Romans chapter 8. I'm just going to use a few verses.
I'm not going to go through all those verses. I'm going to use
verse 1 and 28 and one or two more. But I titled this message,
Scriptures that Comfort. Scriptures that Comfort. Now
all the Word of God gives comfort to God's children from Genesis
to Revelation. We find comfort throughout the
Word of God. And there are some scriptures that seem to be special to us
as far as comfort goes. One of those scriptures in the
Gospel of John, the Lord said, All that the Father
giveth me, this is a scripture that's very comforting to me.
The Lord used it to give me some real comfort. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, here's
the comfort. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise. for no reason, cast him out. I find plenty of reason in me
to be cast out, I do. But he said, in no wise will
they be cast out. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. and him that cometh to me I will
not cast out. Now you can, I'm sure there's scriptures that
you can quote that's a blessing to your heart that the Lord's
given to you for comfort. We are told in Romans 15, four,
for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope. If I can't be comforted with
the Scriptures, what can I be comforted with, really? It's
the foundation of comfort. You take away the Scriptures,
we have no foundation for being comforted at all. Isaiah 40 verse 1 says, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem. Tell her that her warfare is
ended. Tell her that her warfare with
me. See, that's the warfare. The warfare is with God. Isn't
that where our warfare is until He saves us? It's with God. Be ye reconciled to God, Paul
said over in 2 Corinthians. You see, we have a natural enmity
in our minds at birth. We are born natural enemies of
God we are. We are born naturally hostile
to God, not the God of our imagination, but the God of this Bible we
are. We have a natural hostility toward God until He breaks us,
He saves us, gives us a new heart and a right spirit, and then
we love Him. We love Him because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts. That's why we love God,
if we love God at all. It's because He first loved us. And He shed His love abroad in
our hearts, that new heart. He said, I'll give you a new
heart. And that new heart has the love of God shed abroad in
it, and it comes out. It comes out to God, it comes
out to one another. But I was trying to think about,
you know, and I've prayed about what to preach from. I've been
thinking about a couple different books to start. You know, we've
just gone through the Gospel of John, but this was on my mind,
is the Scriptures that comfort. You know, the Gospel is called
glad tidings. It's designed to bring comfort
to those whom the Lord saves. And this is the Scripture that
came to my mind. I think this scripture here may
have to be at the very top pinnacle of all the scriptures that comfort
us. No condemnation. You know, there's a lot of people
who are condemned. There are people in hell who's
condemned forever and ever and ever. That's the truth. And for me to be able to read
this scripture and apply it to myself in Christ, that this sinner
is going to stand before God and it's going to be written,
NO CONDEMNATION. The judge of the earth is going
to say, I find no fault in him. He's going to search for iniquity
and there's not going to be any. Not going to be any. THERE IS, THEREFORE, NOW NO CONDEMNATION
TO THEM WHICH ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH,
BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT. The word THEREFORE, Paul uses
this, as Henry would so often say, when you see the word THEREFORE,
see what s THEREFORE. And so Paul uses this word, therefore,
to draw a CONCLUSION of what he has been saying in the last
seven chapters. This is basically a CONCLUSION,
a SUMMARY of what has been said previously. Well, what's been
said previously? Well, a LOT has been said previously.
But in Romans 3.25 it says, "...whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood, TO DECLARE HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR
THE REMISSION OF SINS THAT ARE PASSED THROUGH THE FORBEARANCE
OF GOD. Christ is our propitiation. You
know, Paul in writing to Romans in the first chapter, you know,
he goes into this, God has revealed His wrath from heaven, then he
speaks of all this sin and corruption. But there is forgiveness with
the Lord. If we read Psalm 130, that He may be feared. And God
has sent forth His Son to be a propitiation, a mercy seat.
I have a place where I can go and get rid of all my sins. They're gone. Gone. In Romans 4, verse 25, it says,
Who, that is Christ, was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification. It says in Romans 5, 19, for
as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. By the obedience
of that one Jesus Christ, many shall be made righteous before
God. In Romans 6, verse 2, God forbid,
how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer? Therein
we're dead to it, not to His presence. But we're dead to sin. Then in Romans 7, 4, Wherefore,
my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is
raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto
God. Now the CONCLUSION to all this that has been said is this,
NO CONDEMNATION. That's the conclusion Paul draws.
No condemnation. Now this does not mean that there's
nothing condemnable in me anymore. There's a lot that can condemn
me every day. Just my thoughts can condemn
me. Listen to what Paul says in Romans
7, 18 through 21, For I know that in me that is in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. There's a lot condemnable still
in me. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that
which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do." There's a lot
there to be condemned, isn't there? There's a lot to be condemned. But thank God that the Son of
God has come and given us an understanding. He's given us
an understanding. And what Paul is saying is this,
There's no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. This
is our standing in Christ Jesus. We stand in Christ in a legal
matter, we stand in Christ in a covenant matter, and then we
stand in Christ by experience in the new birth. But it's all
in Christ. And right now when Paul's saying
there's no condemnation to them who are in Christ, he is talking
about a legal matter. Standing before God's law, we
cannot be condemned. We CANNOT be condemned. There's
nothing there to condemn us. You see, this is how God sees
us, and how God sees us is exactly how it is. We are in Christ as
Noah was in the ark. The whole world suffered condemnation,
but Noah didn't. And the animals in that ark,
and Noah's family in the ark, they didn't suffer one drop of
wrath. Not one drop of wrath leaked
into that ark. None of it. In Christ we are justified. In
Christ we are cleared of all charges. Now, you have to be
guilty to know what that means. I mean you have to, God has to
make you and I to know what it is to be guilty. Guilty. To really appreciate and understand
and know what it is to be justified by the grace of God through the
blood and righteousness of Christ. In Christ we are made the righteousness
of God. It says in 2 Corinthians 5 21. In Christ we are completely sanctified. In Christ we are completely justified. In Christ are standing in Christ,
we have no sin. Isn't that right? Turn over to Psalms 103. Look at two or three scriptures
here. In Psalm 103, In verse 11, for as the heaven
is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that
fear Him. Now listen, as far as the east
is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions
from us. How far is the east from the
west? They never meet. You keep going east, I tell you
what, you start east, you'll never meet west. Do you go West? You never meet East, do you?
Now you can go North and South, but East and West never meet.
And God says, as far as the East is from the West, so far as HE
REMOVED our transgressions. He did it. Repentance didn't
do it for me. Faith didn't do it for me. God
did it for me. God removed my transgressions.
He removed the problem. He removed the problem. Isaiah
43, look over there. Isaiah 43, verse 25, I, even I, he's emphatic here,
I'm the one who has removed your transgression. I, even I, am
He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake. You see, if
He hadn't blotted them out, He couldn't save me. You know that? He couldn't even call me by His
grace. He could not save me if He hadn't removed the obstacle,
which was my sins. I, even I, am He that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember
thy sins. You remember any, you remember
some of the things you, I mean, there's a lot of things we've,
we've done a lot more things that we don't know of than we do know
of, but there are sins that you, you, you look back on, you say,
well, I wish I hadn't done that. God doesn't even remember it. He doesn't even remember it. Look in Isaiah, back in Isaiah
38, go back to 38. Verse 17, Behold, for peace I
had great bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered
it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins
behind thy back. Rather than get a hold of that,
you and I live too much by feelings. We need to live by the Word of
God. We need to live by the Word of God. This is what God's Word
says. And we take Him at His Word. All my sins have been cast
behind His back. All of them. This is our standing
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1 tells us that we
were blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ before the
world was. All of them. This whole matter
was taken care of before the world was created. You know,
when God Almighty, let's see, when Adam fell in the garden,
was there thundering and lightning like there was at Mount Sinai?
Was there threatening? He heard the voice of God walking
in the garden in the cool of the day. You know why? Because
Christ stood as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The matter had already been taken care of. It had already been
taken care of. This is where we need to grow. We need to grow in the Word of
God. If we really want to find comfort,
we've got to get it from the Scriptures, not our feelings.
Because one day we fill up and one day we fill down. We're like
a glass of water, we're empty, we're full, we're empty, we're
full. But the Word of God never changes and God is good for His
Word. This is all my hope. It's what
I find in God's Word in Christ. Ephesians 1, 3, and 4, listen,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. We don't lack any spiritual blessings. Everything
we need to stand in God's presence, He has provided in Christ. Everything. According as He has chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. Now note the word no, no condemnation. That word no is emphatic. It
means this, there is no condemnation whatsoever. You might condemn
me, you may say, well, I know what you did. I may have said something off
collar that I shouldn't have said to you or whatever, but
God can't condemn me. God's not going to condemn me.
Satan is the accuser of the brethren. You know, he accuses us before
God, but he can't make it stick. He can't make it stick. There
is no way in any way, shape, or form that we can be condemned. In Romans 8.34, Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died He died
for the sins that would condemn us, had He not died for them. It is Christ that died, yea rather
He's risen again. As I read to you earlier, He's
risen again for our justification. Who's even at the right hand
of God, who also makes intercession for us. He intercedes for us. Now this no condemnation is to
them which are in Christ Jesus. It belongs to all who are in
the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter who they are or where
they're from, it doesn't matter. It's to them. It's to them. Now here's a question that popped
into my mind as I was doing this. How do you get into Christ Jesus?
How do you get in there? Well, whatever answers we come
up with, it's got to be scriptural. It can't be just, well, I think
it happens like this, or I think it happens like that. I can name
it, all I thought. Well, stop thinking for a minute
and listen. 1 Corinthians 1.30, But of him are you in Christ
Jesus. That's how you got there. Faith is the experience of it.
Repentance and faith, a new birth, that's the experience of being
in Christ. But God put us in Christ. God
put us in Him. When God brought Noah into the
ark, did He say to Noah, go into the ark? He said, come into the
ark. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to Himself. God called us By experience,
our experience is this, God called us into Christ, and God put us
in Christ in that covenant of grace, and He made Him our surety. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. You don't need any more than
those four things, and you got them, that covers everything. Now here's another scripture
that comforts in Romans 8 28 and we know that all things You
see we know are standing in Christ. We know it's of God And we can't
destroy it because if we could we would But and we know this
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
Because we are in Christ We know that absolutely everything is
working for our good, and that gives us comfort. Whatever trouble
you've got right now, it's working for your good. We have God's
word on it. It may not feel like it, so often
what, you know, when I was young, I had romantic people when I
was a kid, and I had to take some of the awfulest taste of
medicine. But it was good for me. It was good for me. I was forced to eat beef liver.
Because the doctor said the iron, you know, the iron in it and
stuff. So my mother force-fed me. She'd give me a bite and
I'd gag. She'd give me another bite and
I'd gag. I could not walk into a house
if somebody's cooking beef liver now. I'd have to leave. So if
you ever invite me over, don't cook beef liver. Because I'd
turn around and I'm leaving. I'll make a mess if I don't.
I can't handle that, but it's good for me. It's good for me. And whatever's going on in the
life of a believer, it's good. It's conforming you to the image
of Jesus Christ and God is conforming us to the image of Christ day
by day. Everything, everything you Everything
you will go through every day is little by little conforming
you to the image of Christ. And everybody here believes,
wants to be conformed to the image of Christ, don't you? I
know you do. Well, this is what it takes. You know, whittling
off everything that doesn't look like Christ is not pleasant. It's not pleasant. So because we are in Christ,
we know that all things are working for our spiritual good. It may
not look like it, but faith knows better. Faith knows better. Faith
knows it is. And when we understand this,
we worship God as He's to be worshipped. That's when we really
begin to worship God. It's the Lord, Eli said, let
him do what seemeth him good. And we see God's power in making,
listen, He's not just making things operate for our good,
but cooperate for our good. They're cooperating for our good.
Now this does not apply to everyone in general, because if you don't
believe the gospel, it's not working for your good. Everything's
working for your bad, period. Now note the character of those
spoken of in this verse, to them that love God. to them who are
the called according to His purpose. They love God because God first
loved them, but this is their character, THEY LOVE GOD. They love God. You love God,
it's because He first loved you. And then they are THE CALLED,
they are EFFECTIONALLY CALLED, just like Samuel was, he thought
it was Eli, and now it's God calling him. It's an effectual
call. The gospel came to you in power,
not in word only. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians
2.14, whereunto He called you by our gospel. If God calls a
man or a woman, they're coming. They're coming. And God called you according
to His purpose. He has a purpose in calling you. He's going to
populate heaven with a people like His Son and you're going
to be one of them. And here's another one, and I'm
going to wind this down. In verse 18 of Romans 8, 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. You say, Paul? Are you serious? Are you serious? That I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time? What about Job? What about his
sufferings? Well, this is not a novice writing
this. Listen, 2 Corinthians 11, 23-28,
listen. Are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool, I am more. Now listen. In labors more abundant,
in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths
often, of the Jews five times Received a 40 stripes save one
they whipped me five different times 40 stripes save one three
times thrice. I was beaten with rods Once was
I stoned Thrice I suffered shipwreck at night and a day. I have been
in the deep I In journeyings often in perils of waters, in
perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils
by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness,
in perils in the sea, imperils among false brethren, in weariness
and painfulness, in watchings often in hunger and thirst, in
fastings often in cold and nakedness, beside those things that are
without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the
churches. And I count this as nothing,
as a light matter compared to the glory that I'm about to receive. There's something to notice here
about the sufferings he's talking about here. He said the sufferings
of this present time. There's a limit to suffering
and it may not seem like it. It may not seem like it's ever
going to be over. But it is. It will be. Unlike those who
perish, their sufferings are never over. Our sufferings, he
says, are but for a moment. Just a moment. It'll be over
within a moment. Next time you're hurting and someone asks you
what's wrong, you say, well, my leg's about to kill me, but
it'll be over within a moment. Whatever it is, it'll be over
within a moment. My dad, especially in the last
few months of his life, he was really suffering. But that's
all gone now. That's all gone. That's over. That moment's over with. It's
over with. And the glory which shall be
revealed in us, not just to us. We're not going to stand around
and behold the glory of God like we're window shopping. It's going to be revealed in
us. That same glory that's in Christ is going to be in us.
That same glorified body He has, we're going to have. We'll have
a perfect mind. 1 Corinthians 13 12 For now we
see through a glass darkly, but then face to face now I know
in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. The scripture says we'll have
the mind of Christ. We'll have a glorious body as these bodies age and they
break down and they will. They'll break down and they'll
hurt. But in a little while, it's gonna
be a new one that'll never suffer again. Never, never, never suffer
again. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15,
so also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. It's a decaying body that's sown. It is raised in incorruption.
Here's what we need to keep our minds on. It is sown in dishonor,
it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is
raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it
is raised a spiritual body. There's a natural body and there's
a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first
man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Albeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that
which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. The
first man is of the earth earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy.
And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
We'll be just like Him. And as we have born the image
of the earthy, you're looking at earthy right now. I'm looking
at earthy. I'm looking at it. But someday
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. It'll be so
glorious there won't even be any comparison. And the suffering
we have now, listen, someone said this, one second of glory
will outweigh a lifetime of suffering. Just one second. You know why
one second? Because that one second never
ends. That one second never ends of glory. I was thinking that song, Oh,
that will be glory for me. Glory for me. When by his grace,
I look on his face. Oh, that will be glory for me. Paul weighed the sufferings against
the glory that shall be revealed in us. And he says, there's no
comparison. There is no comparison. And you
know, I was reading this morning over in a, I believe it's in
Isaiah. No, it's in Revelation. That's where it is, Revelation,
I believe. He said, I'm gonna create a new heaven, new earth,
and the former things will not come into mine. Those former
things right now that hurts us, has our heart broken, will never
be, they'll never come into mine, never. And then last of all,
in verse 32, chapter eight, 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? All things are yours in Christ.
God has given us himself, Abraham, I'm your exceeding great reward.
He's given us heaven, whatever that is. Paradise! Christ said to that thief, today
shalt thou be with me in paradise. The moment you and I close our
eyes, we're in paradise. That's where we are. Do you find these comforting?
I found this so comforting when I was reading it. I could go
on and on and on and on with scriptures, there are just too
many. But I found this to be so comforting that there's no
condemnation. I am condemnable as can be, but
there's no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. And
that God is making everything work together for my good to
bring me to glory. And He's giving me all things
freely through the Lord Jesus Christ who died for me. That's
comfort. That's comfort. All right.