Now if you have your Bible this
morning, you turn with me to the 8th chapter of the book of
Romans. I'd like to read beginning with
verse 29 and read through the 32nd verse. Verse 29 through
verse 32. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be 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? What shall we then say to these
things? As believers, as children of
God, as those who have experienced what it is that the Lord has
done for His people, as is spelled out clearly in this chapter,
what shall we then say to these things? And then Paul tells us
what he has to say, and that is, 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? Now, beloved, this morning as
we are coming and this year is winding down, and the year 2000,
we're facing another year, 2001, and there are many things that
we thought maybe would happen last year didn't happen, many
things that we didn't expect has happened, but we thank God
for bringing us safely through another year. And we thank God
that we're at this place this morning having strength enough,
maybe none to spare, but strength enough to stand here before you
this morning and talk to you about some things that are very,
very precious indeed to my own soul. and attempting to find
or select a passage of scripture that I thought would best spell
out where I stand this morning, and would best maybe, and of
course maybe there's a degree of selfishness in me, I'm sure
there is, as there is in all of us, but I need the Word of
God, I need solid meat out of the Word of God, I need to hear
those things that the Lord has done, those things that have
been done by our God that is settled, that are settled issues,
that are settled matters. And these verses before us this
morning certainly spell out what our God has done for us. But
I thank God this morning that our God is on the throne. I remember
reading the words of Isaac Watts some time ago. He said, Before
Jehovah's awesome throne, ye nations, bow with sacred joy. Know that the Lord is God alone. He can create. and He can destroy. One of the things that rejoices
our heart is to know that no one unto Him are all of His works
from the beginning of the world, and that nothing takes God by
surprise. He's absolutely omniscient. He knows all things, and it's
not that God foreknows something like you and I would foreknow
it. I thought last night that I would be here this morning.
I planned to come, and maybe you say that's foreknowledge,
but it's not. It's not. It's not foreknowledge
like God's foreknowledge. God's foreknowledge, He knows
what's coming to pass because He predetermined it, because
He predestinated it, because He decreed it. Therefore, He
knows what is going to come to pass. And thank God that our
lives are in His hands And we do trust in the Lord, and they
that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion. And you and
I need to come to that place where we rest ourselves wholly
in a sovereign God, and say with the Apostle Paul, if God be for
us, Now, beloved, for God to be for us, we must be one of
His children. We must be redeemed by the blood,
by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must have been
regenerated by the Holy Spirit, enlightened and illuminated by
God's Spirit, and brought out of spiritual death. that Aaron
quoted John 5.24 this morning, passed from death unto life. And we had to come out of spiritual
death unto life in order to be one of God's children, one of
those whom God is for. And so he says, if God be for
us, if God be for us, then who can be against us? And I've told
you before, that means what good would it do anybody to be against
us if God be for us? And blessed be the name of God,
He is indeed for His people. He's for His people, it's spelled
out here in these scriptures. He's for them in predestination,
in that that He's predestinated them to be conformed to the image
of His Son. He's for them in calling, in
effectual calling, in that that He calleth His own sheep by name
and leads them out. In that that He's for us, in
that that He has justified us. Hallelujah for the justification
which is through the free grace of God that we've been justified,
declared to be just as if we had never committed a sin as
we stand in the person of God's Son who committed no sin. There
is no sin in Him. And if you be in Christ, then
you stand before God as Christ stands before God. You're accepted
in the Beloved One. Therefore, my friend, God finds
no sin in Jacob and no iniquity in Israel. He finds no sin and
iniquity in His people because they stand justified in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I'm here to tell you this
morning that if He has acquitted you, my brother, my friend, you
are indeed acquitted. You are acquitted. No one can
raise a charge against you. Down here a little further it
says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
Who can lay anything to the charge of those that God has chosen
in eternal election? And those that He has called,
those that He has justified. Who can lay anything to their
charge? And then also Paul tells us that
these that he has predestinated, those that he's called, and those
that he's justified through his free grace, that he's also glorified
them. They're as good as glorified
already. Now the scripture says that we're
going to see the Lord Jesus one of these days, and that we're
going to be like him because we're going to see him as he
is. I remember hearing the testimony
of Fanny Crosby, who most of you are aware was blind all of
her life, and she later, somebody said to her, well, it's an awful
thing that the Lord has withheld your sight. He's gifted you in
so many, many ways, and it's terrible that he would have withheld
from you your sight. And she said to this individual,
she said, if I could have at my birth wished that I would
either be seeing or unseeing, I would have chosen to be blind.
Because I want the first face that I ever to see to be the
face of my lovely Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm going
to see Him one day face to face, and I'm going to see Him as He
is, and I'm going to be like Him. And so all the people of
God have that glorious hope in their lives and in their hearts.
You know, it's so wonderful to be able to say, if God be for
us, what good does it do anybody to be against us? It's so wonderful
to be able to say that. You know, as we travel through
this world, This is a roller coaster world, up and down, up
and down. Many, many adversities, many
difficulties as we struggle in this world. Many storms come
across our path in this world. If God be for us, what good does
it do anyone to be against us? What good does it do any force
to be against us? I remember this story. There
was a passenger train. and the passengers on the train,
it was a very stormy night, thunder and lightning, and the passengers
were very uneasy as they sped along through the dark, and the
lightning, as we said, was flashing, and the train was traveling very
fast in mountains country, and the fear and the tension among
the passengers became very evident. And there was one little fella,
however, that was sitting all by himself, and he seemed utterly
unaware of the storm or the speed of the train. And he was amusing
himself there in one of the seats with just a few toys. And one
of the passengers spoke to him, said, Sonny, I see you're alone
on the train. Aren't you afraid to travel alone
on such a stormy night? And the lad looked up with a
smile and answered, No, ma'am, I ain't afraid. You see, my daddy's
the engineer. And you see, as we travel in
this world, as we're going through this world, it's wonderful that
we know God has already mapped out the way, God has planned
the way, and that God is steering our ship. And however many storms
there are, we can always say, if God be for us, if God be for
us, what good would it do anyone to be against us? Now this, as
I've quoted, if God be for us, I told you this was what Paul
had to say. And I believe, amen, it's what
every believer would have to say. If God be for us, who can
be against us? If God be for us, we're bound
to win out. I mean the victory's won. I mean
the battle is over. If God be for us, what good is
he going to do anyone to be against us? But we know in this world
that there are many who are not at all excited about God being
in control. I know in this world there are
many critics of the doctrines of God's sovereign grace, the
doctrines of God's truth, the doctrine that God rules in all
things and overrules in all things to his glory and to the good
of his people. There are many that find fault
with that. There was a man that was questioning God's wisdom.
And the Bible says, oh, the depth of the wisdom of God. How unsearchable
are His judgments and His ways past finding out. How unsearchable
are His wisdom. How unsearchable are His judgments.
God is all-wise. God is too wise to err and too
holy not to do right in all things. And God does right. The ways
of the Lord are right. But there was a man that was
questioning the wisdom of God in arrangement, in his arrangement
of the universe. And he said, why does God make
a big tree, like the oak, with small nets on it, and then a
small plant and vine with large watermelons on it? It doesn't
make sense to me. And he was arguing about the
fact that God made things like he wanted to, And so, as the
story goes, he was standing at that time under a giant oak tree
and there was an acorn that fell out of the tree and he hit him
on the head. And he come to his senses and
he said, thank God that wasn't a watermelon. And so he was glad
that God's arrangement of things were just exactly as they were.
And I'm here to tell you this morning, if you're a critic of
God, if you're one of those that would dispute with God, if you're
one of those that would say, well, I'm not sure that this
is true, that if God be for you, that he wouldn't do anybody any
good to be against you. My friend, if you're one of those,
I hope that you'll see the folly of your way. I hope that you'll
come soon to trust in a God who absolutely cannot, absolutely
cannot err. Benjamin Franklin said, the longer
I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God
governs in the affairs of men. Do you believe that? That God
governs in the affairs of men? I'm trying to prepare you for
year 2001. Do you believe that God's going to be with you? Do
you believe God's already planned out your year? Do you believe
that God's mercy and His tender mercy that rules over all is
going to be with you? Do you believe that trust the
Lord shall be as Mount Zion and shall never be moved? Do you
believe that? My friend, if you want to make it through this
next year, confide in God, trust in God, hope in God, depend upon
Him, lean upon Him with all of your might, and all of your strength. Now then, let me just, I'm going
to go ahead here and finish up right away. I felt stronger before
I came and got a little weaker after I got here, but I want
to go ahead and finish up a few thoughts here. He was before
this statement of our text this morning, wherein it says that
if God be for us, who can be against us? I want to say that
He was for us before the worlds were made, and that's a long
time back, my friend. God was before us. He was before
us in all things. God always is before His people,
and so The verse says that... He's for
us. He was before the world began.
Ephesians 1-4 according, as He had chosen us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. He was for us or else He never
would have given His Son for us. As we read in verse 32, He
that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall He not also through Him freely give us all things?
He was for us when He hung Christ on the tree and laid the full
weight of His wrath upon Him. Yes, He was for us. He was for
us, my friend, though He was against Him. Can you buy that? Can you accept that? The Lord
Jesus Christ, God was against Him. His wrath was upon Him. Why? Why, you say, was God's
wrath upon Christ? Well, it was because He had been
made sin for us. It was because our sin had been
transferred to Him. It was because He was suffering
in our room instead in place. It was because He had assumed
before God legal responsibility for us and for our sin that God
was against Him. And so the sword was unsheathed
and plunged into the side of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was
for us when we were ruined in the fall. Yes, when we were ruined
in the fall, He loved us notwithstanding all. The Lord loved His people
from everlasting. We told you that last week. He
was for the elect even when we were against Him. even when we
were against Him by nature and were bidding Him defiance. Those
of you here this morning that have experienced the grace of
God, those of you that have experienced the calling of God, those of
you that have been led out of your sin and led unto Jesus Christ
knows that there was a time when you were in defiance against
God, when you lived in rebellion against God, and you walked contrary
to God and to His way. and to His holy law. Well, even
then, God was for you. You weren't aware of that, but
He was for you. He was for you, my friend, because
He was going to bring you out. He had a purpose, and God works
all things according to His purpose. We've been predestinated according
to the purpose of Him, who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will, Ephesians 1 and verse 11. But God commendeth
His love toward us, that while we were yet sinners, I can't
quote that verse of scripture enough, that He died for us.
He was for us or else He never would have brought us to seek
His face. If it hadn't been for God being for you, my friend,
you would have never sought His face. You would have never turned
from your rebellion and sin. You would have never left your
old ways that you had received by tradition from your fathers.
You would have never turned savingly to Christ if He had not been
for you. So He has been for us in many
struggles. He's been for us through multitude
of difficulties. Only God knows. We've had so
many temptations without and within. How could we have held
on until now if He had not been with us? How would we have made
it? Is there a believer here this
morning that could say, I would have made it without Him? I would
have made it if He hadn't have been for me? No, my friend, you
couldn't say that. We can only say we're here and
still in the faith and holding on to the faith of the Gospel
because He has been with us. He is for us, let me say, with
all the infinity of His heart, with all the omnipotence of His
love for us, with all His boundless wisdom. for us eternally, for
us immutably, that means unchangeably, He is for us. If He be for us,
then my friend, I say to you that wouldn't do anybody any
good, as we repeat what we said earlier, to be against us. Now
then, let me say that there is an opposite to all of this. There
is an opposite to all of this, and it belongs to some who are
present here this morning. Note, if God be against you,
who can be for you? If you're here this morning and
you say, well, I'm not for the Lord. I don't think God is for
me. I'm not His child. I'm not a
believer. I'm not one who have cast my
lot with Him. I'm not one who felt the drawing
power of God in my life. I don't know anything about a
personal experience in the grace of God. My friend, if God be
against you, who can be for you? What good would it do if you
could line up the world's strongest If you can line up the most powerful
people in this world to stand behind you, what good would it
do you if God's against you? If God's against you, His hand
is against you, if God's against you, my friend, what good would
it do you? If you're an enemy to God this morning, your very
blessings are curses to you. Your pleasures are only the prelude.
to your pain, and remember that. Remember, sinner, as long as
God is against you, you can never truly prosper. You may be fattened
with wealth, but you're only being prepared as the steer for
the slaughter. Take these words home with you,
my friend. If God be against me, what then? What then if God be against me? If I be a rebel against God,
what then? What will become of me in time? And most of all, what shall become
of me in eternity when I come to die? There was a father who
had decided to have a serious talk with his young son. And this young son was inclined
to be lighthearted and very irresponsible. Jimmy, his daddy, said, you're
getting to be a big boy. And you ought to take things
more seriously. Just think, if I died suddenly,
where would you be? And Jimmy answered, kind of a
smart mouth boy, quick to retort, he said, if I, he said, Jimmy
answered, he said, I'd be here. But where would you be, daddy?
Where would you be? It gave the dad something to
think about. And I was saying to you this morning, my friend,
Where are you going to be when that day comes? God is not for
you. God is against you. And where
are you going to be? Where are you going to be? If
God be against me, how will I die? I'll die in my sin if God is
against me. How shall I ever rise again?
I shall rise again, but it shall be to everlasting judgment. It
shall be to everlasting hellfire. How will I face Him in the day
of judgment? if God be against me. Oh, you remember those that
cried out and said, hide me from the face of Him, from the Lamb
that sits upon the throne. Oh, cover me rocks and mountains. Oh, come down upon me and cover
me, and cover me from the face of Him that sits upon the throne. How will we ever face Him in
the day of judgment if God be against us? And the last word
I say this morning to you believers, if God be for you, do you not
see how that you ought to be for God? How you ought to be
for Him? If God has taken your cause and
He has, if God has taken your case and thank God He has, hallelujah,
it's so wonderful to have your cause and case in the hands of
the Lord. None of us know anything about tomorrow. But it's so wonderful
to have him to have taken our cause and case. Ought you not
to take up his? Ought you not? Ought you not
to be wholehearted in the things of God, in the service of God? There's a war going on. Christian
soldiers, rise and take up your post. Somebody said there was
a ship that was very near the night the Titanic sunk. a ship very large that was capable,
would have been capable of saving all of those on the Titanic.
But it was off-duty. It was off-duty. I say to you
believers, do you consider yourself off-duty now? You're in this
world, a world wherein we need to be living for the glory and
honor of our God, wherein we need to be spreading the gospel
story and being evangelist. Evangelist is a nobody that's
telling everybody about somebody who's able to change anybody. That's what an evangelist is.
And we ought to be telling the story of the gospel. We ought
to be on duty. Don't go off duty, my friend.
And I'm saying to you, if God's for you, then you be for God
in every way. If the Lord be God, follow Him,
one side or the other. One side or the other. Oh, there's
some serious young people here, some serious young men here. And I would to God that you were
even more serious than what you are. That you would sell out
completely to the Lord Jesus Christ. that you'd find you a place to
pray, and that you'd beg God until the fire of God fell on
your soul so you could preach. One side or the other, one side
or the other, where are you going to stand? Well, if God has been
for you, Then stand up for Him, no compromise. Take your part
with Christ and His despised people. If needs be, this may be the
first step you need to take. If needs be, ask for baptism
at the hands of this church. Show the world that you've died
to yourself. Show the world you've died out
to yourself. And year 2001, 2000, year 2000
is the last year you're going to live selfishly, live for yourself. You're going to submit yourself
to the hands of this church for baptism. You're going to ask
a home in this church. That's what you ought to do.
On duty, my friend, on duty. May God be pleased to bless these
few remarks. I've never shortchanged you people
ever. On a sermon I always preached as long as I felt like the Lord
would give me something to say. And I feel like I've said all
I can today. So may the Lord bless you.