Let's open our Bibles this morning
to the book of Romans, chapter eight of Romans. Needless to say, this is one of my favorite portions of
Scripture. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. God breathed, and all Scripture
is profitable unto us who believe for doctrine, for correction,
instruction, reproof, instruction in righteousness. But there are
just certain portions of God's Word that at particular times
meet our own private personal needs. And this Romans 8 is,
Ralph Erskine said, a garden of beautiful blessings, literally
a garden of beautiful blessings. He said this chapter in Romans
is a field of promises, one promise after another, one blessing after
another. And then he called it a string
of precious pearls which need to be considered individually
and together as a whole. So I'm going to try to take these
blessings and promises and pearls this morning and consider them
briefly, individually, and then collectively as a whole. And
when the pastor asked me what my text was, I said, all 39 verses
of Romans 8, he just smiled. I said, you don't think I can
do that in one message? We'll see, he said. But you know, Isaiah said the
Lord instructed his ambassadors to comfort his people. And this, I don't know of any
scripture that's of more comfort and assurance to the people of
God, or speaks to the heart like Romans 8. So I want you to look
at it with me, beginning with verse 1. And if you have an opinion,
you can jot down in the margin of your Bibles these particular
points that I'll be making. The first four verses declares
our standing in Christ. Our standing. Just write those
two words. Our standing, verses one through
four. And here's what it says about
our standing. It says, There is therefore now.
Right now. Right now. This present hour.
There is therefore now no judgment. We're not under the judgment.
We're not under condemnation. There is therefore right now
no condemnation, no judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus.
No condemnation. It doesn't say we're not condemnable.
We condemn ourselves. It doesn't say we have no sin.
We say with David, my sin is ever before me. But before the
Father, because Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree
and paid for them, there's no judgment. There's no condemnation,
none whatsoever, to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk.
Now, how did we get in Christ Jesus? We're in Christ by divine
covenant. We're in Christ by divine election.
We're in Christ by regeneration, baptized into Christ by the Holy
Ghost. We're in Christ by faith, but
we're in Christ. And we walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. I'll deal with that in a few
moments, but look at this verse two. This is our standing now. There's no condemnation, and
then we're free. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ, the gospel of Christ, which our pastor talked
about us, talked to us about a while ago, substitution, the
gospel of Christ has made us free. free from the law of sin
and death. What is the law of sin and death?
Well, listen to the Scripture. By one man, sin entered this
world, and death by sin. That's the law of sin and death.
Is the law sin? No, the law is holy. But the
law was given to sinners, and because we're sinners, the law
brought death. That's all. The law can't give
us any relief. or any life, the law says the
soul that sinneth shall die. So by one man sin entered the
world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men.
The law of sin and the law of death passed upon all men. But Christ made us free. I'm
free from that law. There's no condemnation, and
I'm free from the law of sin and death. It no longer pertains
to me. It no longer curses me. I'm not
under it as a covenant. I'm not under it as a curse.
I'm free. Taking it out of the way. That's
our standing. And then verse 3 said what that
law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. Is
the law weak? No, the law isn't weak. The law
is powerful. But we make it weak, as far as
we're concerned. The law can't help me. The law
is weak through the flesh, my flesh. I can't obey the law.
I can't keep it at all, neither can you. But what the law could
not do, it couldn't justify us, it couldn't redeem us, it couldn't
give us a righteousness. But what it couldn't do, because
of the weakness of our flesh, God did. How'd he do it? He sent his own son. his own
son, his only begotten son, his well-beloved son, the son of
his love. Send him here made of woman,
made under that law. And the law killed him. The law
of sin and death became sin and death to him. He bore our sins
and died under them. And God sending his son in the
likeness of our flesh condemned sin in the flesh. This is our
standing, no judgment, free from the law of sin and death. Now
watch verse four. Righteous, perfectly holy, that
the righteousness of the Lord, the righteousness of God's perfect
love, might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. We have a perfect holiness now. Already fulfilled. Fulfilled in every jot and tittle.
There's nothing lacking. There's nothing to be added.
There's no installment payment to be made. It's fulfilled in
us. Actually in us. He's going to
present us holy, unblameable, unreprovable in the sight of
God. That's remarkable, isn't it?
But that's our standing right now. No judgment. There's therefore now no judgment
to them who are in Christ. They're free. The law has no
claim. The law can make no charge. The
law cannot condemn. I'm free from that law as a covenant,
as a curse, as a bondage. And I have a—I can face the law.
I can look right straight into God's law and say, you can't
touch me. You can't condemn me. The law has been fulfilled. That's
like a man who's been sentenced to serve a certain length of
time in jail because he's broken a law. And when he's gone to
jail and served that time and out, when a policeman walks down
the street, he doesn't hide. He walked through a courtroom
and a judge come in, sit down, get his gavel. He doesn't hide.
You've got nothing against me. I've paid my debt. You can't
condemn me. I've paid my debt. And we can
look right into the face of the law and say, you can't touch
me. I have a perfect holiness in Christ. That's our standing.
All right. Now in verse, right there at verse five, write this,
our character, our character. Now, they that are after the
flesh. You know a while ago it said
they that are in Christ do not walk after the flesh but after
the Spirit. But here it's described in people
who are not in Christ. They're after the flesh. They
do mind the things of the flesh. Now, that word mind means they're
concerned about the things of the flesh. People who are not
in Christ, who've not been regenerated, who've not believed. Their world
is a world of flesh. They mind those things, they're
anxious about those things, they're taken up with those things. They
continually think about the world and the flesh. The world and
the—that's their thoughts. That's their—that's what their
minds center on all the time. They that are after the flesh,
they that are not in Christ, they that are still carnal, They're
concerned about, anxious about, taken up with, continually thinking
about this world and this flesh. But, they that are after the
Spirit, those who've been regenerated, given a new heart and a new nature
to love Christ, they do mind. They're concerned and anxious
and taken up with and think about the things of the Spirit, the
things of God, the things of his word, the things of his kingdom,
the things of his church, the things of his promises. Anything
having to do with God and the kingdom of God, we care about,
we think about, we're concerned about. To be, verse 6, to be
carnally minded, or after the flesh, to be concerned with this
flesh all the time, It's death. It's a sign of death. In other
words, a person that is taken up with the world, with the things
of this world. Like our Lord said, What shall
I eat? What shall I drink? What shall I wear? Those things
the Gentiles seek. That's the end of their very
being. They're concerned about it, anxious about it. Taken up
with it, the world, its popularity, its pleasures. its approval,
its enjoyments, its luxuries, its pleasures, bent on those
things. That's a good sign a man's lost.
That's what it's saying. To be kindly minded is death. It's a sure sign that that person
does not have the Spirit of God. But to be spiritually minded,
to be taken up with the things of God, to actually be interested
Like right here now, a while ago, the pastor was here and
reading those verses in 1 Corinthians 9. You were sitting here just
taken up with that. Just, I want to know what that
means. I want to know what Paul's saying.
I want to know what God is saying. I want to know what God's will
is. Like Moses said, Lord, show me your way. Show me your way. Show me your glory. If you don't
go with me, don't let me go. I'm just taken up with with you
and with the things of the kingdom of God. I want to be committed
to Christ, and I want to be in fellowship with Christ. Now,
that's the sign of life and peace. I was in an elderly man's home. He's 80-some-odd years old, not
too long ago. And he watches me on television. He lives down in a few hours,
a couple hours from Ashland. He just lives for that program.
And he has his tape recording, he has his tapes around. He can't
get out much. His wife's dead and he lives
alone. And his daughters take care of
him. But he plays those tapes all the time. He got his Bible
and reads his Bible. The last time I was in his home, he told me this. He said, I've been such a great sinner
Why would the Lord show mercy to me? You reckon that I have
a good hope in Christ. I said, my friend, as much as
you love the gospel, and love the Word, and are taken up with
the Word, and how you thirst after the Word, and how you rejoice
in the preaching of the Word, I said that's a pretty good sign.
A pretty good sign. that you have life. And that's
what Paul's saying here, to be carnally minded, to be taken
up with this world and just enamored with this world and
its approval and its popularity and its power and its possessions
and prestige and recognition, pretty good sign man's lost,
isn't he? But when I see and hear a person
who's taken up with the world who wants to know Christ, like
you said, to win Christ, to know Him, to attain to the resurrection,
that's a pretty good sign that God's in there, the Spirit of
God's in there, and you can take comfort in that. Because, look
at verse seven, the carnal mind is enmity. The carnal mind hates
God. The natural mind literally hates
God. He hates God. He reasons against
God. The natural mind hates God. And listen, it's not subject
to the law of God, to the gospel of God, to the word of God. Not
subject. I don't care what the Bible says.
I've had folks tell me that. I say now, talking to a professing
church member one time, man, his wife, talking about divorce,
and I said, that's just out for you. The Scripture says you to
love one another, and forgive one another, and stay with one
another, and why be in subjection to your husband? She said, I
don't care what that say. We see that person not only hates
this, it hates the author of this. It hates God. That's, in
their natural mind, it's not subject to God. It's not subject
to the law of God. And you know who says here, it
can't be. It can't be. The natural mind cannot. It can't
be submissive. It has to be destroyed. That's right. God doesn't take
this old heart and fix it up so it'll obey God. He kills it.
He gives us a new heart. The natural mind, the natural
mind cannot be mended. It cannot be repaired. It cannot
be restored. It has to be destroyed. And a
new heart, and a new nature, and a new spirit, and a new man
is created. And that new man mortifies and
puts down that old man. Just stop it now. Get down. You're not running this show
now. God is. That's what the new man is. Just
puts him down. Oh, has to do it every day. Has
to do it continually. Crucify. Take him out and lay
him to the cross. Because you ain't running the
show now. To be kindly minded is death. To be spiritually minded
is life and peace. And that old nature is not subject
to the law of God and never will be. Not even in a regenerated
man. That old man has to be mortified,
be killed. All right, so then, they that
are in the flesh cannot please God. Cannot please God. Cannot. All right, verse 9. Write this down, verse 9. You
mean we do that alone? No, we've got a helper. Start
with verse 9. Verse 9 through 13, write our
helper. Verse 1 through 4 is our standing. Verse 5 through 8 is our character. It's a new creature. It reminds
the things of God. But thank God, verse 9, we've
got a helper. But you're not in the flesh,
but you're in the Spirit. the Holy Spirit. If so be it
that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. You know, when our
Lord was leaving His disciples in John chapter 14, He told them,
I go away, but the Comforter will come, the Holy Spirit will
come, and He'll abide in you. The Holy Spirit will abide in
you, and the Holy Spirit will teach you the things of mine.
He'll take the things of mine and show them to you. You'll
not be alone. He'll help you. And that's what he's saying here.
You're not in the flesh. You're in the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God's in you. He's our teacher. He's our comforter. He's our guide. He's our influence. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. We're born of the Spirit.
We're baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit. We're indwelt
with the Holy Spirit. I pray for the fullness of the
Spirit. I pray to be filled with the
Spirit. We all pray for a special spiritual
anointing and help for a given task. But a believer doesn't
pray for the Spirit. He has the Holy Spirit. He's
not alone. If a man doesn't have the Holy
Spirit, he's none of these. You see, the Holy Spirit awakens
us. We're born of the Spirit of God. We're born of the Word and the
Spirit of God, so we have the Holy Spirit. Now, seeking the
baptism of the Holy Ghost, we have the Holy Ghost, who baptized
us into Christ. But be filled with the Spirit,
the Word says. We pray. I prayed before I came
up here, and you do every time you step into this place. Lord,
don't leave me alone now. Help me. Give me a fresh anointing. Give me fresh wisdom. Give me
a fresh understanding. Give me words beyond my words,
and thoughts beyond my thoughts, and help beyond my strength.
Let me preach in the power and unction of the Spirit, and you
pray the same thing day by day. Now help me, Lord. Help me. Give me what I should
say and what I shouldn't say." Now verse 10, he's our helper,
and if the Spirit of Christ be in you, that's who, if Christ
be in you, if the Spirit of Christ be in you, the body's dead because
of sin. Our old nature is dead. It's
marked for death. It's doomed. It's headed for
the grave. It's going to dust you out of
the dust you shall return. This old man is dead because
sin killed us. Sin killed us. Adam would have
lived forever if he hadn't of sinned. But he died. And we're going to die. and the
body is dead because of sin. But the Spirit, the Holy Spirit
in us, is life because of Christ's righteousness. You know, when
Martha and Mary met our Lord after Lazarus died and the Lord
came down there to Bethany, and first thing Martha said to him,
said, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died. And
our Lord said, well, he'll rise again. She said, I know he will
in the resurrection. He said, Martha, I'm the resurrection
and the life. Lazarus really is not dead. He
that believeth in me will never die. He that believeth in me,
though his body's in the grave, he lives. And he that believeth
in me and liveth shall never die. This old man, because of
sin, is dead and is dead. What the new man created in Christ
Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God who dwells in us, is life. I'll
never die. We'll never die. Our bodies will
go back to the dust, but we're not going to go to the dust. I'm not going to the grave. I'm
going to glory. And if this earthly tabernacle
be dissolved, I have a building of God. not made with hands eternal
in the heaven. So, you can't do anything about this
body. It's dead because of sin, this old man. But the Spirit
of life, the Spirit is life. Christ is life. We have life
because of his righteousness, him who is righteous. But now,
well, this is still our helper. If the Spirit of Him that raised
up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, the Holy Spirit dwell
in you, you can't put the Holy Ghost in the grave. You can't
put Christ in the grave. If He dwells in you, who is life,
He that raised up Christ from the dead, His mortal body, shall
quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit who dwells in you.
He's our helper. We're not alone. We're not alone. We're not walking in our own
strength and health and power. He dwells in us. Therefore, brethren,
we're debtors. Not to this world. We don't owe
this world anything. Not a thing. We're debtors, not
to the flesh. Don't cater to it. Don't pacify
it. Don't copy it. Don't encourage it. It doesn't
need any, does it? We're debtors not to the flesh,
nor to live after it, nor to pursue it. We're debtors to him, to live
for his glory. How much I owe when I stand before
the throne, dressed in beauty not my own. Then, Lord, shall
I fully know, and not till then, how much I owe to him, to him,
not to this world. Don't owe this world anything.
All right, starting with verse 13. Let's give this one here. If we live after the flesh, we're
going to die. That's eternal death. We're going
to die. This body's going to die. This
is talking about eternal death. If we live after this flesh,
what shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world, and
what? Lose his soul. If we live after the flesh, we're
going to die. But if you, through the Spirit, by the help of the
Spirit, strength of the Spirit, filling of the Spirit, mortify
the needs of this body, keep it under, you live. It's at your
affection. You know that scripture said,
set your affections. If you be risen with Christ,
set your affection. That's singular. That's not plural. Affections. Affection. Your mind,
heart, soul on things above. That's life. That's life. All
right, verse fourteen now. Here's our family. Talk about
our heritage, our family. I have a cousin, a first cousin. He's all taken up with family
trees. He's traced our family back as
far as you can trace it, as far as you can trace it. He's got
a chart made up of the family tree. But my family is a whole
lot like your family. It's like turnip greens, the
best parts underground, already been buried. But this family, here's my heritage. Now here's the family tree I'm
interested in. It goes back to Abel, righteous
Abel. He's in my family tree by grace. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses,
my brother. I got a family that we're proud
of, brag about. And this is our family here.
Start with verse 14 through 17. For as many of you, as many as,
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God. Sons of God. We're talking about
now. Beloved now. You know, back there
in verse 1, he said, Therefore now, no condemnation. Beloved
now are we sons of God. It does not yet appear what we're
going to be. But we know this, when he shall appear we'll be
like him. We are now sons of God. Think about that. A son
of God. A son of God. Regenerated with
the Spirit, indwelt with the Spirit, led with the Spirit.
Sons of God. As many as received him, to them
gave he power to become sons of God. Now, sons of God. Verse fifteen. You've not received
the spirit of bondage. again to fear. That's the bondage
of, that's the spirit of a slave, a slave scared. A slave is scared. A slave fears,
and the word fear there is scared, afraid. A son fears, but the
word fears respects a father, a mother. The slave fears God,
afraid. The son fears God, reverences
Him. Isn't that right? Respects Him
in all and loves Him. Can you love somebody and fear
them? Oh, yes. Oh, definitely. You fear to offend
them. You fear to offend them. You
fear to hurt them. You fear to bring reproach on
them. One of my grandsons, one time
in school, They talked about drugs to children, and they said,
put out a reason why you wouldn't touch drugs. He wrote down these
words. It would upset my grandfather. That's what I'm talking about.
It upset my grandfather. I fear God. Not that I'm running
scared. but we fear the Lord. He's given
us not the spirit of bondage like a slave, but the spirit
of a son ever, father of father. That's right. That's our family. The read on here, verse 16, "...and
the Spirit himself." I like that word better, King James, than
itself, because the Holy Spirit is not a he, it's a him. The
Holy Spirit is him, person. The Spirit himself beareth witness
with our spirits that we are children of God, and if we're
children, we're heirs—heirs of God and heirs with the Lord Jesus
Christ. If so be that we suffer with
him, we may be glorified together." We have an inheritance. Christ
is our portion. He's our inheritance. That's
what the word portion means. It's my part, my lot, and my
inheritance. And that inheritance, glorify
them with the glory which you—I've given them the glory which you've
given me, Christ said. Glorify me with the glory which
I had before the world, and the glory which you gave me, I've
given them. We're joint heirs with Christ.
And we have an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, reserved in heaven
that never will fade away, never can be taken away. will be glorified
together. That's our inheritance. If we're
children, then we're heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. That's what husband and wife
are. They're joint tenants, joint heirs. What's His is yours. That's right, because you're
one with Him. And the glory which you gave
me, Christ said, I've given them, that we may be glorified together. All right. Now, verse 18 through 23, write these words
there in the margin, our expectation, our expectation. 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. Now brethren,
your pastor wrote an article in the paper in the bulletin
this morning about sufferings and trials. And there are plenty
of them on this journey. And you've experienced many,
and you have some yet to experience, as I have. And no trial or suffering
is easy. If trials were without suffering
and without discomfort and without pain, they wouldn't accomplish
the purpose for which God gave them. Did you hear what I said? If they were without pain and
without discomfort and without sorrow, they wouldn't accomplish
the purpose. I had a preacher friend in my
home recently, and he's gone through some great trials, and
he said, one time I became so twisted with pain and trouble,
I just said, I don't need this. I don't need this. And then he
said, I thought, evidently I do, or he wouldn't have sent it.
That's a pretty good answer, isn't it? He said, I corrected
myself, and I said, well, evidently I do. But now listen to me. When we're able, how can we handle
these things? Well, here's one way. When we're
able to look at all of Earth's sorrows and trials and troubles
in the light of eternal glory. All right, that's what he's saying
here. Listen, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory. What did you
say back there in verse 17? We're going to be glorified with
Him. And when we look at these present problems and trials and
troubles and heartaches, compared with what we're going to have
in just a few hours, they ain't nothing. That's what they say. They're nothing. They're nothing. They're not even worthy to be
put in the same sentence. They're not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us, his children. Not worthy. Not worthy. Let me read you something. Don't
you turn to it. I want you to stay right there
because we're coming back there, but listen to this. He says here in 2 Corinthians. Listen to this.
Our light afflictions—our light afflictions—they're not light,
are they? They are compared to what we
deserve. They are compared to what our
Lord bore for us. They are compared to what some
others have endured—their light—and their light to what they could
be. So our light afflictions are
but for a moment. They're just temporary. They're
just—it came to pass. This, too, shall pass away. And
it worketh for us—these light afflictions work for us—a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look—this is
the solution, this is the key—while we look Not at these things that
are seen, but at those things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal. Those things that are not seen
are eternal. That's it. That's right. Our expectation, I expect in
just a while to be perfectly conformed to His image, and all
these things will be forgotten in a moment. In a twinkling light,
we shall be changed, and all is forgotten. Far, verse 19,
I want you, everywhere you see the word creature here, put creation. Even this world, this beautiful
place you have here is going to be a lot better looking than
it is now. Listen. For the earnest expectation of
the creation waits for the manifestation of these sons of God. For the
creation was made subject to vanity. Not willingly, but by
reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. The creation
partook of Adam's sin too. Adam ruined this world. He not
only ruined his children, he ruined the world in which the
children live. And he brings forth thorns and
vires now, where it once brought forth fruit and glory. But it's
going to be changed. It's waiting on God to make us
like Christ, and He's going to make this world over again. New
heaven, new earth. Because the creation itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. You think the Blue Ridge Parkway
is pretty now. You wait till you see it then.
That's right. You wait till you see God's creation. And us, his new creation. That'd
be something more. For we know, verse 22, that the
whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but we groan
too, we travail too, ourselves also, which have the firstfruits
of the Spirit. What's that firstfruits of the
Spirit? Love, joy, peace. We got a foretaste of heaven
already. This is a foretaste of heaven.
I watch you all greet one another, and you hug one another, and
you kiss one another, and you love one another, and you show
grace and kindness. You're generous to one another.
You talk about the get-together Saturday. Some of you can't hardly
wait till the get-together. That's the foretaste. That's
the firstfruits of the harvests to come. We who—the creation
out there doesn't have any firstfruits. The animals don't either. They're
wild as a buck. You don't change them. Don't
ever get your pet tiger because he's still a tiger. But us, we
have the first fruits. We've been changed. We've been
changed. We got the first. You love one.
You really do. You've got grace. You really
do. You've got faith. You really do. But it ain't nothing
what it's going to be. We don't love like we're going
to. That's right. We don't have the Faith is going
to give way to sight. We've got the first fruit, just
a taste. We've tasted that the Lord is
gracious. And we've grown because we want more of what we have.
All right, now verse 24. We wait for the redemption of
this body. Verse 24, right here, verse 24 through 27, our hope. Our hope. We're saved by hope.
We have a blessed hope. We have a sure hope. We have
a living hope. We're saved by hope. But it's
not seen. Hope that is seen is not hope. What the man seeth, what doth
he yet hope for? But we hope for what we see not.
Just like Abraham hoped against hope. What was the basis of his
hope? What God said, God would do. And that's how we're saved. We
believe what God said, God would do. We're saved by that hope.
That's my hope. Abraham had a hope. that he'd
have a son. No human possibility. But God
said it, and God is able to do it. And that's the basis of his
faith. That's the basis of our hope.
That's our hope. We hope, verse 25, we hope for
what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. We're waiting
for that redemption of the body. Likewise, what's this? The Spirit
himself helpeth our infirmities. We don't even know the things
we ought to pray for. But the Spirit itself, that's
the Spirit of Christ, maketh intercession for us with groanings
which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the heart
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. That's Christ. Christ
makes intercession. The Holy Spirit intercedes through
us. Christ intercedes for us. All right, put this down. Here's
our covenant. And when David lay dying, he found his comfort
and confidence in this covenant. Here's our covenant. And we know
that all things in heaven and earth, all things, past, present, and future, all
things, materially, physically, emotionally, spiritually, all
things work together for good, eternal to them who love God. We love Him because He loved
us. To them who called according to His purpose. Watch it now.
For whom He did foreknow, foreordain, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son. That Christ might be the
firstborn among many brethren, moreover, listen, whom He did
predestinate, them He called by His Spirit, by His Word to
His Son. and whom he called in Christ
he justified, fully put away their sins, and gave them a holy
righteousness, and made them accepted in the beloved, and
whom he justified them he glorified." That's our—that's the covenant.
That's our covenant. And David lay dying. These were
his last words. Although it be not so with my
house, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Ordered
in all things, and sure, this is all my salvation and all my
desire. Although at this present time,
it doesn't look like it's doing much, does it? But it is. That's His covenant, everlasting
covenant in Christ made with His elect, His church, Mount
Zion, His people. That's our covenant. Now in closing,
here's our message. all these things being true is
our message in five questions. Look at them. Now, what should
we say to these things? All that we've been looking at
through this chapter. What do you got to say? You know
what Paul said? If God be for me, who can be
against me? If God be for me in election,
in redemption, in covenant mercies, in salvation in Christ, in His
Spirit, in His purpose of life. He's part of me. He's on me.
He's for me. Who can be against me? Satan,
demons, world, law, whomever. Who can be against me? And here's
the second question in our message, verse thirty-two. He that spared
not his own Christ Jesus sent him into the world, delivered
him up to death into the hands of wicked men, into the hands
of justice and the law, to be slain, to be crucified for us. He delivered him up for every
one of his elect, every one of his sheep. I lay down my life
for the sheep, he said. But here's the question. How
shall God not, how shall he not with Christ, if we're in him
and with him and of him, How shall he not with him give us
freely what he purchased? All things. If Christ bought
it, it's ours, isn't it? It belongs to his church. Can't
take it away from him. Freely. Here's the next question. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Now, we're chargeable,
but it don't do any good, because Christ paid it off. All the debt
I owe. Sin left a crimson stain. He
washed it white as snow. My sentence is served. My death
has already been accomplished. My debt is paid. My ransom is
paid. So who's going to charge me?
God justified me. Justified me, not guilty. All
right, here's the next question. Who can condemn us? You know,
that's a bold statement. That Paul's looking into heaven
and looking on earth and looking in hell. He says, who, who can
condemn me? What's his answer? He didn't
say, I belonged to the church all my life. I was a preacher,
Sunday school teacher, made a profession, gave my time. No, he said, it's
Christ that died. It's, who can condemn me? Christ
died for me. Not only that, but he's risen
again. And when God raised him from
the dead, he gave notice to the whole world that he accepted
everything Christ did. Not only is he risen again, but
he's at the right hand of God. He's already entered into glory.
Our forerunner is already within the veils, seated at the right
hand of God. And not only that, but he's making
intercession for us. He's there for us. Now, who can
condemn me? There's the answer. Now here's
the last question. Who's going to separate us from
the love of Christ? Our Lord said, My Father gave
me my sheep, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's
hand. My Father which gave them greater than all. No man can
pluck them out of my hand or my Father's hand. No man, no
person. Listen, tribulation, trouble,
distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, so on. Why? It's written, for our sake we're
killed all the day. We've been killed before, we'll
be killed later. We've been persecuted, we're counted as sheep for the
slaughter. But in all these things, we're more than conquerors through
him that loved us, because of him that loved us, and him that
sustains us. And 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,
if I left anybody out, nor any other creature can separate me
from the love of God. Wait, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. In Him. Start with no condemnation. Why?