Romans chapter 8. I know it's a little warm in here.
The air conditioner's been out. Take a couple laps around this
building, come back in, it'll feel good. You'd be surprised
how good it feels in here when you come out there. Romans chapter 8. More than conquerors. After looking at the Bible lesson
on the immutability of God and how comforting that is to God's
people. I wanted to keep on that theme
of comfort. Comfort. I didn't want to bring
an opposite message this morning. I wanted a message that was two
things, comforting this morning and easy to follow, that it would
be comforting and easy to follow. And I have that here in Romans
8. You know, the Lord said, Comfort
ye my people, saith your God. And we have that in these verses.
Now, he says in verse 28, And we know this is not speculation. There is not one thing in the
Word of God built on speculation. It's truth. Truth. Fact. And we know this. We have God's Word on this. We have His Word on this. that
all things, not some things, but all things work together
for our good. It works together for good to
them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.
If any one thing is not under God's control, it would not be
for our good. You've marked that down. And I think most of you have
lived long enough, and I know those of you who believe the
gospel know this, that in this life, nothing works for good
unless God makes it work for good. Nothing works for good
in this life unless God makes it work for good. The old saying
is, if it can go wrong, it will. They call it Murphy's Law. That's
not Murphy's Law. It's the law of sin. It's the
law of sin. If God did not rule and overrule
all things, nothing would work for good in any way, shape, or
form. It wouldn't do it. Now, this promise that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to His purpose, is to a particular people. Let me read some verses here,
and you notice how many times that word, is used. 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 brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called, whom He called them
He also justified, and whom He justified them." It is to a particular
people. It's to them who love God, who are called, justified, and
glorified. It's to a particular people.
It's to a people whom God foreknew. He didn't just know you were
going to exist. No, He purposed you were going
to exist. He purposed it. You're mine. God said you're
mine we had any form of being. Before there was anything but
God, he said, you're mine. He foreknew us. Salvation is
not a random act of kindness of God. Salvation is a purpose
of God to a people whom he loved and foreknew. It's not a random
act of kindness at all. It's the people whom He predestinated.
He predestinated them to be conformed to the image of His Son. You
know, one of the purposes of trials is to whittle away everything
that does not look like Christ. It's to whittle away everything that does not look like His Son.
And I assure you, when our Lord is done, there's a big pile of
shavings. There's a pile of shavings. God is conforming them to the
image of his Son. Now, he says here, first of all,
for whom he foreknew, them he also called. We know that all
things work together for good to them who love God, them who
are the called. Called. I want you to look over
in 1 Samuel chapter 3. Here's a good example. when God calls a sinner to himself. 1 Samuel chapter 3, and the child Samuel ministered
unto the Lord before Eli. 1 Samuel chapter 3, and the word
of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision,
and it came to pass at that time when Eli was laid down in his
place, and his eyes began to wax dim that he could not see,
and ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord,
where the ark of God was, that Samuel was laid down to sleep,
that the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, Here am I. And
he ran unto Eli and said, Here am I, for thou callest me. And he said, I didn't call you.
Go lie down. Go lie down again. And he went
and lay down. And the Lord called yet again
Samuel. And Samuel rose and went to Eli and said, Here am I. Will
thou this call me? And he said, I will call you,
my son. Lie down again. Now Samuel did
not yet know the Lord. Neither was the word of the Lord
yet revealed unto him. And the Lord called Samuel again
a third time. And he arose and went to Eli
and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived
that the Lord had called the child. Therefore Eli said unto
Samuel, Go lie down, and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou
shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went
and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood and
called, as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel answered,
Speak, for thy servant heareth. Now that is an effectual call. You apply that in the spiritual
realm, that is an effectual call. God called him. He didn't perceive
it the first time. He thought it was Eli. And he
called him. He still didn't perceive it. And he called him. He still
didn't perceive it. And then finally, finally, he
says, Speak, Lord, thy servant healeth. That's an effectual
call. That's being called by the Spirit
of God, called by the grace of God, called effectually to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And when God calls, when He calls
one of His sheep, they come. They come. My sheep hear my voice,
and it's strange that they'll not follow. And those whom he called, he's
justified, he's cleared of all charges. That's past tense, justified. He justified me before he ever
called me, or he would never have called me. You can mark
that down. If God has not justified me,
if he had not justified me really even before the world began in
Christ, I would have never been called in time if God were not
satisfied with me. In Christ, God would have nothing
to do with me in time. That's so. That's the truth.
Justified, that's what he's saying here. For whom he did foreknow,
then he also justified. And whom he justified, he also
glorified. I, you who believe the gospel,
were glorified in Christ before the world began. When did you become a son of
God? The day you believed? Well, that's the day you understood
you became a son of God. That's the day by experience,
now, that by experience you became a son of God. But I became a son of God when
He loved me and chose me in Christ, when He gave me to Christ in
that covenant of grace. Was I not glorified? Was I not
glorified? Were you not glorified? We were
already glorified in Christ before the world began. Now, what should
we say to these things? What shall we say to this? Let
me read this again. 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 brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He called, and whom He called, them
He justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. Now what
shall we say to these things? Well, the first thing is hallelujah.
That's the first thing that came to my mind when I read that last
night. Hallelujah. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.
That's the first thing we say. But here's what we say. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Who can condemn us? Who can destroy
us? Who can bring a charge against
us and make it stick? If God be for us, if God be for
us in election, if he's for us in love, if he's for us in redemption,
if he's for us in salvation, who's greater than God? Who is
greater than God? Who does God answer to? Absolutely
no one. Now, if he's one who clears me,
who can be against me and make it stick? You know, you can be
against me, but so what? You can't do anything about it. I mean, Satan's against us. We
know that. Satan's against us. If God's before us, it doesn't
say if God's before us who is against us. The whole world's
against us. Every fallen demon's against us. Satan's against us.
But he says here, who can be? Who can make it stick? Who can
bring a charge against me in the court of heaven and make
it stick? No one. No one. Who can overrule God, the judge
of all? No one. Look what he did for us. This proves that God's for us.
Now, if you want to talk about God being for us, look at verse
32. He that spared not his own son
He did not spare him from humiliation. He did not spare him from shame.
He did not spare him from the wrath of men. He did not spare
him from the attacks of Satan. He did not spare him from the
wrath, the holy wrath of God, the wrath of God's justice. He
did not spare him. I mean, not to the least degree.
He did not spare him. He tasted, it says, death for
every man. That is, everyone whom he died
for. He tasted death for them. He tasted humiliation. He tasted
torment. He tasted my hell that I deserved. Now, if God spared him not, if
God spared him not, 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, all that we need
to stand in his presence, all that we need to stand accepted?
How shall he not give us? He's going to give it. We have
it. We have it in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we have it, listen, we have
it freely. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely? You know, salvation is not a
cooperative effort between me and God. It's God saving me. Freely. I will love them freely. Come and buy, he says, wine and
milk without money, without price. Freely. He gives us these things
freely. We didn't merit them. We did
nothing for them. Actually, we did everything not
to get it, if you want to look at it that way. But what we have
in Christ was given to us by the free, sovereign grace of
God. We have it freely. Now, who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect. You know your life. You know
your past. We all have a past. We all have
skeletons in the closet. We know who and what we are by
nature. We know it. And we make no excuse
for it. But you know that none of those
things can be brought up against me. Can't be brought up in court,
not in the court of heaven. You know, they can take me to
the law here and then bring up things, but you can't bring it
up there. It's gone. It's over. It doesn't exist.
It does not exist. Who shall I anything to the charge? I know Him. I can tell you some things about
Him. You know what? That doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter what you can tell about me. It matters what
God tells about me. God says you're my son, you're
holy, you're righteous. That's the way we are in Christ. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? God has justified them. And if
the supreme court of heaven has justified me, cleared me of,
listen now, cleared me of all charges, No one can charge me. No one. Satan, the accuser of
the brethren, cannot bring up one thing and make it stick.
Can't do it. Christ died the death we deserve.
As it says in Romans 4, He rose again for our justification.
My justification is seated at God's right hand. Who shall separate us? Verse 34, rather. Who is he that
condemneth? Who can condemn me? It's Christ that died my death. God already took care of that.
My condemnation was taken care of at Calvary. I was put to death. in Christ. I was condemned in my substitute. I died in my substitute. I suffered
in my substitute. My condemnation is over. It's
over. He says, It is Christ that died,
yet rather it is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who makes intercession. Is he just there making intercession?
No, it says he makes intercessions for us. He makes intercessions for us.
We have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. He said, well, you sin. You sin. There's our advocate. That's
been taken care of, Your Honor. That's been taken care of. Put
away. His blood is proof that he already
suffered for it. Whatever sin you bring up against
me, or you who believe the gospel, it's already been taken care
of in Christ. In Christ, when God put him to
death. And who shall separate us from the love of Christ? I'm glad it doesn't say who shall
separate our love from Christ, because you know how we are. We're still in this flesh. Still
in this flesh. But nothing can separate the
love of Christ for us. Shall tribulation do that? Trials? Hard trials? Did they separate
Job? Did the trials of Job separate
him from God? What about distress, distress
of mind, distress of body? Shall it separate us from the
love of Christ? What about persecution, famine,
nakedness, terror, famine, sore? These things do not separate,
they prove. They prove that we are the children of God. I'll
tell you what they prove. They prove that this, my grace
is sufficient. That's what they prove. They
prove my grace is sufficient. They reveal the Lord's power
to keep under the hardest trials. They don't drive away. they bring
when they drive us to Him. I thought of this as I was going
over this. These things, these trials, as
he mentions here, these trials, these tribulations or distress,
persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sorrow, troubles, troubles,
that's what they are, troubles. These things run the sheep to
the shepherd. They're like the herding dogs.
You ever seen a border collie? Border collie? You ever see these
competitions they have? I've seen them on television.
These border collies. The shepherd has a flock of sheep
out here, and he will direct that collie what to do. He'll blow a whistle, and you'll
see that collie run over here and lay down. You'll see the
sheep go over here, and they're trying to get them in a pen.
And then they'll blow it, and they'll come over here. And then
they'll blow it, and they'll come over here. And then they'll blow it,
and they'll come over here. And next thing you know, after a little
bit, those sheep are all in the pen. The trials and the troubles of
this life are like border collies, just taking us by the direction
of the shepherd into the fold, into the sheep collies. They
are under the absolute direction of our shepherd. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, persecution,
famine. No, they won't do that. No. As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. We suffer for Christ's sake and glad to do it. Remember
when the apostles were beaten and they went rejoicing? We have all these troubles in
this life. because of our connection to
Christ. Now, I know there's a common trouble that men have in general
called sin. But what Paul's talking about
here, these troubles are because of the connection to Christ. And we're glad to suffer for
Christ's sake. We need to see, we really need
to understand our sufferings in the light of the Word of God
and not just our situation. Nay, he says, in all these things,
in all these trials, in all these troubles, in all that's going
on, we are more than conquerors. Do we look like it? No. Did Christ look like a conqueror?
Did He look victorious hanging on a cross? Did it look like He was winning?
hanging on the cross. When they were whipping Him and
they lacerated His back, drove that crown of thorns out on His
head, stripped Him naked, did He look like He was a conqueror? All that time, all that time
that that was going on, He was conquering. He was conquering. In all of our troubles, all our
trials and all our heartaches, we are conquering. We are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. For I am persuaded. Are you persuaded
to this? Am I persuaded to this? That
neither death There have been men and martyrs
who go to their death for Christ's sake. Death, nor life, nor angels. Satan was an angel, wasn't he?
He was an angel. No principalities, nor powers.
No things present, nor things to come. He's talking about the
future. What about tomorrow? What about tomorrow? We have
His word on things to come. He can't separate us. We can't
be separated from Him, not from His love. 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. Now, has anything that I've read, does any of it depend on us?
It doesn't say one word about any of it depending on us, does
it? Not one word. It all depends on Him. Completely. From Alpha to Omega. From beginning
to end. My salvation. Your salvation. Is totally in the hands of Jesus
Christ. And you know, that can't be broken. No one can separate you from
Christ. No one. Nothing. Nothing. I can't separate
myself from Him. Peter denied Him three times.
And he said, tell Peter to come also. Peter, feed my sheep, feed my
lambs. That's the man that denied you
three times. I mean, in the hour of your suffering, in the hour
that you really need somebody, that man said, I don't know him. And yet the Lord said, you tell
Peter to come also. Peter, do you love me? You know, we don't have to ask
that question, do we? We don't have to say, Lord, do you love
me? We know He loves us. If we're in Him, we know He loves
us. But He asked Peter that question, and I know it broke Peter's heart.
You know that. He said, Lord, You know all things. He knew he denied the Lord three
times in that most crucial hour. He denied Him. He said, you know,
I love you. You know why you love Christ?
Do you love Christ? Do you know why you love Christ?
Because He loved you first. And nothing can separate you
from that.