There will be someone in here
who has truly stayed on Jehovah, who truly considers the Lord
to be his God and her God and Savior. I want you to turn back
to Romans, the book of Romans with me. Romans chapter 8 is where we'll
be looking. Now, I've said this so many times,
and I continue to remind us that there are three ways you have
to look at the Bible or look at the Scriptures when you read
it, to have a proper understanding of any passage of Scripture.
Whatever you're reading in this book, you need to consider three
things. First of all, you need to consider
who is writing, who is talking, who's the one that wrote the
letter, the book. Secondly, you need to know who he's talking
to, who he addressed the letter to. These are letters, these
epistles, like Romans is a letter. to the Romans. It's a letter. Now, you need to know who's talking,
who wrote the letter, and who received the letter, in order
to know who it applies to. Thirdly, you need to know what
he's talking about before you go over in the middle of a letter
and pull out a paragraph. It would be like taking a letter
I wrote to my wife, and somebody getting it, just any old body
getting it, and pulling out a paragraph out of the middle of it. and
say, well, this is to me, and this is what he's saying to me.
No, no, I wrote it to her. I wrote it to her. It doesn't
apply to you, right? And who is writing the book of
Romans is not Paul the Apostle. Now, he's taking dictation. Paul
the Apostle is taking dictation. holy men of old wrote as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit of God." In other words, God
Almighty is the one who wrote the Bible. Now, stay with me. The roasts, the hams, everything
else the children will keep. They always do. God Almighty
is the one who wrote the Bible. Now, who is he writing to in
the book of Romans? In the book of Romans, Romans
8 and 9, It's been abused to no end and
unused. Look at Romans 1 with me. We'll
see who he's writing to. Romans 1. It's necessary. It's absolutely necessary. I
hope you have a Bible. If not, you're just going to
have to trust that what I'm reading is from God's Word. In verse 1, he says, Paul, a
servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated under
the gospel of God, and it's a gospel concerning his son. And on down
in verse 5, he says, it's by him we have received grace and
apostleship, obedience to the faith among all nations for his
name. In other words, we are missionaries
and ministers throughout the world for the name of Christ.
among whom you," you, you see, you also, the called of Jesus
Christ. See that? Who is he writing the
book of Romans to? To all, verse 7, that be in Rome
beloved of God. You see that? God's beloved people,
the ones that God loves, and he keeps going, called to be
saints. Those that God called by the
gospel. saved by that spirit we talked
about over in Romans 8. Believers save people. Who's Romans talking to, for
the most part? Who's it addressed to? God's
people. Now look over at Romans chapter
8. Most of the Bible is written to God's people. Most of it. Yes, it is. Look at the first
of every epistle. All right? God is the one that
is speaking here. Like I said, no scripture of
any personal or private interpretation, but God Almighty spoke through
these men and told them, write this down, this is my word. God
is speaking to God's people. In chapter 8, verse 1, he says,
There now is no condemnation, there is no judgment, no damnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. You are not in the flesh, but
in the Spirit." Who is he talking to? Those that the Spirit of
God dwells. You see that? Look at verse 10. Now, if Christ be in you, who? You, a believer, a child of God,
the body is dead, you're a sinner because of sin, but the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit, has given you eternal life because of the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Verse 11, if the Spirit of God
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, who is you?
Believers. Verse 14, as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. See there? Verse 15, you have not received
the spirit of bondage again, but you have received the spirit
of adoption. Verse 16, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit. Who is the our? Who is the we?
God's people. I'm not abusing this at all.
This is who this is talking to. All right? Verse 22. We know, who knows? We, God's people, those that
have the spirit of understanding. The Holy Spirit has revealed
the truth to them. Right, Rick? Is that right? That's
what they say. We. He's speaking to we. Verse 35. Look down at verse
35. from the love of Christ, who's
the us? We, believers, right? That's who he's talking to. To
be honest with the passage, you'll agree that's who he's talking
to. Us, who shall separate us? Verse 37, and all these things,
we are more than conquerors to him that loved us. We, us, you,
who? Believers. I don't know if you're
a child of God or not, I don't know. I hope this message, after
it's over, will reveal whether or not you are. I hope so. Verse 39. Now, nothing's going
to separate us, height, depth, any other creature shall be able
to separate us from the love of God. Who's the us? Well, who's
he been addressing? Is that established? Is that
established? Who's he writing to here? He's
not writing to everybody indiscriminately throughout the world. No Siree
Bob, or Bill, or John, or Paul. Now, look down in verse 24 of
this chapter. We are saved by hope. Believers
are saved by hope. The hope of eternal life, the
hope of salvation, the scripture talks about. But hope that is
seen is not hope. What a man sees, why does he
get hope for? He's talking about hope here. Now, stay with me.
This is not a hope that gropes. A hope, a hope, a hope. You know,
you say, oh, I hope so, I hope a hope. That's not it. Are you
saying, well, I hope so, I've got a chance, I wish I had. That's
not what he's talking about here. A hope, a wish, a chance. That's
what most people in this world think salvation is, a chance.
Everybody deserves a chance. Salvation isn't by a chance. Salvation is on purpose. A woman came into the study of
a preacher one time, and she said, Would you explain election
to me? And he said, Okay. He said, Are
you saved? She said, I believe so. He said,
Well, who saved you? You saved yourself, or who saved
you? Oh, okay, well then, did he do
it on purpose or was it an accident?" He said, well, it's on purpose.
He said, that's election. God does all things on purpose.
We try. We make our plans. We try to
do things on purpose. God does. God does in all things. We're going to see that in a
moment. But most people believe salvation is by chance. It's
not on purpose. Most people believe that every
man has a chance, and if only God wants to, if you let him,
and everything is all messed up, and sure hope it all turns
out OK. That's not biblical salvation. This is the reason people don't
have any certain salvation. Their salvation is built on uncertainties. shifting sands, no certainties,
okay? But I believe, now listen to
me, I believe in full assurance part of the time. I believe in
full assurance, but I believe it part of the time. And those
of you who know what I'm talking about know. But anybody who bows
to, submits to, believes in, trusts in, depends upon, follows
after, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is revealed in this book,
and submits to his authority, his salvation, who trusts him
and him alone, his person, his shed blood, as their only hope
of salvation with a holy God. Not their works, not their morality,
not anything they've ever done or ever will have done. Only
what Christ has done and what he does now intercedes for them
immediately. To trust that woman is a saved
human being. You have God's authority on it.
Count on it. And that person has a hope, a
good hope, the scripture says, through grace. A good hope, a
living hope, because it's in a living person. It's a sure
hope. The scripture calls it a sure
hope. Why? Because it's in a sure attain. I ask you what kind of hope you
have. I'd like to ask every person in here. I'd like to bring you
right up here and sit you down and ask you, what is your hope
of eternal life? You believe there's a life after
death? You believe maybe you're going to heaven? I don't know
if you do or not, but I'd like to ask you, why? What is your
hope? Why do you think you're going
to be in heaven? What right would you have to
be there? Why should God let you into his heaven? It's his
heaven. We don't just burst in there and say, I claim it. It's
God's heaven. You can't burst into God's heaven
any more than you can burst into our homes, right? And I'd like
to ask all of us, what is your hope? Now, let me tell you something. Let me tell you what my hope
is. My hope is built on nothing less, nothing more, nothing less
than Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory's blood, his sacrifice. his atoning work and his righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, that is, the best that I do, because it's altogether
vanity and self-righteousness and God won't take it. My morality,
I best not, I dare not trust the fact that I'm a preacher,
that I attend church, that I'm moral and upright. I dare not
trust the sweetest frame, but I wholly lean on that Lord, that
Christ. the name of that person. All right? I'm hanging on to
his robes. I'm covered in his apron. He's got his arms wrapped around
me. And when I get there, God willing, if God asks me, and
he won't, but if he did ask me, why are you here? What right
have you got to be here? I'm going to have to say, Lord,
I ain't got no right at all. But he's got a right, and he
said, if I come to him, I come in with him. Now, unless he is
your righteousness, unless he's your only hope, you're not going
to be there. Is that plain? That's very clear. He's my hope, my only hope. Now,
the only reason Paul calls it a hope here is because he says
it's unseen. It's unseen. In other words,
you don't hope for something you have. I mean, you see it.
Why are you hopeful? That scripture give you a problem?
If a man hopes for something that he's seen, it's not hope.
In other words, he's got it. It's right there in his possession.
And when we get to glory, when God's people get to heaven, you're
not going to live by hope. You're not going to be saved
by hope. It's going to be reality. But right now, it's just a hope
because we don't have it yet. But it's a good hope. It's a
sure hope. Why? He's sure. He's a surety. It's a certain hope. Why is it
certain? Built on certainties. Rock! Rock solid. Now, speaking of
this hope, look at verse 26 with me. I'll go on through here. Speaking of the believer's hope,
and he talks about many things that the believer has, forgiveness
of sins, no condemnation, joint heirs with Christ, spirit of
adoption, many things that the That believer has in Christ,
it's all in Christ, acceptance with God. He says here in verse
26, likewise the Holy Spirit helps our infirmities, our weakness,
our fleshly weakness. Because we don't know what we
should pray for as we ought, but the Holy Spirit makes intercession
for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. In other words, I
have a hope, Paul says here, we believers have a hope of being
heard by God. There was a man one time who
was president of some convention or some religious organization,
but he made a statement. He said, God won't hear the Jews
pray. He came out and said, God doesn't
hear the Jews pray. And he was chastised and castigated,
kicked out eventually, finally. But what that man's saying basically
was so. God won't hear anybody except
one person. God will not answer the prayer
of anybody except one person. You know what the word mediator
means? It means a go-between. It means a negotiator, right?
Everybody knows what a negotiator or mediator is. The scripture
says there's one mediator. between God and men. One go between, one person God
will deal with, one person God will hear, and one person God
will talk to. Right? That's what that scripture
says. The man, Christ Jesus. God won't
hear anybody pray except through that man. the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're going to be heard by
God to be saved, to be accepted, to get into God's heaven, you're
going to have to go through that mediator. The Jew, no man, no
woman, nobody can come right into the presence of God. He's
too holy. He won't let you. You've got
to go through a go-between. Understand that? All right. Now, we're going to only be heard
by the Spirit of Christ. Now, Scripture keeps calling
the Spirit, the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. He's Christ's Holy
Spirit that came to bear witness of Christ, right? Now, I have
a hope of being heard. Why? Because who I am? Because
I'm a preacher? Because I'm a Christian? No. Because the Holy Spirit goes,
the Spirit of Christ, goes to the Father for me and says, listen,
this is what he needs. He doesn't even know what he
needs. He's praying for the wrong things. He's praying in the wrong
way. He's praying selfishly. He wants
a new car. He's got a good one. He wants
a new job. He's got a good one. He wants
to go somewhere where it will take him away from the gospel.
He doesn't need that. He wants this and that and the
other, but there's one thing he needs. He needs to know Christ,
when Christ will be found in him. Now, Father, grant that
to him. That's what he's saying here. We don't know what we ought
to pray for, but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. He's got to go, John, to God
for me, this holy God, and tell God what I really need. I just
don't know. I just don't know how to pray. I don't know how
to approach him. OK? And he has to go according
to the will of God. Verse 27. Now, he that searches
the hearts, that's God. He knows the mind of the Spirit,
and the Spirit makes intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. That's what I was just saying.
The Holy Spirit tells the Father just what we need. Now, the Father
knows, but he goes for us and tells the Father what we need.
Now, verse 28, here we go. And we know that all things work
together for good. to them that love God." Now,
does it stop there? No, it doesn't. To them that
love God, we know this. To them that love God, to them
who are called according to God's purpose. Now, it's so sad. It's so sad
that most people just use this at a funeral. This is the funeral
verse. People merely quote this at a
funeral. But we know and we are assured that all things work
together for good. All things. I heard Jimmy Swaggart
one time say on the television, I heard him say, that's just
not so. I heard him. It's just not so. He said, I knew a man, a preacher,
and his wife died, and this and that never happened to him. In
fact, God couldn't have done that for his good. Let God be
true, and every man, including Jimmy Swagger, a liar. All things work together for
good, that is, God, for God, God's glory, God's welfare, God's
good, according to God's purpose. Right? Whatever takes place in
this universe, and especially in the life of a believer, a
child of God, is absolutely the best thing possible. Now, you
have children, some of you have children. You, as much as life
is within you, you won't bring anything about in their lives
except what's absolutely best, right? According to your wisdom,
according to your power. All things where God has the
power. to work all things together. Everything is working together.
And you see that word there, purpose? Purpose? Now listen, if you don't hear
another word I say today, hear this one word. Purpose. God does all things on purpose. He's got a plan. He's got a blueprint. It's right here. And somebody
is living to carry it out. There is a superintendent of
the blueprint. His name is Jesus Christ. He
is overseeing the work. The superintendent of the work.
And all things are going according to plan. All things. He is all wise, according to
his own wise, unchangeable. He can't change it. Plan and
purpose. It's in God's hands. It's according
to God's plan. And it's for them that love God. Now, listen, this is what Romans 8, 28 is
saying here. This is not my opinion of it.
We know that all things in the universe are working together
for good to them that love God and are called
according to his purpose. God's elect. Paul said in another
place, if there had not been a remnant, if there hadn't been
a remnant according to the election of grace, we'd have been like
Sodom and Gomorrah. If there wasn't some people of
God in the world right now, God would have wiped this mess out
a long time ago. Be done with it. It's a filthy, vile, wretched,
wicked world. Be done with it. Burn it up.
He's going to someday, except he's still got some sheep running
around here. He's got some that know their
sheep, believe their sheep. He's got some others that are
lost sheep. He's going to find them. You
best believe he's going to find his sheep. Every one of them,
every last one of them, when he finds the last one, that's
all she wrote. He says he's going to zip it
up like a garment, like a man folds a garment. It's all over.
Come on home, little ones. Them that love God, we'll call
them the perfect. Now, why does anybody love God Almighty? Why? She said it. We love him because
he first loved us. Now most people abuse this to
no end, don't they? All things work together for
good to them that love God. You know, if a man loves God,
God will do him a lot of favors. No! That's not it. It doesn't start with my love.
It's according to his purpose. And we're going to see that here.
Let's go on. We love him because he first loved us, verse 29.
Four! You see that word four? That's
a conjunction. That means what was written before is something
else coming. It is something else added to
that. You've got to know the rest of it. Page two. Here's the rest of the story
according to Paul. Not Harvey. Paul the Apostle,
the Holy Spirit. We know all things work together
for good to them that love God, who are called according to his
purpose for." Now listen, we know it was for. Whom he did
for known. Now here's another word people
have a lot of problems with. For known. They say, God looked
down and had a big telescope, huge telescope. Looked down through
time and saw who was going to believe on him. That one, John Johnson. He's going to believe. And let's see, is there anybody
else out there saying, all right, I wasn't expecting him. That's what men believe. God
looked down through the telescope of time to see who was going
to believe on him and wrote their names in a book. That's the foolishest
thing I've ever heard. That's an insult to my intelligence. Not only an insult to the glory
and the purpose and the plan of God Almighty, We make our
plan, we have our little will, we say we're going to do something
tomorrow, and we go about doing it, don't we? We think we do.
Lot's cast in the lap, the whole supposing there of the Lord.
But God does do all things according to his purpose. He chooses whom
he will, and the word foreknow there means foreloved, to set
his affection on before the foundation of the world. For love, for chose,
for ordained, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate."
Oh, my! Not that word. Yes, that word! Predestinate. Oh! If you want to start a fuss
and a fight, just say it. Just go anywhere and say it.
Predestinate. Right? It's four times in the
scriptures. Now, if it's just only said one
time, I can understand somebody saying, hey, it's a misinterpretation,
mistranslation. They didn't know it. Four times. Who he did for love, he predestinated. Now, what does that mean? What
does predestinate mean? Now, listen, and I'm going to
explain it very simply. Nobody in here is going to misunderstand
this. God Almighty is the only one
who ever practices planned parenthood. God Almighty is the only one
who ever practices planned parenthood. We say, my wife and I, we decided
to have a child. You can't do it. Can you, Mindy? You can't do it. God's the author
of life, he decides. If you have a child, it's because
he decided. If he has a child, it's because he decided. Right? I'm going to decide to let God,
I'm just going to decide to be a child of God. It's not in your
decision. Is that not right? It's in God's,
it's His family. He decides who gets in it. But
bless God, He has a lot. He has a people that no man can
number. Now here's the mystery of it. Anybody that wants Him
truly, He already decided a long time ago He's going to be there.
I ain't going to try to explain that. But predestination is God
decided to have children. He decides who. He decides when. He decides how. He decides. And he even decides this. He
decides what they're going to look like. They're doing genetic
tampering now. They're trying, you know. And
we'll make sure none of them ever again look like Henry. No. Been trying to come up with perfect
children, babies and all. God does. God decides what every
one of his children will look like. If I could have ten more
children looking just like that one right there, I'd do it in
a heartbeat. Then you might wait. But I'd
do it in a minute, just like that one. Wouldn't change a thing.
God Almighty's got one son. Perfect. Holy. spotless, he said,
I'm well pleased with this boy. And he said, I've decided to
have a whole bunch just like him. That's predestination. I'm going
to have me a people, and every one of them are going to be just
like that son right there, not a whit different. To be conformed,
you see that? To be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn. His oldest, his
eldest son, among many brethren, all looking just alike. Predestined,
predetermined. Now, moreover, he goes on. Here's
another conjunction. Moreover, got something, teachers.
Isn't that what that means? It's connected, right? Conjunction. Something is connected. There's
another verse coming. You've got to read it. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, that is, decide to put into his family
to be conformed to the image of his son, he called them. How
does God save people? He calls them by the gospel.
Right now I'm preaching the gospel. The call is going out. Now, it's
up to God whether or not he's going to make you hear it. Right? That's the effectual call. There's a general call. We talk
about, I'm making this call. Everybody in here is hearing
my voice. But some, only by the Holy Spirit of God, that He keeps
talking about, some people are going to hear. Hey, I never believed
that before. Hey, I believe that now. Why? Who made the difference? God.
He called you. Whom He called. Called by the
gospel. That gospel, it tells who God
is. Holy Sovereign. Omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent,
unchangeable, righteous. Who God is and what we are. Sinners
in the hands of this angry God, to dispose of as he will, worthy
of damnation and hell. That's what the Bible says about
us. That's what God says about us. There's no goodness in them.
Every man at his best states altogether vanity. The sloth
at sin is worthy of death, the scripture says. That's what the
scripture says. And the gospel tells that, and
then it tells who that one is, that mediator, that substitute,
that righteous one. That's what the gospel tells
us. That's how God calls us. The gospel. And not just getting
up and saying, now I want you to believe on Jesus. God loves
you. Christ, Jesus died for you. Now
I want you to believe on Jesus. Come on down here, and we'll
put your name on the right. There's a gospel in that. You've
got to have blood. You've got to have righteousness,
don't you? Yes, you do. Gotta have a substitute. Gotta
have an atonement. Gotta have a high priest. All those who come to Christ,
this Christ by faith, I believe that. I need Him. I'm a sinner. God's holy. I need this substitute,
this representative of mine." He justifies them. See that? Verse 30. Everybody he calls,
he justifies freely by his grace. What does it mean to be justified?
It means God says, you're holy. That's the best thing I can come
up with. It means God declares you holy,
unblameable, unapprovable in his sight. In other words, he
doesn't hold you accountable for any sins. He can't find any. Cast them behind his back. They
are no charge, no condemnation, no record against you. That is,
when you stand before this holy, all-seeing God and he looks for
sin in a particular person, that person whom he has justified,
he looks at No record against you. No record. Nothing on the
books about you. Come on in. You're holy. How? How does he do that? How does
he just up and proclaim somebody holy? We're sinners. How did
he get to the holiness of somebody else? The righteousness of somebody
else? The substitute. This is what
I've been talking about. Christ coming down. He was holy.
God did look at him carefully. He was holy, righteous. And God
said, well pleased, good, holy, righteous, my just servant. Just, just, just. Now, he says, now I'll justify
everybody that comes to him. And he'll wrap that robe around
them. He'll pay for their sins on the cross. Put those sins
away where they're gone. Pay for them. Justice. God has
to punish sin. He said it. The soul that sins
is going to die. We've got to die some way or
another. We've got to die in Christ or we've got to go to
hell and pay for them ourselves. Is that clear enough? Christ
suffered for some people. Who? I don't know. I know they're
God's people. I know that. I know who they
are. There's no E on their head. That's the reason we preach to
all people. God knows though. And he applies
it accordingly. That's not left up to the preacher.
But he knows, and he justifies it. Just. Just. And in him he also justified.
He glorified. He glorified. That is, he eternally
saves. Paul said, we're already saved.
He said, we have been saved. We're being saved. We will be
saved. Now, I've been talking about
the purpose of God. The scripture says in the book
of Acts, known unto God are all his works from the beginning.
Where is that exactly? I forget exactly where it's found.
But anyway, in the book of Acts it says, known unto God are all
his works from the very beginning. He works all things according
to his purpose, his will. What I purpose, I'll do it, he
said. Now, in God's mind and God's eye and God's will and
God's plan, all of his people are Already saved. Already saved. OK? Already saved. That's what
he did. Did you notice how it was in
past tense there? Whom he justified. Whom he did already predestinate.
He called, he called, he justified. Whom he justified, he glorified.
Saved. Saved. In God's mind I before
the foundation of the world. There saved. Now we're creatures
of time. We're in the flesh. And God has
to come in time. He comes in time and reveals
the gospel. He sent Christ down here to actually do the job that
needed to be done. And then we're still in the body,
and someday we're going to have to be delivered from this body
and taken into heaven itself. We'll be finally totally delivered. But to God Almighty, his people
are justified. All right? See? Now look at verse
31. Everybody. What shall we then
say? to these things. Now I told you, this will separate
the sheep and the goats, this message right here. What do you
say to everything I've been saying? Hmm? What do you say? Do you believe this? I had a man I worked with who
said, I'll believe anything but that predestination. And he does. He does. He believes any old
thing. I believe anything but that predestination,
and so will everybody else whom God doesn't reveal the truth
of predestination to. He'll believe anything. Christ
said, A man, let a man come in his own name, and men will receive
him. Let some huckster come along with, like I said, speckled hair
and a good-looking suit and said, Give me a thousand dollars or
you're going to hell, I'm going to die. And people will just
pour the money in, go out to sea and buy this Turn and listen
to him, send him money, get his tape, do anything he says, let
a man come in the name of Christ for the glory of God, preaching
the gospel? I don't believe that. Isn't that the sad truth of the
matter? We're going verse by verse here through Romans 8,
to the glory of God. Not the glory of Paul, man, that
ain't nothing. I'm a warrior. I ain't a fit preacher. The glory of God, His glory is
at stake here. His salvation, the honor, the
wisdom of God is at stake here in the gospel. His Son, if it's
not according to purpose, His Son died in vain, Joe. God's
a mean old to send His Son down here to die if He didn't accomplish
what He sent Him to do. God's a monster. We ain't in this thing to count
heads to see how many people we can get down here, how much
money we can bring in. God's kingdom doesn't depend
on money, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, he says. By my gospel, I'm going to take
the gospel. You don't have to resort to all manner of foolish
tomfoolery and trickery and gimmicks and all of that and beg people
to come down. God will work on them through
the gospel, and they'll come to Christ. And they'll love everything
you say. What do you say to these things? Well, you know what they say.
They say. You use that term? Turn over
to Ephesians chapter 1 with me. Ephesians chapter 1. Why, a man
say, if I believed that predestination and election, I wouldn't pray,
I wouldn't preach, I wouldn't go to church. Well, wait a minute
now. I believe it. I preach. I pray. I go to church. You do too, don't
you? Joe? John? Roberta? You believe this thing? What
are you doing here? You believe that? And if you
believe it, you would too. Yeah, you would. If you believed
it, you would too. Well, you know what they say,
the majority, you know, they can't be wrong. All these people
can't be wrong. They say this, they say that. Well, what do
you say? Look at Ephesians chapter 1,
look at verse 3. It's what we say. Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us, who? Him. Blessed us, who? Us, the elect. 6, called by God
with all spiritual blessings, where are they? In Christ. According,
verse 4, according, it's all according to his plan how he
chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Verse
6, and it's all to the praise of his glory wherein he hath
made us accepted. Verse 5, he's predestinated us. What do you say to these things?
Blessed be the God, that's what I say. Blessed be God. Spurgeon
said, bless me God, if he hadn't have chosen me before the foundation
of the world, he wouldn't have chosen me after I was born. He
sure wouldn't have chosen me then. What do you say to these things?
This determines, this determines, this is your point, this may
be your point of rebellion. What do you say to these things?
Well, yes, it's in there, isn't it? Yes, ma'am, it's in there. Blessed God, your salvation depends
on it being in there. If God hadn't chosen me, I'd
have never chosen him. It is not that I would choose
thee, O Lord, that could never be, because if thou hast not
chosen me, I would have never chosen thee. Where was I? Where were you, believer, when
God came to you? Rooting like a hog in the mud
of this old world. Right? Down in the ditch, down
and dirty. like a prodigal eaten on husks.
But blessed be God for his mercy and grace, he came along and
said, No more. You're mine. I chose you, and
I'm going to have you. I'm going to pay for you, bought
and paid for. What do you say to these things?
I say, the Scripture says, Let the redeemed of the Lord say,
So! Right? Let the redeemed of the
Lord say, It's so! Whatever God says is so! And
that's the way I like it. God be true in every man of liar,
including me. And they say this too, Ma, bless
his holy name, if God be for me now, if God foreordain me, If God
foreloved me, if God forechose me, if God before me, who can
be against me? God before me, who can be against
me? If God foreordained me eternal life, I'm going to be saved now.
Now, folks, I don't know about you, but I like that. If this
thing's left up to me, I'm a goner. I'll fall tomorrow I feel like
a fall every day I'm going to wake up tomorrow Henry and unbelieve
the problem. And he's going to have to work
with me convince me all over again right. But it ain't up
to me. It's up to him. I like that. I like I love that. I love. Boy loves me now you talk about
the love of God now I don't want to now wait a minute Don't talk to me about the love
of God. Don't talk to me about this silly sentimental benevolence. Don't talk to me about God loving
people who are in hell. I won't have that for a minute.
You best be talking about sovereign love. You better be talking about
electing love. That's the only kind of love
God has. You better be talking about everlasting love. Love that never quits. Think
about this. You ever thought about this?
What time did I start? He said, I've loved
you with an everlasting love. He talked about talking to his
people. I've loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore,
with loving kindness, I've drawn you. Because I foreloved you
before the foundation of the world, I've called you by my
grace. He said, I've loved you with an everlasting love. Now listen, think about this
foolishness. If God's love is eternal, but where does he love
somebody? And it's eternal. He never quits
loving them. That means there's some people
in hell right now. If God loves everybody that ever
was born, that means there's some people in hell that God
still loves. That's blasphemy, isn't it? That's
blasphemy. No, the wrath of God is being
poured out on people, not the love of God. What kind of love
is that? It's not love. I'm going to show you here in
just a second. Now listen, I tell my daughter that I love her,
and I do. Boy, I tell you, I do. Now, when I tell her, when I
say, honey, I love you, daddy loves you, now that means that
I'm never going to disown her. Never. As much as God is gracious
to me and restrains me, that means... Susan, would you ever
give up, y'all? Would you ever disown him? Ever?
Mac? Ever? For any reason? I don't
care. If they're in prison, we'll never even imprison Willa. God Almighty tells somebody He
loves them. But He keeps loving them. But
the difference in His love and ours is that He can do something
about it all. He can do something about it. If they're in prison,
He can bring them out. Yeah, He can. He will. He does. If they're wandering, He'll find
them. Yes, but it won't bother them. If my daughter's out there
lost somewhere and I love her, I'm going to find her. or lay
down my life doing it, right? That's what the good shepherd
did with his sheep. So I've learned my sheep. I'm
going down, I'm going to get every blessed one of them. Did
he do it? Yes, buddy, he did. He does it. And that's this old sheep, this
old black sheep, that's his only hope. Only hope, and it's your only
hope whether you know it or not. Now, briefly, let me give you
four points real fast. Briefly. Look down at verse 31
with me. Now, what do we say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? There's four
things here that we don't have in Christ. Four things we don't
have. First of all, no intimidation. In Christ, there's no intimidation.
Who can be against me? Whom shall I fear? The psalmist
said. Of what shall I be afraid? Of
a man? Oh, he's a worm. He's going to
die. That's what he said in Isaiah 50. Of Satan? Are you afraid
of Satan? Oh, he's on a leash. God's got
him on a leash. Chain? Read your Bible. That's what it says. Angels are
kept not their first estate and reserved and everlasting in chains
of darkness till the day of judgment. Satan is an angel that fell,
he's on a chain. God just let his leash out a
little bit. The way he's digging on jerking. He said, now, you
stay right there. Satan, he's on a leash. Myself,
now there's the old boy I have to worry about. Me, this old
boy. We're our own worst enemies.
Yes, we are. We're going to drag ourselves
to hell if God doesn't prevent us. And we are. I don't even have to be afraid
of me. He said, I'm dead. No, He said, I'm dead. Dead man. Reckon yourselves to be dead
under sin, but alive under God. The life that I now live, He
said, I live by the faith of the Son of Christ. No more I. It's Christ. No intimidation. Verse 32. He
has spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all.
Who's us? Who's us? Who's all of us? Believers now, remember that,
that he's talking about. He delivered him up for us all,
believers. How shall he not with Christ,
with this great gift, give us all things that we need? All
things. Secondly, there's no deprivation in Christ. We're
not deprived of anything. No intimidation. No deprivation
in Christ. He that gave us his Son won't
spare us anything else that's needful. It would be kind of
like a man giving you a million-dollar house and then saying, I ain't
going to give you a lawn mower, though. God gave the unspeakable gift
of his Son for his people. Now, is he going to spare you
bread, water, a place to live, comfort? That's pittance, isn't
it? Drop in the ocean. Well, verse
33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's
God that justifies. There's no accusation, no intimidation,
no deprivation, no accusation. That woman that was caught in
adultery, a harlot. She came to Christ. All these
accusers, all these self-righteous religious Pharisees, churchgoers,
threw her down there and said, ah, she's guilty. Look at her,
what she's done. They asked him, John Blessed God, they asked
him, what do you say? Asked him. Boy, that's the wrong
person, isn't it, Jeff? After he was through, they all
went out of the place, guilty. And then he looked at her, a
heartless, unadulterous woman. He said, woman, where are your
accusers? Nobody accused you? She lifted
up her head. dried her tears, and said, I
haven't seen anybody. He said, neither do I. Where
are your accusers, Joe Parks? No man accuse you? Can't do it. Can't lay anything to your charge.
God justified you. I don't care what you've done,
what you're doing now, and you're still a sinner, aren't you? I
mean, you're not now, Joe's bar, but you're still a sinner, in
thought, word, and deed. I always will be. And no matter what you
do in the future. Now this ain't a license to sin.
This is a license to praise. This gives a man a reason to
shout. Somebody say amen. God justifies when a man, where
does a man say when he decides no when God decides, when God
says so. Noah found grace. Was he looking
for it? No. God was looking for him. Abraham
found grace. Why? Was he looking for it? No.
God found him in idolatry. Saul of Persia saw the light.
Was he looking for it? No. The light was looking for
him. God justifies. It's in God's hand. Verse 34,
and last. No, isn't it? Who is he that
condemneth? No condemnation, no punishment,
no eternal punishment for those that are in Christ. Why? Because, he said, we've got an
inheritance and the one who wrote the will ever lives to read it
and make sure we get it, make sure we're never condemned. And
lastly, and I'll quit, verse 35, no separation. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation? No, God said you're going to
have it. He's the one that sends it. Do you believe that? What
do you say to that? That's what Scripture said. You
must remove tribulation out of the kingdom of heaven. Tribulation? No, I won't do it. God sends
it. Distress? Persecution? No, He said persecution
will come. Famine? Famine? No, He said I've
never seen God's seed forsaken or God's righteous forsaken or
His seed begging bread. No, you won't beg bread. You've
got to place the gospel. Nakedness? Peril? Sword? No, as it is written.
We're killed. We're victorious through him
that loved us in God, in Christ. We're crucified. Verse 37, they
in all things were more than conquerors. More than conquerors
through him that loved us. No separation. And he said, I'm
persuaded. I don't know about you. I don't know what you say to
these things. Like Paul here in verse 38, I'm persuaded. He's
persuaded me. I'm persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creatures
will be able to separate us, who's the us? God's people, from
the love of God. Now, let's settle this thing
once and for all. once and for all, the question of the love
of God. Where is it? Does God love everybody? That's
what I say. The love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus, our Lord. Now, if you are in Christ by
faith, this is the seriousness of this matter. This is the reason
for all this. You've got to be in Christ. or
the wrath of God abides on you. Not the love of God, the wrath
of God. But bless God's holy name. If
you're in Christ, He loves you. And you're safe. Safe. I like that. What do you say? What do you say? What do you
say? All right. Stand with me and
I'll dismiss this in prayer. All praise and honor and glory
and all thanksgiving belongs unto
our great God for the great things he has done. Lord, we thank you
for Romans chapter 8 and Romans chapter 9 and 10 and 11 and 12
and all of your words. We thank you. It is true, every
bit of it, and we are so thankful, and so thankful that Christ ever
lives, he reigns, he rules, and he gives the kingdom to whomsoever
he will. We like it that way. That's the
way it will forever stay. In the name of Christ, we pray.
Amen.