Romans 8, and let's begin reading
at verse 28. And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things if God before us who can be against us? He that spurred
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 intercessions 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. Nay, in all of these things we
are more than conquerors through him that loves 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 the Lord." I
preached this morning, as you know, out of this book. concerning the wrath of God being
revealed against sin. And I made the statement this
morning to the effect that I know of no more fearful thought than
knowing that the wrath of God would be
revealed against my sin. That's the most fearful thought
I think that I could think of. But if you and I know anything
this evening about the wrath of a sovereign God, I think we
would have to agree, the greatest blessing that could ever be bestowed
upon an individual would be to be saved from that wrath. And
I don't know of a more supreme love and gratitude
It would win from an individual to know how and who saved him
from that wrath. What gratitude we owe the Lord
Jesus Christ. how we must adore him and love
him, because he's the one who delivered us from this wrath,
present wrath and future wrath. Being justified by his blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through him. He delivered us
from this wrath to come. But not only does this book declare
that he's did that for us, but it tells us of so many other
things that he's done for us. He's given us, chapter 7 tells
us, a new nature. He's given us a new man within,
a man that was never there before. A man that delights in God. A man that joys in God. A man
who delights in holiness. A perfect man, a righteous man,
created in the very image of God Himself. He's did that for
us. This book teaches us that He's
did more than that. He's given us the Spirit of His
Son. He sent the Spirit of His Son
into our hearts crying, Father, Father, to dwell there, to teach
us, to bear witness with our spirit that we're children of
God, to help our infirmities, help us to pray, make intercessions
for us. But He's did more than even that.
He's given us hope. He's given us hope in a world
to come. And He's given us the grace of hope. The hope in that
world that's to come. He's not only delivered us from
the wrath to come, but my, my, my, what He's done for us over
and above that. The things He's given us. And
here in verse 28, He's given us this precious promise. All
things work together for good to them that love God. Now that's
an amazing verse. We've often clung to that. All things work together. There may be an individual thing,
an incident that happens in your lifetime, that there's no way
that you can say, this worked for my good. But you look back
over your life for the past year, for the past two years, for the
past ten years, and you collect all of these things up together.
And all of these things put together, God in heaven, in His wisdom,
in His sovereignty, in His rule over all things, has so brought
these things together that they're worked for your good. Now that's
amazing, isn't it? You're better off tonight than
you were five years ago. Because God is working these
things for your good. And that's a promise. That's
a promise. But in spite of all these things
that God has done for us, I tell you, Zion, the church,
the body of Christ, we believers, we have a thousand and one fears
that plagues us. I thought when the Lord first
saved me, I thought, boy, I'll never doubt, I'll never have
any fears. But I come to realize not long,
it wasn't long until I realized that if I was going to have assurance
of my salvation, If I was going to live and enjoy the Lord and
have His peace reign in my heart, I was going to have to take Him
at His Word and live by faith. Not by feelings, not by my emotions,
not by signs, but I was going to have to get in His Word and
see what it said and believe it. Believe in the Lord, believe
His Word and be established. I found something here in verses
28, verses 29 and 30 that's helped relieve me of my fears and my
doubts. That somehow, someway, maybe I won't make it. Did you
ever have that fear? That gnawing doubt within that
maybe you weren't going to make it? I know that's sin. It's a sin to doubt. I know that.
But I'm telling you, sometimes we have these nagging doubts
that we can't shake. They're there, and we can't shake
them loose. One thing that we fear is this. We're going to
change. I think this is our problem.
We look at ourselves, and we see how we're out to change.
I scare myself. I really scare myself. I can
stand up here and preach the gospel to you in faith and sometimes
feel like I'm ready to just almost fly away. But I go outside and
tomorrow my heart will be so cold. My faith will be so weak. I scare me to death. And sometimes
I wonder, how much will I change? Everything around us is changing.
Our society is changing. I tell you, it scares me where
our society is going to. We seem to be right on the fence
and we could fall off The earth is changing. It's waxing old. It's decaying. It's changing. Everything around us is changing.
And what sometimes I think we fear, even though we won't admit
it in our subconscious, we begin to think that God is like us
and He's like everything around us. He's changing. He's changing. How do I know this? How do I
know we're out to thank this? Because the Lord spent so much
time in His Word teaching us that He cannot change, and that
He will not change. And if we didn't think that He
could, why would He spend so much time telling us, I am the
Lord, I change not. I don't change in my purpose.
I purposed it. I'll also do it. I don't change
in my love. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. Having loved his own which were
in the world, he loved them until the end. He never changes in
his counsel. My counsel shall stand, I will
do all my pleasure. Never changes his promises, all
the promises of God in Christ Jesus, though yea and amen. Therefore, he said, you sons
of Jacob are not consumed, because I'm not like you. I never change. And therefore, you sons of Jacob,
you'll never be lost. You'll never be consumed. You
look over here with me in Hebrews right quick, if you would. Look
in Hebrews. Old Romans chapter 8. Look here
in Hebrews chapter 6. Look in Hebrews chapter 6 and
look what he says in verse 13. Look in verse 12 of Hebrews chapter
6. Be not slothful, but followers
of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
For when God made a promise to Abraham, Because he could swerve
by no greater, he swerved by himself, saying, Surely, blessed,
I will bless thee, and multiplying, I will multiply thee. And so,
after he had patiently endeared, he obtained the promise. For
men verily swerve by the greater." They'll pick out a huge stone
or something and swerve by that one. Oath for confirmation is
to them the end of all strife. I swear I'll do it, they'll say.
That ends the strife. If a man swears, you know, that
he'll agree to something, that ends it. That settles it. Look
at verse 17. Wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the unchangeableness, the immutability
of his purpose, his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. that
by two immutable things, unchangeable things, in which it was impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation to our fled
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. You know two things that's impossible.
One is for God to lie. He can't lie. If He says something,
He'll do it. Not one promise will fall to
the ground. And the immutability of His counsel, His purpose,
it cannot change. It cannot change. And over here
in my text, in Romans chapter 8, in verse 29, we're told of
God's sovereign purpose, His decree. What has He decreed? Those He foreknew, That very
maternity. He loved them. He set his heart
upon them. So he provided for them. He predestinated this to
be conformed to the image of his own dear son. And those he
predestinated, he called them. And those he called, he justified. And them he justified, he glorified. And you notice, and this is something
I've always found so much comfort in that passage. That's God's
purpose. That's God's decree. He did that.
And it's all past tense. Did you notice that? It's all
past tense. It's already happened in God's
decree. Those He predestinated, He's
glorified. Now, if you can find yourself
right in the middle of all that, if you can find yourself justified If you're a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ, you're justified by faith in Christ, then you
can look in both directions without any fear or without any doubt.
If you're in Christ this evening, you can look back in eternity
and you can say, He chose me. You can be amazed about it. You
can look at it and wonder that He did it. But you can say with
assurance, if you're in Christ this evening, justified by His
blood, you can say, He foreknew me, He loved me, He chose me,
He put my name in the Lamb's Book of Life, and He called me,
He has justified me, and then you can look in this direction.
You can look out in the future. You can look out into eternity
with a full assurance of God's purpose and say, He'll glorify
me. Now, that being so, brothers
and sisters, that ought to help us to remove some doubt as to
whether we're going to make it or not. My doubting and my fearing
may hinder me. It may hinder my assurance. It
may hinder my joy. But I tell you, he'll never hinder
God's purpose. He'll never nullify God's purpose. This is God's purpose. Those
He foreknew, them He also glorified. Therefore, we could say this.
Fear not, little flock. Fear not, little flock. It's
your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. How do
we know that? Because He's already purposed
it. It's settled in the mind of God. And he writes this to
this apostle. The Holy Spirit moves upon him
and says this, Paul, I want you to be careful when you say this.
This is to my little children. They think I'm out to change
like they do. They think I'm out to change
like everything around them is changing. So I want them to know
I'm immutable. I'm unchangeable. I want them
to know that my purpose will not change regarding them. So
you put all these things in past tense. And when they read that,
their faith can take hold of that. And their fears can be
dispelled. They'll make it. They'll make
it. If you're here this evening, dear soul, And you're justified by faith
in Christ. He saved your soul this evening.
You'll make it. You'll make it. God's purpose
assures that. There's something else here too
I lack in this passage. Not only sometimes am I concerned
about eternity and whether I'm going to make it there in the
Father's house or not, Sometimes I fear what may happen
to me in this world. I wonder how tough it's going
to be to make it in this world. What's going to happen to me
and you five years from now? Where will we be ten years from
now? Do you ever think about that? Do you ever get afraid
when you think about that? Aren't you glad you don't have
the ability to project five years down the road? And suddenly, there, you wake
up, five years from now, and maybe you're on the hospital
bed half dead. Oh my word, how did I get here?
What has happened? Somebody called my wife. What
did you call my wife? Well, Bruce, you lost your wife
four years ago. She died of cancer. You don't remember that? Well,
call my kids. All your kids were killed in
the car wreck. Oh, my. I've lost my wife, lost my kids,
lost my health. How's the country doing? You
don't have a country anymore. It's taken over by terrorists.
I need to get home. Well, you don't have a home.
You lost it. You lost it. You know what I'm saying? You
ever get this gnawing, nagging fear, maybe you're going to be
brought to desolation two years from now, five years from now.
Job sat on the ash heap scratching himself with a posture, an old
broken posture, scratching his balls. He lost his children. All of them were killed. Lost
his cattle. Lost most of his servants. And
you know what he said? That which I feared has come
on me. I was afraid something like this
was going to happen to me, he said. But you know, I found something
here in this passage that comforts me and strengthens me in that.
What if I'm brought to nothing? What if you're brought to nothing?
Look here what he says in chapter 8 in verse 31. Look at this. What shall we then say to these
things if God be for us? Who, and let me insert in there,
what can be against you? Don't that comfort you, Clarence? If God is for me, and He has
always been for me, even when I was against myself, if He was
for me then, if He's for me now, if He'll be for me throughout
eternity, what does it matter who or what is against me? What does it matter if I'm brought
to desolation, if God is for me? What does it matter if the
world turns against me, if God is for me? Don't you get a measure
of comfort from that? God is a sovereign God, brothers
and sisters. He's the governor of the nations.
He rules in heaven and in this earth, every minute detail of
every life. He rules and overrules it. And to have a God like that for
me, what else matters? David was a man who had a great
imagination. And he could imagine some things
that you and I would never think to imagine. He imagined one day
the earth just suddenly be removed. He said, here I stand, and what
if this earth was just removed, he said, right up and under my
feet? And what if all the mountains
were plucked up and cast into the ocean? And those troubled
waves began to roar and overflow what mountains were left. And
they began to shake to their very foundation. And everything
was gone but me. He said, what has that happened?
What about me? Little old me, he said. And he
made this statement. God is our refuge. God is a present
help in the time of trouble. Therefore, we will not fear. I tell you, brothers and sisters,
if God is for you, it doesn't make any difference who or what
is against you. And that's enough to dispel us
of our fears. No, I still am glad I don't have
foreknowledge. I'm still glad I can't project
five years ahead and see what's going to happen to me and what
will I have here in this world. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter if God is for us. Who could possibly be against
us? This is what Caleb and Joshua
were trying to get the children of Israel to understand. Moses had told them to go over
into the land of Canaan and possess it. It's yours, he said. Wells
that's already dug. Houses already built. Vineyards
already planted. Everything's ready. It's the
time of ripe grapes. Go in and possess it." And they
were scared to death. Oh, they said, those cities over
there are walled up to heaven and there's giants in the land.
And Caleb and Joshua said this, don't fear the people of the
land. They are bred for us. Their defense is departed from
them. The Lord is with us. Fear them not. This is what Paul is saying to
us. Don't fear life. Don't fear living
in this world. Don't fear what is going to happen
to you in the days ahead. The Master said it like this,
your Father in heaven knows what you have need of and He'll provide
what you have need of according to His riches in glory. Your
Father is the sovereign God of this universe and He'll provide
for you. He is for you. He's on your side. Now ain't that comforting? Won't
that go a long way in dispelling your fear? Thirdly, think of this, did you
ever fear that maybe when you stand before the Lord in the
judgment, and boy it's closer now than
it was when we first believed, that maybe you would stand there
so ashamed, you think now standing before him You think, Lord, if
I had to stand there like I am right now, I'd be so ashamed.
And maybe even a certain aspect of condemnation. I'm not for sure how the judgment's
going to be. There's many Scriptures that
I don't understand about the judgment given in account of
ourselves, the deeds we've done, whether they be good or bad.
I just take them at face value, and I believe them, but I can't
understand much about them. But we know this. Here in Romans
8, verse 33, look at this. The elect of God will never be
judged and condemned and cast out. Look at this in verse 33.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies it. It's God who has cleared them
of all charges that either He or His law or anyone else ever
could bring against them. And He's done it on this ground.
Look in verse 34. Who is He that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Christ stood in our place. Did
He not? The Scripture teaches that. He
was charged with our sins. He was condemned and He died
for our sins, and in His death He rendered a just, a full, and
eternal payment for all our sins. And it's not possible for God
to bring one of those sins up for which Christ has already
suffered, and charge one of His elect people with it, and condemn
them for it, and to cast them out. God cannot payment twice
demand, and He will not payment twice demand. First at our bleeding
charities' hands, and then again at ours. He will not do that. Whatever the judgment holds,
and I don't know what all it may hold, but I know what the
Master said about it. He said, He that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, shall never, he shall never
come into condemnation. Never come into condemnation.
What will take place at the judgment? I don't really know. But I know
this much about it. You don't have to fear being
condemned there if you're a child of God, if you're a believer. In this chapter here, the Apostle Paul
talks about our hope. Our hope. We're saved by hope. We're looking for the redemption
of our body. We're waiting patiently, and
we've grown within ourselves waiting for this redemption.
If you and I had to live in dread and fear of being condemned when
we stood before Him, how could we exercise this grace of hope? We wouldn't live in hope. We'd
live in fear. If you had to look today when
you were going to stand before God in judgment, and you thought,
boy, I'm going to stand there and I'm going to be ashamed,
I'm going to be condemned, and maybe catch that. Could you look
forward to such a day? Paul wrote this to encourage
us to hold, to exercise this hold. So he says this, Brothers
and sisters, when you stand there on that day, you will not be
condemned. You will not be condemned. It's
impossible you could be condemned. Why? Because Christ died for
you. Christ died for your sins. Every
charge that was brought against you, He answered it. I've often wondered why the Lord
Jesus, when he came to this world, why he couldn't have been born
in some clean place and lived in luxury and had it easy in
his lifetime and then at the end just go to the cross. And
there are sins. Why was it necessary for him
to be born and laid in a manger and live in need and suffer temptations? Why was that needful? You know
why? In everything he had to be identified
with you and with me. When Adam fell, God told him,
in sorrow. You're going to live your life
in sorrow. You're going to eat your bread with the sweat of
your brow. You're going to have to dig the ground and tilt it,
or it's going to bear thorns and barge. All the day long,
all your life long, you're going to be tried and you're going
to be tested. You're going to have to earn
your bread. When the Lord Jesus came into this world, what's
the first thing we should have said about Him? He's a man of
sorrow. In all points, He was tempted
like as we are. He identified with us in every
way. I'm amused by these politicians
when they get up, millionaires, and they try to pretend they
can identify with you and me. And they have somebody run out
to the grocery store and find out what the price of a gallon
of milk is so somebody, if someone asks them, they can take it.
They can't identify with us. They have no idea what the average
common person is going through. But I'll tell you somebody that
can identify with us. The Lord Jesus Christ. You ever
been tried? So was He. You ever been tempted? He was tempted in all points.
Have you ever felt that God the Father had forsaken you? He experienced
that in reality. He took everything that was ours
in His lifetime, except our sin. And on the cross He took that.
And He answered every charge that even an all-wise God could
bring against us. And He answered that. And He
took all the sin away. Took all the wrath away. There's
none left. There's none left. So however
the judgment is, I know this, brothers and sisters, there will
not be any condemnation there. There will be no condemnation
there for the believer. Who is he that condemneth? And lastly is this, I am amazed that the Lord Jesus
Christ could love me, and you are too. You are too. So, knowing that, it's probably
not so strange to sometimes wonder if maybe he'll quit loving me. A dear old lady that went
to Spurgeon's Tabernacle, he asked her one day, he said, Ma'am,
do you believe the Lord loved you before you were born? And she said, Mr. Spurgeon, if
he didn't love me before I was born, he sure couldn't love me
after I was born. That's the way we feel. We wonder
that the Lord Jesus could love us. We feel sort of like McPherson
when David said, you sit at my table. You go eat my bread all
the days of your life. I'm going to provide everything
for you. And he said, who am I? But a dead dog. A dead dog. That's what we say. Lord, how could you love me?
But not only does he love us, he'll never quit loving us. I
love the way the apostle says it here in verse 35. Notice this. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, persecution,
and so on. Did you notice how that reads?
And he does the same thing there in verse 38 and verse 39. And it's not so much us that
these things are against. It's not us that's on trial. But it's the love of Christ that's
on trial. Did you notice that? Who shall
separate us? Well, that's easy. Separate us. Let a little trouble come. That's
all it takes to separate us. Let the devil tempt us long enough,
or suddenly. That's enough. But it's not just
us. But who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? That's what the emphasis is on.
And what the Lord Jesus seems to be saying in this verse, He's
saying, I have so much confidence in my love for you that I'm willing
to expose you to things unimaginable just to prove that you cannot
be separated from my love. And here it comes, the tribulation,
the persecution and trials. But what happens? You get right
through. Oh, here's a hill, the devil
says to your conscience, you'll never get up this hill. This
is too high. You'll never make it up this
one, old boy. Well, there's a high in the love of Christ, is there
not? To know the height of His love,
that passive knowledge, there's a height in Christ's love that
is higher than my heels of difficulty, and yours also. Or you get in
a valley, a long, dark valley, the valley of the shadow of death,
and the devil whispers to you, you'll never get through this
valley. You've been in some long ones, and you've been in some
dark ones, but you'll never get through this one. It's a low valley. But there's
a depth in the love of Christ that goes lower than the lowest
valley I'll ever get in. And He'll never separate us from
His love. Then, boy, you get in some hard
trials. And they're long. And you've prayed about them.
And they're sort of like Paul's thorn in the flesh. You just
about conclude you're going to have to carry on the rest of
your life. It's not something that's going
to be temporary. It's something you're going to
have to bear. It's a cross. It's a burden. And you're going
to die with it. But there's something in the
love of Christ that goes beyond the length of time when we have
to suffer. You'll never separate His people
from His love. There's a height in it, there's
a depth in it, there's a length in it, and there's a breadth
in it. Let come what may. Whatever creature
tries to separate us from the love of Christ, let them go ahead.
Have at it. Take your best shot. But I assure
you this, Paul said, I'm persuaded, they'll not accomplish their
task. We're more than conquerors. Not just conquerors. but more
than conquerors through Him who loved us. May God dispel our
fears this evening and our doubts by His precious Word. His eternal
decree is, if you can find yourself there, soul, you're secure. Believe
it and live in the assurance of it. If God is for you, don't
worry about what this world may do to you. If Christ has died
for you, then you'll never be condemned.
If God in Christ loves you, if He loved you yesterday, He loves
you today. If He loves you today, He'll
love you tomorrow. I have loved you when I never
lasted in love. God bless His Word. Let us pray.