Thank you, Brother Bruce. Thank
you, Larry. I made the mistake a few years ago of sharing a
little something private with your pastor. I have a friend
I've never met. He lives in Arizona, Brother
Jim Jimcic. And I hear from him regularly
by email. He wrote to me one day and said,
told somebody that I wrote commentaries. I was a commentator. And the
fellow said, well, what's a commentator? He said, well, I reckon that's
a compound word, commentator. So I reckon a commentator is
a commentator. So that's what he addressed me
as all the time, commentator. A commentator is just the right
word. Turn with me, if you will, to Romans, the eighth chapter.
I just told you Bible's open on your laps. Romans, chapter
8. Like all of you, I'm sure I get
a lot of mail. And I throw a lot of mail in
the trash can. If it's addressed to box holder or occupant, I
never even look at it. Don't care where it came from
or who sent it. It goes in the little round barrel
on my floor. If it is addressed to dear friend,
I'll look to see who wrote it. And if it's addressed to dear
friend by somebody I know, I'll probably read it. unless I get
the idea that it's just something commonly written to a lot of
people. In that case, it goes in the same file. But every time
I get a letter addressed near dawn, I know somebody has taken
the time to write to me personally. They've got something to say
directly to me. And so far, I think I can safely
say I've never received a letter by mail or by email in any other
way that I haven't answered it. Even the bad ones I answer. Might
be short but I answer them. And I do so because they get
my attention rightly so because somebody cares enough about me
to write to me. Now I want you to hold your Bibles
open here at Romans chapter 8 I've got a message from God the Holy
Spirit written just for you. I wish I could pull up a chair
and sit down beside you and read it together with just you, one
at a time. It's just for you. If you're
here without Christ, listen carefully to what I have to say. God may
be pleased to use this word to his people for your soul's everlasting
salvation. But everything written here in
Romans chapter 8 is written for God's elect, for believing sinners,
for men and women in this world who are born of God and walk
with God, seeking God's glory. The title of my message is No
Condemnation, No Accidents, No Separation. No condemnation,
no accidents, no separation. This is manna from heaven sent
by God to feed the children of Israel in this wilderness where
there is no other bread. And I promise you, if God the
Holy Ghost who wrote these 39 verses will write them on your
heart, everything in this portion of scripture will help you to
understand your troubles in this wilderness. It'll make your temptations,
your trials, and the conflicts you meet with in this strange
land more bearable. The things written here will
quieten your fears before the giant sons of Enoch you meet
with in this journey. And it'll make you yearn more
for the blessedness and glory of Canaan's fair and happy land. This chapter begins with no condemnation. It ends with no separation. And
everything in between is just grace, grace, grace, and more
grace. The glorious eighth chapter of
Romans describes for us the believer's freedom from condemnation. It
declares our privileges as Christ's brethren. as Christ's brethren,
as children of God, together with his own darling son. And
it describes our everlasting security from any possibility
of harm or injury of any kind along the way. Nothing shall hurt God's elect. Brother Don, I've been hurt a
lot of times. No you haven't, you just thought you were. It was
good for you. Nothing shall hurt you, that's
God's promise. No harm, no injury, not by anything on earth, not
by everything in hell. Nothing shall hurt you. God's
your father. Christ is your redeemer. The
spirit of God is your comforter. You have life with God in Christ. This passage of Scripture declares
the security of every believing sinner from all possibility of
harm or the very possibility of separation from our great
Redeemer and his great love for us. Romans 8 is a glorious declaration
to believing sinners in this sin-cursed world of woe. This is God's word to you and
me. Number one, look at verses one
through four. Nehemiah gives us a good example
of what preaching is to be in Nehemiah chapter eight. We read
that they read from the book the law of God, the word of God. They read God's word distinctly.
And then they gave the sense. and then they cause the people
to understand. So I want us to read the word, and I'll briefly
give you the sense, and I pray God will cause you to understand.
The first thing we meet with here is a declaration of the
believer's complete freedom from the curse, bondage, and condemnation
of God's holy law. Free from the law, oh, happy
condition. If you ever find out what it
is to be free from the law, you'll walk before God with joy. There
is therefore, therefore, because you're in
Christ, because you're justified from all sin, because you've
been crucified with Christ, because we are risen with Christ, because
we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ, Because we're
not under the law but under grace. Because we're dead to the law
and married to Christ. There is therefore now. Right
now. Right now. No condemnation at
this very moment and on forever. No condemnation. No punishment. No sin. No guilt. No possibility of being punished
for sin. No possibility of sin being imputed
to us or charged to us. No curse. No judgment. Nothing to fear. Nothing to dread. Nothing. Nothing. No condemnation. No condemnation. To them which
are in Christ Jesus. Oh, what a place to be. In Christ,
by God's sovereign election. In Christ, by the Holy Spirit's
work of grace in the new birth. In Christ, by the blessed gift
of faith in Him. In Christ. What's that mean? To be in Christ. who walk not
after the flesh but after the spirit. Now, contrary to what
you'd hear if you went right up the road to one of these poopy
churches. To be walking not after the flesh
but after the spirit is to believe on the Son of God. That much
and no more and no less. To walk, not after the flesh,
but after the spirit, is to believe, to live by faith in the Son of
God. Verse two, for the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus, that's the gospel of God's free
grace, hath made me free from the law of sin and death, made
me free from everything that required my punishment because
of sin. for what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, that is, because
of our sin, by a sacrifice for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. and he did it for this purpose
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us
who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Well you
see brother Don this is teaching us that We who believe on the
Lord Jesus, there's a sense in which we do keep the law. There's
a sense in which we must live by the law. There's a sense in
which we must observe certain things in the law. Not all of
them, of course. We get to pick and choose. But
we got to some way say folks are under the law. Otherwise,
you make the law meaningless. No. No. There's no place at which believers
are under the law. None. None of it. Well, he said
we fulfill the law. We do. By faith in Jesus Christ. God demands of you and me perfect
holiness, perfect righteousness, perfect obedience. God demands
perfection. Now listen to me. I'm just talking
to you now. John, whatever God requires,
God gives. Whatever God requires, God gives. Jesus Christ is made of God unto
you. Wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. Now, I don't know about you,
but that's all I want. That's all I want. Read on, verse 5. Here the apostle writes to us,
describing the believer's life in the spirit. There is no condemnation
to them that walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
But what is it to walk after the spirit, not after the flesh? Verses 5 through 14. I repeat. Walking after the spirit and
not after the flesh is living by faith in Christ Not by the
carnal ordinances of religion not by the carnal weak and beggarly
elements of the law, but by faith in Christ as he therefore Have
received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in I repeat that so often because
I keep asking God to teach me in reality what it means. As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. How did you first
come to Christ? What did you bring? I didn't bring anything. That's
how you live with him. But I had no righteousness, I
had no works, I had no goodness, I had no resolutions. I came
as a naked, dirty, helpless, empty-handed beggar seeking mercy. That's how you live by faith. That's a grain of mustard seed. And that grain of mustard seed
faith only God can give. How often have you tried to believe
God, my brother? Something comes up and you try
to believe God and you can't believe God for anything. Anybody here who can? If you
can decide to believe God, please step up here and tell me how.
I'll tell you when you believe God, When God makes you see you
can't do nothing but believe Him and gives you faith. Faith. It's God's gift. Not just
back yonder yesterday when you first believed or 50 years ago
when you first believed, but right now! If you can believe
God, God works faith in you. That's all. That's all. Verse
5, for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the
flesh. Everything about you by nature
thinks about nothing but flesh. You and me. That's just fact. That's just fact. The old man
in you never got any better. He just gets worse. I don't mean
he appears to get worse. I mean every day, Darwin put,
he just gets worse. Every day. The flesh can't do
anything but corrupt. That's all. They that are after
the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. But they that are
after the spirit, the things of the spirit. For to be carnally
minded is death. But to be spiritually minded,
that's life in peace. Faith in Christ, that's life
in peace. Believing God, that's life in peace. Trusting the Redeemer,
that's life in peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God. The natural thought of man in the depth of his heart The
natural heart of man, in the depths of his being, hates God
with every fiber of his being. It's enmity against God. Enmity
against God. Hates God because he's God. That's all. Because we all want
to be God ourselves. We don't. So then, they that
are after the flesh, or in the flesh, cannot please God. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. Now, somehow or another, this
ought to just cause you to jump up and shout hallelujah. But
you're not in the flesh. You're not in the flesh. Now,
wait a minute. There sits Gary Wheaton, his
white chair. I can see their flesh, but you're not in the
flesh. Either that's true or this book's not true. You're
not in the flesh. What on earth is he talking about?
But you're in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. If God's in you, you've been
brought to live in a different realm of existence than anybody
else. You live in the Spirit. You live in the Spirit. Now,
if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, Here's the reason. He doesn't belong to Christ.
He's none of his. And if Christ be in you, if Christ be in you,
Christ liveth in me. You're made partakers of the
divine nature. When God the Holy Spirit comes
and gives you life, Jesus Christ moves in. He sets himself on
the throne of your being. He is Lord over all. And if Christ
is in you, the body is dead. What do you mean? You just got
through tetanus, the flesh is still full of life and full of
corruption. Getting worse all the time? Yeah,
but the body's dead. Brother Don, I can see you moving. Don't
tell me that body's dead. That ain't what he's talking about.
He's talking about that old man crucified with Christ when he
died at Calvary. You see, this body is in the
process of going to the grave. and this body of sin, that natural
man is dead. God said so. He nailed it to
the tree. Not I nailed it to the tree,
he did. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live
in this flesh, I live not by my strength, not by strength
I can muster, not by works I can do, but by faith of the Son of
God. who loved me and gave himself
for me. Freedom. Now if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. And if Christ be
in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life. The Spirit is life. What Spirit?
God the Spirit. What Spirit? Christ in you is
life because of righteousness. Our Savior said, now, It's expedient for you that I
go away. If I go not away, the Spirit
cannot come. But if I go away, he'll come
and he will reprove you of sin because you don't believe me.
And he'll convince you of righteousness because having fulfilled all
righteousness as the prophet said that Christ would do, I
now go to my Father. He couldn't go back to glory
if he hadn't done it. He could not ascend into glory
if he hadn't finished his work as Jehovah's righteous servant.
End of judgment. Judgment's over because I've
taken care of the devil. The prince of this world is judged.
The spirit then, the spirit of him that raised up Christ from
the dead is Christ himself in you, dwelling in you by his spirit. And he that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit. Not the body of sin. The body of sin is talking about
the nature of Adam, the heart of corruption, but this mortal
body. This mortal body. I believe things I can't begin
to understand, let alone talk about and explain. This mortal
shall put on immortality. This corruptible shall put on
incorruption. This natural body, sown in the
earth, a natural body, lays down there and rots, and is eaten
of worms, and there's nothing left but the bones, and I reckon
if they stay there long enough, they'll just turn to dust. Just
nothing. This corruptible shall put on incorruption. This body
shall be raised in glory. Read on. He that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit
that dwelleth in you. That's not just talking about
that future resurrection. Let's talk about now. Now. Sometimes you can't believe you
can't share. Sometimes you can speak to him. Sometimes you can hear him speak
to you because the quicken, the spirit quickens you. Verse 12,
therefore brethren, we're debtors, not to the flesh to live after
the flesh. Oh no. For if you live after the flesh,
you shall die. But if ye through the spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body. That word mortify. Now you can
read the commentators on that Puritans wrote long books about
mortifying the flesh, mortifying the flesh, mortifying the flesh.
And they didn't do just exactly like the Paganists do, you know.
The Paganists, they tell you to mortify the flesh by not eating
fish on Friday. What do they do? Don't eat something on Friday,
all you do is eat. Or you go to a monastery and
you kneel down in a cell and you take a little rope and beat
yourself in the back and beat yourself and you mortify the
flesh or you fast a day or two or an hour or two or maybe a
few minutes if you happen to be a fat monk. But you do something
to mortify the flesh. But legalists, they wouldn't
do that. Well, you mortify the flesh,
you live an austere life. You dress funny, you talk funny,
you act funny. You get mean and crappy and nobody
has anything to do with you. And you do it in the name of
Jesus. I'm mortifying the flesh. I actually went to school with
a fellow. I'm telling you the truth. He tried to mortify the
flesh. Bless his heart. Everything he
ate, I couldn't afford to buy stuff, but everything he ate,
he covered it up with salt. I'm not talking, I like salt.
I mean, he turned a hamburger white. He covered it up with
salt. He said, I don't think I'll enjoy it. That ain't mortifying the flesh.
That's acting stupid. That's acting religiously idolatrous. That ain't mortifying the flesh.
What is to mortify the flesh? The word means to murder. The
word means put to death. You mortify the flesh by suffocating
it, by saying no to the flesh, denying ungodliness and worldly
lust. There's nothing you're ever going
to do to rid your mind and your heart of the corruption that's
there. It just ain't going to happen,
is it, Pastor? It just ain't going to happen. I told our folks
the other night, I lay on my bed. I did this last night. I
lay on my bed at night. After I've kissed you, have a
good night, told her one last time, I love you. Thank you for
a great life. And I turn my back to her, and
I try to pray. And I spend more time begging
God to take the corruption of my mind away so that I can pray,
not do anything else. Just for a little bit. At least
silence this thing! But it won't go away. How do
you mortify the flesh then? You beat it down! You say no
to the lust of the flesh. You don't act like you know you
are. That's exactly what it's all
about. You don't act like you know you are. We're not debtors to the flesh.
I don't owe this flesh anything. I don't owe this flesh anything.
A friend of mine, Brother Harry Graven, told me one time years
ago, Harry's with the Lord now, he said, somebody said to him,
he said, when he was in college, he said, he said, well, Brother
Harry, we've got to live in this world. Harry said, that's the
one thing I don't have to do. That's one thing I don't have
to do. Say no to the flesh. You say no? You say no? And if ye through the Spirit
of God will enable you to do that. If you through the Spirit mortify
the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they're the sons of God. The verse 9
again. You're not in the flesh, but
in the Spirit. If so, be the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now
if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his.
You and I live in the spirit John says as he is So are we
in this world? Turn over first John chapter
3 for a minute. Don't you see this? Christ died for us, Peter said,
that we should no longer live the rest of our time in the lust
of our flesh, but to the will of God. He died for us that we
might live under God. First John chapter three. Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we
should be called the sons of God. Before the world was, he
called us his sons. Therefore the world knoweth us
not because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. How on this
earth? We purify our hearts by faith
in Christ. That's all. Nothing else. Christ
alone is our righteousness, our sanctification, our holiness.
He's everything. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law. For sin is the transgression
of the law. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins. And in him in him is no sin in
him is no sin I'm in him and in him is no sin you're in him
and in him is no sin you're in him and in him is no sin you
see the old man had been put to death. And soon that old man
in you will die, die and you shall die, but we're in Christ. That new man in him always has
been, is now and shall forever be, and in him is no sin. All right, look at verses 15
and 16. Here the apostle describes the blessed witness of the spirit. What gives you assurance? Brother John, I've been struggling
with this thing of assurance. How come? How come? Well, I don't know that I feel
like I ought to about God, about Christ, His grace. I'm not as
thankful as I ought to be. I haven't repented enough. My
faith's not very strong. I don't have much faith. I keep
on sinning. Would you tell me what that's
got to do with anything? Please tell me. Well, I'm not
as obedient as ought to be. I'm not as sacrificial as ought
to be. Please tell me what that's got to do with assurance. I'm
talking about according to this book. According to this book.
Well, where's your assurance? The spirit bears witness with
our spirit. Read what it says. For you've
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, that's what the
legalist has. But you've received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. You know, I used
to be scared to death of God. I was terrified of Him. I thought
I was going crazy, I was so scared of Him. I was absolutely terrified
at the thought of God. And then one day, God revealed
His Son in me. And, Darwin, I lift my heart
to heaven, look God square in the face, and say, My Father,
My Father. The Spirit of God does that.
The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God. How? By convincing us of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment. By showing us Christ and giving
us faith in Him. Come back to 1 John again, chapter
5. First John chapter 5, verse 7. For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. That's talking about the triune
Godhead. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the
Spirit, and the water. That's the Word of God and the
blood. And these three agree in one, the Spirit of God, the
Word of God, and the blood of Christ. The Spirit of God, by
the Word of God, sprinkles the blood. If we receive the witness
of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness
of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth
on the Son, he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness
in himself. What? Faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. The Spirit of God,
this witness, is in me if I believe on Christ? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. Now I'm going to tell you something.
For the first time in my life today, that shot through my heart
like a bolt of lightning. He's talking to believers. Read
the passage. Everything he is talking about
you and me, believers. He that believeth not the record
God gave, he's made God a liar. He's God, you're lying to me.
You're lying to me. He said, he that believeth on
the Son of God hath everlasting life. Doesn't matter whether
you feel like it or don't. Doesn't matter whether you act
like it or don't. Doesn't matter whether anybody
else thinks so or doesn't. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. Terry Hoag, I can't tell you
many things about which I'm dead sure, but I'm dead sure about
this. Christ is my only trust. Nothing I feel, nothing I do,
nothing I think, nothing I learned, nothing! Nothing anybody says,
just to you. I trust you. I have no righteousness. I have no atonement. I have no
sanctification. I have no redemption. I have
no hope but Him. But Him. And I have a testimony
in here. We read about a fellow named
Enoch. Enoch, before he was translated, had this testimony that he pleased
God. That means Enoch, boy, he must
have lived a good life. Everybody who knew Brother Lee,
they said, look at him. Boy, if anybody goes to heaven, Enoch
will. He's a good man. Enoch's a fighter. He pays all
his bills. You can count on Enoch. Man,
he's a good neighbor. He's a good husband. He's a good
daddy. Everybody knows he prays three times a day. He does everything
right. Enoch's a good man. He had a
testimony that it pleased God. Ain't got nothing to do with
all that stuff. No, sir. Bruce, he had a testimony from
God. He had a testimony of God. He
believed on the Son of God. He wrote about the coming of
our Redeemer with 10,000 of his saints. He believed that Jesus
is the Christ, that redemption's in him alone. And believing,
God said, Enoch, I'm pleased with you, because I'm pleased
with him in whom I put you. Will you listen to me? Oh, please
hear me. Please hear me. Please hear me.
God in heaven is pleased with me. Nobody else in the world has
a reason to be. God has every reason to be because
Christ is mine. You understand that? You understand
that? This is the witness. The Spirit of God giving us faith
in Christ sprinkles the conscience from his dead works and says,
Don Fortner, you're not guilty. Your sins are gone. You've been
made righteous, the very righteousness of God in Christ. Now, let's
see if I've made good on that. Go back to our text, Romans 8. Verses 17 through 25. The believer is a person born
of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, one who lives in the
Spirit. And that being the case, he lives
in hope of eternal life, just as it's described here. We are
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. That's what it said,
verses 17 and 18. Heirs of God. What's that mean?
What's that mean? This is the son. This is the
son. Let's kill him and the heritage
will be ours. Little did they know. He who
is the firstborn among many brethren, all the inheritances he is, and
all of God's people collectively are called the Church of the
Firstborn Ones. Larry, Chris, you and I are God's
firstborn sons. One with Christ. Really one with
Christ. So that all the inheritance God
gave His Son as the obedient God-man, our mediator, He gives
us! So that we're heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ. The Savior said, Father, Give
me publicly now the glory that I had with you before the world
was. And the father said to his own right hand, and he said,
I've given him everything. I've given him all nations, all
things are in his hands. Everything belongs to the son.
And the son of God says, the glory that you gave me, I've
given thee. That they may be one as we are
one. We have this earnest of the spirit. This inheritance being ours so
that we have confidence of the inheritance itself. For the earnest
expectation, verse 18, of the creature waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting with full anticipation. the glorious appearing of the
great God and our Savior. Verse 20, we're waiting for a
better day, for the creature was made subject to vanity, not
willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in
hope. Because the creature, that is the whole creation itself,
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God. One day God's gonna make
all things new, a new heavens and a new earth, and the whole
creation of God is waiting for Christ coming to make all things
new. What's Paul talking about? He's
talking about resurrection glory, eternal life, the consummation
of perfection, the glorious liberty that's ours now shall be enjoyed
by us in its perfection when Christ comes again. He's talking
about that inheritance of the saints in light, which we have
already obtained by divine predestination, by blood atonement and by faith
in Christ. That inheritance, that possession
which Christ has already seized in our name as our forerunner.
He's talking about eternal redemption that our Savior obtained by his
blood. John talks about it in Revelation. one of our men the
other night at service, Brother Rex Bartley, and John said, I, I'm sorry, Paul
said, I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered
into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him. Felton, do you ever think much
about heaven? I don't have mail route. Oh, I think about it a
lot. Let me tell you something, buddy. The brightest, most glorious,
most wondrous thought you've ever had about heaven, including
those thoughts of things plainly revealed in the book of God about
heaven, that's just the fact of it. That's just the fact of it. It's
never entered into your heart. You've never had a thought of
it. Nothing, nothing can describe it. No words can picture it. No mind can imagine it. God just
tells us all the glory that Christ is on his throne in that place
called heaven, wherever it is, and I really don't care what
you think about that. Because we're heirs of God and
joint heirs of Christ. And here we grow. Verse 22. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. There's tornadoes
and hurricanes and thunderstorms and ice storms and the crushing
of the earth here and there. It's creation groaning. Kind
of like what's going on inside us. And not only they, but ourselves
also. which had the first fruits of
the Spirit, even we ourselves grow within ourselves because
of this constant warfare with sin. But you were talking about,
my brother, this constant warfare with unbelief. Oh, how I pray for grace to believe
God, to just believe God, but I can't do what I would. We can't
do it. Because it's warfare with flesh
and sin. We're waiting. Waiting for the
adoption. That is the redemption of the
body. Soon. Soon. Everything's going to be alright.
Soon. Soon everything's going to be
well. Because we live in hope. For we're saved by hope. But
hope that's seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why did
he yet hope for? But we hope for that we see not. If we hope
for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Waiting for the glorious liberty
of the sons of God. Oh, the glory of Christ's presence. The glory of his perfection. the glory of his praise, the
glory of his possession, the glory of his person. Soon I shall possess. It's called a good hope through
grace. Verse 26 and 27. Here Paul assures us of God's
persistent grace, describing the Spirit's gracious groanings
and intercessions for us. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities. Our infirmities. What's he talking
about now? He's talking about prayer. Prayer. I laugh to keep from crying.
He's talking about prayer. The strongest thing about us,
the weakest thing about us is called prayer and faith. He helps our infirmities. How's
that? Cause not one of us ever at any time knows what to pray
for as we ought. Not one of us. Not one of us. Which of you? You just, uh, I'm looking at
you, I've known all of you a long time. Longer than either of us
care to acknowledge. We've known each other a long time. And I
know what you've gone through. I know things that have broken
your hearts. I know. Gary, would you ever
have asked for one of them? Anything? Would you ever have
asked for one of them? No. It's best. If it wasn't best,
it wouldn't have happened. If it wasn't best, God wouldn't
have done it to you. He did it for you. If it wasn't
best, we don't know what to pray for as well. So the Spirit helps
our infirmities. and makes intercession for us
with groanings which cannot be uttered. Those sons of Zebedee.
Lord, would you let my boy sit one on your left hand and one
on your right hand in your kingdom? Woman, you don't know what you're
talking about. Lord, take away this pride from me. I beg you
three times, take it from me. Paul, you don't know what you're
asking for. Live with it. Live with it. My grace is sufficient
for you. Sufficient for you. Shelby, years
ago, used to go every Monday and she'd read scripture and
pray with folks, whoever would let her in the rest home there
locally. I dropped her off and I'd go
do something else. I would pick her up one day and she came out
of the rest home laughing and crying, crying and laughing.
She got in the car and said, hey, what's wrong? She said,
I think I finally met somebody in there who knows God. I finally met an old woman who
knows God, and one day she was reading to her from Romans 8.26,
and the lady stopped her while she was reading the 8th chapter
of Romans. She said, you know what I think that means? And
Shelby said, no, but I'd like to know. She said, I think that
means that when we pray, that he takes out what ought not to
have been there and puts in what ought to have been there. That's
a pretty good explanation of Romans 8.26. We don't know what
to pray for. But the Lord taught us something.
And I want to tell you something, that every one of you, this is
what you want. This is what you want. If you're
gods, this is what you want. High Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be your name. God sanctify and honor your name. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come. God save your people. Whatever it takes, save your
people. Whatever you have deemed wise
for the saving of your people, save your people. Thy will be
done. Not my will, your will. Forgive me. Forgive me my sin. Forgive me.
That's what we want. Verse 27. And he that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
This talk about our Lord Jesus, our advocate in heaven, our intercessor
at the right hand of God. He searches the hearts. He searches
way down deep inside Larry Crisp. and he knows the mind of the
spirit who dwells in you. He knows what you really want. He hears the cry of that inner
man. He maketh intercession for the
saints. Isn't that good? Oh, he makes
intercession for transgressors. But once they've come to him,
he never refers to them as transgressors, just saints. Just saints. Find
me a place in this book where God refers to any believer and
calls them a sinner, a transgressor, or an iniquitous person. You
won't find it. We refer to ourselves that way.
Now, God, how come? Because that's what we really
are. Saints. Saints. Holy people. Made holy. because we're one
with Him whose name is holiness. Though He makes intercession
for transgressors, He intercedes for us as His saints. He said,
He said, I prayed for you. I prayed for you. And I make
intercession for you according to the will of God. I bow to you, my God, my Savior,
my Redeemer, my Intercessor, I bow to you, my wisdom, my righteousness,
my sanctification, my redemption, your will be done. Now, verse
28 through 39, the apostle declares that there are no accidents in
this world and thereby he assures us of the absolute security of
God's elect in Christ. And we know, we know, we know that all things, all things,
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to His purpose. Now right beside verse 28, if
you got a little place in the margin of your Bible, I suggest
you write a word. Doing. That tells you everything God's
doing. Doing. He's working everything
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. Those who have been called already
and those who love God now and those who shall be called tomorrow
and will love God tomorrow. He works all things together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. And then it says in verse 29,
for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate, that he
might be, to be conformed to the image of his son, that he,
the Lord Jesus, might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now, write down three words beside
that verse. Going to do. That's what God's
gonna do. That's what he gonna make us.
He gonna make us exactly like his son in the sweet, glorious
experience of resurrection glory. Just like him, just like him.
Now, look at verse 30. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Whom he called, them he also
justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified. Write down another word. It's already done. It's already
done. That's prophetic. When God means
for you to understand something being prophetic, He will make
it in prophetic language. He's talking about something
already done. Done before the world was. He called me His before
the world was. He justified me in the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world before I ever said. He glorified
me, accepting me in the beloved before ever he created the first
star in the sky. Done, done. Well, that looks
to me like everything gonna be all right. That's what I had
in mind for you to get. Everything gonna be all right.
Read the rest of it and you'll find out that nobody gonna condemn
us. Nobody can even lay anything
against the charge of God's elect. Come out of Babylon. Israel's
high priest. He had married a Babylonian woman.
He defiled his garments. And Satan would accuse him, but
the angel of the Lord stood by. All they do is stand there interceding
for us. Our high priest won't allow any
charge be laid against us. Ain't nobody gonna condemn us. We've already been condemned.
Christ died. We died in him. But what about the future? Nothing
in heaven. nothing on earth, nothing in
me, nothing at yonder, nothing in hell will ever separate me. Not even for a hair breadth of
a second from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.