Romans 8, Romans chapter 8, Bible
study, Revelation 12, we looked at how everything, God of this
world and everything in it is against us. But here, right now,
we're going to look at how everything's for us. Everything's for God's
people. You've read these verses so many
times, I'm never tired of them. Romans 8, read verses 28 through
34. Now we know, God's people, we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to His purpose. For, whom He
did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son that He might, Christ, 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? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us. Oh, how shall he not with him,
with Christ, also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? Is God to justify? Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who's even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. All things are for us. Yes, now who's the us? Who's
the us? Well, verse 1 says, there's therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ. Whoever's in Christ,
God is for them. If you're in Christ, if we're
in Christ, God is for us. Everyone in that ark of Noah
could say that, couldn't they? Everyone in that ark could say,
God must be for us. He put us in this ark. Now, he
wasn't for everybody, was he? Obviously. Those outside the
ark, God was against them. He poured out His wrath on them.
But those that were in the ark, God was for them. How do you
know? They were found in the ark, and
God poured out His wrath on the ark for them. God be for us. This is my first
point. If God is for us, that means
Christ came and He lived and He died and He rose again. He
ever lives for us. Christ died for us. Look at verse
3. It says, the law could not do
this. The law could not justify us. Weak through our flesh, God sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. For a sacrifice for sin, for
us. condemn sin in the flesh that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." I haven't fulfilled, but he did. Remember when he said to John,
it behooves us to fulfill all righteousness. He wasn't saying
to John that you and me are going to keep the law for, no, no,
that's not what he was saying. What he's saying is, You're in
me. You're with me. And whatever
I do, you do. Whatever I do, like a baby and
a woman, an unborn child and a woman, whatever she does, that
baby does. Wherever she goes, that baby
goes. Whoever loves her loves the baby. If she's accepted,
the baby's accepted, right? Her works are its work. That's
what it means to be in Christ. We'll see one day. We're going
to see clearly. We see and know in part now.
We believe that. Someday we're going to wake up
in glory and we're really going to understand. You know why I'm
here? Because of Jesus Christ. Everything seemed to be against
me, including myself. But I'm here because He was for
me. He did what He did for us. That's the gospel in a word.
For us. Two words. He did it for us. Christ died for us. Didn't that
say that? Didn't it say that? Verse 34,
who is he that condemned? It's Christ that died. Who shall
lay anything in our charge? It's God that justifies. So,
Christ came, He lived, He died for us. Let me just read a couple. There's so many I had written
down. I won't be able to... read or
quote them all, but listen to this. It says, Walk in love as
Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us, an
offering, a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Like when Noah got off that ark
and he sacrificed those animals and says, God smelled a sweet
savor. His wrath was appeased." Listen
to this, in Hebrews 9, it says, you know these verses, Hebrews
9, verse 12, it says, it's not by the blood of goats and bulls,
but by His own blood, Christ entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Listen to this, Hebrews 10 verse
20. By a new and living way, Christ
has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His
flesh. Why is God going to let us into
glory? Because He's for us. Because Christ went before us. And he's the forerunner. And
there he sits. And the last thing that happened
after he died was the veil was rent from top to bottom. Come
on in. Who? Whoever Christ died for. Who believes him? For it. So,
Christ came and lived and died, rose again, and ever lives to
make intercession for his people. The Spirit of God is for us.
Look at verse 9 through 11 here in Romans 8. 9 through 11. You're
not in the flesh but in the Spirit. Well, I sure feel like I'm in
the flesh. Now, hold on. If the Spirit of God dwell in
you, now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none
of His. But if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin.
Do you say with Paul in Romans 7, who shall deliver me from
this body of death? Does this body feel like a body
of death to you? You can't get rid of it. It stinks.
It smells to you. Does your flesh smell bad to
you? That's the Spirit of God. That's
the new man in you. It didn't before. Did it. Years ago, before you heard the
Gospel for Christ, it didn't bother you at all. In fact, you
loved it. Like old Moses. But when he sought God at the
burning bush, Something happened. He began
to loathe himself. And this is what the Spirit of
God... Don't let these holy rollers fool you, deceive you into thinking
that being filled with the Spirit is, you know, happy, happy, happy
all the time. No, not a problem. Praise Jesus
and all. They're phonies and they're fakes. The Spirit of
God takes the things of Jesus Christ and shows them to His
people. Satan knows that, so Satan bombards God's people with
all these temptations and trials. Listen, I told a brother this
the other day, when I was a young, first-born, newborn believer,
I was reading, I think, William Gurnall or one of those old writers,
and he was talking about Satan's ways. Now, he deals with people. He said, he'll take someone who's
trusting themselves, their own righteousness. They believe they're so good.
And he said, he'll leave them alone. He has them right where
he wants them. Trusting their own righteousness,
not trusting Christ. He's not their hope of heaven.
In fact, many are going to stand before God someday and be absolutely
surprised. Well, we never did that. We never
did that. Satan leaves them alone. He's got them trusting themselves. A false refuge. He'll leave them
alone so that they think, I'm so good, I must be saved. Then
he'll take that poor sinner who's looking to Christ and Christ
alone, who's trusting Christ and His righteousness alone,
and he'll bombard that person, bombard them with temptation
in their mind, in their heart, in everything, every day, just
beset behind before with temptation so that they think, I'm so bad,
there's no way I can be saved. Helen, when I read that as a
young believer, I thought, does an old preacher think like that?
Hallelujah. There must be hope for me. There's
two men in there. There's an old man and there's
a new man. There's that old fellow who's you know, of the world,
and there's this new creature created in Christ Jesus, the
Spirit-led man of God who loves the things of God, who loves
the Word of God, who loves the holiness of God, who loves righteousness,
who loves the Kingdom of God, who wants out of this place.
Is that you? Is there a war going on? Warring
in your members? It wasn't there years ago. Because
there's one fellow there. But then when Christ came in,
Christ in you is going to be a battle to the day you die,
till you lay down this old body of flesh, when Christ delivers
you from this body of death. The Spirit of God is for us.
It's for us. And he takes the things of Christ
and shows them that God is for us. So the flesh, the world,
the flesh, and the devil is against us. Spirit of God through the
gospel tells us. You wouldn't love these things
if God weren't for you. You wouldn't know these things if God weren't
for you. Like Manoah's wife, remember? Listen to this. All the purposes of God are for
us. Verse 28, we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them that are
called according to His purpose. All the purpose of God. Everything
that God sends. Every single thing that God sends,
wherever it is, upon whomever it is, is for His people. Somehow,
someway, if we could see it all is so connected. All things,
everything in the world works together for the good of God's
people, the glory of God by us. Romans 8 says predestinated. The world doesn't like that word. It's just simply saying that
God has ordered all things before the world began. What has happened, is happening,
is going to happen to God's people. Aren't you glad? They can go
to bed. They can go rest. Tribulation? Paul goes on to say, what's going
to separate me? Far from separating us, far from
being against us, all these things are before us. He set you up tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or sore?
Did that separate God's people in Hebrews 11? He read, did that
separate them? No. Eventually joined them to
Him. And there were four of them.
There were four of us to show us that... A great cloud of witnesses
show us, tell us, that God reigns and rules. We clearly see that
God is sovereign over all things. Nothing new under heaven. If
we look at this present plague, do you know how many plagues
have happened down through the time? Whatever it may be, whatever
it may be, God sent it. Fiery trials, deep waters, And
what these things do for us is show us that our God reigns and
rules, that His grace is sufficient, and gives us a testimony that
we wouldn't have otherwise. It's easy to say God reigns when
nothing bad is happening. But all these people in Hebrews
11, they said, our God reigns. How could you believe that? Look
what you're going through. Job. Job, aren't you mad at the Sabaeans?
No, God used them. Aren't you married to Chaldea?
No, God sent them. What about these boils? If you'd
done this, you'd done that, you wouldn't have had... No, God
sent that. God covered me with boils. Isn't that what he said? Aren't you glad that's written?
Aren't you glad Job 1 and 2 is written? Aren't you glad God
put him through that? And all these things, he didn't
charge God foolishly. And he didn't charge anybody
else with it. He said, God did this. Eli. Eli, both your sons were killed
by the Philistine? No, no, no, no. God did that.
It's the Lord. Let Him do what seems good. Good
for who? For me. And for His glory. Everything. Moses. Moses' parents. How could you believe in a God
that kills all these children like that? Well, I do. And I'm
going to commit my child, they said, to God. If he kills him,
it's the Lord. If he saves him, it's the Lord.
What did he do? He saved him, all right. His
name was Moses. Saved a lot of people through
it. Joseph, you're unfairly treated, Joseph. Look what they've done
to you, Joseph. Look what your brothers have
done to you, Joseph." No, it was the Lord. They meant it for
evil, but God meant it for good. It's the Lord. As I didn't understand at the
time, I was full of fear, and I even cried out unto my God,
and I was wrongly charged. But it was God. It was the Lord. You've lost your husband. You've
lost all your earthly possessions. You're going back home in shame. Naomi, how could you believe
in a God that'd do all that to you? I do. And we'll see. And we'll see. Ruth, you've lost
your husband. You've left your home and family.
And you're a beggar now, going out into the field to gather
a little bit of bread. Ruth, how could you believe God
who does all these things to somebody that he loves? I do. And if you'll just wait, you'll
see. So I'm going to wait on the Lord.
Right? Everything is for us. Ask Ruth. Ask Naomi. Ask Joseph. Ask Moses. Ask Joe. Ask them. They'll tell you. It's all for
us. If we could open up the heaven right now, they'd all say, it's all good. Why? Because God is good. And He's
our Father. And He doesn't do anything wrong.
And He doesn't do anything unnecessarily. And nobody else does anything.
He does it all. Yes! God before us. It can be against us. The promises
of God before us, all of it. By these exceeding precious promises
were made partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that's in the world." How? Promises, promises, promises.
We believe it's promises. You know that all the promises
of God in Christ Jesus are what? Yay! We say yay when we cheer, don't
we? Yay! All the promises of God
in Christ Jesus are yea, and what? Amen. That means, that's the way it
is. That means, I believe it. That
means, so be it. That means, I'm so glad it is.
And that means, ain't nothing gonna be, gonna change it. Amen. That's the last word in the Bible,
Brother Kelly. Amen. I said it, I did it. Amen. Promise, promise. We live by promises. Saved by
hope and His promise. All the promises of God in Christ. Everything is for us. Lastly,
let me say this. God has created, is creating,
And I'm not rightly sure how to say it. Has, is, shall create
a new heaven and a new earth for His people. Completely for
His people. Look with me in closing at Revelation
21. Revelation 21. Go over there. Revelation 21
in closing. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2.
He said, I hath not seen, ear hath not heard. Neither have
entered into the heart of man the things, the things, that
God hath prepared for them that love him." Okay? Not fully. We see through a glass
dimly, darkly. Eye hadn't seen, ear hadn't heard.
If we fully entered into this, nothing would bother us. But
the next verse in that first parenthesis says, But God hath
revealed them unto us by His Spirit. He hath. That God hath created a new heaven,
or is created, shall create a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness,
no sin, nothing that defiles it, nothing that troubles it,
Satan, our archenemy, is gone, cast in the lake of fire. You're talking about all good. Nothing bad, it's gone. Sin's
gone. Satan's gone. Old things, passed away. Old
things. Look at Revelation 21, beginning
with verse 1. I saw a new heaven, a new earth. The first heaven, first earth
were passed away. Now, you know there's some things
about this old earth that's certainly beautiful, aren't they? Beautiful.
And even some things that are enjoyable. We all enjoy some
things here. But it's said in Isaiah 65 that
the former things won't even be remembered. Won't even be
remembered. Won't even come to mind for the
glory that so far exceeds I like to think about the Garden of
Eden. Don't you? I love to think about what that must have been
like. That is nothing compared to what God is. And we're all
going to be there. And no sin. No possibility of it. Look at
verse 1. The first earth has passed away,
no more sea. Why is there no more sea? Nothing
to separate us. No gulf between us. I, John,
saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men, and he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them. and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. There shall be no more death." No more death. No more parting.
Neither sorrow, nor crying. You got a brother in here, like
me, he cries when he's happy. We both wonder how there's going
to be no more tears. I cry when I'm happy. Tears of joy, no more
crying. Neither shall there be any more
pain. No more pain. The former things
have passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write
it down. Write. These words are true and
faithful. And he said unto me, Who is this?
Who's talking here? Jesus Christ. He said, it is
done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst. Who? That is a thirst. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst. Of the fountain of the water of life freely. And
he that overcometh. What's overcome? Faith. Just
simple faith. Shall inherit all things. I will be his God. He shall be
my Son. But, he always tempers. Behold the goodness and severity
of God. But the fearful and unbelieving, And abominable murderers, and
whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars
shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire
and brimstone." Which is the second death. And then he sent
that angel to show the whole city. And John, he saw it all. He looked forward to it. Alright,
let's sing in closing.