Would you turn back to Romans
chapter 8? While you're turning there, tonight
I'm going to be preaching from the verse where the Lord said,
Fear not, little flock. It's your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. I've entitled this message Five
no's. And when I said to Aaron Greenleaf
my message, five no's, he said, five K-N-O-W-S's? No, five N-O's. Five no's. Now there are many powerful words
that effectively communicate a thought, but what would you
say is the most powerful word universally understood by all? The most powerful word in the
English language and in the other language is the word no. You know, even a dog understands
it. A dog ravaging through the trash, no! He knows he better
stop. No means no or something further
may result. No is such a powerful way to
answer a question. Listen to some scriptures that
show us the power of this word. Romans 3.10 says, there is none
righteous. No, not one. Are there any righteous? No. There is none that doeth
good. No, not one. Exodus 34 7 says, this is God
speaking, he said, I will by no means clear the guilty. Now, did you hear that? I will
by no means clear the guilty. If you or I are guilty, we will
not be cleared. Matthew chapter five, verse 20,
except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. In John chapter six, verse 44,
the Lord said, no man can come to me except the father which
has sent me draw him. Does not any man have the ability
to come to Christ? No. No. No man can come to me. John chapter 9 verse 41, the
Lord said, if you were blind, you would have no sin. But now
you say, you see, therefore your sin remaineth. If you were blind,
you would have no sin. If you genuinely could not see
any reason for God to look your way in favor, As far as anything
about yourself, you'd have no sin, the Lord says. John chapter 14, verse six, no
man cometh to the father, but by me. Romans 3.20, by the works of
the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For
by the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 3.22, there's no
difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. No difference between one man and another, really, in reality.
All have sinned. Romans 7.18, Paul said, I know
that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Nothing? Nothing. No good thing. Romans 8.1, There
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
If you're in Christ Jesus, there's no condemnation for you. None. Read in 1 Corinthians 1 29, no
flesh should glory in his presence. Galatians 3 11, that no man is
justified by the law on the side of God. It's evident for the
just shall live by faith. Philippians 3.3, we are the circumcision,
which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh. None. Now, no doesn't only express
something negative. It also expresses something very
positive. The Lord said, all that the father
giveth me shall come to me. and him that cometh to me I shall
in no wise cast out for no reason whatsoever. Now in this passage
of scripture that I just read there are five no's expressed
and these are the most positive no's there are. says in verse 31 of Romans chapter
8, what shall we then say to these things? Who's the we? Well, it's the same we that was
expressed in verse 28, and we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. He's speaking as the spokesman for all of God's
elect, every believer. What shall we then say to these
things? How do we respond? What things? Well, he said in
verse 28, and we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God. Not to everybody, but to them
that love God, to them who are thee called according to His
purpose. For whom He did foreknow, whom
He did love beforehand, 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 say to these things?
What is our response? What can we conclude? Now, he
gives five very powerful no's with regard to these things that
he speaks of. What should we say to these things?
Here's number one. If God before us Who can be against
us? No intimidation. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Here's the second, verse 32.
He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not? What could possibly prevent him? How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? The second no is no prevention. There's nothing that can prevent
him from freely giving us all things. No prevention. Verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies no accusation. Nothing you can even accuse me
of. Fourth, verse 34, who is he that
condemneth? There's no condemnation. It's Christ that died, yea rather
that's risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Verse 35, who shall separate
us from the love of Christ. No separation. And would to God that he would
give us the grace, that he'd give me the grace to preach,
and that he'd give me the grace to hear what I'm preaching, and
that he'd give you the grace to hear this message, these five
no's. Now the first no is no intimidation. If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God be for us, us whom he
foreknew, us whom he predestinated, us whom he called, us whom he
justified, us whom he glorified, if God be for us, who can be
against us? Now the God he is speaking of
is not the weak man-made pygmy God of human religion, whose
will can be thwarted and his will is subject to man's will.
The Bible knows nothing of a God like that. That's a false God. That's a idol and nothing more. The God of the Bible is sovereign,
the cause of all things. He controls everything and he
controls everybody. I love talking about that. I
love thinking about that. Do you know that God is in absolute
control of every thought going through your mind right now? He is. That's how much control
he has. As to whether or not you're saved,
it is entirely up to him. You have no control. Now that is the God of the Bible. He's absolutely sovereign, the
first cause of all things. And what is absolutely essential
to sovereignty? Omnipotence. All power. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? He is omnipotent. He has all
power whatsoever He wills. He has the power to bring to
pass. Now that's the God. If this God
is for you, the God who's omnipotent, all wise, absolutely just. Just go on with whatever attribute
you want to speak concerning the God of glory. If he's for
you, who can be against you? We need not fear man. Why fear a man? whose breath
is in his nostrils, and God can take it away just like that.
We need not fear circumstances, whatever they are, because whatever
those circumstances are, He's working them together for our
good and His glory. We need not fear the law, for
all the law can do is say, justified. He's without guilt. We don't
even need to fear Satan. And believe me, I want to say
this reverently. I can't stand it when preachers
talk about Satan like we're going to dance on his head and all
that foolishness. No, I'm not going to say nothing
like that. But I tell you what, Satan is God's devil. He's on God's
chain. You know, when he came to ask
permission to have Peter, Satan desired to have you that he may
sift you as wheat. He came to ask permission to
tempt Peter and wring him inside out. And he did. He did. He got Peter to deny he even
knew who Christ was. But that was all a part of God's
glorious purpose and plan to make Peter to bow the knee to
Christ and see that he is all in salvation. Best of all, I can't even be against myself
if God's for me. I can't mess this thing up. I
can't ruin myself because if God's for me, I can't even be
against me. And I'm so thankful for that
because I've said this before, you know who I'm most afraid
of? Me. Me. You feel that way? Well, we have this blessed assurance
If God be for me, no one and no thing can be against me. There is absolutely nothing to
be intimidated by. David said, although my house
be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. and this is all my
salvation, and it's all my desire. John said, if we believe not,
yet he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. You see, if he denied me, he'd
be denying himself, because all of God's people are united to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we have Nothing to
fear. No intimidation. If God be for
us, who can be against us? Now the next no is found in verse
32. He that spared not his own son. Which of you have at times just
looked the other way when your children did something wrong
because you didn't want to deal with it? God has never done that. He that spared not his own son. When sin was found in him, he
spared him not. but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not? What could
possibly prevent him from freely giving us all things? He goes from the argument from
the lesser to the greater. If he spared not his own son,
but he delivered him up for us all, every believer. How shall he not, what could
possibly prevent him from freely giving us, and note the language,
freely, without a cause in me, doing it freely, freely, not
because I deserve it, not because I've asked for it, he does it
freely. Give us graciously bestow upon
us all things. He gave his son. Will he withhold
something? Perish the thought. Freely without
a cause in me. Now you listen real carefully. But what if I'm so weak? and sinful and repeatedly fall
into the same sin over and over and over again. What if I'm so
weak and foolish, unstable, self-righteous? Can any of that prevent him from
freely giving me all things? The answer is no. No. You see, your sin can never prevent
him from giving you all things. Because your sin has been put
away. Christ bore it. He put it away,
and there's absolutely nothing that can prevent Him from freely,
without a cause in you, giving you all things. Being justified freely by His
grace. Now, when I'm saying this, I
know someone will say, well, You're giving people license
to sin. I'm doing no such thing. That's not giving anybody license
to sin. And if you even think something like that, you're proving
in your own heart, you really have a hard time with grace.
And you're thinking grace is too free. I mean, that would
encourage people to sin. That won't encourage any believer
to sin. It won't give any believer some
kind of justification to sin. It sure won't. And if somebody
takes it that way, well, that's because you don't know what grace
is anyway. That's not going to encourage somebody to sin, but
I tell you what, I sure am thankful it's that way, aren't you? There's
nothing I can do to prevent God from freely giving me all things
that pertain to my salvation. Whatever is needed for salvation,
he gives me. freely. I love that word freely. Without a cause in me. Now, the third no is found in
verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Now here's the third no. No accusation. There's nothing to be laid to
their charge. And here is why God justified
them. Justification is God declaring
you to be not guilty. Nothing to be laid to
your charge. Nothing to accuse you of. Now God said, I will by no means
clear the guilty. And he won't. If you have any
guilt, if I have any guilt, we'll go to hell. Understand that. God said, I'll by no means clear
the guilty. Justification is being not guilty. Now, If I've sinned, and I have, how can I be not
guilty? How can that be real? How can
that be not just kind of make-believe, trying to talk yourself into,
I'm not guilty, I think it, therefore I'm not. How can it be if I really
have sinned, I'm not guilty? Because God justified me. And if God justified me, you
know what he gave me? A brand new history. Everything about
me. Look it up in the books. It's
all good. There's nothing bad. There is
no sin. That's what justification means. God justified me. He declared
me to be just because of what Christ did. My sin. And this
is the only thing that satisfies my conscience. And this really
does satisfy my conscience. I can rest at ease. My sin was placed in Him and
He bore it on Calvary's tree and put it away and His history,
His perfect law keeping, His righteousness is mine and I have
a brand new history. You know what? That satisfies
my conscience. It really does. That satisfies my conscience.
Nothing else does. I have a brand new history. Nothing
can be laid to my charge. Satan, he's called the accuser
of the brethren. He accuses them before God day
and night. Can you lay anything to their
charge? No, he can't. God justified. What about, I've seen him do
it. I don't care whether you have. It's God that justifies. You're going to have to take
your complaint up with God. What about my own conscience?
It's God that justifies. Who is he that can condemn? Bring
it on. There's no accusations that can
be brought to my charge if God has justified me. Now that's
the glory of the gospel. God makes it to where I have
nothing to feel guilty about because I haven't done anything
wrong and I've always done that which is right. Don't you love the gospel? A
gospel that could make you like that? Make you perfect in God's
sight? Justification excludes all charges. There's no accusation to be brought
against any of those that God has justified. No accusation. Now, think about this. I want
to be repetitive. Think about this. All the stuff
you feel guilty about, it's not even there. It will never be laid to your
charge, because there's nothing there. God justifies. No accusation. And the fourth
is found in verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? No condemnation. Romans 8, 1, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. I love that
passage of scripture in John chapter 8, where the Lord says
to that woman who was taken in adultery in the very act. He said, woman, where are those
thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord. And he said, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. No condemnation. And he gives
four reasons in this 34th verse why we can't be condemned. Who
is he that condemneth? Here's the first reason why I
can't be condemned. It's Christ that died. I need
no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough
that Jesus died and that he died for me. It's Christ that died. You know, that's the only thing
that satisfies my conscience, too. It's Christ that died. It's Christ that died. Here's
a second reason. It's Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again. If he stayed dead, his death
would be no different than mine or yours. But he couldn't stay
dead. He was delivered for our offenses,
and he was raised again for our justification. It's Christ that
died, yea, rather than raised again. How could you possibly
be condemned if Christ died for you, justified you, and was raised
again for you? Can't happen. And his third reason
is that he is even at the right hand of God. How many times have people died
and left a last will and testament and it wasn't followed through?
There would be arguments over what took place and it wouldn't
follow through. Now here is one place where the testator lives
and he's seated at the right hand of God ruling and reigning
and he can make sure his will is completely carried out. He has all power. And he is, as the scripture says,
at the right hand of God, making intercession for us. Right now, while I'm speaking,
there's a man in glory, a real man, who died and he's alive. And he stands, he sits and he
stands as the ruler, he sits, his work finished, Both. Only he can stand and sit at
the same time. He's the only one that can do
that. And he does it. Right now, there's a man in glory. And it's
not that I sin and he says, oh, forgive him again, forgive him
again. It doesn't work that way at all. There's a man in glory
and his very presence says he's got all he needs. all he needs. Wherefore, he is
able to save them to the uttermost, who come to God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. There's a man in glory
who knows my name, and he represents me before the Father, and the
Father looks at him, and he's well pleased with me for his
righteousness sake. Now, John said, these things
write I unto you, that you sin not. Don't ever sin again. Make it your ambition to never
sin against your Lord again. When you do, We have an advocate with the
Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous. He's no crooked lawyer. He's
the righteous. And what's so glorious about
this advocate we have with the Father, he makes all of his clients
plead guilty. and justifies every one of them. No other lawyer could do that.
He is our intercessor. And then finally, he says in
verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? The last no is a no separation. No separation from the love of
Christ. Now John chapter 15, go ahead
and turn with me here because I want you to see this with your
own eyes. John 15. Verse 9. These are the words
of the Lord Jesus. And he says, as the father hath
loved me. Now, how does the father love
his son? Well, let me give you a hint.
It's not unconditionally. As a matter of fact, I wish we'd
strike that word from our vocabulary because there's no such thing
as unconditional love. Not with God, not with me, not
with you. There's got to be something there
to love. You can't love someone where there's nothing there to
love. Well, how does God love his son? Oh, he's just so pleased
with him. He loves him because he's altogether
lovely. You think of the beauty of the son to the father. This
is my well beloved son, the son of my love in whom I'm well pleased. Oh, the father is so pleased
with the son. He's so lovely. Now look what
the Lord says in verse nine. As the father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. Would you believe that if it
didn't say that? As the father hath loved me,
even so have I loved you. Now can anything separate the
love of the father to his son? Can he stop loving his son? Can
he love his son any more than he loves him? Can he love his son any less
than he loves him? You know the answer to those
questions. No. As the Father hath loved me,
even so have I loved you. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ, say tribulation? No. As long as it cause him to
stop loving us, nor will it cause us to stop loving him. shall
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or the sword, as it's written, for thy sake we're killed all
the day long. We are tainted sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we're more than conquerors. Through him that loved us. I
love this verse of scripture. I don't know how many times I've
heard preachers or even people say, I pray that I'm living in
defeated Christian life. There's no such thing. There's
no such thing as a defeated Christian life. Every believer is more
than conquerors. Through him that loved us. Now these are the most five,
the most five, excuse me, the most positive five no's in the
world, aren't they? No intimidation, no prevention,
no accusation, no condemnation, and no separation. And let me
leave you with one other no. The Lord said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh I will in no wise cast out. If you come, there is absolutely
no reason that he'll turn you away. Him that cometh to me,
I'll in no wise cast out. Now, how do I come? To come to
Christ is to believe on his name. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
which believe on His name. Now, I don't know what else can
be said about me. I know a lot of things can be
said about me as far as that goes, but I know this. The only thing, person, hope
I'm relying on to bring me into heaven is his name. I'm like the thief. Lord, remember me. That's all I'm asking. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. You're not going to stay dead.
You're not going to stay on this cross. That thief knew something
about the Lord that nobody else there knew. He knew he was the
Lord. And he knew he was the mighty
king. Do you know that? Do you know
he's the Lord? Do you know he is the mighty
king? Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And
the Lord answered today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.