You turn there in Romans 8 and
you have some kind of a little marker or hold your finger there
and also Isaiah chapter 12. You want to mark that. I want to read a passage that
I read to you, I guess last Sunday or Sunday before last, I can't
even remember. And then I want to read it in verse 15, Romans
8, 15, and I want to go to Isaiah 12, then I'm coming back to Romans
chapter 8 for the message. We looked at this last time,
this first year, and saw a need for this, a need for conviction
of sin. Here in verse 15, Romans 8, you
have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, But
you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
Father, Father." We looked at this last week and how God converts
His people. God saves His people. He calls
His people. But we learned from this text
last week that when He begins with His people, He doesn't begin
with comfort. He begins with conviction. He
doesn't begin to show them that it's well with them, but He begins
to show them that it's bad with them, that they're lost. He begins
to show them their lostness. We looked at some reasons that
was necessary, didn't we? Man is dead in trespasses and
sin. He's God's enemy. He's against
God. He must be confronted with where he is. And God confronts
him in a most drastic way by making him afraid. by making
Him heavy, by showing Him His lostness, His need. One man said
this, he said, God doesn't show us His smiling face at first.
God is a God of many faces. He begins to show us His frowning
face. God is the moral judge of all
of this earth. And when He comes to even His
own people who are lost and dead in sins, He begins with them
to show them His frowning face. Now, does that mean He doesn't
love them? Does that mean He's going to
damn them under His awful wrath? Why, not at all. That means He
loves them. Because He loves them, He's not going to let them
go on in their sins and their ignorance and perish there. But
He begins by showing them His frowning I remember, and I've
said this so many times, when I was a young fellow, I don't
remember how old I was, but I remember that I was very young. I was
somewhat of a child when the Lord first showed me that I was
a lost sinner. That was so drastic, I've never
forgotten that. That I was in trouble. I was
in trouble. And my trouble was drastic because
it was with God. God wasn't pleased with me. God
was frowning upon me. And that made me heavy. Made
me heavy. And you know something? I never
got over that frowning face until God showed me His smiling face. And that smiling face is seen
in the Gospel. The smiling face is seen in our
Redeemer, our blessed Savior, Jesus Christ. And until God brings
us and lets us see His smiling face, He can't show us anything
but His frowning face. I can't imagine. I saw a picture. We went there to the ark yesterday
night. I saw a picture where Adam and Eve was in the garden
and how happy they were and how well things were. And then being
driven outside the garden and this fearful look upon their
faces. And what changed things? What
was it that changed? What was it that took them from
God's smiling face to His frowning face? Sin. And God's judgment
upon it. It's the same way with us. But
look over here in Isaiah chapter 12. I want to read this to you. Isaiah chapter 12. And here in
verses 1 and in verse 2. Here in verse 1 of Isaiah chapter
12, I think this is the very same thing that we were talking
about in Romans chapter 8 verse 15. And in that day thou shalt
say, O Lord, I will praise thee, though thou wast angry with me. There's that frowning face. And
yet now thine anger is turned away, and thou competest me. If the parallel passage to that
is just the verse I read in chapter 8 of Romans and verse 15, then
that means God shows us His frowning face. We receive the spirit of
fear, of bondage, of torment, and then we have the spirit of
adoption whereby we cry, I have a father. That's comfort, isn't
it? But until there's torment, Until there's the spirit of bondage,
there can't be any spirit of adoption. Now in verse 2, behold,
now, look at this, since He's comforted me, behold, God is
my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also is become
my salvation. God has become My salvation. He has become in my experience. That's what the prophet is saying,
isn't it? You know something? God has always been the salvation
of His people. He's always been the salvation
of His people. Before His people had a being,
He was their salvation, wasn't He? He chose them to that. But you know, He becomes our
salvation in our experience. We know Him as the triune God
of our salvation. And then when He comforts us
here, as we find in verses 1 and verse 2, that means He's not
given us the spirit of fear anymore, but of love and of power and
of a sound mind. And here's my subject. When God
becomes our salvation in our experience, this should be our
motto. This should be the principle
we live by, is this. He tells us here in verse 2,
I will trust and not be afraid. That's our motto. It begins with
fear. You've not received the spirit
of bondage again, the fear, but you have received it to begin
with. But once He comforted you, once
He shows you His smiling face, You know we don't never have
to fear again. This is our motto. I will trust. Trust what? He's my salvation. He is my salvation. I will trust
and not be afraid. I think sometimes some true saints
fall into fear and doubt, and they can look back on their believe
in experience, and they say, I earnestly believe the Lord
saved me. I really believe that Christ
Jesus was revealed to my heart. I believe the Spirit of God came
into my heart and witnessed to me that I am a child of God.
I could sing, there was a time when I could sing, Jesus thy
blood and righteousness are, my beauty, my glorious dress. I could sing that. But I've fallen
into some doubts. I've fallen into some fear about
it. And here is what they fear. There was a time that they could
have said, God was my salvation. But here's the trouble. They
really have. They have this nagging doubts
and fears. And now they really can't say,
He is my salvation. He is my salvation. It comes
down to that, doesn't it? It really comes down to this.
It comes down to forgiving our former experiences. You say,
I had a good experience. Well, I did too. I don't live
upon that. Now. Now. And that's the problem some believers
have is now. He is now. He is my salvation. That's what I'm concerned about.
Isn't it you? And that's what some true believers have problems
with right now. I used to, and nobody's doubted
any more than your poor pastor about some of these things. And
I've had times in my life where I was filled with doubts and
fears, and I wanted those doubts settled immediately. I wanted
the Lord to come to me in some miraculous way and just enlighten
me and just settle the issue. But you know it's never happened
to me that way. You know what has dispelled my
doubts and my fears? And I think God has brought me
this way, a heart trust in what God says in His Word. I will
trust. Trust what? What He said. What
did He say? I'm your salvation. I am your salvation. And I've
noticed this when I've fallen into doubts, fears arise. Fears arise. When I've simply
trusted what He says, my fears are dispelled. If you've fallen into doubt after
you've come to believe Him in your heart, then here is what
we must concentrate on this morning. I will trust and not be afraid. If you're afraid, maybe you're
not trusted. You want those fears dispelled?
Then trust. I will trust that He's my salvation. There's a lot of experiences,
well, some experiences that the apostles had with the Lord Jesus
upon the sea of Galilee. You remember when Peter said
he saw the Lord coming to him that night and the waves was
boisterous and they were in the midst of a storm and Peter said,
Lord, if it's you, bid me come to you. And the Lord said, come
on. Remember that? He said, come on. And Peter got
out of the boat and was walking on the water. And then he looked
around and, boys, here come the waves and the wind. And all of
a sudden he began to sink. And the Bible says he was fearful. He was fearful. What was he fearful
about? He was sinking. He saw the circumstances
that he found himself in. And the Lord Jesus reached down
and got him and picked him up and said, O ye of little faith,
wherefore did thou doubt? Why was he afraid? Doubt. Doubt will cause fear, will it
not? So if doubt causes fear, what
will trust cause? Trust will dispel those fears,
will it not? There was another time they were
on the Sea of Galilee and they were all in the boat. And the
Lord Jesus was asleep and the water was filling the ship. And
in Matthew chapter 8, they said, Lord, don't you care that we
perish? And the Lord Jesus arose and
rebuked the wind and said, Peace be still. And He said to them,
Why are you afraid? And He said the very same thing
to them, O ye of little faith. Why are you afraid? What are
you afraid of? Lord, we're afraid we're not
going to make it to the other side. We're afraid we're not
going to make it to the other side. What did He just tell them? Let us go over to the other side. If they had trusted what He said,
that would have dispelled any fears. Any fears. They doubted
Him. They had not exercised, they
did not live upon faith in what He said. They could have enjoyed
that storm. I'm telling you, they could have
enjoyed that storm. They got afraid because they
did not live by faith upon Him. Did they make it to the other
side? Did they? They did, didn't they? Well,
sure they did, because He said, let's go to the other side. Now
turn back over to my text in Romans chapter 8. Trust. I will trust and be not
afraid. I want us to face four fears
this morning and see if we can dispel them. Four fears. And if you have these fears,
maybe we can dispel these fears. Have you ever feared? Do you
fear in your heart that you're not going to make it to the other
side? Do you entertain this nagging doubt that so hinders you, so
robs you of your joy and weakens you? And it's this, I may not
make it at last. I may not make it to the Father's
house. You ever have that fear? Well, let's look at this text.
This age old text. Look in verses 29 and verse 30. Now if you're a poor Armenian
this morning, if you're a poor free willer, you don't even lack
these verses to begin with. But if you believe in the sovereign
grace of God in Jesus Christ, and you have this fear about
you that you're not going to make it, even though the Lord
Jesus says plainly that it's the Father's good pleasure to
give you the kingdom, and yet you're so full of doubts and
fears about it all, that You're so disturbed. You're so bothered. Well, I tell you, brothers and
sisters, knowing what we know, if I had to live with this nagging
doubt that I'm not going to make it after all, I would fear too. I would fear too. Our souls are
at stake. Let's look at these two verses.
Let's just look at them and see two things in them. Look in verse
29. He'd been talking about God's purpose. All things work together
for good to them. that love God, who are called
according to His purpose. And then verse 29, 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." Now what is
the first thing we see in God's eternal decree? This is God's
eternal decree concerning salvation. And what's the first thing we
see? That every last one that He foreknew, that He set His
love upon, purpose to save, is finally glorified. Did you know
not a one was left out of this list? Those He foreknew, He did
predestinate, He called them, He justified them, and He glorified
them. Did you know not a one was left out of that? Not a one was added, but you
know not a one was left out. Not a one was lost out of that
list. Isn't that amazing? Have you ever believed yourself
justified? Has He ever given you the assurance
that He has indeed, for Christ's sake, forgiven all your sins? Are you a justified person this
morning? Well, here's the assurance that
you can have. God has made your salvation as
sure as He can. And I think I can live and die
upon God doing His best. He has made your salvation as
sure as He can. And you don't find a one that
He foreknew. that was lost or misplaced. All those He foreknew, all of
those He glorified. You and I misplace a lot of things,
don't we? Don't we lose things? You ever
get ready to leave the house and you get your kids together
and you're ready to take off? Who's got the keys? We can't
find the keys. So everybody has to put down
all their suitcases and everything and go back and look for the
keys. I don't know how many times my wife has said, would you call
my phone? We're always losing things, aren't we? You know He
won't lose a thing. You know God will not misplace
anything. Those He foreknew, He never loses. We used to sing
an old song, when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
Well, here's the roll. And it's not only me that can
say that. It's everyone that God has predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son. When this role is
called up yonder, I'm telling you there won't be a one missed.
He won't say, oh no, what happened to this one? Oh no, I misplaced
that one. Not the all-wise God. His decrees
are that fixed. Is God your salvation? Is He
your salvation? You say, well, I just don't know
about God. He purposed my salvation. I don't
know. Well, maybe you've got a reason
to fear then. If God is your salvation, that means He purposed
your salvation. He planned it. That means His
Son purchased it. That means the Holy Spirit come
and applies it. And the consummation of it is
of the Lord. Is He your salvation? Then trust and be not afraid. The second thing we see about
this is here, and I've often told you this, and it would be
a good thing to remember this. Did you notice God's decree is
history? It's all history. Those He did
foreknow, He predestinated. Those He predestinated, He called. Those He called, He justified.
And those He justified, He glorified. That's history, isn't it? We've
been told that there's some people today trying to rewrite history,
trying to change history. Oh, you know something? You may
write a book and just deny history. You may write a book and in that
book change history, but history can't be rescinded. You cannot
change history. What's done is done. And you
can't change God's decree. It's history. You hold that right
there and look in Ecclesiastes. If you've never seen this verse,
Ecclesiastes 3.14, mark it in your Bible. Look what he says
in Ecclesiastes 3. This is Solomon's writing. Ecclesiastes
3. And look in verse 14. If you
go to the book of Proverbs, it's the first book over to your right.
Look at this. Ecclesiastes 3.14. It's on page 748 in your pew
Bible. Mark this verse. Scribble something
under there so you'll memorize it. Look at this. I know. Paul
said we know, didn't he? I know whom I have believed.
We know that all things work together for good. I know that
whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put
to it nor anything taken from it. And God doeth it that men
should fear before Him." Have this holy reverence before Him. You know what our problem is,
brothers and sisters? You know one reason sometimes
we fall into these fear and doubts about God's decree and God doing
this? You know what we fear sometimes?
We think He's like we are. We don't have nothing to judge
God with but His Word. And we often look at ourselves.
We often look around us. We often look at one another.
And we're changing constantly. Everything is changing. Some
of you young, beautiful ladies. Lily, you're so beautiful. Give
you a few years and you'll look like this. I'm sorry to disappoint
you. Don't go have nightmares about
it. But you're going to look like this. We're changing, aren't
we? Change, change, change. And we
equate this with God sometimes and say, He's changing too. But
you know something? He's not like us. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not the same. God's decrees are settled. They're
fixed. They're history. Because God
is settled. God is fixed. He didn't purpose
to save you and call you and justify you and give you the
Spirit of His Son just to put you on probation. That's His
purpose. That's His purpose. It's history. And you're doubting and you're
fearing. I'll tell you what our doubting and fearing does. It
hinders us. It hinders us. We're just like
those disciples going across the water. And instead of enjoying
the voyage, we get miserable because we're not trustful. And
this doubting and fearing, it'll so hinder your service in the
Lord. It'll hinder your assurance in
the Lord. It has a lot of negative aspects,
but listen, it'll never change its purpose to save you. Your
doubts and fearings will sure hinder you, but it won't hinder
His purpose. Some dear children of God are
going to doubt and fear all the way to heaven. You just watch
and see. You just watch and see. They are. And when they get up
there to heaven, they're going to realize, my doubting and fearing
didn't change a thing. What was wrong with me? Why wasn't
I trustful? I will trust. I will trust and
be not afraid. That's the first thing. That's
the first thing. If you have fear about this,
then all I can tell you to do is take God's Word for it. Take
His Word for it. The second fear is this. It's
also found here in Romans 8. I'm going to spend my time here
this morning. It's found here in verse 31. Romans 8, verse
31. What then shall we say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God is for me, and you've
got to say this for yourself, this is the most amazing thing,
and I tell you, you can say it, but getting a hold of this in
your heart, I have difficulty believing that God is for me.
I can give you several reasons off the top of my head why He
should be against me. But to believe that the eternal
triune God is for me is difficult for me to believe. But the only
way I can do it is just simply bringing my heart to trust what
He said. If God is for me, what does that
mean? Are you afraid of tomorrow? Are
you fearing what's going to happen next week? What's going to take
place in my life next year? You ever get afraid of that?
I used to wonder, and this scared me to death. This shows you how
shallow I am, but this used to scare me to death. I used to
sit thinking, boy, if I had foreknowledge, and I could project up five years
ahead, and suddenly there I was, five years ahead, what would
I see? And boy, I tell you, my mind,
my imagination conjures up all of these things. What would I
see? Where's my house? What happened? Oh, that house burned down with
all your stuff in it. My house burned down? Get the
kids to go. Oh, your kids are killed. Your
kids got killed. Three years ago, your kids got
killed. Well, get my wife here. I've got to have somebody. Oh,
your wife died of cancer. Yeah, she's gone. What's the
matter with my body? Oh, you've lost your health.
Yeah, you're in terrible shape. You fear what's going to happen
to you down the road somewhere. You remember when Job lost his
servants? Remember when he lost all of
his cattle? They were confiscated, stolen.
And then he lost his children? His sons and his daughters? And then he lost his health?
Remember that? Remember what he said about that?
That which I feared has come upon me." He was thinking the
same thing I was. He was saying the same thing
to himself. Oh my, what's going to happen to me next year? What
could happen to me next year? Well, here's a remedy for this,
brothers and sisters. If God be for a man, if God be
on a man's side, what does it matter? What does it matter? My greatest
fear is that God's going to be against me. But if He's for me
today, He'll always be for me. Poor Jacob, bless his heart.
He had lost Joseph and he thought he was dead. They took Simon
down to Egypt, and Joseph kept him down there, and he thought
probably he's going to be killed. And now they're saying, if you
don't send little Benjamin with us, your youngest son, we're
not going back. And you know what Joseph said?
You know what Jacob said? All of these things are against
me. Didn't they? They're all against me. Sometimes
our circumstances seem so against us, don't they? Sometimes our
world, sometimes our family and our friends, I think most of
the thing is just our perception. We think everything's against
us. But let it be so that everything is against us. Here's what David
imagined. Listen to Psalms 46. Here's what
David said. You think my imagination is vivid. Listen to what David said. Though
the earth be removed. Where's that going to leave us
if the earth is removed? And though the mountains be carried
unto the midst of the sea, and though the waters thereof roar
and be troubled, and the mountains shake with the swelling thereof,
yet we will not fear." Why? God is our refuge and a very
present help in trouble. What's he saying? God is for
us. God is in the midst of us. Our
reign in God is for us, therefore will we not fear. Abraham refused to take a thread,
even a shoelace from the king of Sodom. Remember that? The king of Sodom brought him
all of this material stuff and said, you give me the people
and you take all of this stuff. And he said, I won't take a thing
from you, not even a shoelace. And Abraham got back home and
he got afraid. He thought, boy, these guys are
going to come after me again. There's going to be a fight.
There's going to be a battle. And God appeared to Abraham and he
said, Abraham, fear not. I am your shield and your exceeding
great reward. What's he saying? Abraham, I'm
for you. I'm for you. Who can be against
you if God is for you? Do you believe that? Are you
willing right this morning, when you look out ahead in this life,
are you willing to bring your heart to trust that God is for
you and nothing else matters? That's the only way you're going
to dispel the fear of what's going to happen. You know we're
coming to desolation anyway, aren't we? We brought nothing
into this world and certainly we can bring nothing out. We're
going to lose everything in the end anyway. But if you've got
God on your side, if He's for you, it doesn't matter, does
it? It doesn't matter. I will trust and be not afraid. And you know, on top of this,
the Lord has promised, dear child of God, He's promised you that
everything you go through, all of these trials, whatever you
face in the future, He's going to work it out for your good
anyway. You believe that? Poor Joseph,
when he got down to Egypt and they put him down in the dungeon
and falsely accused him, he brought his brethren finally down and
Joseph was on the throne and he said, You meant it for evil,
but God meant it for good. God meant it for good. So what
does our text say? I will trust. and be not afraid."
I hope that dispels your fear this morning. Go ahead and imagine.
Go ahead and imagine whatever you want to imagine. But then
dispel that fear by saying, God is for me. God is for me. And who can be against me? Now
we could say this also, if God is not for me, it don't matter
who's for me. If God is against You may say,
well, boy, things are so good in my life, my circumstances,
and I've got such a bright hope for my future. But is God for
you? Man, if He's not, oh, my soul,
if God is not for you, nothing can be for you if God is not
for you. Everything's against you if God is not for you. The
third thing we find here in Romans chapter 8, Do you ever fear of
the judgment? Do you ever fear of standing
before the Lord someday and maybe being found guilty? Do you ever
get afraid about that? Do you ever get afraid of that?
That's going to be an awesome thing is to stand before God
in judgment. Now, I'm not going to stand up
here and tell you that there's not going to be a judgment that
you don't have to be concerned about. We all must give account
of ourselves to God. To be a child of God and go through
this world full of fear about that? Being tormented in your
soul that, oh, I've got to stand before God and I'm just so afraid
that I'm going to be guilty, I'm going to be condemned. I
don't know how the judgment is going to be on that day, but
I'm more concerned about right now. Are you condemned right
now? There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Listen, He gives us five things
here in these two verses, verse 33 and verse 34. Look at these
and let these things dispel your fear. Look in verse 33 of Romans
chapter 8. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect, it is God that justifies. Now, would you agree with me
this morning that if God has justified a person, then they're
without any condemnation. No just charge can be brought
against any man. If God has justified a man, nobody's
going to bring any charges. The devil may bring some false
charges. He may bring some true charges
and then try to condemn a man with it, but if God has justified
a person, nobody can condemn Him. Ain't that what Paul is
saying? Who is He that condemneth? Who is He that judges? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Somebody made the remarks about,
in the fourth chapter of this book of Romans, where David and
Abraham is mentioned. And they made a point of saying
that you don't see their sins mentioned there. Abraham talked
about being justified by faith. And David talked about the blessedness
of the man to whom God does not impute sin. And somebody made
a point of saying, don't God remember what Abraham did? Don't
God remember what David did? Why doesn't He mention their
sins? Because He had justified. There was no charges to be brought
against them. Who can bring any charge against
God's elect when He's justified? You remember what Abraham did?
You remember when Sarah said, Abraham, you can take our slave? I bet you, I bet you, I just
knowin' Abraham, and knowin' you, and knowin' me. When Abraham
looked at that beautiful slave, you want me to take her to be
my wife? You want me to have a baby for her? Okay. That's what you want. You don't think Abraham was somewhat
guilty in that? David, look at David's adultery. Look at David's murder. Why wasn't
that mentioned? Do you want it to be mentioned?
There's some people, boy, you just let a saint fall and they
just want to rub it in. Oh, God may forgive you, but
I'll never forgive you. Well, as long as God forgives,
that's the thing, isn't it? But you know something? You and
I have done just as bad as David, have we not? There are people
in hell, brothers and sisters, being punished for the same sins
that you and I are guilty of. What's the difference? God in
His mercy, God in His sovereign grace has justified us. And that's it? That's it? Oh, the world says, I don't like
that. That just makes me mad. That just makes me mad. It wouldn't
make you mad if you ever see yourself a guilty sinner and
know that God's the only one that can justify you. And if
He leaves us in our sins, then He'll condemn us to hell. And
here's the blessedness of this. Though we have done some awful,
wicked, damnable sins, yet God has justified me. Can you trust? Can you trust
in such grace? In verse 34, look at this. I'm not for hiding sins, brothers
and sisters. I'll be honest with you. I've
gotten in trouble hiding my sins. I'm for bringing them to God
and not lessening them, telling Him our sins just like they are,
making them as black as we can make them, and look to Him to
be justified from them. And when He justifies you from,
you're justified. And nobody can bring anything
to your charge. But look at the grounds on which
He does it. When Wayne was here the other day teaching on this,
I told him I marked these down. I was going to use them sometime.
I'm going to use them this morning. Look what he says in the second
place here in verse 34. You're worried about being condemned
someday? You're worried about standing guilty before God and
yet you're a believer in Jesus Christ? Well, look at this. Who
is He that condemneth? Well, my conscience sometimes
condemns me. Satan and his fallen angels are always coming to me
and condemning me. Sometimes man condemns me. Who
is he that condemns me? But look at this. It is Christ
that died. And what's he saying to you?
He said in the death of Christ against all our sins. What does
the Bible say that Christ did? He took the sins of His people
and He made them His own. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree. If He took them from us, then
they're not ours anymore. They're His. And on the tree,
the Bible says, He died for our sins. He died. And in dying, He put them away. He atoned for them by His own
blessed merit, by His blood. I wonder if my conscience even
believes that. I just wonder if I really believe that. If
I really believe that, why am I so filled with doubts and fears? Well, it's my sins. What about
your sins? Dear child of God, the only way
you're allowed to consider your sins while you weep over them
and confess them. The only way you're allowed to
consider them before God is 2,000 years ago on the cross outside
the city of Jerusalem. They were put away. They were
purged by one man, Jesus Christ, dying as a sacrifice to atone
for those sins. Can you trust? Can you trust? There's no condemnation to those
who trust in the death of the Son of God. But look what else
he said in the very same verse, verse 34. Yea, rather, that is
risen again. Why does he make such a point
out of that? Because if He rose again, that means He accomplished
in His death what He says He accomplished. He says by one
sacrifice He put away sin. And how do we know that He did
that? Because He arose from the dead. And you know what? If there
had been one sin on Him, Remy, He wouldn't have come out of
that grave. Justice would not have let Him come out of that
grave. He come out of that grave because He put sin away. He atoned
for sin. He satisfied for sin. Somebody
said this, and I thought about it at the time, and I thought,
well, I don't know about that, but I think it's true. Christ had to justify
Himself. He was guilty. I heard a man
say, bless his heart, he's a good preacher. He said, Christ could
never be guilty. Well, if He's not guilty, then
we're still guilty. He took our sins and assumed
the responsibility. And you look at the cross. You
look at God hiding His face. That tells us He was guilty.
He took our sins. But He had to justify Himself. How did He justify Himself? By
His merit. By the power of His blood. By
His holiness. He put that sin away and He rose
justified from everything. And if you're in Him, you're
as justified as He is. You cannot be condemned unless
He's condemned, because He assumed your responsibility. And if He's
justified, which He is, then so are you. If He's guiltless,
then so are you. If He's without fault before
God, so are you. What does the Bible say? As He
is right now, so are we. in this world. We're as perfect,
as complete in Him as Jesus Christ is. You say, oh, if I could get
a hold of that. Well, the only way to get a hold
of that is to look at this Bible, look at these verses, and trust
and be not afraid. That's the only way your fear
is going to be dispelled. If you're looking for some kind
of experience, you're probably just going down and going furious.
But as soon as you take Him at His Word, I'm telling you that
will dispel that doubt. Look at what else he says. Who
is even at the right hand of God. This is absolutely astounding. This is astounding to think about. Here we see Jesus of Nazareth,
the Son of God, hanging on a cross. He's hated by man, hated by the
devils. He's mocked. He's stripped naked.
He hangs there in his shame until he dies. They put a spear in
his side, take him down from the cross, wrap him up in burial
garb, and put him in a tomb for three days and three nights he
lays there. And then from the depths of the
tomb in this earth, He's now exalted to the right hand of
the Majesty on high. Isn't that amazing? Out of such
low, mean conditions, He's now exalted to the highest position
for all eternity. Ain't that amazing? And here
is what's amazing about that. He did that to assure your entrance
into that place. Jesus Christ has never done anything
for Hisself. As a substitute, as the representative
for His people, everything He does is for His people. He didn't
take heaven and possess that place in His humanity just for
Himself. But the Bible says He's the forerunner. He's the forerunner. That means
somebody that's gone ahead to assure those who are following
Him will make it. Whether the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus. You say, well, I don't know.
I just don't know if I'm going to make it. I just don't know.
I mean, look at me. Look at me. How can me go up
to heaven? Oh, that's a miracle is to think
about. Well, look how low He was. And now look where he's
at. And he said, he said, believe
me when I tell you this, where I am, there you will be also. And the only way I know how to
dispel your fear about not making it is just to trust what he says. Trust what he says. I will trust
and not be afraid. And one more thing, he says here
in verse 34, "...who also maketh intercessions for us." He has
gone into heaven now to appear in the presence of God for us. He's there for us. This takes trust, doesn't it?
Well, if you distrust Him, distrust Him. Yeah, I'll distrust Him.
That ain't as easy, bud. Can you trust He's there for
you? Pleading your cause? Maintaining your cause with God?
I plead Him all the time, don't you? I think it would be enough
if the Lord just said, every time you come to Me, and the
Father looks to us and says, My child, you come to Me and
plead My Son, and you've got your request. Like my dear neighbor. Mrs. Fran Beatty, she asked me
one day when she was just down and out, she said, do you ever
just have to plead his blood? I said, Fran, every day I just
plead his blood. If our pleading his blood would
be enough, how much more when he's there pleading himself? What does he plead to the Father?
If any man sin, we have an advocate, a lawyer with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins. What does He plead? He pleads
Himself. I think He's a little bit too
wise to say, Father, Larry Baker, he's messed up again. But He's
promised me He'll never do it again. So what do you think about
that? Yeah, I put trust in old Herb
Baker. I don't think he pleads that way to you. I think when
Greg Dinger has sinned, and the Lord Jesus stands down in the
presence of the Father, He says, Father, behold these prints. Father, put your hand in my side. And the Father says, All is forgiven.
Send this message to Greg. All is forgiven. All is forgiven. Can you trust? The fourth fear quickly is this.
Oh my, I've kept you too late again, but might as well go ahead
now and finish it up. I've had this fear. I still have
this fear sometimes. Did you ever fear that someday,
for some reason, the Lord Jesus Christ would stop loving you? He's going to stop loving you.
I think some of us have lived long enough that we've fell out
of love with ourselves. We've stumbled along, we've messed
up so much, we see such wretchedness in ourselves that we've just
fell out of love with ourselves, haven't we? I was down at Walmart
the other day, a couple of years ago, Joel Osteen wrote that book
on the power of I Am. And I was down the other day,
and there's a bunch of them still on the shelf, and I'm glad they're
there. I hope they stay there. The Power of I Am, when that
book came out, I was down at the bookstore, and I thought,
man, he's going to say something about I am that I am. And I opened
that book up, and he said, don't be down on yourself. He said,
don't think I'm ugly. Don't think I'm weak. He said,
if that's what you think, that's what you'll be. He said, there's
a power in I Am. Say it like this, I am strong. I am beautiful. And he just went
on and on and on. You know why he wrote that book?
He's in love with himself. He's never fell out of love with
himself. Because God has never showed
him himself. But you've fell out of love with yourself, haven't
you? You're like Job, I abhor myself. I've got a side of Him
and I abhor myself. I hate myself. And when we so
abhor ourselves and fall out of love with ourselves, we think,
well, how could He love me? But He's not like us again, is
He? And you know what the Lord Jesus Christ is willing to do?
He's willing to expose you to all kinds of trials and dangers
and heartaches. He's willing to turn your world
upside down to prove to you that nothing can separate you from
His love. Look what he says here in verse
35. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall trouble? Tribulation is
trouble isn't it? A man that's born to a woman
is a few days in full of trouble. Are you having trouble? Do you
know why your troubles come? There's a cause for it. To prove
to you that that trouble will not separate you from the love
of Jesus Christ. It's not about you. Oh, He's
proven me. Oh, He's heard me. No, it's about
His love. He's proven His love to you. Distress. You know what that
word distress means? That means narrow. Narrow. That means it's so narrow you
feel the pressure. You ever get in a place in your
life, I mean, you have to turn sideways and suck in to squeeze
through the place? That's what this distress is. It's pressure. Boy, you're under
pressure. Distress. Persecution from people. Famine. Famine in your soul. Neckiness
exposed. Pearl. Danger. Danger. Why does this come? To prove
to us that nothing is going to separate us from the love of
Jesus Christ. Can you trust Him? Can you trust? That's the only way you can be
not afraid, is trust. Spurgeon asked an old lady in
his congregation one time, he said, Dear Sister, do you believe
Jesus Christ loved you before you was born? She said, If He
didn't love me before I was born, He sure can't love me after I
was born. You know if He loved you before
you were born, He loved you after you were born. And if He loved you after you were
born, He'll love you for all eternity. Christ has a people
that He loves with an everlasting love. And He loves them freely,
without any obligation. He loved you when you were dead
and filthy in your sins. He loved you when you was a rebel.
God who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ. If He loved you and washed you,
He loved you before He washed you. Is He going to quit loving
you after He washed you? You say, but Bruce, I'm just
so unlovable. You just came to the knowledge of that, but you
think He just come to the knowledge of that. You think He's as ignorant
as you are? Bless your heart, He's known
all along that you're unlovable. That's not why He loves you.
As amazing as it is, the cause of His love is found in Himself. And if He loves you in eternity
past, He'll love you in eternity future. And that valley you're
in right now that's so dark, you'll get through it. Because
it can't separate you from His love. That hill of difficulty
you're climbing, you'll climb it. You'll just keep on climbing.
Because He loves you. And since He loves you, you'll
get through it. And if you'll distrust, distrust. Trust and be not afraid. Well,
forgive me for preaching so long. But we need it, don't we? We
need it. Let us pray.