Turn with me if you would now
to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Last Sunday
night, Brother William brought a message to us from Romans chapter
8. And I read scripture for him. He asked me to read from verse
28 to the end of the chapter. But his text was only verses
28, 29, and 30. And I thought, how kind of him
to leave the rest of the verses for me. That was so nice of him. In coming back to Romans 8, I
was reminded of what a blessed text this is. This is so, so
precious. I just want to pick up where
he left off, all right? He covered 28, 29, and 30 so
well. So I'd like for us to begin with
verse 31, and let's read to the end of the chapter, okay? What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? 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? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither 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 to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Who shall separate us? If God be for us, who shall separate
us from the love of God? Verse 39 says, nothing, nothing
shall be able to separate us from the love of God. Nothing.
Now the question has been asked before. All right, I want to
really, let's see if the Lord will really let us enter into
this. Once a person learns something about God and His holiness and His swift, strict justice
against sin, God is against sin. Once a person learns something
of how God must punish sin, how he will by no means clear
the guilty, how sin cannot stand in his presence. how he hates all workers of iniquity. Is that not what he said in his
word? Once a person learns something
about God's holiness, you know, we talk about the holy God, you
know, you sing holy, holy, holy. At Christmas, you sing, oh, holy
night. We talk about holy. Once a person learns what that
means and what that is, once a person learns something of
God's holiness, that means he has to do what's right. He has to be just in all of his
doings. Holiness, justice, judgment against
sin. Once a person learns something
about that, And then a person learned something about God's
mercy to sinners. God's love for sinners. His loving kindness and his tender
mercy, his forgiveness. God commended his love toward
us. in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for the ungodly. Once a person hears and learns
the truth of what God has to say about all that, the question
is asked. It is a common question. It's
a very good question. It's a very good question. If
God hates sin, How can he love a sinner? That's
a good question. If God hates sin, how can he love a sinner? How can God? How? This is the
question. How can? Knowing something of
his holiness, his justice, his judgment. How can God who hates
sin so much, Love a sinner so much. How? I'd like for us to answer that
question today. And to do that, to answer the question, I want
us to very clearly understand this right here. Okay. The wrong
answer is in order for us to really get ahold of this. I want
to tell you first what the wrong answer is. Well, God hates the sin, but
loves the sinner. That's the wrong answer. That
is not so. That is a lie. If you've ever
heard that in your life, you've heard a lie. That's a lie. That's
a lie on God. And this is not splitting hairs.
This is not contradicting. He said He hates, and that's
His Word, He said He hates all workers of iniquity. If God hates the sin but loves
the sinner, then why is there a hell and why is anybody in
it? If that's the case, why doesn't
God just put sin in hell and keep all the sinners out of it? You hear that from time to time.
God hates the sin, but loves the sinner. Not so. Not so. That is not so. We have a brother
here who tells this illustration to me all the time, and it's
a good one. In the days of Noah, when God looked down and saw
that the wickedness of man was great and every imagination of
his heart was only evil continually, just like ours, it repented the Lord that he
made man. And he told Noah to build an
ark because he said, I am going to rain down judgment on this
earth. I am going to flood this earth
with my judgment. And when he told Noah to build
an ark, he did not tell Noah to put a bumper sticker on the
back of the ark for everybody to see who was out there drowning
in the flood. Smile, God loves you. Had Noah told that to everybody,
there was one window in the ark. Had Noah stuck his head out of
that window and said, smile, God loves you, Noah would have
been lying to them and he would have been lying on God. God is angry with the wicked
every day. Now, was Noah wicked? Yes. Noah was just like the rest of
them and his family. They were all a bunch of sinners.
Well, how did Noah find grace? How? How can? The scripture says it's a fearful
thing for sinners to fall into the hands of the living God.
The scripture said God takes vengeance and he punishes sinners
with everlasting destruction and flaming fire. To understand
anything other than that concerning the thrice holy God is to not
understand God. To understand anything other
than that concerning this holy God is to not understand God. All right, so that brings us
to our question again. If God hates sin, how can He
love a sinner? How is it even possible? Well,
let's read Romans 8 again. Verse 31, it says, What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Now, who are the us right there? Who are the particular people
that he's referring to when he says us? Brother William told
us who it was last Sunday night. Look at verse 28. And 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 a particular people that
he called according to his purpose. What does that mean? Here's what
it means. Verse 29. For whom he did foreknow,
and that word means lovingly elect. Whom He did foreknow, now watch
this, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son. Not the image of a sinner. The image of His Son. That's
a critical component in this. That is so critical for us to
understand if we're going to understand the true answer to
our question. Verse 29, whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, not the image of a sinner, not the image of a sinner, the
image of His Son, the image of Jesus Christ. Here's a little
secret to the whole thing, all right? This is a little secret.
God loves His Son. All of God's love is to and in
His Son. All of it. 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. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called. And whom He called,
them He also justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things, if God be for us, who can be against us? God purposed
in His goodness, in His mercy, in His grace, to take a bunch
of vile, wretched sinners and to change them. I mean change
them. He purposed to make them to be
what they were not. And what would that be? What
would He purpose to make them to be? Righteous. Righteousness. Not sin, but righteousness. Not sinners, but the very righteousness
of God. God purposed to do something
for a certain people. so that when God looked at them,
all he saw was righteousness. All he saw was something that
he loved. He purposed to do something that
would make it so that when he looked at those people, all he
saw was something that he loved. God purposed to choose a people
to be his people. And in order to do that, he had
to purpose to strip all sin away from those people. He had to
make it so that sin did not touch those people at all anymore. How did he do that? Verse 32, he that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. All right, now who are the us
all? Every soul that he foreknew and
predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son. Verse
32 says, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us all. Delivered him up. What does that mean? That means
the Father did not spare Christ the Son, His precious Son, His
well-beloved Son. He did not spare Christ, but
He delivered Him up to be conformed to the image of His sinful people. In order for God's people to
be conformed to Christ's image, Christ had to be conformed to
their image. in order for God's people to
be touched with the feeling of Christ's righteousness. Christ
had to be touched with the feeling of their infirmities. The only
way that our question can be answered and the only way this
truth could possibly take place was through the means of substitution,
the trading of places between Christ and His people. God cannot love a sinner outside
of the trading of places between Christ and His people. Turn with
me over to 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17, it says, Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. You talk about good news. If
we could ever really get a hold of that. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. in the substitutionary work of
Jesus Christ. All things have become new, verse
18. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. The ministry, that word means
atonement. To wit, or to know, that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, Not imputing their trespasses unto Him. That word imputing means taking
inventory of. It means acknowledging the reality
of what really is. In the Bible dictionary for that
word, it gave an illustration of a bank account. He said, if you have $25, this
is what it said, if you have $25 in your bank account and
your books show that you have $25 in your bank account, then
you impute. You take inventory of, you acknowledge
the reality of the condition. I have $25 in my bank account.
To believe anything other than that reality is to not impute. That's what it is is to take
an inventory of to see this is the condition. This is the reality
of the condition. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself, acknowledging the truth of the matter that
the sin of his people was not on them. In the substitution that he provided,
God took inventory and acknowledged the true reality of the fact
that the sin of his people was not on them. Not imputing sin
to them. Where was it? It's on their substitute. He was on the one who stood in
their place, as them, for them, Jesus Christ, the beloved Son
of God. Verse 20 right here, now then
we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you
by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. Verse 21 says, for he hath made
him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Christ was made to be the sin
of His people. In the substitution that He provided,
everything His people were, that was transferred into Him. And
therefore, everything that He was, that was transferred into
His people. Go with me to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, the heading at the
top of my page says the humiliation and sufferings of Christ. Verse
four says. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. That means what should have come
to us, all of that was laid on Him. And with His stripes, we
are healed. With His stripes, we are healed. We're healed. Verse 6, all we
like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. and the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all." Who are the us all? Every soul that
the father foreknew and predestinated to be conformed to the image
of his son. In judgment and punishment for bearing our sin, verse 7
says, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth, He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and
as a sheep before her shearers is dumb. So he opened not his
mouth. Why? Because he bore the sin. He bore the guilt of all of his
people. Verse eight, he was taken from
prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation
for he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. He was cut off. for the transgression
of our sin. What that means is, when God
looked at Christ on the cross of Calvary, all right, I'm done. Good news. I'm wrapping it up,
but get this, all right, get this. When God looked at Christ
on the cross of Calvary, if God hates sin so much, If God must
punish sin, how on this earth could God possibly love me, the
chief of sinners? If anybody doesn't know me, let
me tell you who I am. I'm the chief of sinners. And
if God hates sin so much and he must punish sin so much, how
on this earth could God possibly love me? How could God love a
sinner? Here's how. In this transaction, Christ being
the substitute for his people. When God looked at Christ on
the cross of Calvary, he saw us in him. He saw us hanging on that cross. He saw our sin in him. And I'm gonna tell you something,
God hated us workers of iniquity. When we were on the cross of
Calvary in Him and our sin was hanging there on Him, God hated
me. God hated this worker of iniquity. God was angry with this wicked
worker of iniquity. Right there on that cross and
God dealt a blow of judgment to me, to us. Right there on that cross, everything
that God said He would do to sinners, He did it to us. Outside
of Christ, He will do it to the sinner. In Christ, He will do
it to the sinner in Christ. Everything He said He would do
to sinners, He did it to us. He didn't say, I tell you what,
Noah, I'm gonna let you go. No way. God rained down His judgment
on Noah on the cross of Calvary. The world, however many years
before that it was in the flood, Noah, the cross of Calvary. He did it all on the cross of
Calvary for His people in the person of our substitute and
Savior, Jesus Christ. In that suffering of Christ for
us, we're healed. Because Christ was made sin for
us, we have been made the righteousness of God in Him. And if God hates
sin so much, how could He possibly love this sinner? It's because
when God looked at Christ on the cross, He saw us. And therefore,
when He now looks at us, do you know who He sees? Christ. If we're asking the question,
how could God love us? If that's our question, how could
God possibly love us? Here's a greater question than
that. How could God possibly not love Christ? If he looks
at Christ, how could he not love Christ? All of his sinless, spotless,
holy perfection. When God saw us in Christ, there
was nothing else he could do but condemn us to death. And
now when God sees Christ in us, There's nothing else he can do
but love us and welcome us into glory. That's how God hated the
sin of his people and loved his sinful people. All of it was
in Christ. All of it was in the substitutionary
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of the love of God towards
sinners is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the only
place he can be. Now, I'm going to stop. No, I'm not. I'm going to read
Romans 8 and we're going to stop. Go back to Romans 8. I'm going
to read the rest of the verses and we'll stop. Romans 8, verse 32, it says, 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? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? How can God love this sinner?
God Almighty says, don't you call my loved one a sinner. Don't
you call unclean what I've made clean. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For
I am persuaded that neither 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 to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." That's
the key to it all. in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.