Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I invite you to open your Bible
with me to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, and we're going to begin this
morning in verse 31. We're going to look at the end of this chapter,
and it's a very well-known portion of Scripture. And what I want
us to begin with is right here in verse 31, which says, the
end of it says, If God be for us, who can be against us? If God be for us, who can be
against us? To a child of God, I don't know
if there are any more comforting words than those. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Comforting, comforting. Now to a person who is not in
the Lord Jesus Christ, a person who is outside of Christ, I can't
think of any more damning words than these. Because the flip side to this
is, if God be against us, who can be for us? If God be against us, who could
be for us? This whole book speaks of two
types of people. Believers, unbelievers. The elect, the non-elect. The just, the unjust. The righteous,
the wicked. Children of God, children of
wrath. Well, if God be for one side,
then He has to be against the other. Right? If he's for one, then he has
to be against the other. Now the world says, and religion
says, wait a minute. God is not against anybody. God wants everybody to be saved.
He's not against anybody. Why do you have to be so hard?
How come every time I listen to you, you're so hard? So strict,
so narrow, so hard. It's not hard. It's just telling
the truth. It's just telling the truth.
There's a lack in this world of God's truth. A famine in the land of God's
truth. And we all need to know God's
truth. So I want to show it to you.
Turn with me over to Nahum chapter 2. If you have your Bible, I
strongly encourage you to look at Nahum chapter 2 with me. And let's begin in verse 13,
Nahum 2, this is the Lord speaking to Nineveh, and He says in verse
13, Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and
I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour
thy young lions, and I will cut off thy prey from the earth,
and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard. That's pretty clear, isn't it?
That's God's truth. Look at chapter three, verse
five. Behold, I am against thee, saith
the Lord of hosts, and I will discover thy skirts upon thy
face. You know what he's saying? I'm
gonna pull your skirt over your head. I will discover thy skirts
upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and
the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth
upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. And it shall come to pass that
all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say,
Nineveh is laid waste. Who will bemoan her? Whence shall
I seek comforters for thee?" I'm telling us all, if God be
against us, who can be for us? That's fearful, isn't it? That's
fearful. The Scripture says that the world
holds the truth in unrighteousness. That's what Romans 1 says. They
hold the Bible in their hand that has page after page of the
Lord God saying this same thing. And then they say, I don't believe
that. A man will declare the truth of God's Word and men and
women all over this world say, I don't believe that. In Deuteronomy
32, he said, I kill. If anybody dies, I did it, I
kill. And the majority of this world
says, I don't believe that. God's not against anybody. God
wouldn't kill anybody. Well, look back with me in our
text. Romans 8 verse 32 says, he spared not his own son. Is there a clearer picture of
this truth than that? He spared not his own, God wouldn't
kill anybody. He spared not His own Son. Why did God kill His Son? You know, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He was not killed by the hands of men. He was not. He was not martyred by men. God killed His Son. Now if the Lord Jesus Christ
ever reveals to a person why God killed His Son, that person
is going to realize that God is not like I thought He was.
I had this picture of God in my mind, who He is, what He's
like, but He's not like I thought He
was. If God be for us. If. If. God ought to be against us. All
of us. All have sinned. All have rebelled. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. If God be for us. Back in Genesis chapter 6, it
says that God saw the wickedness of man. It was great. And it still is. And it says that it repented
the Lord that He had ever even made man. But Noah found grace. Noah found grace. God ought to
be against all of us. And in the days of Noah, he was.
He killed the whole world. But Noah found grace. And his
family, eight souls. But Noah found grace. How did
Noah find grace? Here's how. The God of all grace
found Noah. That's how. The God of all grace provided
Noah with an ark. And the God of all grace put
Noah inside that ark. And the God of all grace shut
the door and sealed it up. That's how Noah found grace.
The God of all grace found him. So if God be for us, if God be
for us. Now how can God be for us? That's our question this morning. When God ought to be against
us, how can God be for us? Well, look here with me at Romans
chapter 8 verse 32. It says that he had to spare
not his own son. That's how. That was the only
way God could be for us. He had to deliver Him up for
us all. That was the only way. You see,
God has to be just. God is holy. God is holy. He must do what's right, what's
pure. what's in agreement with His
own law. He's just. He has to be just. So God has to kill sin. Now this question is, how can
God be for us? How can God justify us when we're
nothing but sin? When we deserve nothing but death? The only just thing concerning
us is death. Punishment! How can God be for us? Verse 34 says, Christ had to
die. 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's he that condemneth Christ
died? You see, God the Father laid
on God the Son. He laid on Christ the iniquity
of us all. He laid it on His own Son. He
took the iniquity of us and He laid it on His own precious
Son. Why would He do that? Why? Why would God spare not
His own Son for us? Why? If your Bible has a margin
in it, Mine, next to the word spared in verse 32, my marginal
reference says John 3, 16. That's a familiar scripture,
isn't it? We know what John 3, 16 says. It says, for God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son. Is the love of God not amazing? Is His love not amazing? Amazing love, how can it be?
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friend. For God so loved the world, He
gave His only begotten Son. You know, people hear that verse
of Scripture and they say, well, there it is. God so loved the
world, Christ died for everybody. No, He didn't. He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. The love of God is not toward
everybody. The love of God is toward those
who are in Christ. And Christ didn't die for everybody.
He died for all those that God His Father put in Him. He didn't
die for those that He's against. He died for the ones that God
was for, not the ones He was against. Somebody will hear that and say,
well, yeah, but it says right here in Romans 8 verse 32, he
that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
us all. Yes, it does say that. But right
before that, it says us, us. Verse 31, 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? Us. Don't you want to know who
that is? If God's love is not toward everybody,
And if Christ didn't die for everybody, don't you want to
know who the us are? Who are the us? Look at verse
33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? God's elect. Look at chapter 16 here in Romans. Romans 16 verse 13, it says,
Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord. Chosen in the Lord. You know,
when you go to an election, you're going to choose somebody. You know, we vote for our government
and we vote for different things. And when you show up, you're
showing up to choose somebody. Well, that's who God's elect
are. Those who are chosen in the Lord. Well, who is that? Who are God's elect? Look back
up in this text a little bit to Romans 8.28. It says, And
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God. To them that love God. First of all, they love God.
They don't love the God that they've made up in their mind,
this fake God. They love the true and living
God of Scripture. They love God as He has revealed
Himself in His Word, the all-knowing, all-controlling, all-powerful,
living God. The God who holds our breath
in His own hand. The God who says, live or die. The God who chooses. We don't choose God. God chooses
us. That's who God is. And I'll tell you that God's
elect, first of all, love God. They love God actually being
God. And they don't consider themselves
to be little gods. They love God. And they bow the
knee to God. But it goes on to say, we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to His purpose. They're called to see that everything
He does is according to His purpose. Verse 29 says, for whom He did
foreknow. Who are His elect? It's whom
He did foreknow. And then it goes on to say, He
also did predestinate. Who are His elect? It's those
that He has chosen to conform to the image of His Son. 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
And them He also called, and whom He called, them He also
justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified." That's
who God's elect are. It's those that He foreknew and
those that He predestinated and those that He called by His Spirit. And those that He justified,
He died for them. And those that He glorified,
He has adopted them into the family of God to be joint heirs
with Him. That's who God's elect are. If
God be for us, if God be for us, nobody can be against us. Isn't
that good news? If God be for us, then that means
the Lord God of heaven, He won't be against us. He can't be against
us. He spared not His own Son for
us, but He delivered Him up for us all. And God is just and God
is right. He cannot punish the innocent. He just cannot punish the innocent.
Will not because He's holy. Verse 33 says, Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? The Lord God won't. He can't. It's the Lord God who justified
us. God Himself justified us. There's no more sin on our record.
None. clean, justified, free to go. Verse 34 says, Who is he that
condemneth? The Lord God won't. He can't. Christ died. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again. Our proof that God is satisfied. Our proof that the mission He
came to accomplish, He finished. It's proof that our sin has been
put away. He is risen again. Who is even
at the right hand of God. Seated back on His throne. Who also maketh intercession
for us. I love the thought of our precious
Lord and Savior making intercession for us. I love that. God Himself emptied heaven and
He came down here to this earth and He did that to bear the sin
and the iniquity of His own elect, His own people. And He died on
that cross and He put that sin away. And now He is seated at
the right hand of the majesty on high. And as I live out my
life, every sin that I have ever committed previously, and every
sin that I am committing right now, and every sin that I will
ever commit for the rest of my days on this earth, as I live
them out, My Lord is making intercession for me to His Father saying,
I paid for that. I walk through my day, I sin
against God and Christ says I paid for that. That one's paid for. That one was laid on me. That
one has been put away. Daily making intercession for
us. Now verse 36 says that we are
killed. It says, as it is written, for
thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as
sheep for the slaughter. What does he mean by that? Well
look over at verse 17, Romans 8 verse 17. It says, if children
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him. that we may be also glorified
together, if so be that we suffer with Him." Why is that? It's because as He is, so are
we. Peter said, "...but the God of
all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ
Jesus, after that you have suffered a while." make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, and settle you. Our Lord Himself said, in the
world you shall have tribulation. But look right here at Romans
8 verse 18. It says, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us. Believers in Christ need to remember,
for our own comfort, we need to remember that anything and
everything we go through, how much more did our Lord go through
it for us? And we're going to have afflictions
in this life, but they're so light. compared to everything
that He endured. Verse 35 in Romans 8 says, Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation?
Now we will suffer tribulation, but not like He did. Tribulation
means affliction. Isaiah 53 tells us about His
affliction. Everything He endured, everything
He bore, for us, everything He suffered for us. In Lamentations 3, our Lord said,
I am the man that had seen affliction. So who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress? Distress means anguish. Did our
Lord suffer anguish? He said, oh, my Father, if it
be possible. Let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,
not as I will, but as thou will." Verse 35 says, what about persecution? We're going to suffer persecution
for the truth's sake, but was our Lord persecuted? He was for
everything He did. They called Him a drunk. They
said He eats and drinks with publicans and sinners. They called
him a lawbreaker for performing his wonderful healing miracles
on the Sabbath. They called him a blasphemer.
They said, this man makes himself to be God. Was our Lord persecuted? They hung him on a cross for
all that. Oh, he was persecuted. Verse
35 says, what about famine? Our Lord was tempted in the desert
40 days. What about nakedness? That's
exactly how they hung him on the cross. What about peril? That means danger. How many times
did the lynch mobs come to take him? What about the sword? Death. He said, these same things
are going to happen to you if you're in Christ. But will they
separate us from the love of Christ? Absolutely not. These are the things that confirm
the love of Christ to us. They meant it for evil, God meant
it for good. Did the death of Christ separate
us from the love of Christ? Absolutely not. It sealed us
in the love of Christ. God allowed every bit of it to
happen for good, for good. 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?
As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. You know, this
world considers God's people to be nothing more than sheep
for the slaughter, but are they? Verse 37 says, 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. And
I love how chapter 9 verse 1 begins by saying, I say the truth in
Christ, I lie not. Until next Sunday morning, may
the Lord bless His word. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.