Bring greetings from your brothers
and sisters, your family at Hurricane Road Grace Church. I can't tell
you how many people said, be sure to tell such and such hello.
So there's one big hello from everyone there to everyone here.
Hello. Of course, we remember you constantly in prayer. We
love you, and as for my family and I, we're thrilled to be here
with you today. Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans chapter 8. Our text this morning is just
one verse in Romans chapter 8. At the end of the song, Celestia
sings, and I'm paraphrasing already, but I will be whole. I'll be
whole, right? How will we be whole, we who are empty? How will we be whole? unless
God provides for us in Christ all things, all things. How will we be whole, lest he
provides for us who are empty, less than empty, all things. And that's the title of today's
message, All Things, here in Romans chapter eight. One verse,
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, all things? This verse, like all
verses, points sinners directly and only to our Lord Jesus Christ,
our Lord Jesus Christ. This verse points directly to
him, and it follows Paul's declaration in the first seven chapters of
Romans, pointing out where a sinner's hope cannot be found, a sinner's
hope cannot be found in our own goodness, not in our own good
deeds, so-called good deeds, not in our own heritage, not
in keeping the law. And I shudder to think of all
the messages this morning that are giving flesh hope. Sinful flesh can find temporary
hope in all of those things, our so-called goodness, our so-called
good deeds. our heritage, our keeping of the law, our sinful
flesh can and to our shame does, we do, we find comfort in those
things, to our shame. But not a sinner, not a sinner. Paul's outlined again in the
first seven chapters, a sinner can't find hope in those things,
not through our heritage, not through our good deeds, not through
the law, not our own goodness. A sinner can only find comfort
in faith, And that faith, faith is the evidence. It's the evidence
of Christ's work in the center. Grace is never given as a response
to faith. Faith is the evidence, evidence
of grace that the Lord's already worked. Faith is the evidence
of grace. 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? That's again, that's today's
title of the message. All things focus on those two words, all
things. We're going to pray that we see Christ by answering these
three questions. And I'll preface this by saying,
bear with me. When I outlined these three questions,
I was uncomfortable typing the outline. I was. But if you bear
with me on these three points, I believe you'll be blessed as
I have been. Three points. What things do we have? And that's
where I get uncomfortable, things, right? What things do we have?
What things must we have? And how? How are these things
given? And again, I'm uncomfortable
even typing that outline. I'm even more uncomfortable standing
here saying to them, what things must we have? As if we're gonna
meet together and discuss weighty matters of eternal life. Talk about what things we need,
like a checklist. Before we go on a trip, before
we came here, We make a checklist of all the things that we need
so that we don't forget. So we pack everything that we need
so that we have some kind of control over how our weekend's
gonna go. That's not this. We're not making a salvation
checklist in any way, but rather what things do we have, what
things must we have, and how. Turn back a few books to the
book of Luke, Luke chapter one. talking about this word, things. Luke chapter one, verse 35. The angel answered and said unto
her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the
highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore, also that Holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Here,
the word thing is really lost in translation. And I don't mean
from the translation from Greek to English. I mean from the translation
of things above to things below. That word things really lost
in translation. One human word can't describe. What human word could the angel
use to possibly describe God incarnate as a baby in Mary? What human word could that angel
use? Paul saw the heavens. He said in Corinthians, he heard
unspeakable words that were not, unspeakable things that were
not possible for him to utter. There's no word. Not possible
for a man to utter. That holy thing is what the angel
said in describing this baby that would grow and marry and
become a real man, just as real a man as just as real he was
God. God incarnate, that holy thing. Thing, it's really lost
in translation and it's used similarly here in our text, all
things. we can just as easily take that
word out without harming the text. 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? All. So again, we're gonna
look at this verse, we're gonna answer three questions, we're
gonna use our time to study them in more depth. But that's the
message, what things do we have? Nothing. That's from ourselves. What things must we have? We
must have all. We must be whole. We must have
all. That is Christ. And how? God spared not his own
son, but delivered him up. That's today's message. We are
nothing, we have nothing, and Christ is all. So first, what
things do we have? We're born into this world with
some things, no doubt. We're born into this world with
some things. I was born not far from here. I'm going to take
the kids by later on this afternoon to see the house that I was brought
home to. We're born with some things. Those things that we
have, we're born with from our father Adam. Look at Romans chapter
5, back a couple pages. Romans chapter 5 in verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. What are we born with from our
father Adam? We're born with death. We're born with sin. And
those who live after the flesh and bring the works of the flesh
receive the same debt payment that Cain did. Look back a couple
pages again in Romans chapter two. Romans chapter two in verse
eight. But unto them that are contentious
and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation
and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth
evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile. Who are these
that Paul's talking about that are contentious and do not obey
the truth? Is it those living in open perversion? Is it those
who show no interest whatsoever in God? Every time we drive to
church, we drive past a flea market near our house called
the Hillbilly Flea Market. And I'm telling you, there's
10 times more cars there than in our parking lot every Sunday. There but for the grace of God,
go us. Is it those that show no interest in God, or are those
that are described in this verse, or are those the contentious
that do not obey the truth? Is it me? Because anytime the
scriptures shine light on how a person acts, how a person lives,
what a person thinks, I get uneasy. Because I see myself there. A
drunkard, a pervert, a cheat, a liar, a murderer, one who denies
God. The scriptures have given us
examples of our brethren in the scriptures who have at one time
or another openly displayed all of those, been all of those things.
By God's grace, I see that in myself as well, right here. And
if by God's grace I'm not outwardly practicing any of those things,
it's only by his restraining hand. There but for the grace
of God go I. Again, scriptures give us example
of our brothers who the Lord has allowed to be all of those
things, even redeemed people. I was sitting with a brother
30 years ago. Hard for me to imagine I talk
about things 30 years ago. It might have been more than
30 years ago. Two brothers, and one was telling
a story about somebody else. And just what an intense person
this fella is. And we were talking about him.
And respectfully, I appreciate his intensity. And we're talking
about that and sharing a story of something this brother did.
One brother says, the other brother, I hope he did that before. He
was doing all that before he was a redeemed soul, right? Oh,
for Pete's sake. That's not how we talk, is it?
That's not how we talk. David. Right? David may have been all those
things listed all at the same time with Bathsheba. And again, I
don't have to point at David. I can just point here. You can
point to yourself. Paul calls himself the chief
of sinners. And that's not just falsely modest religious speak.
That's a snapshot we're taking of any of our lives at any moment.
We'd have reason to be ashamed. But again, that's not what this
verse is talking about. So who are these people in Romans 2
that are contentious and do not obey the truth? Paul's actually
already addressed that back a page in chapter one. Look in chapter
one in verses 21. Because that, when they knew
God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but
become vain in their own imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. changed the
glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible
man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore, God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lust of their own heart, to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves. He changed the truth of God into
a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator,
who is blessed forever. These are those who saw God, who saw God and didn't glorify
him as God, and instead went about to make their own God that
they could then stand before. They made their own righteousness.
And that's exactly what Lucifer did, right? I will ascend up
into the heavens. I'm going to stand on level ground
with God Almighty. And that's exactly what Adam
did when he ate the fruit. It's exactly what Cain did when
he brought his sacrifice of his own hands. It's exactly what
we do. Whenever we try to approach to God Almighty and stand on
level ground with Him before the Holy God on the basis of
anything that we have or anything that we have done or anything
that we have not done, anything about ourselves, we have nothing.
What things do we have? We have nothing. And this is
describing us left to ourselves who would dare to imagine we
deserve an audience with the Holy God. the creator of the
universe, the one who gives us the breath we just took, that
we would stand before that God and get an audience with him
based on anything that we've done. My goodness. What things do we have? We have
nothing. And that's what each of us as a race and each of us
individually, me and you both, put our name right there. That's
what we've received from our father Adam. How shall we not,
from our father Adam, receive all things as it pertain to this
flesh, as it relates to sin. And we have. We've received sin
and we've received death. And we've received the evidence
of spiritual death. Again, over in Romans 3, starting in verse 10, here's
the evidence of the spiritual death that we're born with. Verse
10 says, as it is written, there's none righteous. No, not one.
There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their
tongues, they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, and the way of peace Have they not known? There is
no fear of God before their eyes. That's the description of us.
That's our nature. What things do we have? There's
a description. Nothing. And that's our standing,
again, when we're born into the world. No peace, no fear of God.
Rebels, traitors. So when I began this message
with, what do we have? And I said, nothing. And that
is true. We actually have less than nothing. We have less than
nothing. We have nothing we might offer to God. Our situation,
again, is much worse. We have less than nothing. We're
born criminals, just like our father, Adam. We spend our lives
proving that. We spend our lives proving that
we have that exact same nature if left alone. What good can
we produce? What good can come from an open
sepulcher? What good can come from deceitful tongues and mouths
full of cursing and bitterness? What good can come from that?
A lot of times in the morning, Stacey, to her credit, she's
been out jogging lately. So she gets up before I do in the morning.
She goes out jogging. And sometimes Rosalie will come
hop in bed with me. And the very first thing I do,
shame to admit it, but it's going to prove a point. The very first
thing I do is I hop up out of bed and I go gargle with mouthwash.
My morning breath's awful. Anything I say to her is going
to be offensive because of from whence it came. That make sense? That's just a picture. What good
can come from this awful nature? What good can proceed out of
the heart of man? What good? What are we born with?
Worse than nothing. Worse than nothing, if left alone. Every word is offensive because
of the source. Every deed is offensive because
of the source. When we stack up these so-called good deeds
that we've done, we stack them up and expect an audience with
our holy God. Numbers 23, 19 said, God is not
a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should
repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken,
shall he not make it good? Do we think we're going to stack
up our good works, so-called good works, to receive an audience
on a level field, an audience with our Lord? It just goes to
show our sinful nature, that we would bring that to God as
even trade for reconciliation with him. And left to ourselves,
that's exactly what we do 100% of the time. Would we think so
lowly of him and of what it means to be in his presence that we
would bring our goodness to him as if it was something valuable
or if it was something that he would even need from us. We drove
from Ashland here and we saw 1,000 hills and the cattle on
every one of them are our Lord's. Even if I could produce a good
work, what would he need it from me for? What could we bring him of value
that we could imagine would gain admittance into his throne room?
But it's worse than that. We can't even bring the smallest
good deed. In fact, what we bring is offensive and bad. And Paul
calls the best of what any of us can produce dung. Now, we
like the movie The Greatest Showman, right? That's a movie that we
like as kids. And in that movie, P.T. Barnum stands before the Queen
of England. Queen of England, and they all
bring gifts, and they all bring entertainment. They're standing
before the Queen. And imagine if one of them walked
up with a plate full of dung. They'd have been thrown out and
probably executed. How offensive to bring that before the Queen.
And that's just the little old figurehead Queen. That's not
our God, the King. The King. And our deeds, our
works, are worse than dung. Worse than dung. How offensive.
How offensive. We need evidence of our spiritual
death. There it is. That we would think that anything
that we could bring from our hands, from this open sepulcher,
would be acceptable before our God. There's evidence of our
spiritual death. It just shows our natural, our
inherited from our father Adam, our hatred and our disdain for
our God. In our natural hearts, we think that's what he's worth. I cannot hesitate to even say
it, but it's the truth. We bring our works before God,
and that's exactly what we're saying. You're worth this plate
of dung. It's exactly what our works before our Heavenly Father
is saying. Your acceptance, your righteousness, Christ your son,
here's what it's all worth. That's what we think it's worth.
That's what the people said when they cried, give us Barabbas,
right? They said to Christ, you're worse than nothing. I imagine
that everyone hated Barabbas, don't you? I mean, he was a despicable
person. He wasn't a loving character.
And they were saying, bring us Barabbas. He was awful. No one
wanted him in their midst. But they'd rather have him than
Christ. And that's what we say when we bring our works. We say,
give us Barabbas. Putting any hope at all in our
works, that's us crying. Give us Barabbas. Same thing.
We lift ourselves to God up on a dung heap of our works. Again,
the very idea just shows our natural disdain for God. What
do we have? That's what we have. Not all
things, all things related to sin and death. That's what we're
born with. We bring ourselves up to God,
that's thinking offensively low of who he is, criminally low,
criminally low of who he is. In our minds, when we bring God
down to our level, That's treason. Will we reason with Him as a
man? Maybe try to smooth things over or find a loophole? I'm in sales, that's what I do
all day. I smooth things over. Will we do that with our Heavenly
Father, with our God? My goodness. We claim ignorance,
is that our hope? That's treason. Turn back over
a few pages to Romans chapter 10. What things do we have? We have
less than nothing. Romans chapter 10, starting in
verse six. But the righteousness, which
is of faith, speaketh on this wise. Say not of thine heart,
who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down
from above. Or who shall descend into the deep? That is to bring
Christ again from the dead. But what sayeth it? The word
is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the
word of faith, which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
That's evidence that you are saved. For with the heart, man
believeth into righteousness. With the mouth, confession is
made unto salvation. What things do we have? We have
less than nothing. We have debt. We have sin. We have death. All
these things We've earned, we've inherited, and we've earned, and we owe. What things must
we have? What things must we have? 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? What things must we have? We
must have two things, and they're both found only in the Lord,
in Jesus Christ. We must have all things in Adam
taken away. We must be emptied. We have all
things in Adam taken away. And we must be given all things
in Christ. We must have all things in Adam taken away. The sin,
the death, the debt, all that we inherited from our father
Adam, that all must be taken away. The payment for Adam's
sin and for our sin must be made. The payment must be made. All
things that we received from our father Adam must be taken
away. Sin can never be written off. It must be paid. The only payment is death. Romans
6, verse 23 says, the wages of sin is death. Sin can't be written
off. Sin can't be hidden. It must
be paid. It will be paid. Every sin will
be paid. It must be paid. The only payment
is death. Our death? My death? Our eternal death. Our eternal separation from God
still won't pay for Adam's sin. And that's pure justice. Even
in this physical world, when there's a crime committed, and
there's payment that we deem to be justice, but that crime
is never made right, right? A murderer kills someone and
spends the rest of his or her life in jail, even goes to the
electric chair. Justice has been served, but it hasn't been made
right. The crime is still committed. It hasn't been made right. We
can't do it. We can't make sin right. Even
in our physical world, we can't do it, let alone the spiritual
world. It's never made whole. We call that justice. That crime
can never be made right, can never be made whole. That harm
is still done. There's no making that even.
The payment for sin is eternal death. That's a debt that no
son of Adam can ever pay. Why is that? That's because we're
unclean. Justice demands sinless blood. What about a sacrifice? The Old Testament outlines hundreds
of sacrifices, maybe thousands, but Hebrews 10 verse 4 says,
but in those sacrifice there is a remembrance again made of
sins every year. It's not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats should take away sin. They're a picture. It's not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats could be counted for my blood. We have two different
natures. Who can bear that sin? Who has
the right? I could eternally in separation
from God and it still wouldn't pay. Who has the right? Who has
the power? And who, if they had the right
and had the power, who would be willing? Turn over to Isaiah
chapter 53. Who has the right? Who has the power? Isaiah chapter 53. Look here
with me in verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.
By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. Who can bear that sin? Who has
the right only found in our Lord, Jesus Christ? 1 Peter 2 says,
for even here unto were ye called, because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps.
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who, when
he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. When he committed himself, to him that judges righteously,
who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes we were healed." Now, actually, turn over there
to Peter, Peter chapter 2, and just keep your finger there,
because I'm going to come back to it. It's 1 Peter chapter 2. Who has the power? Who has the
right? Who would be willing? Our Lord Jesus Christ said his
face like a flint. His Father's will was always
before him. Always before him. This morning while throwing some
covers around on the bed, making sure we had all of our stuff,
I threw my back out something horrible. Never done it like this before.
And I mean to tell you, that pain is right in front of me.
Right when that first happened, that was my whole world. That
was all I saw or felt or thought about was, right? It was blinding, right there,
right in front of me. And that was the Father's will
before our Lord Jesus Christ every moment. Ever before Him,
right there, seeking to do His Father's will. His Father's will
is to show His mercy, to show His mercy in saving the most
unsavable, to show His mercy. And that's our Lord. That's our
Lord, His Father's will all before Him to show His mercy. Our Lord,
Jesus Christ, the only payment for sin. He's able, He's willing,
and by that word willing, the scripture doesn't teach He's
willing and waiting for you to ask. No, He was willing to be
made a sacrifice, and He said it is finished. He's willing
to show mercy. If you come to his sovereign
throne asking for your sins to be forgiven, on the promise of
this book, they will be. He promises to show mercy. Those
who come to the throne begging for mercy, it's evidence that
he's already called, that mercy's already been granted. Come to
the throne and beg for mercy. Beg for mercy. Our Lord delights
to show mercy. That's proof that we've been
granted mercy, the faith to come and beg. Those that come to him
are drawn. Those that come to him, he will
show mercy. John 6 says, no man can come to me except the Father
which has sent me draw him. I'll raise him up at the last
day. Sinner, when we started this with all the comfort of
the flesh, the comfort that flesh can find in our works and our
deeds and our heritage and being here this morning. All those
things the flesh can find comfort in. But if you're like me and
sitting there and find no comfort in those things, sinner, come
to Christ. Come to Christ. We have evidence here. You'll
not be turned away. What things do we need? We need
all things. We need all things. All things in Adam taken away,
We need the payment for the debt of our sin. We must be given
all things in Christ. Scriptures don't end with the
sin debt being paid. And if you still got your finger
there in first Peter chapter two, who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should
live under righteousness. should live under righteousness,
by whose stripes you are healed. That's there in verse 24 of 1
Peter chapter 2. Should live under righteousness.
Me? Live under righteousness? Compare that back here to Romans
chapter 5 in verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, So by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Made righteous? We know 2 Corinthians 5, 21,
for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. In him? Made the
righteousness of God in him. Compare that to what our Lord
told Nicodemus in John chapter three. The same, that is, Nicodemus,
came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that
thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered
and said unto him, Verily, verily, truly, I say unto thee, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus
saith unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is
born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
you must be born again. What things must we have? We
must be given a new nature, a pure nature, a new nature born of
the spirit. You must be born again. Christ
said to Nicodemus, scriptures are full of sinners. who sought
the Lord to rid them of their problem, but ultimately, they
weren't given grace to seek a oneness with him. Pharaoh sought the
Lord to get rid of the plagues, right? I think that all, Pharaoh
prayed to the Lord to get rid of the frogs. He just wanted the debt gone,
to get rid of the frogs. Whole multitude of the country
of the Gadarenes, the crazy man possessed of the legion living
in the tombs, And the Lord rid that area, right, of the legion. The legion went to the pigs.
The pigs went into the sea. And they sent our Lord away. That's
all they wanted. They wanted to get out of jail
free card. That's all. Just make the frogs go away.
Just make that go away. They weren't giving grace to
want a oneness with our Savior, with Jesus Christ. We must have
a new nature. We must be born again. Is that
then our righteousness? God forbid. Our righteousness
isn't a thing. Our righteousness is Christ.
It's Christ with him, never outside of him. And our text says that.
How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Always
with him, never outside of Christ. Never outside of Christ. What
things must we have? We must have Christ. Our sacrifice. We must have Christ in us. Christ
must be the double cure. You're familiar with the song,
be of sin the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure. 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? In Christ, sinners are made pure,
given a new nature. Read through Romans chapter 5
this afternoon. I meant to bring my bulletin
up with me. Our call to worship this morning
listed justification, faith, peace. In Christ, sinners are
made pure, given a new nature. Again, read through Romans chapter
five this afternoon. That lists what we're given.
Justification, faith, peace. We're also given tribulations. Patience, experience, hope. Not
empty hope, not empty hope. Hope fulfilled in Christ. Joy,
reconciliation. Reconciliation with the Heavenly
Father right now. Reconciliation. And He, that
is Christ, as He is, that's what the scripture says, right? As
He is, as Christ is, so are we in this world, reconciled with
the Holy Heavenly Father. What things do we have? We have
Adam's sin, we have Adam's nature, and we have death. Spiritual death. What things
must we have? We must have Christ's payment for sin. We must have
a new nature from above. Spiritual life found only and
always in Christ. And finally, how? How are these
things given? Or rather, in whom are all these
things given? In whom? Salvation is not a process.
Salvation is Christ. My call isn't to convince you
that Christ's way is better. Of course Christ's way is better.
Any fool listening or any fool who can read can see that Christ's
way is better. Of course it is. My call is to
come to Christ. Come to Christ. Not a way or
a process, a person. Christ, our Savior. Come to Christ.
I speak to myself. Again, come to Christ. the process of salvation that
he already accomplished. See the necessity of why he was
made the sacrifice of sin, because of our sin debt, because we are
nothing, the necessity. See for whom he died, common
sinners. The worst, the least likely to
come, strangers, Gentiles. Must needs go through Samaria,
common sinners. See that he accomplishes salvation
because of who He is. He's the Son of God. And Christ
is God. And Christ is man. See that He
accomplishes salvation because of who He is. Christ has the
authority to accomplish salvation. Christ alone. Christ alone has
the power. Christ alone has the goodness
to see it through. See Christ in that. See that
Christ is able to accomplish salvation because of who He is. He's all-powerful. Christ saw
fit to finish salvation at a cost to himself that we can't imagine. We can't imagine. He did that
because of who he is. All love and all mercy for all
his people. Don't hear me say come to the
process. That's the way of death. Yeah, I identify as a Calvinist,
I suppose. But you can identify as a Calvinist
and miss Christ altogether. Living proof, standing right
here. Any fool can see that's true.
Read through the Bible and see the five points. Any fool can
read and see that's true. Don't come to the process. Don't
come to intellect. Don't come to knowledge of a
thing. Come to Christ, who is all. of the points of who is all,
period. Come to Christ who is all. Come to Christ, the author
and finisher of our salvation. Again, how? That is, by what
means? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us all. Sin itself was laid on and in Christ. He could bear
it. He could bear it because he was
sinless, because of who he is. The thought of just the weight
of that made his blood run backwards. The weight of our sin, bearing
that sin. But he bore it. And in justice,
God the Father extracted that payment that was required for
sin. Full payment made. He didn't
pull his punch or hold anything back. Christ paid the sin debt payment
in full by the sacrifice of himself. Christ was given over to wicked
men to be slain, true, but it was God the Father who spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How? That is, by what means? By Christ's
sacrifice. How are we given all things in
him? How are we given all things in
him? By Christ's sacrifice on the cross for sin. How, that
is, in what manner? Freely, isn't that what our text
says? How shall not with him also freely give us all things? Listen to what John Gill wrote.
John Gill says, God could never have been compelled to have given
him. Christ could never have been
merited by sinners. We couldn't have earned that.
Could never have been merited by sinners. Nothing that they
could give or do could have laid God under obligation to have
bestowed Christ on them. Free of charge to the sinner,
that is, by what manner? Free of charge and freely, meaning
without restriction. Freely, not grudgingly, but freely. Absolutely. As God does at all
things, the manner in which God does all things, absolutely and
completely. He, freely given all things,
completely and in honesty, Freely, because of Christ's work,
it's right, it's proper, it's correct to freely bestow all
to Christ's brethren. Freely because as a result of
Christ's work, it would not be right for God
to withhold all from those for whom Christ died. We know the
song, payment God cannot twice demand. First at my bleeding
shirt, his hand, and then again at mine. Wouldn't be right. Wouldn't be right. I used this
illustration at home the other day, talking about this word
freely. I used to work up the road a little bit in Richmond.
I worked for a nursing facility there, and I was the lowest of
the lowest on the totem pole. So one of my jobs was to clean
out the sewer line when it backed up, and it backed up frequently.
I'm working in a nursing home. Nurse assistants love to flush
their gloves down the commode just to see me go out there and
snake out the drain. So I'd be three inches deep and back up,
and I'd have to snake that drain out. Boy, when I finally found
it, it might be 100 yards down the line, when I finally found
that glove with that snake, that water went unimpeded, freely,
right down the drain. That is the way that our Lord's
blessings are given to us in Christ. Freely and without restriction. Freely. Freely without cost.
Freely without restriction. Open-handed. The way we give
to our children. Freely is the way he gives to
his children. Freely. Freely. Without restriction.
Freely. Grace. Not debt. And finally,
in closing, What did Christ earn? What did Christ earn for us?
Look here again, stay right in our text, in Romans chapter eight. What did Christ earn for us so
that, so that how shall he not with him also freely give us
all things? Look here in chapter, excuse
me, chapter eight verse 28. 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. Predestinated, called,
whom he called, them he also justified. Whom he justified,
them he also glorified. 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? Let's close in
prayer.