All right, Romans chapter 8. I've entitled the message this
morning, An Open Book Test. Now, all of us here, if we were
forced to take a test, we would like for it to be an open book
test, wouldn't we? So we could just look up the
answers and get 100%. When I was in college, I had a professor,
kind of a smart-aleck guy. And he told us, first day class,
all of our tests are going to be open book tests. And I thought,
this is great. I mean, I'm going to get 100
on every test. This is going to help my GPA. And then he said,
but it won't matter any because the book's not going to help
you any. I thought, why did I just waste $100 on this book? It's
not going to help me any. Well, this is an open book test.
And God's book is never useless. You never waste any time opening
and studying and reading God's word. God in His Word gives us
the answer to every important question. First of all, He gives
us the important questions, and then He gives us the answers
to them. Now, in our text this morning, Paul is going to sum
up what he's been saying for eight chapters. He's going to
sum it up with a pop quiz, if you will. Paul asks five questions,
and then he immediately gives the answer to each question. Like I said, it's good to know
the right answers, isn't it? But the blessing, what is so important,
is that we know the right questions to ask. Then knowing the right
answers to those questions. So here's the first question
in our open book test. Verse 31, Romans 8. What should
we then say to these things? I recently ended a message I
preached in Madisonville, Kentucky. I ended it with this question.
Now that's the gospel. As clear and plain as I can make
it, that's the gospel. Now, what are you going to do
with it? What's your response to that gospel? The Apostle Paul
is asking us the same thing. What do you have to do with this
truth that Paul has laid out so clearly? That sinners are
justified by faith in Christ. Not by our works added to it,
not by anything we do or we don't do. It's by Christ alone. Well, I can tell you the response
of the believer. This is the correct response. What should
we then say to these things? Well, if God be for us, who can
be against us? If salvation is accomplished
by Christ alone, if salvation, righteousness, is accomplished
by Christ's obedience to the law and not mine, if my sin is
put away by the sacrifice of Christ, not by my sacrifice,
if salvation is the work of Almighty God, then salvation must be secure. And it can't be lost. If God
did it, can it? If God's the one that saved me, I don't have
to worry. Who can be against me? Now that
is so, that is so for every child of God. It's a blessing to us
because the child of God faces so much opposition in this world.
No matter where you go as a believer, as a child of God, you face opposition. You face opposition from the
flesh that you carry around with you everywhere. The flesh is
warring against the spirit. And we just can't help but worry.
Now, we know these things are true up here. We know. But we
still can't help but worry. Is that old man somehow going
to cause me to be damned by pulling me back under bondage to the
law? We just can't help but worry that the sin and the unbelief
of the old man is eventually going to damn me because he's
against me. That's what he'll do to me if
he can. But this is what Paul's telling us. No matter what it
is you think you're fearing, there's no reason to fear. Any opposition,
you don't have to fear that old man. You know, mostly a believer
doesn't worry about other people plucking us from the hand of
God. We don't even have to worry about Satan plucking us from
the hand of our God because our Lord told us no man's able to
do that. No man's able to pluck my sheep from my hand. This is
the worry. We worry I might jump out of
that hand on my own, of my own free will. If I'm left to my
own free will, the free will of that old man, that's exactly
what I'll do. I'll jump out of his hand. We fear that that old
man is somehow in the end going to control our eternal destiny.
And Paul is telling us we don't have to worry about that old
man controlling our eternal destiny. Without a doubt, he's opposed
to He can cause you lots and lots and lots of problems here
on this earth. But He can't control anything
about you eternally. Because Christ the Savior controls
the eternal destiny of His people. Because He controls all things.
He controls all people. He controls all events. He controls
everything that happens in this creation, even our own man. So
if God before us Who can be against us? If God's for us, who can
ever be successful being against us? Everything that God does
in this creation, he does for his people. So nothing can happen
that's harmful to them. Nothing can happen that can ever
be against them. No person can ever be against
God's people and take away the salvation that God's given them.
Because God's in control. God's for them. God's protecting
his people. Our sin is opposed to us, but
it can't be against us because Christ put it away at Calvary.
The law is against us. The law is certainly against
us. It is opposed to us, but it can't be against us. It can't
harm us. The law has been kept and honored by Christ our Savior.
That old man can't be against us. He's opposed to us, but he
can't be against us because he's crucified Christ. God's justice can't be against
us. It was satisfied by Christ, by the death of Christ. Satan
can't be against us. He's opposed to us, but he can't
be against us. He can't harm us because Christ crushed his
head at Calvary. No one or no thing can ever be
against God's people because of his sovereign power, ruling
and reigning over all things. What should we then say to these
things? God be for us. Who can be against us? All right,
here's a second question. This salvation, sure and certain,
but how does God give it to his people? How has someone obtained
this salvation? Does God make us earn it or does
he give it to us freely? Now we talk about freely, it
means without cost, but we get right down to where the rubber
meets the road. Freely means this, that we have it even though
we don't deserve it. Now, does God require his people
to be good enough to save? Or does God save his people freely? Does he save them? Does he give
them this great salvation, even though they've never done anything
to deserve it? Which is it? It's got to be one or the other,
doesn't it? Salvation must be by God's free grace. It's got
to be freely. or there can be no salvation
for any real sinner. Now that's just obvious. The
salvation of a dead, helpless, depraved sinner's got to be freely. And every believer knows the
answer to that question. God has saved me freely by His
free and sovereign grace and I love it that way. I wouldn't
have it any other way. Now we know that. But even a child of God cannot
help but worry. I see my sin and my rebellion,
and it's so great that I'm worried something is going to stop God
from giving me this free gift of eternal life. I look at me
and I wouldn't give it to me. I worry that God won't give this
free gift to me because I'm so rotten. Well, listen to Paul's
answer to that fear. God gives salvation to his people
freely. Christ earned it for him. Verse
32. 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? Nothing will ever stop God from
giving his people salvation. Nothing will ever stop God from
forgiving the sin of his people or justifying his people, giving
them eternal life and ultimately glorifying them. Nothing will
stop God from doing that. Absolutely nothing. You know
why? Because of his death at Calvary,
Christ removed every obstacle. He removed them all. And the
way to God is wide open through the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ. There's no obstacle. And the greatest evidence that
God won't let anything stop him from having mercy on his people
is this. God did not withhold his only son. In order to save
His people, in order to have mercy upon His people, God did
not hold back His Son, but He gave His Son as a sacrifice,
as a ransom for the sin of His people. God didn't hold back.
When the Father made His Son sin for His people, the Father
didn't hold back. But He gave His Son to suffer
untold agony. He gave His Son to die a cursed
death. so that he could freely, without
a cause, found in his people freely, even though they never
did anything to deserve it, freely show them mercy because he gave
his son everything that they deserved. The sin of God's people
will never cause them to be damned, ever, because our sin was charged
to the Savior. Now, God's holy. If we don't
know anything else about God, we know God's holy. Well, when
sin was found on his only begotten, well-beloved son, the holy God
didn't spare him. But he poured out all of his
holy fury. He didn't hold any of his fury
back. He poured it all out upon his son and he kept pouring it
out until sin was gone. All the sin was charged to Christ
was gone under the blood of his sacrifice. The sacrifice consumed
the fury, consumed the fire. And he was gone. Now, if God
fully punished his son, if he gave his son, he didn't withhold
his son, but he fully punished his son for our sin, then he's
never going to punish us for it. Ever. If God delivered up
his own son to justice and to death, then he'll freely give
his people eternal life. If God did not spare his son
when his son stood as your substitute, then he will certainly spare
you. because justice demands it. God did not hold back His
only Son so that He could show mercy to His people. And if you
believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you already have
eternal life. He that believeth on the Son
hath, right now has, eternal life. And nothing you do will
ever cause you to lose it. You can't lose it. Nothing you
do can cause you to lose it. You know why? You didn't earn
it in the first place. Christ earned it for you, and
it's all dependent upon Him. So there's no need for you to
fear the opposition of your own sin. Christ didn't die in vain. God did not hold back His own
Son. He gave Him to die, and He didn't
die in vain. All the sin that was placed upon
the Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute, our sacrifice, is gone. Put away, blotted out under His
blood. Now, if God already gave his
son as a ransom for your soul, he already gave you the greatest
gift. Is he going to hold anything else back? He already gave the
greatest thing. Is he going to hold back anything
else you need? Well, of course not. He already gave the unspeakable
gift of his son. Then he will freely give his
people all things. All things. Freely, not because
you deserve it, not because you earned it, because Christ earned
it for you. God gives all these gifts freely. You can't earn them. But you
have them for free because God gave his only son. Now, don't
be confused by this phrase, delivered him up for us all, either spared,
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. That does
not mean that Christ died for all men, for all sons of Adam,
every man, woman, boy and girl. If Christ died for all men, then
all men would be saved. We saw this in the verses last
week. Whoever it is that Christ died for is justified. Whoever
it is he died for, they're justified. Paul says they're already glorified. So this cannot mean that Christ
died for every person, can it? Well, then who is the all that
Paul is talking about here? Who is it that Christ died for?
He died for all of God's elect. He died for all those that the
Father gave him. And we see that in our third
question, verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? See, the all in verse 32 is God's
elect in verse 33. That's who the all is. I don't know if that's right
English, but that's who the all is. That's who Christ died for.
That's who is justified. It's all of God's elect. But
now you'll notice here, Paul doesn't say that God's elect
are not chargeable. It's not that they're not chargeable
because they're innocent. No, they're chargeable. They
are chargeable. The law charges us with breaking all of the law,
doesn't it? And we have to say we're guilty.
People in the world, people we know out in the world, they can
charge us with sin. It's not hard to see. I mean, they can
charge us with sin, and we'd have to say it's true. Satan,
the accuser of the brethren, charges us all the time. And by anything that we've personally
done, we've got no defense, no excuse. Our own flesh charges
us with sin. Our conscience tells us we're
guilty. It's the flesh telling us we're guilty. And every one
of those charges is 100% true. if we stand by ourselves, if
we stand outside of Christ. But in Christ, we're not guilty. Not guilty. Well, how can that
be? Because it's God that justifies
it. I tell you this all the time.
I hope we remember this. Justify. It's not just as if. I'd never seen it. justified
as being made not guilty. It's not like I'm not guilty.
It's I'm not guilty because I've never sinned. Christ so completely
removed the sin of his people. They've never sinned. That new
man born of God has never and will never sin because he's born
from holy seed. That's what justified is. Now
God justified his people. God is the one who made them
not guilty and nobody can argue against it. Nobody can find any
fault if God justifies you. If God made his elect just like
they'd never sinned, somebody somewhere could eventually find
that sin and charge us with it and we'd be condemned. But God
made his people not guilty. So no one anywhere can make a
charge of sin stick against God's people. Now that is good, sound,
true doctrine. That's true, isn't it? I was
at a conference in Crossville a couple weeks ago and Bruce
Crabtree said, Bruce, that's good preaching. That's good preaching. That's good, sound doctrine.
But this is our experience. We worry that these accusations
are eventually going to stick. Because I have to say, I've done
them. I mean, I have. I've done them. Well, here's
how God comforts the hearts of his people. See, this is not
just the right answer on a test. This is how God comforts the
hearts of his people. It's God, it's God that justified. God, the son came in the flesh
and God, the son died for his people. Now it's God that died. Can't explain that, but that's
so. The blood of God was shed for the sin of His people. Then
they've got to be cleansed from all their sin. They've got to
be justified because it's God that died. God can't fail, can
He? Of course not. Then they're justified
because it's God who died. So let every accuser come and
say what they will. Don't hide from them. Let every
accuser come and say anything they want. In Christ, my conscience
is clear. My conscience will be clear as
long as I'm looking to Christ. I'll tell you when my conscience
won't be clear. It's if I start looking at myself and think,
oh, I've got to do better. Oh, I shouldn't have done that, so
I've got to make up for it by doing that. When I start doing that,
my conscience will bother me. I feel guilty. But in Christ,
my conscience is perfectly clear. It doesn't bother me at all.
Because it's God who justified. God justified me. I don't have
anything to feel guilty about, do I? Let every accuser not come
to me, but come before Almighty God and accuse me of anything
they want. You want to know what God will
say? He'll just listen to them. And then he'll say, what sin? The all seeing eye of God does
not see the sin of his elect because the blood of Christ blotted
it out. made it to not exist. So no charge
of sin can ever stick against God's elect. Because it's God
who justifies them. They didn't justify themselves.
You know, the Pharisee in the temple, he wanted to justify
himself, didn't he? Well, he went home guilty. But
if God justifies, you go home free. Free of all worry. Free. No charge will ever stick because
it's God that justifies. All right, here's the fourth
question. Verse 34. Who is he that can
condemn you? Who is he that can condemn you?
I mean, it ties back to verse 33. If you're innocent, God's
made you innocent, then nobody can condemn you. Now, every believer
knows somebody has got to be condemned for my sin. But this
is the believer's hope and confidence that Christ, my substitute, was
condemned for my sin. So whoever it is that Christ
died for cannot be condemned. God's justice won't allow it
because Christ was already condemned for them. God's not going to
condemn somebody for the same sin twice. If Christ was condemned
for you, you'll never be condemned. Now we know that's so. But let's
just be honest. In the heart and mind of a believer,
this is what we can't stop from happening. We can't help but
worry. My sin is so great. God's going
to be fed up, and He's going to condemn me anyway. And I tell
you what happens when we worry like that. We're worrying because
that old man is whispering in our ear. He's trying to get us
to straighten up and fly right. He's trying to get us to be more
moral. He's getting us to compare ourselves with one another and
think, oh, you know, so-and-so's acting better than me. I better
get up to their standards, you know. That's the old man whispering
in our ear. And all that worry is, is self. It's self-righteousness, self-reliance,
not relying upon Christ our Savior. So Paul gives us three answers
to this question. Who is he that condemned? He
gives us three answers to comfort the hearts of God's people. If
this were a multiple choice open book test, the answer is D, all
of the above. First, who is he that can condemn
any of God's people? It's Christ that died. Now we
worry that we'll be condemned because we see the guilt of our
sin and we know God's holy. He himself told us, I will by
no means clear the guilty. Well, the comfort for our fears
is this, it's Christ that died. At Calvary, God by no means cleared
the guilty. God put a guilty man to death.
God made his son sin for his people. He made him guilty and
he put him to death in justice. Now justice is satisfied because
it's Christ that died. See, it wasn't a mere man who
died on that middle cross 2,000 years ago. The God-man died. And the death of the God-man,
the perfect man, satisfied God. His death accomplished the salvation
of God's elect. My death and your death is not
going to accomplish anything, is it? My death and your death
are not going to satisfy anybody because we're just sinful flesh.
But the death of the God-man did. The death of the God-man
satisfied his Father. So if Christ died for you, if
it's Christ that died for you as your substitute, then you
can never be condemned because your perfect substitute was already
condemned and died in your place. All right, second, who is he
that condemned him? It's Christ that's risen again.
The resurrection of Christ is the evidence his death got the
job done. The death of Christ or the resurrection
of Christ proves his death put away the sin of his people. If
Christ didn't pay for all of the sin that was laid upon him,
if he didn't pay for all of the sin of all of his elect, he'd
still be dead, wouldn't he? But he didn't stay dead. He rose
from the grave. That's the evidence that his
death paid for the sin of his people. He was delivered for
our offenses and raised again for our justification. Raised
again as the evidence he justified his people from their sin. And
if we're justified, we can never be condemned. There's no cause
for any final condemnation if it's Christ that died. He justified
us. and gave us the proof He justified
His people. He rose again from the dead.
Thirdly, who is He that condemneth? It's Christ, who is even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. After Christ
arose from the tomb, He appeared to His disciples for 40 days.
And then He ascended back into clouds. He ascended back to glory. And when He got there, He sat
down on the right hand of His Father. Paul told him, sit here
in my right hand, the place of acceptance, the place of glory
and honor. Christ took a seat. He sat down. He did something those Old Testament
high priests never did. He sat down. Because the work's
finished. It's done. The great transaction
is done. There's no work left for his people to do in order
to make that salvation effectual. Christ finished the work and
he sat down. There he sits on the throne of
glory, but he's not sitting there doing nothing. He ever lives
making intercession for his people and his mere presence in glory. He didn't have to work hard to
make intercession for his people. He didn't have to use a lot of
words. His mere presence in glory intercedes for the sin of his
people. Those scars in his head where
they thrust that crown of thorns down. The scars in his hands
and his feet where they drove the nails through him. The scar
on his side where that soldier ran that spear through him. Out
came blood and water. Those scars are constant reminders
to the father of the sacrifice of his son for his people. So
the sin of his people is always forgiven. Just the mere presence
of the Savior seated in glory is all it takes to make intercession
for his people. The work's finished. The Savior
sits. And the presence of the Savior
in glory also guarantees this. His people are going to follow
Him. They're going to be with Him where He is. It guarantees
it. It's so certain. Paul says we're
already glorified. So there's no reason to fear
condemnation, is there? Not if it's Christ to die. Now,
if you saved yourself, by your own decision. If you save yourself
by your own morality, you've got good reason to fear. You
can mess it up. But if it's Christ that died, if it's Christ that
rose again, if it's Christ that is seated on high making intercession
for you, you can never be condemned. See, the answer is D. Follow
the above. All right, here's the last question. Can Christ the Savior ever stop
loving His people? Absolutely not. Verse 35. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Is it tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Christ loves
His people infinitely. unmeasurably, and He will never
allow them to be separated from Him because He loves them. Look at John chapter 15. Christ
died for His people, so they be with Him where He is. After He went through all that,
He won't allow them to ever be separated from Him. John 15 verse 9. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. Christ tells us here He loves
His people just like the Father loves the Son. Well, how does
the Father love the Son? Eternally. Perfectly. Just more than we can imagine.
Will the Father ever quit loving His Son? Well, of course not.
then Christ will never quit loving His people because He loves His
people with the same love, the same manner of love that the
Father loves the Son. Now this love, this love of God,
is not for everyone. God loves His people. He loves
His elect people. He loves Jacobs. He loves sinners,
those who can't do anything for themselves. God loves those people.
And God hates everyone in the flesh. He hates Esau. He hates
everybody like Esau. He hates those people who are
trying to justify themselves, who think they've got the birthright
because of some fleshly thing. But everyone that God loves is
saved. They're justified. They're glorified. And He'll never quit loving them.
If God loved everyone, there wouldn't be any reason for hell,
would there? Is there somebody in hell God loves? Then what
would the love of God have to do with salvation? What would
the love of God have anything to do with anything eternal?
No. There's nobody in hell God loves. God hates those people.
He poured out His wrath upon them. But God loves His people. He has always loved them. There's
never been a time He didn't love them. And He always will love
them. His love is eternal. So nothing
Nothing that happens in time or space can ever make God quit
loving His people. Nothing will ever make Christ
quit loving His people. The proof that nothing that happens
in our experience, nothing that happens in this creation can
ever stop God from loving His people, you know the proof of
it? God put His Son to death because He loved His people.
God loved His people so much He took their sin from them.
put it on his darling son and then he killed him for it. What
else is going to happen besides the awful wretchedness of our
sin and rebellion? What else is going to happen
that could cause God to quit loving his people? Not one thing.
He already removed everything that he hates and put it away
through the death of his son. So nothing, nothing, nothing,
nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing can ever separate God's people
from His love for them. Will tribulation or distress
do it? No. Matter of fact, trials. You know
what they do for God's people? They drive Esau away. You know
what they do for God's people? They draw him even closer to
God. They make us depend on Him even more to learn His grace
is sufficient. His love is just... If I've got
Him If I've got some sense of His love for me, what else do
I need? Don't ever think, child of God, are you listening
to me? Don't ever think that a trial means your father doesn't
love you. No. I hear people say that, talking
about someone who's just got everything in this world the
heart could desire. Oh, God must love you. I don't
know about that. The rich man needed bigger barns.
God didn't love him, did he? Esau said, I got enough. I got
plenty. God didn't love him. When God sends trials, it means
he does love you. You know who God doesn't chastise?
Bastards. You know who he doesn't chastise?
Those sons and daughters that he loves. Heartache and suffering
in this world doesn't mean God quit loving you. Probably means
he does. Tribulation or distress doesn't
mean God quit loving us. Persecution in this life is not
going to separate us from God's love. You know what our Lord
said about that? Blessed are they. Not unloved,
not cast off, blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness
sake. Famine is not going to separate
us from God's love. This isn't talking about physical
hunger, famine. Nothing physical in this flesh
has anything to do with anything eternal. This is talking about
spiritual famine. Why is it we get hungry? In a
little while, I'm going to be hungry. You know why? I feel
like, my body feels like I don't have enough of something I need
in me. Some food. That's why I feel hungry. Or
the famine of righteousness. Feeling like I don't have the
righteousness that God requires. I don't have the righteousness
in me that I need. That hunger is not going to separate us from
God's love. Matter of fact, just the opposite. Just the opposite. It'll draw us to Christ. What
did our Lord say? Blessed are they, not cursed. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness. They shall be filled. Famine
won't separate us. Nakedness won't separate us from
God's love. Again, this is talking about
spiritual, not physical. If you know you're spiritually
naked and ashamed, It's not going to leave you that way. No, He's
going to clothe you in the spotless, perfect righteousness of His
Son. Nakedness won't separate us.
Peril will not separate us from God's love. Look, 2 Timothy chapter
3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. You know, the Apostle Paul knew
a lot about perils, didn't he? Perils and storms and seas and
beatings and enemies and all those things. But if you want
to know real peril, real peril, I mean the thing I live in mortal
fear of every day, the thing I pray about for this congregation,
for me, for you, for people I know and love, this is the peril I
pray about every day. It's the false religion. 2 Timothy
3, verse 1. This know also, that in the last
days perilous times shall come. Now notice this is the definition
of peril. Physical things, it's not enemies
and people want to put you in jail, shipwrecks and those things.
Now here's the definition of perilous times. For men should
be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers
of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of
pleasures more than lovers of God, And here it is, having a
form of godliness, having a form of religion, but denying the
power thereof. From such you turn away. For
of this sort are they which creep into houses and leave captive
silly women, laden with sins and led away with divers lusts.
Now, brethren, that's peril. And that's the peril I live in
fear of all the time. Well, what's going to protect
us from that? What's going to protect you from
that peril? It's the word of God. Verse 16. All scripture
is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, mature, throughly furnished unto
all good works. Peril's not going to set those
false prophets and false religion are not going to be able to draw
you away from Christ. Peril's not going to do it. The
sword won't do it. You know, the sword, all that
means is judicial punishment, divine judicial punishment. God's
already plunged the sword of justice into his fellow, into
his son, that he's never gonna plunge it into his people. The
sword's not gonna do it. The hatred of this world's not gonna
do it. Verse 36, back in our text. As it's written, for thy
sake, we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep
for the slaughter. You know, this world has always
hated God's people and always persecute them. And they persecute
them because they love God. They trust Christ and the world
hates them. The world hates everything that
God loves. So don't think it's a bad thing.
It's a good thing. If the world hates you for Christ's
sake, if the world hates you for what you believe, if it hates
you for trusting Christ, because the world hates what God loves.
In the world, they just count God's people as worthless. They're
for nothing better than to be slaughtered like a sheep. But
the hatred of this world, that's not going to stop God from loving
his people. Verse 37. Now in all these things,
we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. 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 creature, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. This life, with all of its sin,
is not going to separate us from God's love, and the death of
these bodies won't either. All the death that these bodies
are going to do is answer our Lord's prayer that we be brought
into His bosom, taken with Him where He is. Angels and principalities,
spiritual powers, whether we call them good or bad, none of
them are going to be able to separate us from God's love.
Nothing that's happening in this creation now and nothing that
happens out there in the future, no matter how good or bad we
think it is, height nor depth, will ever be able to separate
us from God's love. Heights of joy and success. Sometimes, Brother Henry, I heard
him say this so often, he's seen men get promoted. out of the
church. They get promoted and they leave
and they never come back. Well, those heights of joy and
success will never pull God's people from Him. And depths of
sorrow, I'm talking about the depths, the depths, crushing
dark depths of sorrow, will never be able to separate us from the
love of God in Christ. What did David say? Out of the
depths. Did God hear him? Yes, he did.
The devs aren't going to separate us. And Paul said, in case I've
left anything out, don't have enough paper to write it all
down, in case I've left anything out, no other creature, nothing
else you can dream of, is ever going to be able to separate
God's love from his people, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Now, what should we then say
to these things? Hallelujah. who can be against
us. We're going to conquer it all
in Christ Jesus, our mighty conquering Savior. So no matter what our
circumstances happen to be, the believer can rest assured in
this. We can rest in our Savior's love
for His people. He's going to justify. He's going
to glorify. He's going to protect. He's going
to keep. He's going to call everybody He loves. He'll see to it. All we need to do is rest in
healing. Rest in healing. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank
You for taking these great, great questions that weigh on the hearts
of Your people and answering them fully in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Father, we thank You. Father, I pray that You'd bless
Your words that's been preached. Bless it to Your glory. Bless
it to the hearts of Your people. Cause us, Father, to see, by
the eye of faith, the Lord Jesus Christ and flee to Him. Cause us to run to Him. Cause
your people to rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. To ask and enjoy
and thrill in the salvation and the justification and the love
that Christ our Savior has for His people. Father, we thank
You. How we thank You. Bless Your Word, we pray. In
the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, for His glory,
for the good of His people, we pray. Amen.