In the 7th chapter of Romans,
Paul describes the experience that all believers know of the
warfare between the flesh that dwells within them and the Spirit
of God. How they desire to do that which
is right and how the flesh wars against them and how they desire
to turn from sin and how they find themselves falling and he
laments and cries out I know that in me in verse 18 I know
that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to
will is present with me but how to perform that which is good
I find not for the good that I would I do not but the evil
which I would not that I do Now if I do that I would not, it
is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I
myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. 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 forcing condemned sin in
the flesh. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. He finds his answer to his cry,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? He finds his answer in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ has delivered him. God
has delivered him through his son Jesus Christ. Christ has
taken his sin. Christ has taken his flesh and
crucified it. Christ bore the sins of Paul
upon the cross. He was made sin in Paul's place. Paul was crucified with Christ
and God judged his flesh. He slew the old man. He slew
the sin within and delivered him. And Paul can cry out. I thank God, through Jesus Christ
our Lord, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after
the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus have made me free from the law of sin and
death. God judged his sin. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the
flesh so that now there is no more condemnation God has already
poured out the condemnation He's already judged us in and He judged
it not in Paul but in Christ He judged it not in us if we're
Christ but in Him He delivered His people He took the condemnation
but He poured it out on Christ So that for Paul and for all
God's people in Christ There is therefore now no condemnation. No condemnation. No condemnation. As Paul goes on towards the end
of the chapter to cry out, who is he that condemneth? There's
no condemnation. It is Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God. He
loved me. He gave himself for me. He died
for me. He took my sin away. There's
no condemnation. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. He's
justified me. He's declared me not guilty.
He's looked at every crime, every rebellion, every sin I ever committed
and he's taken it and judged it in Christ. There are no more. Those crimes are no more. They're
gone. They're out of sight. They're
blotted out. I am perfect. I am righteous
in Christ. Who shall lay anything to my
charge? I am just. I am perfect in Christ. Who is he that condemneth? Christ
died for me. There is therefore now no condemnation. This is one of the most glorious
chapters in the Bible for the believer, full of hope, full
of peace, full of salvation, full of joy. whenever you feel
the effects of the flesh whenever you see the sin within whenever
you feel downcast whenever like Paul you're brought through chapter
7 and you see yourself in this battle and the flesh rises up
and causes you to fall and you cry out Oh wretched man that
I am God comes and returns with this glorious word of hope I
have delivered you through my son who died in your place and
there is therefore now no condemnation no condemnation but there was
condemnation there was condemnation and there is condemnation outside
of Christ If you don't know what Paul knew of the redeeming grace
of God, of the redemption in Jesus Christ, of the blood that
washed him clean. If you don't know what it is
to be in Christ, then know this day that there is condemnation. That your sin and your sins have
brought down the wrath of God upon your head. already. As John 3 tells us, we who believe
not in Jesus Christ are condemned already. We have already sinned,
we have already fallen, we have already rebelled against God
and God hates sin and God is a God of justice, a just God,
he will condemn sin. And if we have no Saviour, if
we have no answer for our sin, then there is condemnation. You
can't fool around with God. There's no blanket love extended
over all mankind, such that man can continue in sin and say nothing
matters, if there's a God, He loves us all. All will be well
in the end. This is the lie that earthly
religion which has stolen the Bible, stolen the name of Jesus
and stolen the gospel proclaims. In order to preach peace, peace
where there is no peace. In order to give a false hope
to those who love to dwell in sin. In order to make salvation easy. in order to lead the people astray. And you can listen to their message
and follow their lies but you will follow like lemons to your
destruction. There is condemnation and unless
you're in Christ and you know you're in Christ then that condemnation
will come down upon your head like the rains came down in the
day of Noah upon all the wicked who were not found with Noah
and his family in the ark. Because that ark was a picture
of Christ and only those in Christ were spared and will be spared
the wrath to come. Outside of Christ we are condemned
already. Luke in chapter 17 reminds us
of these things. He reminds us of Noah. He reminds
us of the condemnation. He says in verse 26 of chapter
17, As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in
the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, They
married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that
Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed
them all. Likewise also as it was in the
days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold,
they planted, they builded, But the same day that lot went out
of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed
them all. Even thus shall it be in the
day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day he which shall be
upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come
down to take it away. And he that is in the field,
let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. She turned
back. She looked back. And she was
turned into a pillar of salt. Whosoever shall seek to save
his life shall lose it. And whosoever shall lose his
life shall preserve it. God has sent his judgment upon
this world and the wickedness of man before. He sent it in
the days of Noah. He raised up Noah to preach his
gospel unto a dark and an evil generation. Noah preached of
the righteousness of God. Noah preached of the judgment
thereof to come. Noah preached of deliverance.
And the people laughed, and they went on eating and drinking,
marrying and living, until the day that the rains came, and
they were all destroyed. Lot, described elsewhere in the
scriptures as just Lot, dwelt in a wicked city called Sodom,
where the iniquity of the people was great, just like it is. today just like it is in Britain
today just like it is in America today just like it is in the
world today just like Sodom and it vexed Lot's heart and it grieved
him to dwell among such a people and in the end the Lord brought
him out of that wicked city and as he was brought out God poured
down his judgment upon it because God no longer had a reason to
preserve that city because his people his chosen Lot was taken
out Now God stays His judgment upon this world. He holds back
His hand of justice against the wickedness of mankind in this
world because He has a people in this world whom He has chosen
to deliver through His Son Jesus Christ. And there are still those
people in darkness who've yet to hear His gospel and yet to
hear of that deliverance. And until God has preached his
gospel throughout the world to the four corners of the world,
to every generation in which he has a people whom he desires
to call out and deliver and lead unto Jesus Christ, until everyone
for whom Christ died has heard and has been brought to faith
and has believed and then has been taken out of this world,
until that day, God will not destroy this world. But when
the last soul hears the Gospel and when the last soul is saved,
God will return and He will separate His people, the sheep, from the
goats. He will take them up to be with
Him and He will pour down fire upon this world. That day is
coming as certainly as it came in Noah's day, as certainly as
it came upon Sodom. Now you may laugh at me as they
laughed at Noah and you may laugh at me as they laughed at Lot
but that is true there is condemnation there was then there will be
to come and there is even now in this world in that we are
condemned already if we're outside of Christ. We know the effects
of God's condemnation upon us in this world. We know the evil
in our hearts. We know the effects of death.
Every man's life is but a span, but a moment, but seventy or
so fleeting years. Everyone dies. They're born,
they die, they're taken away. Many die young. through violence,
through illness, through so-called accidents. This week, many who
are eating and drinking, holidaying, have been taken violently out
of this world into the next, who knew not what a day would
bring. But now they're in eternity,
and now they know the judgment. whether they be in Christ unto
eternal glory or whether they're outside of Christ unto eternal
damnation. Our lives here are fleeting and
our experience of life in this world is an experience of that
judgment already passed upon us. There is disease, there is
famine, there is bloodshed, there is poverty, there is sorrow because
of sin. and because of our blindness
and our rebellion against Almighty God and because of our refusal
to hear His warnings and to hear His Gospel and to hear His message
of salvation because of our refusal like those in Noah's day to hear
the preachers of righteousness to hear the message of grace
in Jesus Christ because we shut our ears We know the effects
of judgment upon us and we will know the eternal effects if we
go to our grave having never listened. There is condemnation. There was condemnation. And there
continues to be condemnation. all who go to the grave, all
who perish yet in their sins, not knowing Christ, are condemned
already and will know the final sentence of condemnation in eternity
to come. There is condemnation. We see
this condemnation described also in Romans and chapter 1, where
the condemnation is not simply that which will come after the
grave, or that which is the direct consequence of sin such as poverty
and illness and violence and sorrow. But a great condemnation
sent upon man is to give man up to his own will in his own
way. And what we think is a great
gain is actually a great loss. Mankind in Romans chapter 1 are
described as fools. Thinking themselves wise, they've
become fools. They've turned away from the
Creator and they worship the creature. They've turned onto
vile affections. And as verse 28 says, even as
they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are
not convenient. being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters
of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural
affection, implacable, unmerciful, who, knowing the judgment of
God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not
only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Oh, what
a judgment of God it is to be given over to a reprobate mind! be to be given the freedom to
indulge our sin and rebellion against God, to have all that
we want in this world, ultimately to our destruction. We know deep
down in our conscience that all that we do is against God. But
despite it, knowing the judgment of God, knowing that one day
we will die, knowing that one day this brief moment in this
world will be gone, knowing that the pleasure we indulge in is
fleeting, not only knowing these facts, not only knowing this
reality, not only knowing that ultimately, yes, there must be
a God and yes, we will stand before Him. These fools, commit
such things that are worthy of death and not only do them but
have pleasure in them that do them. This is a judgment to be
given over to this folly. to be given over to a reprobate
mind that thinks we've got our own way and rejoices that we've
got our own way and cheers that we've got our own way and celebrates
as though we're free when really we've been given a sentence of
death. These past few days many in the
West have cheered and rejoiced at the freedom that the courts
of the lands have given them but the freedom they've been
given is to their destruction professing themselves to be wise
they've become fools it's to their destruction God has sent
judgment they've said give us our way God has given them their
way Yes, men's courts may rule. Yes, men's governments may pass
their laws. But only because God allowed
them. God gave them their will. God
gave them their way. And what they've been given is
not good. It's not for their own good.
It's an axe that swings over their own head. It's a sword
which will pierce their own hearts. it's a noose upon which they
are hanging themselves. And if you dance around rejoicing
at the equalities that you have discovered, you'll find that
there comes a day when you will know equality. You will stand
before Almighty God to be judged equally with all other men and
women under the same justice, under the same rule, before the
same God. and he won't differentiate. He won't say unto you, oh I'll
spare you even though I've judged the other one. He'll send you
the same judgment he sent to all the other sinners that came
his way. You'll know equality then and
how wonderful it is to be judged equally and fairly without impartiality
just the same as your fellow man. There is condemnation. We see this condemnation. Man
wants to be evil. He wanted to be evil. He wants
to be evil. And the worst judgment he can
receive from God is to be given over to his own heart's desire.
To be left to his own ways. To be left in darkness. The worst
judgment you can receive is to be left in darkness. Free to
sin and never to hear the gospel. never to hear a message of grace,
never to hear of salvation. Oh thank God if he so ordered
that you should hear of Jesus Christ, that you should be brought
to hear of a message of no condemnation, of deliverance from this judgment,
of deliverance from sin and not be left to your own heart's desire. Man reaps what he sows. He reaps
what he sows. We've seen it this week, we've
seen the devices that men use to get their own way. How they
use every little weapon and deceit. How they find every back door
to force their desire upon everyone else and get their own way. No
matter what the cost, as long as they can have their way. How
we see it in our own children. How we're born like this. How
we manipulate to get our own way. How we manipulate our parents. How we twist. How we set one
person against another. How we set the mother against
the father and the father against the mother and the brother against
the sister and the sister against the brother. How we use things. to bring about our own ends and
we think we've won when we get our way but it's always a winning
a success which brings sorrow it always brings sorrow what
we want is not truly good for us we bring condemnation upon
our own heads All that we do reaps misery. Paul knew this. He knew his heart's desire. He knew even the flesh's desire
when applied to religion brought down misery and condemnation.
Even his life as a Jew in which outwardly he served God was one
that he lived in the flesh for his own glory for his own ends
and it brought him destruction and when he came to know the
grace of God and when he came to know the Spirit of God working
within him he saw that flesh still warring against the Spirit
within and how it dragged him down. But how he looked outside
of himself unto Jesus Christ and saw there all his hope and
all his salvation. Yes, there is condemnation already
passed against man in the flesh, already passed against sinners.
already passed against your sin and my sin. God's wrath burns
from heaven against it. But in Jesus Christ, all who
are in Jesus Christ, there is now no condemnation. In Christ, in Christ, there is
no condemnation. Oh, this is where Paul's hope
was. If he looked at anything he did in the flesh, anything
he knew in the flesh, anything he'd achieved in the flesh, he'd
see the condemnation of God come down upon him. He knew it was
all sin. But in Christ, he found his deliverance. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Christ and Christ alone. Do you know this deliverer? Do
you know what it is with Paul to walk not after the flesh but
after the spirit? For the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus have made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sent in his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. When God sent his own Son into
this world, when Christ was sent to Golgotha when Christ was led
by the authorities to the cross and nailed to it and crucified. What happened for you? Did God send his own son for
you? Did he take your flesh and condemn
it in his flesh? for you as a consequence are
you amongst those in Christ who walk not after the flesh but
after the spirit for Paul goes on for 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 what do you mind what
do you love What do you seek? What do you desire? For to be
carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life
and peace. Do you know peace? Do you love
peace? Do you desire peace? There are
many in this world who speak of peace. There are many who
fly the flags of peace. There are many who will pick
up the colours of the rainbow and wave it, for it's an emblem
of peace. But to know peace, true peace,
is to be spiritually minded. There is only peace in Jesus
Christ. God gave that rainbow to Noah
after he had judged the whole world who were wicked and delivered
Noah and his house in the ark. And he promised Noah that he
would not judge the world again in such a manner so that Noah
would not fear the rain to come. But God will still judge the
wicked one day. And the ark that delivered Noah
as a picture of Christ is still the only way that we will know
deliverance. Do you long for peace? Then you
must be in the ark. Do you long for hope and salvation? Then you must be in Christ. Do
you love peace? Then you must be spiritually
minded. You must hear the gospel, you
must know the gospel, you must know the savior of the gospel.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if you are Christ. If so, be that the Spirit
of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because
of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we
are debtors, not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For
if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. They know life and peace. because God has led them by his
Gospel to the Saviour, upon a cross, crucified in their stead, and
said unto them, Behold, behold the Lamb of God, behold my Son,
who has taken away your sin, who has delivered you from the
flesh, who has judged your sin in the flesh. Behold and behold
him, being given grace, being given faith to see, to hear the
voice, of the Son of God, to hear the Gospel within and to
see the Saviour crucified in their place. They look and see
their sins washed away. They look and see the One in
whom there is hope. They look and they know that
they are a Son of God. You will only see if you are
born again. You will only see if God through
his Gospel quickens you unto life. You will only see if God
takes you out of the grave in which you once dwelt and lifts
you up and causes you to live again. Put faith in the heart
to see, then you will see, then you will live, then you will
be led by the Spirit of God to Christ upon the cross, then you
will know your Saviour, then you will know that now there
is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus then you
will know that you are a son of God if you walk in the Spirit
you are a son of God your flesh has been judged your sins have
been taken away you're a son of God this is the context of
this whole chapter Sonship. Union with Christ. Not only to
know of Christ, not only to know the facts of the gospel, not
only to know that God judged sin in the flesh in Jesus Christ
at the cross, not only to know that he died for sinners, but
to know you're his, to know you're in him and he's in you, to know
that you are a son of God, This chapter shows forth our union
as children of God. Who not only look, but look with
the eyes of faith. Who not only hear, but hear with
the ears of faith. Who not only cry, but who cry,
Abba, Father. Having that spirit of adoption
within. There lies our victory. through
our union with God in Jesus Christ, we're one. We were chosen in
Him before the foundation of the world. The Father chose a
people, He gave them to His Son, we're one. And the Son died for
them. And the Spirit of God comes in
the Gospel and preaches grace and salvation unto them. And
they know when they're born again and they know that they are one
with Christ. there's our hope there's our
salvation it's not in the head it's not a presumption it's a
reality it's life and that is why we can say that there is
now no condemnation we know it we know we're in Christ we know
our sins are gone We know he's condemned them all. We know that
sentence won't come down upon our head because he suffered
in our place. We know it. Oh the liberty, the
joy that this gives us to know that there's no condemnation. No condemnation. Yes, as believers
we fall, we stumble, we sin every day. The flesh is there as Paul
laments in chapter 7. It wars against the Spirit. We
sin every day and we grieve by it. But there's no condemnation. As believers we know the chastening
hand of the Lord upon us. We know when we sin that he will
correct us. We know when we fall that we
will feel our communion and our walk with him affected. We will feel his face turn at
times. We will feel him to be at a distance.
When David fell greatly, he felt the Lord removed. He longed to
hear the Lord's voice. He longed to be with him. He
longed to know the love of God, but he felt the Lord at a distance
because of his sin. He knew the chastening hand and
the Lord sends this chastening and he sends these rebukes for
a season. And then he draws us back through
his gospel, through his son, through the Spirit of God. The
Spirit of God comes to us when he's shown us where we fell.
When he's corrected us, he comes in love and leads us back and
says, my son has died in thy place. There is no condemnation. There's no condemnation. But
whatever the chastening, the chastening is not a condemnation.
It's sent for our good. It's sent to correct. It's sent
to lead us back to the cross. There's no condemnation. Will
a believer grieve over his sin? Yes he will, of course he will.
Daily we grieve. Yet there's no condemnation.
Every sin that we sin, every sin that we sin as believers,
was born by Christ. So there is no condemnation. Or you may say, if you preach
such a message, won't you encourage believers to carry on sinning
knowing that there's never a condemnation? Won't they just fall back into
sin? No. because they know there's no
condemnation to them. But they know that every sin
they ever commit fell upon Christ. Every time they fall, every time
they rebel, every time they sin in any manner, it's another stripe
that fell on their Saviour's back. And when God, when the
Spirit reminds us Far from us indulging in the flesh. Far from
us falling. Far from us wanting to sin. It stings, it pains us to think
that Christ paid that price for us. We hate the sin. We want to walk in righteousness.
We want to walk in the Spirit. We want to be led of the Spirit
of God. And we find great hope and great
joy to know that there is no condemnation. There is liberty. There is liberty. Paul goes on,
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to
fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we
cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation
of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creature was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who have subjected
the same in hope. Because the creature itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. Oh, there's liberty to know that
we are in Christ. There is liberty in Christ. Yes, we know in our pathway how
the flesh wars against the spirit. Yes, we know the struggle. But
in Christ, in his gospel, knowing that the flesh has been slain,
there is liberty. We're free from the judgment. We're free from the bondage.
We're free from the will and the ways of the flesh. We're
free from sin. We're free to walk in the Spirit. God frees us. By his gospel he
frees us. By preaching Christ unto us he
frees us. By setting Christ ever before
our gaze he frees us. And he says you're free from
all that condemned you. You're free from all the captivity. You're free from sin and its
ways. You're mine, you're a child of
God. You've been set at liberty. You're born again. You're adopted
as a son of God. You're a child of God. You're
mine. You are in me and I am in you. Mine. The glorious liberty of
the children of God. And a liberty and a salvation
that looks unto a saviour and hopes for that day when finally
we will be delivered from this flesh, from this world, from
time to be with him forevermore. We hope, we long, we look and
we know that our salvation is all in Christ. For we know that
the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until
now. And not only they, But ourselves
also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought. But the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 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. And we know, we know, whatever
the warfare, whatever the trial, Whatever men may do unto us as
we journey through this pathway, however dark the world might
be around us, however light-locked we might be grieved and vexed
by the filthy conversation of the wicked around us, however
vexed we may be as we walk through this Sodom and Gomorrah of this
world, however vexed we may be, however vexed we may be at our
own sin and our own fails, however persecuted we may be, whatever
may come upon us, whatever the trial, we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose. God is on his throne. God is
sovereign, he's working his purposes out, we see the wicked prosper
but they don't. We grieve when we see the sin
of man brazenly paraded but they don't prosper. God has given
them a reprobate mind. He's judged them in giving them
what they want. They don't prosper. He's prospering. His kingdom is prospering. He's preaching his gospel. And the wickedness of man as
it multiplies simply demonstrates the truth of the Gospel that
man's a sinner and needs salvation. It simply proves the truth of
God's Word that man has fallen. And the greater man's fall, the
greater the light of the Gospel that goes forth in the darkness. All things work together to good. for good to them that love God,
to them who are 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. and whom he called, them he also
justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Oh are you saved? Are you saved
by hope? Are you looking to the coming
of Christ? Has he chosen, has he called
you? Has he predestinated you? Has
he foreknown you? Has He justified you? Has He
glorified you? Is all your hope in Jesus Christ? Have you been chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world under salvation? Do you know what it is to be
able to walk with that joy and certainty that there is no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus? When persecution comes your way,
when trial comes your way, are you more than a conqueror through
him that loved you? Paul concludes with seven wonderful
questions. Seven glorious questions, the
cry of faith. These things being true, being
in Christ as I am, he having delivered me as he has. He asked these questions. What
shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? shall tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written
for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted
as sheep for the slaughter we know the trial We know the persecution,
we know the famine, we know the nakedness, the peril, the sword,
we know the hatred of man. We know what it is to suffer.
We're killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. We were led by the shepherd and
his sheep through this pathway. But like he was a lamb of God,
slaughtered for his people. So his sheep who follow him,
in him know what it is to be a sheep, accounted for the slaughter. They know what it is to suffer.
But should anyone lay anything to our charge, shall not he freely
give us all things? Who is going to condemn us? Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall any of these
terrible things separate us? No. Never. They cannot. Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. More
than conquerors. No one can condemn us. The condemnation's
past. The condemnation is upon the
wicked who attack us, who persecute us. But it's past us. It's been
poured out on Christ. I am persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. He's taken the judgment. He was our Ark. If we're in Christ
it's all come upon Him and none of it touches us. As the rainbow
in Genesis 9 promises unto God's people there's peace. The judgment which poured down
in Noah's day never touched Noah because he was in the ark. And
the judgment which is coming upon the wicked will never touch
you if you're in Christ because you are in an ark. God promised never to repeat
the flood but only because he has an eternal covenant of salvation
in which this world is preserved because of the elect that are
still in its midst. But when God calls that people
and tells them to head for the ark and when he takes them and
shuts them into the ark and shuts the door then the end will come. Then his judgment will come down
upon this world in fire. As it came down in rain upon
Noah's generation, as it came down in fire upon Sodom, then
the judgment will rain down. But all who are in Christ will
be delivered, because it rained down upon Christ and Christ alone. 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? He gave Christ up, he gave his
Son up for all his people, that he might give them all things.
In Noah's day the judgment poured down upon the earth and the ark
brought Noah safely to the other side and the waters cleared and
all the world was Noah's. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died. He suffered the condemnation. Yea, rather, that is risen again. Who is even at the right hand
of God? Who also maketh intercession
for us? He's conquered. He died. He rose again. He's in glory. And one day we will be with Him. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Nay, in all
these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved
us. For I am persuaded that neither
death nor life nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. For now there is no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Amen.