We consistently have this battle
within us, don't we? The battle of sinful flesh against
the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us. Folks, I'm here to tell
you this morning, our Lord has already won that battle. I'd like you to open your Bibles
to the 8th chapter of Romans, if you would. We sang this song
just now as I was singing along those words in the last stanza
of the top part there. It says, then I repented of my
sins and won the victory. You know, that's true to a point. But people want to think that
a dead man can get up and all of a sudden start repenting.
The problem is, God had to grant me repentance before I could
repent. My Lord had to give me life before
I could come to Him. And each and every one of His
children were running about through the world, doing whatever they
thought was right in their own minds, whether it be going to
a religious function, or going to the bar, or doing whatever
they were doing, dead in trespasses and sin. Not even having the desire to
follow the true living God. You may have been thinking you
were following a God, but you had no desire to follow the living
God that is represented in this book. God must give life. And when He does, all of a sudden
you start seeing this body of flesh and what it really is before
God. Oh man! Scriptures talk about
where sin is bound is grace is bound is more. You know what
that means? It doesn't mean that you can go out and, oh, I'm going
to go sin more so I can get more grace. That's not what that means
at all. What that's telling us is that the more we see ourselves
for what we are, the greater His grace becomes to us. It means more to me the grace
of my Father because I see the more my body is sin, the more
my flesh is nothing but sin. And it becomes a war between
my flesh and my spirit. To one who has never experienced
God's loving grace, it might seem that all we ever bring out
in our messages here at Rescue is doom and gloom. Or that guy
over in the corner who's always on his hands and knees crying
out, Lord, have mercy on me. Absolutely. But God is merciful
to him. And that's the good news. Be
on me. And my God is merciful to me.
Isn't that wonderful? Why? Because His Son was victorious
over my sin and my death. There's victory in Jesus and
in Him alone, the true and living God. Not some wannabe God, not
some God who says, well, maybe this, maybe that, no. But a God
who says, shall. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. His name will be called Jesus,
for He shall save His people. It may seem like to someone outside
who has never experienced grace that it's all doom and gloom.
All they may hear with these ears is the beggar in the corner
crying out, Lord have mercy on me, a destitute sinner. The sin-filled
flesh never being able to do anything but sin. There is no
good in this flesh. I can't even trust my own feelings.
This is important, folks. This is important that each sinner
saved by grace must see. We see ourselves in a state of
bankruptcy. We must see ourselves in that. We see ourselves that we always
must be reminded of the awful pit that our Lord and Savior
reached into and pulled us out of. But I hope God doesn't leave
you with that. I hope our Lord doesn't leave
you with that picture alone. You must see that picture. You must be brought to see the
painfulness of what we are in the flesh before you seek the
glory of God and His Son, the Lord Jesus. Because that's the
only way out. That's the only salvation there
is, is in Him. May God be pleased to help us
never leave anyone in the frame of mind, in that frame of mind
of sorrow with our message. My prayer this morning is that
God would be with us and guide us and use us to bring a message
of hope. A message of salvation. Salvation from the sinful state
that we were all born into. A hope for our spirit. A hope that there is life. And
that life is in a sure hope. Not a maybe. Not a possible. Not if you do this. Not if you
do that. But a for sure hope. Not on something
that I might do. But on the assurance and the
sure and the perfect hope of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.
A hope of salvation from the state of sin that my flesh must
deal with. A perfect hope and a perfect
Savior. A Savior who saves. One whose
hand cannot be turned. One who is God Almighty with
the power of God through every morsel of him. Couldn't think
of a better thing. Through every atom that is called
the Lord Jesus Christ. You know there is a God-man sitting
in heaven right now with holes in his hands and feet and his
side. Sitting on his throne. Ruling
over everything. Sovereign God of everything.
Why is that important to a sinner? Because I need somebody who rules
over it all. Don't leave something up to me.
I'll mess it up. We need a perfect hope, a perfect
Savior. One who saves. One whose hand cannot be turned.
One who can satisfy the holy justice of God. Who can do that? Jesus Christ, the Son of the
Living God. And it is in Him, in Christ Jesus,
in who He is, in His works, in His righteousness, in His sacrifice,
in His resurrection, that the children of the Most High find
peace between our flesh and our spirit. He is our Captain. He's the one who went out before
us. There's a story in the Old Testament.
told Israel. Now, you know, Israel was a picture
of all of God's people throughout all of time. They were just a
picture. They were used as a picture for
as long as they were supposed to be used as a picture. Folks,
I'm telling you, God's not going to come back and make a new temple
in Jerusalem. He's on His throne now. He doesn't
need to come back to the earth and make a throne. He's not coming
back to save all the Jews, for not all the Jews are Jerusalem. Now, there are a lot. I'm not
going to say there aren't any. I'm not putting the Jewish religion
or the Jewish people down in any way. But God's people are
not the entire nation of Jews of Jerusalem. God's people are
throughout all the world. Throughout all time, throughout
all nations, throughout all tongues. Aren't you thankful for that?
Because that means right here at Rescue, some of God's people
could be. Over there in San Mateo for that
new church, some of God's people could be. Pray for those dear
folks. Keep them in your prayers. Ask
that the Lord may further his word. I'm excited about that
over there. That just excites me. I told Kevin Thacker down
there in San Diego, I said, brother, I'm as excited about that as
I was when you first came here to San Diego. If God is raising
a man up over there, that blesses my heart. I want to see my Lord's
Word go out. I want to see more of His people
be called out of darkness because that's my joy. That's the joy
of my life that the Lord called me out of that darkness that
I once walked in and shined His light in me. And that's the joy
of every child of God. He is our captain. Oh, back to
that story. The Lord sent Israel. He said, sit down. Just wait
here in the camp. The enemy was in a big old huge
camp against them out here on another hill, and they were ready
to come in and wipe out Israel. Israel was one of the smallest
nations out there. There were all kinds of nations
out there that were twice, three times bigger than them. And the
Lord said, now just sit and relax. I got this hand. Their captain
went forth, made a noise in that camp and scared everybody out
and the next day Israel went in and took everything that belonged
to the other people and they didn't have to fight at all.
Why? Because their captain fought for them. Our captain fights
the battle for us. If you go in the bathroom and
you look in that mirror and you start seeing the sinful flesh
that stands before the mirror and all you do is look at that,
you're going to lose. You're gonna go into desperation,
turn from that and look to the Word of God where it points us
to Jesus Christ, our Captain. He is our armor. I think I'll
preach on that next Sunday. All the armor of God. Maybe that's
a teaser, maybe he'll show up, maybe he won't. He is all of
our strength. When you have the One that has
all power in heaven and earth, and under the earth as your captain,
as your armor. What else could you need? Can
you help it at all? No. Just sit down and let God do
what He does. Let Him take control of you.
Fight the battle for you. That doesn't mean you need to
give into it and just, okay, fine, I'm just going to sin all
my life. No, that just means that the Lord will fight it for
you. He is our strength. He is our might. He is our all
in all. To those whom He has loved eternally,
those for whom He has revealed Himself to, He is all of those
things. Are you with me in Romans chapter
8? I want you to look specifically at verse 37. Now, we've read
through, and I'll bet there are some of you who could quote the
words of Romans 8.28 all the way through the end of the chapter
without even blinking an eye, but I want you to focus this
morning on one thing. Remember, I want you to walk
away today The glory of Christ moving in
you, not that man who's just sitting over in the corner crying
out for mercy, because that is us, but the one who has received
mercy. The one who has received the
grace of God. Knowing that He has done it all
for us. That it's all about our Savior.
Romans 8 verse 37, we read these words. We are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. This is the title I'd like to
bring before you this morning, the message, the subject matter.
Turn in your Bibles, if you would, over to Isaiah chapter 40. Conquerors
through Him. The word conquered means you
are successful, superior, you've won the battle. The battle is
over and you've come out victorious. There's victory in Jesus. The people of God must walk through
this valley of the shadow of death on our path to our real
home that's laid up in heaven. Our Savior has prepared mansions,
as we sang in the song, for all of His elect. Every child of
God. Folks, there is not going to
be an empty seat in heaven. Every child of God. shall be called
out of darkness." That thief on the cross was called out of
darkness right there on the cross just hours before his death.
That dear man who's sitting in the front room next door in the
parsonage, the Lord could call him out of darkness tomorrow
and he could die minutes after that and he's still going to
go to heaven. Our Lord has called His people and is calling His
people out of every nation, every town, and they must go through
this battle between the flesh and the spirit. We do what we
shouldn't, and we don't do what we should. Every single child of God can
understand what Paul wrote when he said to Timothy, this is a
faithful saint and worthy of all acceptation. that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and then he says
this, of whom I am chief. Every child of God could stand
up and say, no, you're not, I am. No, you're not, I am. No, you're not, I am. We've been
brought to see our sins so that we might see the love of our
God for us. Everyone of his elect must be
brought to an understanding in regeneration. That means, in
other words, in quickening, in giving life, or bringing life
to what is called a spiritually dead soul. We must be brought
to the understanding that there is nothing good of this flesh. All have sinned and come short
of His glory, especially me. So much so that I take no confidence
in this flesh. There's no confidence in what
I do. There's only confidence in my victory. and my Savior
and what He has done. We see the sin that is in our
flesh and we cry out, Lord, please remove this thorn of my flesh. Please take this anger that I
have away. Please take this hatred that
I have for this person away. Please take these thoughts of
mingling with false religions and pretending to be with them
away. This thorn bears its hole in
my flesh, and yet here are the words that our Lord gives, the
words of grace, the words to each of us for whom he died,
peace, be still, my grace is sufficient for thee. The Lord
speaks to us in loving words through the preaching of his
gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified is a love letter. And folks, that's a lot of letter
right there telling us about our Lord and how He loves His
people. He speaks to us in loving words
through the preaching of His Gospel. Speaks of us in a love
letter to His bride. A love letter to the church.
This is who He's speaking to. Are you with me in Isaiah 40? Look at verses 1 and 2. He says
this. He says to Isaiah, Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith your God. Oh folks, I pray our Lord
is speaking to you through His Word this morning. If all you're
hearing is the voice of John, you're going to miss it. But
if God is speaking you to the truths of His Word, listen to
His Word to you. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, verse 2, and cry unto her, that
her warfare, the battle, the battle of that sin that we deal
with every day, it's accomplished, that her iniquity, do you have
any iniquity? God's people are all going, yes,
that's what I can say, I'm the chief of sinners. Of course I've
got iniquity in me. It's all been taken care of according
to God's Word right here. Your warfare is accomplished,
that your iniquity is pardoned. All of your iniquity has been
laid on your Savior. And the bitter sweetness of it
is this, that it's bitter to me that my Lord has to take that
upon Him. Him who is perfect, who knew
no sin, who never sinned, became sin for me, for you, That's bitter,
but sweet is this that it's gone! It's paid for! Your iniquity
has been pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for her sins. You got troubles going on in your
life right now? I don't want to go into any details because
it's none of anybody's business. Kathy and I have troubles with
things in our lives, not between the two of us, but things that
are going on in the world around us. You may think, oh, what kind
of troubles do they have? They live in a little house right
here at the church, everything's beautiful, there's animals eating out in
front all morning long, just a gorgeous thing. We have family. I don't know if any of you have
family, but family can be troubles. I thank my God for the troubles
that he's bringing my way. Do they hurt? Yes. Does it bring
me to despair to want to cry out? Yes. Lord, have mercy on
us. Give me the grace. Give me the
grace to be gracious to my family as you have been gracious to
me. This is how my Lord calms the
storm. The storm is brewing in the troubles
around us. And this could be anything. This
could be the government that we're not happy with. This could
be the county that we have to deal with. It could be the family
we have. It could be the sin that disturbs
even the inner being. How does our Lord calm that storm? Peace. Be still. I've got to cover it. I've taken
that. And I've taken it for my own.
and I've gone to the cross and shed my blood for you. This is
what the Lord tells each and every one of us. This is what
God is speaking to our hearts in this very word that we've
just read through His word. Your warfare is accomplished. It's done. Your iniquity is pardoned. It's not even yours anymore.
You're dead to sin. He calms the storms of life by
revealing to the hearts of His chosen people that He is God
and there is no other before Him. Sovereign, ruler over every
detail, every dot. All things are for His pleasure
and according to His purpose. He brings peace to His people
through His Word. Sinners, saved by grace, are
sent out to speak about His grace to sinners. who need His grace. This is our command. We bring
the only comfort that is truly out there, that is that Christ
has come and saved His people from the wrath to come. There
is no other way. You cannot fight the curse of
sin. When sin came into the world,
God cursed all it is. Everything seen must be destroyed. It must be burned up. It must
be put away. For the God of all creation is holy. perfect in
every way, so holy that He cannot even look upon imperfection.
The Lord of all glory through His sovereign grace made us perfect
in Himself. How? How? By being made sin for
us. By taking all of our iniquities
upon Himself. He who knew no sin was made sin,
made our sin. How? I've heard men try to explain
that. I can't wrap my mind around that. How can a holy God be made
sin? I don't know, but He says He
was. How can God the Father punish God the Son who knew no sin? I don't know, but He says He
did. I know this, that my Lord went to the cross and paid for
those sins as though they were His own, even though He'd never
sinned. That's what it says in His Word.
And I believe His Word. And I'm thankful. Could you be
anything less than thankful? To know that all of our sin was
laid upon Him? And that our iniquities are pardoned?
How can any mortal man fully understand it? Just as no mortal
man can fully understand that how God can be three distinct
persons, yet one God. We read in 1 Timothy, 316, and
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels,
preached unto the Gentiles, and believed on in the world, and
received up into glory. In John chapter 14, verse 9,
we read these words, Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long
time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that
hath seen me hath seen the Father. Or, as we know so well, the verse
in John 10.30, I and my Father are one. How can we understand
that God became flesh? I can tell you this. I may not
understand it, but my Lord puts it this way. He says, my ways
are not your way. See how He contributes? See how
He encourages me not to trust in this flesh? Not to lean upon
my own understanding? In fact, that's what we read
in Proverbs 3, verse 5. Our Lord inspires to write this,
trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine
own understanding. Are you most miserable in this
battle between flesh and spirit? He that hath an ear, let him
hear this. In Exodus 6, verse 7, our Lord
inspired the writer Moses to write these words. And I will
take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God, and
ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you
out from under the burdens of Egypt. You know, the burdens
of Egypt was slavery, bondage, Each and every one of us were
born into the slavery of sin, the bondage of sin. There was
a time in each and every one of God's children's lives where
sin had a hold of us and we loved it. It was what we wanted. We didn't want that purification
that was with Jesus Christ. We wanted ourselves. We wanted
our will. We wanted to exercise our free
will and do what we thought was right, when we thought was right. But God, but God who has loved
us with an everlasting love would not leave his people to himself.
He came to us when we were dead in trespasses and sin and quickened
us, made us alive. Gave us life, gave us a new heart.
A new heart that instead of running from him, runs to him. Runs to
Him and rests in Him. Takes all of our cares to Him.
You got a problem going on in your life? You got something
going on that you don't like about yourself? Get out on your
knees in the closet and talk to the Lord about it. He knows
what you're going through. These are the words to His chosen,
His elect, those for whom He would lay down His life for,
those for whom He shed His own blood for. He says, Her iniquity
is pardoned. Allow me to quote from Henry
Mahan. Henry Mahan wrote this, he says, What shall I say to
these people to comfort them? What is the believer's source
of greatest comfort? It's the good news of the gospel.
Cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. The battle is
over. and thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. All of our enemies have been
engaged by our Captain, and they are conquered and shall soon
be under our feet as they are now under His feet. The battle
of sin, the battle of self, the battle of self and the battle
of the world, and the battle of death, these are all conquered
by our conquering Captain. He says, her iniquity is pardoned.
All of our sins, past, present, and future, are blotted out,
cleansed, atoned for. And remember, no more. The Redeemer
has redeemed us, and we have no sins. We are with His spotless
garments. We are wrapped in His righteousness,
and we are as holy as the Son of God. of his blood. In other words,
his blood is so sufficient that he covers it double. And then
he quotes scripture, Henry Mayer does, where sin did overflow,
grace much more overflowed. End of quote. Our warfare is
accomplished. We have rest in the works of
our Savior. Now turn over to Hebrews chapter 4 if you will.
While you're turning there, allow me to quote from Matthew 11,
verse 28, where our Lord says to us, speaking to each and every
one of us, every one of his people, he says, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart, and ye shall find rest unto your hearts. Our Lord sends
out a general call to all of mankind. That's what it's talking
about in Acts 16.31, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved. That's the general call that
we give to all mankind. But who are those that will believe?
Who are the whosoever that it talks about in John 3.16? They're God's elect. They're
the ones that were chosen in Christ before the world ever
was built. Before the world was ever even
thought. It says, you must be born again, and life comes from
God. And it comes to His elect. God
comes to each and every one of His people in the day of love
and with the power of God, and He quickens them, makes them
alive, giving life to the dead. And through the preaching of
His Word, they too will find rest in the Son of God. They
too will come unto Him and set their labors aside. They too
will come to the One who is called Jesus. for he shall save his
people. Many will hear the word preached,
but few will believe. Look at verses one and two of
Hebrew chapter four. Let us, let us fear, lest a promise
being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem
to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as to them, but the word preached did not profit them,
not being mixed with faith and them that heard it. That means
there were a whole bunch of people who heard the gospel, the true
gospel preached, but they didn't believe it. You see, faith, to
believe our Lord, the whosoever that believes, can only believe
with God-given faith. You're not going to muster it
up on your own. You're not going to get it through
reading the scripture and becoming, oh, I know all about God's word.
I've read it five times. I know somebody. who reminds
me quite often that they've read through the book five times. Five times. And because I have
it, they know way more about God than I do. Yet they have
no idea. They have no idea what the grace
of God is in their lives. They still look to their works.
They still look to what it is that they can bring to God to
save them. God doesn't wait for you folks. If the Lord was to sit back and
wait for any of His people, none would come to Him. Our Lord has
purposed everything. And everything that God has purposed
is to glorify His Son and save His people. John, I know I've
heard this, I've heard this over and over again. Does it amaze
you every time you hear it? of the grace our Lord has for
you then? Are you blessed every time you
hear it? Of the grace that God would have for anyone? Especially
this sinner who stands before you? The Word was not mixed with
faith, and faith is a gift of God. It's a gift of God because
if it wasn't, man would boast about it. That's what Ephesians
chapter 2 verse 8 is talking about. Salvation is of the Lord. He is the Alpha and the Omega.
We rest in His work. We rest in all of it. And we
have no confidence in the flesh. We don't trust in anything of
ourselves. Not even our belief. We only trust in Him. He. Our trust is in His Word to us.
We rest in His promises that He has a people, that He has
given, that God the Father had given to Him before the world
was. We trust that He completely and fully saved these people
by sacrificing Himself for their sins to the uttermost, to the
satisfaction of Himself. that the blood that was shed
on His cross was His own blood, perfect in every way, satisfying
the justice of God. It paid the debt in full, and
all for whom the Father gaveth Him shall come to Him. These
are promises that cannot be thwarted. They cannot be turned. We have
perfect rest in Him. Look at verses 3-6. 3-6 of Hebrews chapter 4. For
we which have believed Do enter into rest. You know what that
means? That means we stop. That means
we repent. That means we turn from trying
to earn our salvation. It doesn't mean we just sit back
and do nothing. What it means is we put all of our trust in
Him. We don't look to the right hand and see what the right hand
is doing and then tell the left hand, see what the right hand
is doing over there? See how good it makes you feel? No, we can
only trust in our Savior. We enter into a rest, as He said,
as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest,
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For He spake of a certain place of the seventh day on this wise,
and God did rest the seventh day in all His works. And in
this place again, if they shall enter into my rest, Seeing, therefore,
it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it
was first preached entered not in because of unbelief." God
the Father promised God the Son a people. And God the Son promised
to save this people. And God the Spirit had promised
to those who believe to call those who believe. Jerusalem,
your warfare is accomplished. It's finished in Him. We rest
in the Son of God, the Son of the Living God. Rest in finished
work and the finished work of our Savior Christ Jesus. He has
promised good to all who love Him, to them that are called.
Turn over to Romans 8.31 and we'll close with these words.
You know, I could stand up here for the next two hours and preach
a good message to you, but nothing, nothing is better for my soul
than these words that we read in Romans 8.31. What shall we
say then to these things? We're talking about we are conquerors
in Him. Everything we need is accomplished,
furnished, purposed, and done by Him. And He does everything
perfect. So that means we're perfect in
Him. We're complete. Isn't that what Scripture says?
We're complete in Him? What shall we say then to these things if
God be for us? Who can be against us? He that
spared not His own Son, His own beloved, perfect Son, but delivered
Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give
us all things? Are you missing anything? Is
there anything we don't have? I'm telling you here, folks,
today, we don't know how much we got. We got everything. If He gave us His only begotten
Son, how shall He not give us everything else? Verse 33, who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Jerusalem, your
warfare is accomplished. Your iniquities have been pardoned.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather than 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, Thy sake we are killed all the
day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay,
in all these things, in all those things we just spoke of, we are
more than conquerors through Him that loved us. And knowing
that we are more than conquerors, knowing that we have accomplished
everything through Him, not through the flesh that we walk in, but
through Him, we can read these next words in a very personal
way. Are you persuaded? Has God persuaded you through
the preaching of His Word that you are a conqueror of all things
in Him? For I am persuaded neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor power, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us. shall be able to separate me
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. In
the book of John, I believe it is, our Lord says, my sheep hear
my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish. How could I forget
this one? And I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. We're talking about our conqueror.
Can anything separate us from the love of God which is in His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? That's not what our Lord says
right here in John 10. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, Now is that assurance? I can tell you that if you're
a child of the true and living God, not by something that you
have done, but because of the love that our Lord has for His
people, if you're a child of the true and living God, you
can take these words to the bank. To the bank. My Father which
gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." Folks,
we have a conqueror. We have a conqueror who never
has lost any battle, and never will lose any battle. That's
how we sing that song, Victory in Jesus. Would you stand with
me, please?