Well, now again today, we're
going to go back to some verse-by-verse teaching. I've had people write
to me and say, well, your messages are different from what others
are preaching on television and the radio. You're saying some
things that they're not saying, and you're dealing with some
scriptures with which they're not dealing. Well, now that's
my intention. If I'm going to say the same
thing that these other fellas are saying, there's no need for
me to be on the air. There's no need for me to spend
this money to preach these messages on television if I'm just going
to repeat what everybody else is saying. I want to make you
Bible conscious, God conscious, sin conscious, salvation conscious,
Christ conscious. And the way to do that is to
get into the book. Get into the Word of God. And that's the reason
I ask you. At the beginning of a message,
take your Bible and open it. Open it. You see, Christ is the
object of faith. We believe Him. We rest in Him. We trust Him. But the Word of
God is the foundation of faith. You see, we're saved by faith.
We're justified by faith. But faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Not some tradition that's been
handed down from generation to generation. And did you ever
play that game, Whisper, when kids get around in a circle and
somebody will whisper in somebody's ear and then they'll whisper
in the next ear, and by the time that sentence gets around to
the end, you wouldn't recognize it. It's nothing like the way
it started. And that's what's happened to some of our doctrines
and church teachings and so-called Bible teachings, not Bible at
all. It's been handed down from generation to generation, and
every one of them have taken away what they don't like, and
added what they want to add, and butchered it, till finally
it's got to us, and it's nothing like the Word of God at all.
So take your Bible. Take Romans, the eighth chapter.
Now, that's where I'm going to be speaking. That's the text
this morning, the eighth chapter of Romans. And here's the subject. What shall we say to these things?
What shall we say to these things? Now, I want you to follow verse
by verse as I speak to you now from Romans chapter 8. In verse
28, look at it, verse 28 says this, And we know that all things,
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are called according to his purpose, because whom
he chose He predestinated to be conformed to the image of
His Son, and whom He predestinated, He called. Whom He called, He
justified. Whom He justified, He glorified. Now look at verse
31. And Paul says, Well, what shall
we say to these things? To these things. And then verse
32 he says, How shall ye not with Him freely give us these
things? And then in verse 37 he says,
Nay, in all these things. We are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. Did you notice the word things? Verse 28, all things work together
for good to them who love God, who are called according to His
purpose. And what shall we say to these things? And then, how
shall ye not with Christ give us these things? And then in
verse 37, in all these things, what is meant by these things? All things, all these things.
What is meant by these things, my friend, is simply these things,
and all these things. All things in heaven, all things
on earth, and all things under the earth. That's what we're
talking about. All things work together for good to them who
love God, who are called according to His purpose. All things in
heaven, earth, and under the earth. All things. All things. And how shall he not with him
freely give us all things? What a promise! What a promise! What a gift! Paul said in 1 Corinthians
3, For all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come, all things are yours. And you're Christ,
and Christ is God. You see, what a monumental, what
a momentous, what a tremendous subject I have today. What shall
we say to these things? What things? All things. All
things. All these things. All these things
are yours. What are these things? All things.
And if you're a child of God, if you love Christ and are called
according to His purpose, all things in heaven, earth, and
under the earth work together for your good. And as Paul said
in 1 Corinthians 3, they're all things are yours. Whether preachers
or the world or life or death, it's yours. It's not your enemy,
it's yours. or things to come, all things
are yours. And all things are yours in Christ,
and in all these things you're more than conquerors. Now I'll
break it down a little bit for you. It's so great. I'll just break it down a little
bit. By all things I mean this. God the Father. God the Father
in all His power, perfection, purposes, and providence is yours. God the Son in His eternal covenant,
in His redemptive work, in His glorious prayers of intercession,
are yours. That's what He says. And working
together for your good. And God the Spirit, in His regenerating
work, in His divine call, in His sealing, in His comfort,
in His teaching, is yours. And all angels, good and bad,
All heavenly creatures who are ministering spirits to them who
are the heirs of salvation, all things. Now all things work together
for good to them who love God, who really love God, who truly
love God, and who are called according to His purpose. And
all things are yours. How shall not God with him freely
give us all things? That's what I'm talking about.
All authority, kings, kingdoms, Demons, devils, magistrates,
rulers, good and bad, all things are yours. All preachers, true
and false, all trials, disappointments, testings, temptations, afflictions,
infirmities, all things. He didn't say some things. The
greater things, the bigger things, the spiritual things, all things. I wish you could lay hold on
that verse in 1 Corinthians 3, I wish I could, for all things
are yours. He's speaking to the redeemed,
to believers, they're yours. He said, I don't care whether
it's Paul or Apollos or Cephas, no use taking sides, no use dividing
up into camps and say, I'm with Paul, I'm with Apollos, and I'm
with Cephas, they're all yours. For your sake, God called them,
put them in the ministry, sent them with the gospel. For you,
the world, life, death, Things present, things to come. What
about all good days and bad days? Yeah, all things. Peace and war. Success and failure. Sickness
and health. Sorrow and death. All things. Past, present, and future. What
a promise. You say, I've never thought about
that before. You need to. Because it's right
here in the Word of God. And that's why I selected all
these verses and I kept pointing out to you while I was reading
them, all things, these things and all these things. If a man
or a woman, I'm talking about people like you and me, if a
man or a woman is brought by the Spirit of God to love the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not talking about getting
religion and walking down an aisle and shaking a preacher's
hand, whoop-de-doo, and joining the church and quitting your
meanness and living right and so forth. I'm talking about loving
Christ. I'm talking about a genuine heart,
intimate, personal, once-for-all love for Christ. A man can love
Christ. And if a man is called, called
to be saints, the called of Christ Jesus, called by the Spirit of
God, if he's called, called by the Gospel, if he's called of
God according to God's eternal purpose in redemption in Jesus
Christ, if he's called to faith in the Redeemer, if he's called
to love Christ, And all these things in heaven, earth, and
hell work together for His eternal good. He may have ups and downs
and mountains and valleys and dark days and light days and
rough roads and smooth roads, but I guarantee you it's ever
be it in the good providence of God for His eternal good. And He can smile through the
darkest day and rejoice in the most perilous way Because it's
all for His good, all things. I'm talking about there's not
a devil in hell that's not there for His good. All these things are given to
us in Christ. Christ purchased them and paid
for them and they're ours. And God will freely with Him
give us all things. He died, our Lord Jesus Christ
bought this world and this whole universe. He died that He may
be Lord, Lord of the dead and the living. He has total authority
in heaven, earth, and hell. He's got the keys of hell and
death. They belong to Him by decree,
by design, and by death. They're His, and they're mine
in Him. And in all these things, we have
the victory in Jesus Christ. Now, the question Paul asks when
we come down to the end of all this, did you notice that in
verse 28, we know that all things, and don't you leave anything
out now, not even a raindrop. No, sir, not even a cold wind,
not even a falling leaf, not even a breath of dust. All things
work together for good to them who love God, who are called
according to His purpose. Now, these things are ours in
Christ. Now, here's the question Paul asks. What shall we say
to these things? Now, that's the question. When
he gives all this, he says, what's your attitude? in regard to these
things. How do you look upon these things? What are you going to say to
these things? What's your reply to these things? Huh? Well, he gives his reply
in four questions. Four questions. He said, what
shall we say to these things? These things. God, the Son, the
Spirit, angels, preachers, demons, principalities, powers, trials,
tribulations, afflictions, life, death, whatever. What have you
got to say? Well, I'll answer in these four questions Paul
gives us here. First one is in verse 31. He said, what shall we say to
these things? Well, I'll tell you what I say. If God be for
us, who can be against us? If God be for us, if God be for
us in eternal mercy and grace, If God be for us in regeneration
and redemption, if God be for us in quickening and calling,
if God be for us in providence, purpose and promise, if God be
for us in resurrection, eternal glory, who can be against us? Who's left? Certainly not the
Father, He chose us. Certainly not the Son, He loved
us and died for us. Who can be against us? Certainly
not the Spirit, He called us. Certainly not Satan, whom Christ
defeated. He's whipped. I heard somebody
put out a book on Satan is alive and doing well. He may be alive,
but he's not doing too well. He's been whipped. He's been
defeated. He met Christ. And he's been
defeated. Judged. The prince of this world
is judged. And his days are limited. His
end is set. Who can be against us? Not the
law. Christ satisfied it. Who can be against us? Not God's
justice, Christ met it and honored it. Who can be against us? Certainly not the world, Christ
overcame it. Who can be against us? Certainly
not trials, He sends them. We need not fear, if God be for
us. If God be for us. Somebody asked
Abraham Lincoln one time, He sure hoped that God was on our
side, and Lincoln said, I hope we're on God's side. This is
the issue. If God be for me, if God be for
me, it's not a question of my establishing the way I'm going,
hoping God's with me. The thing is, if I'm going the
way He's going, He's not changing His path or course. If God be
for us, if God be for us, If God spared not His own Son, but
sent Him to suffer and die for our sins, how shall not God freely
give us with Christ all these things? All right, here's the
second answer. What do you say to these things? What do you
say to these momentous things? Well, Paul said in verse 33,
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifies. He said, First of all, who are
God's elect? Verse 33, Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Well, God's elect are the same
folks mentioned in verse 28 through 30 when He said, Whom He foreknew,
and that's foreordained, He predestinated to be conformed to the image
of His Son. Whom He predestinated, He called. Whom He called, He
justified. Whom He justified, He glorified.
That's God's elect. God's elect are God's sheep.
God's elect is God's church. God's elect is God's family.
God's elect are believers. That's who God's elect are. They're
those who are chosen by the Father and given to the Son and redeemed
by the Son and called by the Spirit and brought to believe
on Christ. You know, over in 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul said
this in verse 4, Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God.
He said, I know you're God's elect. How do you know they're
God's elect, Paul? Well, number one, he said, our
gospel came not to you in word only, but in power, in the Holy
Ghost and much assurance. And then he said, secondly, you
became followers of the Lord. And then thirdly, he said, you
became examples to other believers. And fourthly, he said, you became
missionaries, evangelists, witnesses. And then he said, you turned
from your idols to serve the living God and to wait for his
Son from heaven. That's how I know you're God's
elect. Well, he says, who can lay anything to the charge of
these people? Well, are they not chargeable? Are they not
chargeable with anything? Oh, yes, they're chargeable.
They're chargeable with Adam's transgression, and Adam all died. They're chargeable with their
own depraved natures. You've got one. They're chargeable
with their many transgressions. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. They're chargeable with sins
upon sins, even since you've been listening to this program.
You say, I haven't sinned since I began listening to this program.
Do you love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength?
Well, no. Then you've sinned. Do you love your neighbors as
yourself? Well, not like I love myself.
Then you've sinned. Have you had one thought of foolishness?
Yep. Well, the thought of foolishness
is sin. Have you come short of the perfection of God? Well,
yeah. Well, you've sinned. You see, we are sinned. And there's
plenty that God could charge us with, but all these charges
avail nothing because we're justified by Christ. Our Lord has met these
charges. In Him, we lived a perfect life. In Him, we died under the judgment
of God. In Him, we were raised from the
tomb and seated, accepted in the Beloved. Isaiah 53 explains
it. He said, He was wounded for our
transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we've turned everyone to our own way, but the Lord laid on
Him the iniquity of us all. So we've been totally cleared
of all charges in the highest court of the universe. You know,
sometimes when a man commits a crime, he'll appeal to the
state court, and then he'll appeal to some other court, and finally
he'll appeal to the Supreme Court, and that's as far as you can
go. When they make a decision, it's done. And so what we have
been cleared before the highest tribunal, before the court of
God, it's God that justified us. God justified us. So what shall we say to these
things? Well, I say this, Paul said, who can lay anything to
my charge? God justified me. God justified
me. You see, when they released Barabbas
and Christ died in his place, they couldn't take Barabbas and
nail him on the same tree. He'd been turned loose. And when
Christ took our place and died for us, our substitute, we're
set free. There's no charge. There's therefore
now no condemnation to them who died in Christ. All right, thirdly,
what shall we say to these great things? What Paul said, verse
34, I say this, who can condemn me? Who can condemn me? You know, it's one thing to hear
the innocent Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, stand before
the people and say, which of you convinces me of sin? You
remember? You've read that in the Scripture,
where our Lord said, Which of you convinced me of sin? The
perfect, holy, spotless Lamb of God had no sin, knew no sin,
did no sin. And He could even face heaven,
or earth, or hell. And He could challenge angels,
and spirits, and demons, and men. Which of you convinced me
of sin? Now, this is not the Lord Jesus
Christ talking here. This is Paul. This is Paul, a
man, a son of a woman. who by his own admission was
a blasphemer, who by his own admission was a persecutor, who
by his own admission was injurious. And this is Paul crying out to
heaven, earth, and hell, who can condemn me? He said, boy,
he's got a lot of nerve, hasn't he? He as much as challenges
all things in heaven, earth, and hell, and he says, who is
he that condemns? But now notice how he pleads.
He doesn't plead his works. He doesn't say, who can condemn
me? I'm working, serving the Lord. He doesn't plead his morality. He doesn't plead his religious
duties. He pleads the work of another.
He says, who is he that condemneth? Christ died. It's Christ that
died. My substitute is Christ. My high
priest is Christ. My sin offering is Christ. My
salvation is Christ. My substitute is Christ. Who
is this who hangs on the tree? Who is this that's hanging there
on a Roman, a cruel Roman cross? Who is this that is dying in
our stead? It's Christ that died. It's Christ,
no ordinary man. It's Christ, not some reformer
or moralist. It's Christ. It's Christ that
died. It's God's Son. It's not how
much blood He shed. It's whose blood. It's not how
long He hung on that cross. It's who hung on that cross.
The infinite Son of God can satisfy an infinite number of sins for
an infinite God and take an infinite punishment. Do you know why men
spend eternity in hell? They never satisfy the infinite
wrath of God, the infinite holiness and justice of God. Well, how
can one man, how can one man pay such an enormous debt for
so many in such a short time? It's Christ that died. That's
what you're missing. He's no ordinary man. He's the
God-man. As God, He can satisfy. As man,
He can suffer. It's Christ that died, but Paul
didn't stop there, he said, yea rather, he's risen again. His
resurrection is proof that the Heavenly Father accepted what
he did, what he gave, what he offered. If the Father were not
satisfied and the law was not honored and justice was not fully
satisfied, he'd still be in the grave. He arose. And He's not only risen, He's
even at the right hand of God. You know what that is? The right
hand is the hand of love, power, majestic acceptance. And not
only that, but He prays for us. What shall we say to these things? I'm surrounded with these things. God, the Father, Son, the Holy
Spirit, Satan, demon, devils, principalities, powers, life,
death, judgment. Eternity, heaven, hell, what
shall we say to these things? They're too big and monumental. I say, who can condemn me? Christ
died. Yea, rather He's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God. Whoever liveth to make
intercession for us. What do you say to these things?
All these things. Well, fourthly, I say this, Paul
said, who can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus, my Lord." We're not talking here about our love for Him.
I wish... I love Him more than I used to. Don't love Him like
I ought to. Don't love Him like I'm going
to. But like Peter said, he knows all things. He knows I love Him.
But Paul's not talking here about our love for Him. He's talking
about His love for us. Here in His love, not that we
love God. Don't you wish we did? Like He is worthy to be loved
and ought to be loved, but that He loved us. We love Him because
He first loved us. Well, what shall we say to these
things? I'm saying this, nothing can
separate me from the love of God which is in Christ, which
is in Christ Jesus, in His eternal design and purpose in Christ,
that everlasting, infinite, eternal love. Now death may separate
me from this body, but Christ loved me before I had this body.
See what I'm saying? He said, I've drawn you with
an everlasting love. In life with its trials and tests
and burdens, these things, physical, material burdens, can't separate
me from Christ because He is my life. He is my life. He's my true life. This is a
temporary existence that I have here that will shortly end, but
he is my life. And angels, a ministering spirit,
sent to minister to them who are the heirs of life. And these
principalities and powers, I hear people always talking about,
afraid of what Satan is going to do. Satan is under the authority
of Christ. Did you know that? Somebody said
one time, the devil is God's devil. He can't go any further
than God let him. Our Lord taught us to pray, deliver
us from the evil one. Who are we talking to? The Lord
God. Well, things present are sent by Him. That's what He said,
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, they're sent by Him. Nor things to come,
they're in His purpose. You say, how do you know? Don't
ever go to a fortune teller. Don't insult Don't see him that
way. Fortune tellers and palm readers
and tea leaf readers, that's witchcraft. And these predictors
of the future, it's evil and it's witchcraft. And God's against
it. Things to come are in the hands
of God Almighty. And He doeth all things well.
Nor height, nor depth, heaven nor hell, nor any other creature
can separate me from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ
my Lord. The love of Christ is eternal.
effectual, infinite, unchangeable, and free. What shall I say to
these things? I say the soul that on Jesus
hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its
foes. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. Now
I have this message. What shall we say to these things?
And another message I preached last week. on what is it to trust
Christ, on one cassette tape. If you want it, there's the address
in just a moment. Send two dollars and we'll mail
it to you. God bless you till we meet again.