Our first speaker this morning,
Pastor Bruce Crabtree. Bruce, I'm looking forward to
hearing what the Lord's given you. I pray he blesses you as
much as he did Friday night. Come bring the message God's
given you. If you want to turn with me to my
text this morning, you'll find it in Romans chapter 8. It is a joy to be with you, a
great blessing to be with you. It would be a much greater joy
if I wasn't preaching. We were talking about sometimes
preachers. We're not together for just a
few minutes, and we're talking about the difficulty of preaching.
It's the most difficult thing I ever did in my life, was try
to preach. The most heart-wrenching thing that I ever did in my life
was try to preach. Alexander McLaren said the Lord's
day was a day of wool for him because he had to preach. There's
been preachers who have had strokes preaching in the pulpit, heart
attacks, died, and I don't think it was from being overjoyed about
preaching. It's difficult, isn't it? And yet it's one of the most
joyful things when the Lord comes and opens Your lips and opens
the hearts of the people and such communication that goes
on between you. Nothing like preaching. It's
such a mystery. But I am glad to be here and
it's good to see old friends. May the Lord bless his message
this morning. I want to begin reading here
in verse 28 and Romans chapter 8 and finish that chapter. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. 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 all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that 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, or nakedness, or pearl, or sword?
As it is written, for thy sake we're killed all the day long. We're counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things, we're more than conquerors
through him that loved us. For 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,
nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, the Lord. The Apostle
Paul had just made a statement here in verse 15, that we have
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received
the spirit of adoption, whereby you cry, Abba, Father. And I
can't help but believe, making a statement like that, that he
continued here in these verses that I've read to you to give
us some passages of scripture that would dispel some fears
that you and I have. That's my subject this morning,
fears dispel. Can my fears be dispelled? Todd
and I were talking yesterday and he said over 300 times in
the scriptures, this little phrase was used, fear not. And that
tells us something, doesn't it? If the Holy Spirit was pleased
to make that statement that many times, it must be that God's
children have fears. And they probably have as many
different fears as the many different times that verse is written. 300 times or more. And it would
tell us also that our fears are ungrounded. Why would the children
of God fear? We've not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but we do. Poor Zion has a thousand
and one fears. A lot of it is about the future.
Give no thought for tomorrow, and yet what do we do? We think
about tomorrow, what's coming tomorrow. What will it be like
tomorrow? That's going to be my first point,
but don't we worry about the future? Job said, that which I fear just
come upon me. Did you ever wonder what kind
of a man would sit and meditate about evil that might come upon
him in the future. He'd lost 10 children, lost his
health, lost many friends, having trouble with his wife. And he
said, that which I feared has come upon me. What would make
a man sit and meditate? You know I've got 10 children
and I could lose them. I've got my good health, but I could lose
it and sit on a heap of ashes and scratch in my balls. Well,
we're awful people, aren't we? To think about that. That fear
may have been founded, well-founded. That's strange. I like the old
adage that people used to say, I would rather wait and fear
and die once than fear and fear and fear and die a thousand deaths.
Those poor disciples, the Lord told them, get in the ship and
go across to the other side. Remember when he told them that?
Get in the ship, we're going across to the other side. And
they got right out in the middle of that sea in a storm and they
said, surely we're going to perish. Was that fear well grounded?
No, it wasn't well grounded. We're going to perish. No, you're
not going to perish. Fear not, you're not going to
perish. If I come here this morning and
I was preaching to a people that had no regard for the authority
of God's word, I wouldn't preach this. Because everything I got
to tell you this morning is founded upon the infallible word of God. The Bible that I just read to
you is the words that God spake out of his own mouth. And the
only thing I know that will remove these ungrounded fears is a faith
in what God said. Our Lord said, let's go to the
other side. Were they going to the other
side? Then why did they fear? The very next verse of chapter
5 said, and they came across to the other side. It always
happens that way. And I'm of the mind, brothers
and sisters, to believe if they had really got the Lord's Word
down deep in their heart and believed Him, they may have got
in a storm, but they could have enjoyed it better than they did. What tore their minds and hearts
up was, we're going to perish in this storm. Believe God. He cannot lie. To lie is a sin, isn't it? And
if God has spoken it, it's true. It's true. So I want us to look quickly
this morning at these four fears I think probably all of us are
confronted with at one time or another in our Christian life. Here in verse 28, for we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the call according to His purpose. Do you ever fear
what's going to happen to you tomorrow? Next week? Aren't you glad that
you don't have poor knowledge? I'm often so thankful I have
no idea what's going to happen in this message. I don't want
to know what's going to happen to me tomorrow. Wouldn't it be
awful if tonight You could just go to sleep and wake up five
years from now. Where would you be? What kind
of condition would you be in? You may find yourself on a ventilator
in a hospital and the doctor said, he's not going to make
it. Wouldn't you be devastated? You'd be devastated. I would
be devastated. No wonder the Lord Jesus told
us, don't give any anxious thought for tomorrow, for you don't know
what tomorrow holds. Aren't you glad that whatever
you go through in your life today and tomorrow, and through your
whole Christian life, that God who is all wise, who is almighty,
is working everything for your good, So if you had the ability
to go to sleep tonight and wake up five years from now on a ventilator,
what would you say? He's brought me here. This is God working to bring
everything to my good. Bruce, what about being on a
ventilator? Would that be for our good? Yes. Yes, it would. You know this old story? It's
an old story. We know it. We've heard our preachers preach
it to us so many times. It's not just what we perceive
good that's good for us. It's what God knows that's good
for us. And it didn't seem good in our
eyes and it didn't seem good in Joseph's eyes that his brethren
hated him and put him in a pit and sold him as a slave. He probably
sat in that pen and thought, this is the most awful thing
that ever happened to me. What's going to become of me?
It wasn't good for him when he went down into Egypt and he was
accused of attempted rape and put in prison. That's awful. They put his feet in the stock
and his ankles swole and he couldn't understand the language that
he was hearing and he cried, he missed his father. He missed
his house. And all the years, year after
year after year, Satan kept whispering to him, this is terrible. This
is terrible. You ought to fear and quake for
the condition you found yourself in. This is terrible. But all
of a sudden, God revealed the end of what he was doing. He
set Jacob on a throne down in Egypt. Joseph, and he looked back over
his journey there, and he said, I know you meant it for evil,
but God meant it for good. Someday the path he chose for
me will all be understood. In heaven's clear light I'll
see all things worked out for good. But do we have to wait
until we're at the end to believe that? A strong faith in the Word
of our Lord will dispel the fear of what we may face tomorrow.
What might you face tomorrow? It may be devastating. I mean,
you look at some saints that you know. You look at some of
the saints in the Bible. I'm not telling you your future
may be turned upside down. But if it is, who does it? Who is working that to turn your
world upside down? The always loving God. He's done it. Who is it that's
working? God is a working God, isn't He? He's not up in heaven just seeing
how things are going to turn out. He is working in your everyday
life. Every minute detail. and nothing
is going to hurt you. No evil is coming your way. Not
if God is working. Can I show you, if you hold that
passage there, and look over in Psalms chapter 37 with me. Psalms chapter 57. Look at this. Psalms chapter 57 in verses 1
and 2. Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me. For my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge, until these calamities, these troubles,
all this evil be overpassed. I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth all things for me." Boy, don't this
seem Lack of contradiction here. He said, I'm in all these calamities.
All this evil has come upon me. And who's working it? Who's performing
it? God. God is. When you think about the future
and these thoughts begin to make you afraid, just think of this,
brothers and sisters. It don't matter what comes on
me. It don't matter what you have to face tomorrow or next
year. God is working it all for your
good. That's wonderful, isn't it? All
things work out for good, we know. Such is God's great design. He orders all our steps below
Purpose is divine. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense. If you do, you get yourself in
trouble. You'll be afraid. Brother Don used to say, don't
judge God by his providence. We can't understand providence
most of the time. Judge his providence by him.
He's your father. He loves you. He's working everything
for your good. Let that dispel your fears of
the future, of tomorrow. That's the first thing. Back
over in our text, let's see something else. Here's another fear that
we sometimes have. When the Lord first saved me,
I didn't have this fear, but sometimes I've had it since.
Did you ever have the fear that you weren't going to make it?
I just ain't going to make it. I believe the Lord saved me.
I've got some assurance of that. I just don't know if I'm going
to make it. I don't know if I'm going to make it to heaven, to
be with the Lord, to be with those holy angels and saints
for all eternity. Look who I am anyway. Look at
sorry, wretched me. How could heaven be prepared
for somebody like me? I just don't know if I'm going
to make it. You ever have that fear? Well, it gnaws on you,
doesn't it? I didn't have that fear when
the Lord first saved me. But as He began to open my heart
more and more, and saw what it was to be saved, and saw this
sin that still works in me, wretched man that I am, I tell you what,
it started some doubting in my soul. Could you even be saved? Are you even going to make it?
Well, Paul gives us something here in these two verses, verse
29 and 30, I think to dispel that fear. Whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
son. He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Whom he
did predestinate, them he also called. Whom he called, he also
justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. There's no links. There's no
weak links in this chain. That's been said so many times.
Those that God foreknew. That doesn't mean that God looked
down through time and saw a difference in some of you. And said, I'm
going to choose you because I see you'll do something somebody
else won't. He foreknew the person. And because He foreknew the person,
He provided for them. What did He do? He predestinated
them to be conformed to the image of God's Son. And because He
predestinated you to that end, He called you. Now here's where
we have to begin in our experiences. Has God called you? Has He called
you out of the darkness of ignorance? Out of the deadness of the spiritual
grave? Has He quickened you? Has He
revealed Jesus Christ to you? Can you earnestly say, as Todd
told us the other night, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. Jesus is the Christ. I know Him. I know Him. Has He been revealed to you?
Then God has called you. He's called you. And if He's
called you, what else has He done? He's justified you. He's
justified you from everything. From the law that you broke.
You're justified from all the sins that you committed against
Him. You're justified from it. Justified by His blood. Justified
by His grace. He's cleared you of all your
charges. He's brought you to believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's justified you. You don't
believe none of this old stuff about I believe in Christ and
now if I'll live good enough and long enough, then God will
justify me. No. God has justified you. He has saved you. He has revealed
His Son to you. And what happens to those whom
He justifies? He glorifies them. He glorifies
Him. All of this is in past tense,
is it? Those He foreknew, He glorified. It's already done. In the purpose
of God, it's already done. Boy, we just can't get a hold
of that, can we? Just by faith. It's done. I had the unpleasant
opportunity one time of having to go see a lawyer. And there
were some documents, he said, we've got to get these documents
rescinded. I said, what do you mean, get
them rescinded? He said, as though they were never there. Rescind
them. And he did. He got some documents
rescinded. But you can't rescind history.
And this is history, isn't it? God said, I've purposed it, I
will also do it. He saved us and called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. You look at yourself and you've
got reason to doubt yourself. Will I make it? Well, if God
has called you, if you find yourself in Christ
this morning, then look at this verse and say, yes. Not for anything owing to me,
or my efforts, or my faithfulness, but God, the all-wise God in
Christ, has purpose to save me, poor, wretched, lowly me, and
if He has purpose that, He'll bring it to pass. There's nothing
wrong with having that assurance, is there? That's not presumption,
that's disbelieving God. I remember one day, as I often
do, I mean, I was so down, Man, I was so down, I couldn't get
out of bed. And I get in those places sometimes,
I'm there for a day and just mope around. And I was in one
of those places one day, so doubtful, so anxious. And I saw these two
verses in just a flash of time. It just come tumbling into my
mind. And I saw all of this as history. And I thought, yes, I'll make
it. Yes, because of what God has done. I have purpose, Bruce,
to save you. And I will save you. I will save
you. Won't that dispel your fears
about whether you're going to make it or not? Don't you like
it here in these two verses where he never mentions a thing about
us? It's all about what he did. He foreknew. He predestinated. He called. He justified. He glorified. And it don't say a thing about
our trials. You've got to go through all
of this and all that. He doesn't even deal with that
at all. And there's a reason why. He
wants to turn our minds to this purpose. God's eternal purpose. He said, set your mind on yours.
It's not about you. Not about your doubts and fears
of the greatness of your faith. It's about what He has purpose. There's not a weak link in that
chain anywhere. What a great assurance of our
salvation. How many fears has this dispelled? Those whom he foreknew, he also
glorified. Thirdly, I've had these fears
before and you probably had too. Fear that I'll be condemned at
last. Fear that my sin will be charged to me. Todd dealt with
that verse, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
And while I appreciate Todd dealing with that, I still don't understand. You may have left and you said,
well, I still just don't know. Well, join the club. Read some
of the commentators and you'll find them all over the board
about that verse. I don't understand how we could go through this
life wind up at the judgment, give account of the things we've
done, whether they be good or bad. I don't understand that.
I just leave it alone and say, well, there it is. However it
turns out, there it is. But I do know this, brothers
and sisters, that those who are in Jesus Christ are not condemned
right now. There's no condemnation to them
that are in Christ now. There won't be any condemnation
when they stand before the throne of God. You say, Bruce, how can
you know that? I want to know that myself. I
want to remove this nagging fear that bothers me about that. Well,
here it is. Look here in this verses. Look in verse 31. 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. but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercessions for us. It's Christ that died. Who's going to condemn in the
light of Christ's death? God won't do it. Satan may do
it. Your own conscience may do it
through the weakness of your faith and knowledge. God never
will do it. The death of Christ had a drastic
effect on the justice of God. It says, I'll never curse again.
Brothers and sisters, we must not be Armenians when we look
at the cross of Jesus Christ. Every one sin for whom He bore
will never be condemned. Never be condemned. I do not believe, and I don't
think that anybody here this morning hopefully believes this,
that Jesus Christ could bear a man's sins and pay that debt
of sins to God, and that man wound up condemned and in hell. George Spurgeon said a general
redemption is like a bridge that goes halfway across the river.
It seems so kind, doesn't it? It gets everybody on it, but
nobody across it. We believe in no such thing.
Here is the thing that dispels our ungrounded fear of being
judged and condemned even of a holy God. Christ died. And what did he accomplish in
that death? That's a good question to think
about, isn't it? I believe that the sins of all
God's elect were transferred to Jesus Christ. What those Old
Testament pictures, they pictured a reality. When they laid their
hands on the sacrifices, they never transferred their sins
to the head of the sacrifices. It wouldn't have done any good,
but it was a picture of what God was going to do. What that
pictured literally happened upon the cross of Christ. God gathered
all the sins of all His people and laid them on and put them
in Jesus Christ the Lord. And He was punished for those
sins. And made the payment for those
sins. And God accepted it. God said, I'm satisfied. And
God will never condemn that man for whom Christ died. He will never do it. I'll never
curse again." Is that what he said? If God leaves our sins
on us, we die. He has to take them and put them
on His Son. His Son bore the punishment for
them. And therefore we live. And we're not condemned. It's
Christ that died. Who is He that condemneth? Brother
Mahan used to say, if Jesus Christ paid my debt, I don't owe it. Ain't that a wonderful statement?
Think about that. If Jesus Christ paid my debt,
I don't owe it. And if I don't owe it, God won't
charge me with it. Christ died. Therefore, I don't have to fear
being condemned. At the same time, the Apostle Paul said,
we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. He said,
I got a desire to stand there. Didn't he say that? That's the
context. A desire to depart and to be with Christ. If the saint
was going to stand there condemned, would the Apostle Paul want to
stand there? Would Peter want to stand there? Any of the apostles?
No. I just know this, brothers and
sisters, that Christ has died. And if your faith is in this
crucified Christ, you'll never be condemned. God won't condemn
you. You ever hear the story, you
probably heard the story, I've told it everywhere because I
did such a good illustration about the wagon train going west
on the northern plains. They ran into a big flat plain
out there of high grass, it was dry. and they saw some smoke
in the distance. They realized the fire was coming
towards them. The wind was blowing and the
blaze was high and they could smell the smoke. And quickly
they set a huge place, burn out a huge place, and they pulled
the wagons into the place where they'd burn out. And they sat
there watching the fire come towards them. One little boy tugged on his
dad's breeches and said, Daddy, are we going to be burned up?
He said, no, son. He stood there a minute. He said,
Daddy, I smell that smoke. Daddy, I'm beginning to feel
some heat. Are you sure we're not going to be burned up? He
said, no, son, we're standing where the fire has already been. That's where we're standing today,
brothers and sisters. We're standing where sin has
already been punished. We're standing where the almighty
wrath of God has done fallen, but it's not fallen upon us.
It's fallen upon Jesus Christ. Won't that be enough to dispel
your fear about being condemned? He's removed everything. He's
removed the cause for which God could accuse you and condemn
you. Christ died. That's the grounds upon which
God can justify us. Christ died. The last one is this one. And
it's found here in verses 35 through the remainder of that
chapter. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? You ever fear, you ever have
this noggin fear, naggin fear, the Lord's gonna quit loving
you. the Lord Jesus will quit loving me. I've tempted him to, and he's
gone to. I've had that fear before. I
don't understand how he could have loved me anyway. Spurgeon
asked an old lady in his congregation, said, do you believe the Lord
loved you before you was ever born? And she said, oh, dear
Spurgeon, if he didn't love me before I was born, he sure couldn't
love me after I was born. We all feel that way, don't we?
And yet the scripture says He loved us even when we were dead
in trespasses and sins. And He loved us then? And now
we think we've got to be good enough for Him to continue to
love us? Here's the wonderful thing, brothers
and sisters. He doesn't look for anything
in us to cause us Cause Him to love us. The cause is not in
us. It's in Him. And then when we
get in these trials, like He teaches about here, the tribulations
and all of these awful things that He talks about. We say,
surely, this is going to separate. This is a tribulation that will
separate me. But that's not... He sends these tribulations,
not to prove your love for Him so much, but to prove Christ's
love for you. If anything, Christ's love is
on trial here. He devastates us. He brings us
to nothing, exposes us to death. He puts us through these dark
valleys and hills of difficulty. And why does He do that? To prove
His love for us. He's not saying I'm persuaded
that nothing can separate my love from Him. That's not what
it's about, is it? It's His love. is on trial. Look with me over here at this
one passage of scripture in Zephaniah. The book of Zephaniah. You have
to turn over the front of your Bible to find that you can. It's
in Zephaniah. It's right before Haggai. Zephaniah. And look in verse 16, look in
verse, go all the way back up to 14. Zephaniah chapter, the last chapter,
chapter 3 and verse 14. Saying, O daughter of Zion, shout,
O Israel, be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter
of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy
judgment. Sounds like there's no condemnation,
don't it? He's taking it away. His blood is taking it away.
His death is taking it away. He hath cast out thine enemies.
He's cast them out. Your sins, the awful wrath of
God, the judgment of God against you. The King of Israel, even
the Lord, is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not see evil
any more. Is that so? I think I've seen
some evil. No, you haven't. It's working
for your good. In that day it shall be said
to Jerusalem, fear thou not. And to Zion let not thy hands
be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He's a sovereign, eternal God.
He will save. He will rejoice over thee with
joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing. I love those wills, don't you?
He will, he will, he will. I'll rest in my love." And he
is resting in his love. And if you're loved of God, you'll
be saved. And you'll never be lost. Never
be lost. I will heal their backslidings. I will love them freely. And
we backslide and we think, oh, he's quit loving me now. I will
heal their backslidings. And we backslide and he heals
us. And we backslide and he heals us. Isn't that the jest of our
lives? You look at me and I don't appear
like I'm backslidden. But you will see my heart. You
will see my heart. Sometimes I'm so cold and I'm
indifferent and I've left my first love, I'm ashamed of myself. I condemn my own self. And yet,
I hear Him say, I will heal your backslides. Lord, how could you? How many times have you done
it? You just keep healing me, keep healing me. Why do you do
that? Because I love you. I love you freely. Without any
obligations on my part or without any conditions to be performed
on your part. I love you because I love you. There's never been a time I didn't
love you. I love you now. There's never
be a time I'll cease to love you. All right, then. That removes
that fear. He loves me. And if I doubt his
love, that's a formidable sin. How could you doubt his love?
How could you doubt his love? Look at the prince in his hand.
Look at the hole in his side. Hear Him groaning in the darkness.
See tears running from His eyes. Watch His lips as they quiver.
My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Does He love you,
child of God? Never doubt it again. Don't put yourself in there anymore. No, it's not about you. He's
not like us. He's eternally different than
we are. He don't love like we love. He
don't love because like we do. I love the Lord because. He don't
love you because. He just loves you because He
loves you. It's found in Himself. Don't that dispel that fear? Thank you, Frank. The Lord bless
you. Marvin, the Lord bless you. That fix your wagon? I so wish I could say, Bruce, I'm
never going to fear again. That fixed it. I'll never. But
when I do, I'm going to think on that message, go back to that
passage. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to take
a short break. We'll start again at a quarter
after 11. Instead of 10 minutes, it's 15.
I know, you think I've gone crazy. 11-15 we'll start again, all
right?