemption for us. It goes back to His faithfulness,
not mine. The Lord Jesus Christ has consecrated
for us a new living way. By a new and living way, Hebrews
10, 20, which he hath consecrated, and that simply means made and
declared for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. I
think about what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5, 17. He said,
therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things
passed away. All things have become new. A
new and living way. All things are of God, who hath
reconciled us unto Himself by Jesus Christ. Let me give you
another one. Christ appears in the presence
of God for us. Hebrews 9.24 For Christ is not
entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the
figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. Christ stands before the holy
throne of God, and He pleads not two sinners, but four sinners. Christ is in heaven right now
interceding for us. He who is even at the right hand
of God also maketh intercession for us. Oh, if God be for us,
who could be against us? You know, our Lord told Peter,
He said, Satan hath desired to have you. He said, Satan desired
to sift you as wheat. And you know what? Satan's request
was granted. Peter certainly was sifted, he
certainly was tried, he certainly was tested. He denied his Lord
three times. But Peter's redemption was found
in what Christ afterwards said. He said, but I've prayed that
your faith fail you not. God's not going to let your faith
fail. Because if God before you be against you, And lastly, friends,
Christ will come again for us. I'm looking forward to it. That
angel told those on that day that Christ descended, he said,
you men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? The
same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so
come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven. He's
coming back. He's coming again. Oh, John said,
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, so
He's coming back, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him
as He is. And you know what I say about
that? If God be for us, who could be against us? Huh? Has God shown
you your need of Christ? I find so much comfort in knowing
that God is for me. But He's only for me in Jesus
Christ. Don't forget that. I dare not
approach him in any other way. He said, I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the
world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as
thou hast loved me. That's where it's at, in Christ
and Him alone. May God enable you to trust in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Being found in Him is the only
way that God will be for us. May the Lord add His blessings
to the preaching of His Word.