Romans 8. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in Me. In My Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself. that where I am, there you may
be also. If you and I believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall
we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words." The way I understand those two passages, that's the
hope. of every believer. Where I am, there you may be
also. That's a hope. When Christ shall
appear, we shall be like Him, and we shall forever be with
Him. That's our hope. Now this afternoon, I want us
to come back here to Romans 8. And this morning, you and I saw
the way that God begins with His people. His elect people. there in verse 15, that He begins
with them with a spirit of bondage, a heavy spirit. John Bunyan used
to say that the Lord's elect people are like instruments that
God desires to play upon. But those instruments are all
out of tune. And when the Lord takes in hand
to tune them, He begins with a heavy strain. That heavy strain. And that's the way He does with
us, isn't it? He begins with a heavy strain of conviction,
the bondage to fear. But that bondage has its purpose. And when that purpose is accomplished,
then we no longer have that bondage. We're no longer in that spirit
of fear. God has not given us the spirit of fear. He's given
us the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. He sent
forth the spirit of His Son and to our hearts crying, Father,
Father. And out of this experience, our
hope arises. That's where we begin to legitimately
hope that when the Lord comes again, we'll be like Him and
we'll be with Him. Being delivered from sin in every
sense, that's our hope. What would it be like this afternoon
to be free from sin? You have no idea, do you? I have
no idea. Free from its presence? Evil
is ever present with me. Free from its working? We may
well be free from its guilt, but we are not free from its
working. We are not free from the corruptions that we feel
of it. But there is coming a day. We will be free from sin. We will be sinless, body and
soul. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ, my Lord. So we live in hope. We wait for
the righteousness of hope. And we do it by faith. And Paul,
when he had told us this year, he goes on now to begin to show
us in very strong language of the surety of our hope in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He says here in verse 18, For
I reckon that the sufferings, whatever they be of this present
time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us." Shall. Now you look up that word sometime
and you'll see what I've been telling you for years, that that's
the strongest word in our English language. It means unavoidable,
inescapable. It doesn't mean maybe. They might. Perhaps so. But it means they
shall. Unavoidable. Inescapable. They
shall share in the glory that is to be revealed. And then in
verse 19 and verse 22, and this is the way I understand these
verses, that it's the creation itself that's going to share
in redemption. Now Clarence read this this morning,
I'm positive that he didn't realize what he was doing when he read
it. But he read this like some versions translated. Clarence
read verse 20 and he said the creation was made subject to
vanity. Well, some say that's exactly
what that means. Of course, there's not much difference. If it's the creature, it's the
creation. But he says there in verse 19, the earnest expectation
of the creature, creation, waiteth for the manifestation of the
sons of God. For the creation was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected
the same in hope." Creation has hope because the creature itself
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and to the glorious
liberty of the children of God. Creation, the creature, shall
be delivered. So it's not just us that waits
for this hope, this sure expectation, but this creation. And he uses
the same word that he does for the children of God. This creation
shall be delivered. And why shouldn't it hope? It's
been made subject to all kinds of vanity And not because it
sinned. The creatures didn't sin. The
animals didn't sin. The waters and the trees didn't
sin. Man sinned. But what was cursed? The ground. And ever since then,
the ground, the earth, the universe has been grown in because it's
made to bear up under our sin and the judgment of God upon
our sin. Look at the blood. that the earth has had to soak
up of innocent people. What are they doing with all
these little babies that they're killing in our day? What's happening
to their blood? Are they pouring it out in the
back alleys? Are they dumping it in the landfills? How much
innocent blood, how much blood of wars has this earth had to
soak up? Look at all the devastation of
famines devastation of storms and earthquakes and volcanoes,
wars and rumors of war. And this earth, God's creatures,
God's creation, has had to groan under the sin of man and under
the judgment of God upon it. Why shouldn't it hope? Why shouldn't
it wait? If God has promised to make a
new heaven and a new earth, to change this one and do away with
all the sin and have a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness,
Why shouldn't this creation hope? And God's given the same promise,
the surety of it, as He has His God's children. He says that
there in verse 21. The creation itself also shall
be delivered. Shall be delivered. Brothers
and sisters, I really think that when the Lord comes again, it's
not only His people that's going to be made new. Creation is going
to be made new. And there's going to be a real
heaven. There is going to be a real earth. I don't know how
all it will be, but it will be real. God is a Creator. And when He first made creation,
this world and the universe, He looked at it and said, It's
good. And He is going to make it all over. And it will be good
again. It will be good again. They shall. They shall. Why is such strong
language used when speaking of our hope? Well, for this reason,
the Lord would have us to be confident. He would have us to
live in joy and confidence and assurance of our hope. We rejoice
in hope of the glory of God. David said, I will hope continually
and praise Him more and more. He'd have us to live in a strong
expectation that we indeed We'll be partakers of what Christ has
promised when He comes again. But the very fact that this hope,
the object of it, because it's so high, and because it's so
glorious, and the fact that you and I are so low, and oft times
see our misery and struggle with sin, this in itself is enough
to make us doubt. Is it not? How high is heaven? What will
it be to be like the Lord Jesus Christ? What will it be to be
free from sin? Oh, what will it be to be with
God? To sit down with Jesus Christ? For Him to lead us and show us
and teach us? What will that be? To be with
elect angels and elect glorified saints? Oh my goodness, what
will that be? And look at us in our state now. Sometimes that in itself is enough
to make us doubt it. Oh, how could me, poor me, lowly
me, have such a hope? How could I attain such a place
and such a position? This language itself, describing
this hope, sometimes is enough to make us doubt. There was a
time when you and I had no hope. But now we do have a hope, but
it's so glorious that it sometimes throws us into doubt. You have
a good hope. It's a sure and steadfast hope.
It's a good hope through grace. So therefore, the Apostle Paul,
to let us know that it is a good hope, he uses these strong words,
shall. It's unavoidable. It's inescapable. Now he continues in verses 28
and through verses 39, and he gives us these four truths to
help dispel any fear that you and I might have concerning the
surety of our hope. Do you have a good hope this
evening? Do you have a good hope? How sure are you of it? How sure are you of it? Well, if you've got a good hope,
let's look at these four things. And you'll see from these four
things, you have no reason to fear. If God has given you a
good hope, then it's a sure and certain hope. And you'll never
be disappointed. Look at these four things. First
of all, verses 28 through verse 31. Let me read it again to you.
We know that all things work together for good to them who
love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose,
His eternal purpose. And here is His purpose. For
whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among
many brothers. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified,
and whom He justified, He glorified. What shall we say then to these
things, if God be for us, who possibly could be against us?
What could be against us? Now in verses 29 and 30, here's
the doctrine. Here's the doctrine, in a nutshell,
quickly. Before there was ever anything,
as far as you and I know, there was no creatures, no creation.
God knew a people. He knew them. He foreknew them. And He loved them. Now when you
see this word foreknow in the Scriptures, it's in the Scriptures
four times. Just four times in the New Testament.
And every time it's mentioned, it's never mentioned with what
God foreknew, but who He foreknew. And I look at this word that
it means simply that God foreloved them. He foreloved them. And because He foreloved them,
He provided for them. What did He provide for them?
He predestinated them. He set them aside. He ordained
them to be conformed to the very image of His Son. And then in time, what does He
do? He calls them. He calls them
to repentance. He calls them to trust Christ,
His Son. He calls them. And then what
does He do to those He calls? He justifies them. He justifies
them from every charge that can be brought against them. He justifies
them from all sin. And what does He eventually do
to those He justifies? He glorifies. He glorifies. Now here's the doctrine of this.
This is God's purpose, eternal purpose, in the salvation of
His people. And you noticed here that it's
fixed. Did you notice that? It's fixed. It's God's purpose. It can't
be altered. The number cannot be added to.
The number cannot be taken away. It's fixed. And you notice how
the Holy Ghost wrote this. He wrote it all in the past tense.
You've noticed that before, haven't you? Those ye foreknew. He predestinated. He called,
justified, and glorified. It's all history. That's what
I'm saying. It's history. And you can't rescind
history, can you? The first time I ever heard the
word rescind used, I was talking with a lawyer. And he said, now,
when you put your name to this, we can't rescind it. I said,
what do you mean we can't rescind it? He said, that means it's
fixed. You can't undo it. You can't undo it. History is
fixed. You can't undo it. God's purpose
is so fixed that He told the Apostle Paul, you write these
in past tense. It's fixed. Those I foreknew
and foreloved in eternity, I have glorified them. Already did.
Now, how sure is your hope, dear John? How sure is your hope? Somebody will come up and say,
well, Bruce, I know this. I had a good hope yesterday.
I really did. I really believed it. Oh, but
today it seems like it's so dim. Well, the grace of your hope
may be dim for one reason or another. The grace of hope in
your heart may be dim, but the object of your hope is fixed.
Heaven is fixed to be like Christ is fixed, and that will never
change. The poor child of God may thank
Himself to be so changeable. And we are. We look at ourselves
and look how we've changed. Nick was looking at some pictures
last night when I was in high school. I've changed a little
bit, haven't I, Nick? Just a little bit. He said, Boy, you were big
back then. You brawled through the shoulders.
I still weigh the same as I was when I was in high school. But
I wore a 28-pound pant then. I wear a 34 now. So I've changed. And I know it, and you know you've
changed. Things around us have changed. And we sometimes think
God will change, don't we? We sometimes think that He's
like us. That everything around us is
changing, we're changing, therefore God may change. But listen, dear
soul, don't judge Him like you judge yourself and think. Change
and decay all around I see. O thou that changest not, abide
with me. I am the Lord. I don't change. I don't change. I don't change
in my nature. I don't change in my attribute.
I don't change in my purpose. I don't change in my promises.
Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. If the Lord
has called you and He's justified you, and He's given you a hope,
a good hope through His grace, how sure is that hope? I tell you, it's just as sure
as God's purpose. And how sure is God's purpose?
Just as sure as God is. I have spoken it. I will also
do it. I have purposed it. I will bring
it to pass. That pretty much fixes a whole
dump. Sometimes you turn over and read
Jeremiah chapter 31 verses 31 through 37 at your leisure. He was talking about this covenant
of grace putting a new heart and a new spirit within us. And
he said, you look up to heaven. See the ordinance of the sun
and the moon. The sun comes up every morning.
The moon follows it and it goes down. The moon follows it. He
said, if those ordinances can pass away, then my purpose is
going to fail. That's been a long time ago.
What happened this morning? The sun came up, didn't it? And
it will go down tonight. And it will come up tomorrow.
And it will continue as long as this world stands. The Lord
said, that's how sure my purpose is. That's how sure my purpose
is. Secondly, here's another truth
that dispels the fear. that cast some doubt upon our
hope. Have you ever been concerned and feared that perhaps God will
yet charge you with a sin? Have you ever had the apprehension
that when I stand before Him, I'm afraid that He's going to
charge me with a sin? I tell you, that's a hard fear
to grapple with, boy. You can't hardly shake that fear.
And I tell you, where it gets a hold of you, you can't rejoice
in hope of the glory of God. How can we rejoice and wait with
strong expectation of the coming of our Lord if we believe that
God's going to charge us with sin? It's difficult to rejoice
then, ain't it? Well, here's the question. Do
you believe that He will charge you with a sin? If He charges
you, you can't stand. That's for sure. But will He
charge you? Well, look here in verse 33.
Look here at what the Apostle Paul said. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies. Hmm. How do you know that He's
not going to charge you? My heart says He might. Is God
greater than our hearts or not? Who are we to believe? Our hearts
are the Word of God. Brothers and sisters, we must
establish what we believe and know by the Word of God. This
is what dispels our fears. Taken hold by faith upon what
God teaches us in His Word. And what does His Word say? Well,
it says something that's contrary to our thoughts. It says that
He will not charge us with anything. Those that He's justified, He'll
never charge them with a single sin again. Paul said, I preached
unto you the very person of Jesus Christ. And all that believe
on Him are justified from what? Most things? Almost everything? There's this one thing? No, He
said all things, didn't He? All things. What about the sins
of your youth? What about that thing that comes
back to your mind sometimes that you forgot about? All those sins
before conversion. What about all those sins after
conversion? Have you sinned after the Lord
saved you? Will God charge you with that? Boy, if you and I can know, and
if we can believe what the Bible tells us here, that God will
not charge His elect with sin because He's justified them.
Oh man, that makes your hope sure, don't it? How could you
doubt your hope then? I mean, if He ain't going to
charge you with sin, your hope's sure, ain't it? You read over
here in the fourth chapter. Look over here in the fourth
chapter. I remember when I was a young Christian. The Lord just
saved me. And boy, I told you a while back, I thought I was
going to sprint my way right into heaven. All my cures were
gone. My guilt was gone. Man, I was
so happy. But it wasn't long until I found
out I was yet a sinner. I don't know how the Lord dealt
with all of His children, but I went for a while that I basically
didn't even know what I was. I just thought, boy, my sin is
gone. But it wasn't long until I found
out. Man alive. Man alive. What's the matter with me? I
thought I'd never have any trouble out of sin. I started seeing
the workings of it in me like I never saw it before in my life. I started to see the nature of
it. It just wasn't what I was doing against God. It's what
I was. And boy, I tell you, I started
seeing that. And I had two choices. It seemed to me I had two choices.
I could either despair and say there's no way that anybody like
me can be saved. Or I could believe what the Bible
tells me. That even though you see sin
in you, like you do, and you feel the workings of it, like
you're feeling, yet God has justified you from it. And I tell you,
it was amazing to believe that. It's amazing to believe that
you and I who have sinned have been justified from it by God
who knows everything about it. Ain't that amazing to you? And
some people said, ah, that just can't be. You've got to go back.
I was talking to a lady the other day and she said, she's talking
about these people who've been married before. And she started
trying to tell me. If you've ever been married before,
and the Lord saves you, you've got to go back and find that
first person you're married to. Boy, you talk about a mess now.
You talk about a mess. Can you imagine that Samaritan
woman? The Lord saved her? And said, now wait a minute,
you've got to go back and find your first husband. But he's
married to somebody else who's got a bunch of kids. It don't
matter. You've got to go back and find them. No. God justifies you. And that means He'll never charge
you any more. And when you read the fourth
chapter of Romans, we're told about these two fellas, David
and Abraham. And we're not told a single bad
thing about them. Are we? You remember Abraham? Remember
what he did? Remember how he lied about Sarah
and said she's my sister? The guy took Sarah and would have lain with her,
but God stopped him. He did it twice. You never read
about that here. Took Hagar, To be his wife and
lay with her and have a child by her? Never read that about
that. Did you ever notice that? Look at it in chapter 4 verse
1. What shall we say that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, is found? For if Abraham
were justified by works, he hath world to glory, but not before
God. What saith the Scriptures? Abraham believed God, and God
counted it to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness." You know why this is not mentioned
about Abraham's sin? God didn't charge him with it. You just wonder if Paul said,
now Lord, do you want me to go ahead and mention some of these
bad things Abraham did? And the Lord said, what thing?
What's that? What's that? I've not charged
Abraham with anything. And then he goes on to talk about
David. Even as David, that adulterer, that murderer, that liar, he
describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputed righteousness
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered. And look at this. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. A Christian is not a man that
has no sin. If that's so, then none of us
have any hope, do we? But I tell you who a Christian
is. He's a man that God has justified from that sin and won't charge
him with it and won't impute it to him either. Here's the way the covenant of
grace runs. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I won't
impute it to them. I won't impute it to them. See,
it's not fooling ourselves into thinking we're not sinners anymore.
But it's believing even though we are sinners, God will be merciful
to us. That's why they followed Paul
around saying, did you hear what he's saying? You need to listen
to what Paul's saying. He's telling us just to go and
sin, sin, sin, and grace will abound. That's what he's saying.
That's what he's saying. But you who know yourselves to
be sinners, and there's nothing you can do about it, but you
just hope for the day that you're delivered from it, and you spend
a lot of time praising Him that He's merciful to you because
of it, and don't charge you with it. Ain't that a blessed truth?
Who shall lay anything, anything, anything, anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Do you think God would call a
man and justify him and charge him at the same time? He will
not. Therefore, our hope is secure.
Our hope is secure. The Christian is secure. Thirdly
is this. Verse 34. And it's very much
akin to verse 33. But it's just a little bit different.
Look how he says it over in chapter 8. In verse 34, "...who is he
that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
who also makes intercessions for us." This is a little bit
different. Let me explain it to you like this. You remember
that lady that came to the, or they brought, the Pharisees caught
her in adultery, in the very act. Caught her and another man
in bed together. And they drug her out to the
Lord Jesus. And they said, basically, now Moses condemns this woman. And we condemn her for the very
act that she's committed. And you say you're from God,
that you come down from heaven. We want to know what you're going
to say and do to this woman. How do you feel about it? And
you remember what he told that woman. After he sent all of them
away with guilty conscience. He looked at that woman. He said,
Woman, where are your accusers? Don't you have any to condemn
you? She said, No, my Lord. And what did He say to her? Neither
do I condemn thee. Neither do I condemn thee. Go
and sin no more. Don't you go back to where you
were. I don't condemn you. Here's the trouble with a lot
of those Jews. They thought the Lord Jesus Christ
come to judge them and condemn them. That's what they begin
to think in their minds. Brothers and sisters, if we let
the devil put this in our minds, that Jesus Christ is nothing
but a judge and an examiner and accuser, I'm telling you, it
will dim our hopes. We'll fear and dread. Jesus Christ
is a judge, yes. And He will judge the world,
yes. But first and foremost, He's a Savior to clear us of
all charges that could ever be brought against us. And He will
never condemn us. That's not His office, is it?
He told the Jews one time, He said, Do not think. Don't even
think this way. Quit thinking this way, He said.
The devil has put these evil thoughts in your mind. And this
is why you're afraid to come to Me and trust Me. Do not think
that I will accuse you. Don't think that I've come to
accuse you and condemn you to the Father. There is one that
condemns you. Moses condemns you. Your own conscience condemns
you. The devil for sure condemns you. You're always condemning
one another. But he said, that's not my office. I've not come
for that reason. I've not come to judge the world
or to condemn the world, but God sent me that the world through
me might be saved. Might be saved. If Jesus Christ
died for a man, is He going to turn around and condemn that
man? That don't make sense, does it?
And that's Paul's argument. God has justified you by His
grace. He's not going to turn around
and lay anything to your charge because He's justified you from
it. Neither will the Son of God condemn
you before the Father now or after judgment. Why? Because
He's died for you. Who is He that condemneth? Christ.
But wait, He's the One that died. He bore your sins and put them
away. Is He going to condemn you now?
No. And I love the way the Apostle
goes ahead to explain this here. He gives us these four things.
He said, not only that the Son of God has died, but yea, rather,
He's risen again to show that He put those sins away. The sins
are gone. And look at this. He didn't stop
there. He's at the right hand of God. What's He doing there? Making intercessions for you. He not only died for us, He lives
and is at the Father's right hand to plead in our behalf,
to plead what He's done. When we've sinned, He pleads
our part with the Father and brings us off from condemnation.
Will Christ condemn you, brothers and sisters? No. He'd rather die for you than
to condemn you. And that He did. How sure is your hope then? Why
should you fear death? Why should we fear His coming?
God is not going to charge you. Christ is not going to condemn
you. Why should we fear? What a blessed hope. What a sure
and steadfast hope that we have. Lastly, in verse 35. Verse 35. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, persecution,
famine, nakedness, and so on. Has God given us a good hope
through grace? How sure is it? It's as sure
as the love of Christ can make it. That's how sure it is. You know, sometimes the Lord
has been willing in history, the history of this world, to
put His people through some severe trials. Not just to try their
faith, but to prove His love. You read over there in Hebrews
chapter 11 about some of the Lord's saints in the Old Testament
and how they suffered. They wandered about in sheepskins. They confiscated their clothes
and they had to go out and kill sheep and dry their hides to
cover their neckiness and to warm their bodies. The only place
they had to live was in dens and caves of the earth. They
persecuted them. They chopped some of them's head
off. They cut some of them up. Threw
them to wild beasts. How they treated them. What trials,
what distress, what tribulation. But you never find out a one
of them was separated from the love of Christ. Not a one of
them. Not a one of them. You come into the New Testament
and look at the four apostles. Look at how they suffered. You
read about how the apostle Paul was stoned and how his own countrymen
hated him, wished him to go to hell. But I tell you, nothing separated
those apostles from the love of Christ. Nothing. You and I
don't suffer near what they suffered doing. We can't even enter into
what those saints of old suffered. I don't know anything about nakedness,
do you? Nobody's ever confiscated anything I have. I've got a nice
house, comfortable bed, air-conditioned, nice car to drive. Probably one of the greatest
problems that you and I suffer today is this distress. We get
distressed. We get shut up in our minds,
our troubles. We get locked in and can't get
out of these troubles of our mind. Boy, that's enough just to bring
you low, ain't it? Brings us low. And you know that'd
be enough in and of itself to separate us from the love of
Christ, if His love wasn't what it is. David said, why are you
cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted? Why are
you so distressed? And we just keep going down,
down, down. I think sometime we'd get so low, we'd be separated
from Christ Himself. If He's like us. But He's not. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Distress can't do it. Could these things separate Christ
from our love? Well, they could if He didn't
uphold that grace within us. But He's not talking about our
love for Him, is He? He says there in the last portion
of that chapter, who shall separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus? That's what He's talking about.
Look over here in 1 John chapter 4 with me. 1 John chapter 4. Who shall separate us? 1 John
4. Verse 15. Who so shall confess
that Jesus is the Son of God? God dwells in Him. He dwells
in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. Why do we believe that God loves
us? How do we know God's love? Well, in verse 9, look at this. And this was manifested, the
love of God towards us. Because God sent His only begotten
Son into the world that we might live through Him. Here in His
love, not that we loved Him, not that we loved Him, but He
loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning victim of our
sin. That's the way we know God's
love. That's why we believe it. Look
at the cross. Look at the Son of God in our humanity. That's
how we know it. And then he goes back down here
in verse 17. Herein, by this, is our love
made mature. It reaches its maturity. It becomes
strong. It develops. By this is our love
made perfect. By what? By believing and knowing. God's love for us. You want your
love to be strong? You want it to be complete? Believe that God loves you. Let
the Holy Spirit bring it to your heart in assurance and power.
And I tell you, His love for us only increases and establishes
our love for Him. Herein, herein is our love made
perfect. That we may have boldness in
the day of judgment. Because as He is, so are we in
this world. There is no fear And love, perfect
love, casteth out fear. What do we believe concerning
the love of God in Christ? What do we know concerning the
love of God in Christ? What kind of love does He have? What kind of love does God have?
What do we believe about it? Let me tell you what the Scripture
says about it. with an everlasting love. Do we believe that? Do
we know that? I have loved you before you were
born. My love for you is not based
upon anything that is in you, because you had no being when
I loved you. I loved you from everlasting.
And listen to John 13.1, having loved his own which were in the
world, he loved them until the end From everlasting to everlasting,
He loved them. To the end, those poor ignorant
disciples, He loved them to the end. Did the Lord love Peter
when Peter denied Him? When they were doing all those
ignorant things and saying all those ignorant things, did He
love them then? When they forsook Him and every man went to his
own house, did He love them then? When they got old and weak, they
couldn't preach anymore, did He love them then? having loved
His own which were in the world. He loved them until the end.
He sent His angels when they died. They wrapped those saints
up and tucked them up to heaven and set them right down in His
presence. He loved them then. Having loved His own which were
in the world. He loved them until the end. You say, Bruce, I feel so unworthy.
I feel so wretched. I feel so unprofitable. I hope
you do. I hope you do. You don't believe lack of free
will, do you? That God loves you conditioned on what He sees
in you? You don't believe that, do you? That He loves you because
of who you are, what you are, what you do, what you may become
someday? And if you don't live up to His
expectation, He ceases to love you? You surely don't believe
that, do you? Do you believe God's love is in Christ and it's
unconditional, sets upon His own bottom, has nothing to do
with you at all, but it has all to do with Him? Do you believe
the love that God has for you? What kind of love is it? I tell
you, if it's the love that nothing can separate you from, then your
hope is sure instead of that. No matter what you face in this
world, if so, your hope is sure. and steadfast. If Christ loves us unconditionally
and eternally, and if this love cannot be diminished, if this
love is not dependent upon us at all, then our hope is secure. To take away our hope, His love
would have to cease. He Himself would have to change. But since he changeth not, his
love never changes, and therefore our hope is secure. O my distrustful heart, how small
thy faith appears! But greater, Lord, thou art than
all my doubts and fears. Did Jesus once upon me shine? Then Jesus is forever mine. unchangeable
His will, whatever be my frame, His loving heart is still eternally
the same. My soul, though many changes
go, my soul through many changes go, His love no variation knows. Thou, Lord, will carry on and
perfectly perform the work Thou hast begun in me. Oh, a sinful
worm! Missed all my fears, my sins,
and woes? Thy Spirit will not let me go. The bowels of thy grace at first
did freely move. I still shall see thy face and
feel that God is love. My soul unto thy arms I cast. I know I shall be saved at last. Thank God for His Word.