Romans chapter 8, and let's begin
our reading in 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. What shall we then say to these
things? 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? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I'm persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There are several benefits that
you and I may receive by reading the biographies of God's people
who have lived in days gone by. Betty gave me a book a couple
of years ago of Walter's entitled Mountain Movers. and it has a
number of biographies of pastors who lived in the 18th century,
19th century in England for the most part, and how that they
were used of God. One benefit that I have found
in reading biographies is seeing the truth of this proverb which
says, as in water, face answereth to face, So heart, so the heart
of man to man. As face, as in water, face answereth
to face. You look into the water, you
look into a mirror, and you see a face. You don't expect to see
anything else, do you? So the heart of man to man. And what I see as I read these
various biographies over the years is that God's children
are all prone to have the same questions, same experiences,
same problems, same doubts, and same fears, that there's nothing
new under the sun. I was recently reading a letter
written by John Newton to some believers in his day. Now, John
Newton, think about this. He was pastor in England when
our country was fighting England for independence. He was a pastor
there in England. Of course, he's known for the
hymn that he wrote, Amazing Grace, I guess, for the most part. But
sometimes when I see the news today, when I watch the news,
I try to keep in mind what he said about his politics. My politics, he said. is the
Lord reigneth. You can't beat that, can you?
That's my politics. When you see the news and countries
and various people and all the turmoil and all the bad news
that you hear, my politics is the Lord reigneth. That's Psalm
93 in verse one, the Lord reigneth. He raiseth up one and puts down
another. Just to be reminded, who's sovereign
and who is sovereignly working all things. But in this particular
letter, this is what caught my attention, and I quote, he said,
in a sense, every day is filled up with new things, new mercies
on the Lord's part, new ingratitude on mine, new instances of my
vileness, and new proofs of sovereign pardoning grace, new hills of
difficulty, new valleys of humiliation. And now and then, and then in
parentheses, he wrote, though alas, very short and seldom,
new glimpses of what I would be and where I would be. Then he gave what he called a
threefold card. And I know he had to be thinking
about Solomon's words in Ecclesiastes chapter 4, when Solomon mentioned
several things when he says, two is better than one. When
two men are together, one falls, the other one can help lift him
up. Two in a bed, they get heat one
from the other. Two is better than one. He makes
that statement several times, and then all of a sudden he says,
and a three-fold card is not easily broken. A three-fold card. And John Newton gave the three
strings, I guess we would say, the three strings of his three-fold
chord. The threefold cord, he said,
by which my soul maintained a hold of that which is within the veil.
And these three things made up this threefold cord which the
Lord used to keep him, he said, against sin, Satan, and unbelief. And I'm gonna give us tonight
these three strings of this cord. The first is God's everlasting
love. God's everlasting love. Now,
this is a truth that every believer must always keep in mind. That
is what this passage begins with. If you notice, when we began
reading in verse 29, we read, for whom he did foreknow. Now, many people would think,
well, that's just God's knowing beforehand. knowing all things
beforehand. But remember, in that sense,
God knows all men. There's no man who's ever walked
on the face of his earth that he hasn't known, known all about
him. But these here that he foreknows
are those that he predestinates to be conformed to the image
of his son. And not every person, is predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his son. But we know this
word foreknow here has to do with God's everlasting love,
those upon whom God set his love from everlasting. Now John, the
apostle, he wrote, we love him because he first loved us. If
you love God tonight, And I trust that we do, and none of us as
we would, I'm sure we'd all confess that, none of us love Him as
we would, as we would desire to love Him with all our heart
and soul and being and mind. But we must confess like Peter,
Lord, Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love Thee.
But why? We love him because he first
loved us. No man would ever love God if
it were not for God first loving him. And then, of course, Jeremiah,
he tells us that God said, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. How, I was thinking about this
this past week, preparing this message, and I thought how How
can a believer, how may a believer know from the word of God, not
just feelings, you know, feelings come and feelings go, and feelings
are deceiving. But how can a child of God know
from the word of God that he or she is loved with an everlasting
love? Well, I thought about God's attribute,
is immutability. God doesn't change. Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But then I thought
about our Lord's prayer. If you turn back to John chapter
17, this, John Newton said, was one
of the strings in his threefold cord that kept him and guarded
him against despair and discouragement and unbelief. God's everlasting
love. If you look here in this prayer,
John chapter 17, we know that this is the prayer that he prayed
and it's recorded for us, for our comfort, to help us, the
prayer that he prayed the night before he was crucified. And
I just point a few things out, the things that I thought of
as to how we may know that we're loved with an everlasting, that's
important, isn't it? I wanna know that, don't you?
I wanna know that. That he loves me with an everlasting
love. What assurance, what confidence
does that give us, right? that He loves me, that He loves
you with an everlasting love. Well, notice, first of all, in
verse eight, the Lord prays for those who have received His word. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them. Have
you received God's word? Do you receive God's word? Remember
in John 1, the scripture says, he came unto his own, and his
own received him not, but 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, which were born not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, or of man, but of God. Have you received his
word? Have you received the living
word? the Lord Jesus Christ, the word
that became flesh. And then also notice, I looked
on down here in verse 20 of this prayer. He said, neither pray
I for these alone. Now these of course, I believe
referred to his apostles. Neither pray I for these alone. These apostles, Judas not included
here, of course, but the other apostles, neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through
their word." Through the word of the apostles. How have we come to, how have
you come, how have I come to believe on Christ? From the word,
right? From the written word. the written
word which is inspired of God, but penned by the apostles, by
these men that our Lord prayed for here. That's how I've come
to believe. John, for instance, John, this
gospel, and Peter, and Jude, and James, and Paul, though he
was not a believer at this time when our Lord prayed this prayer.
But through their word, the word of God which was given unto us
from them, or from him through them, that's how we have come
to believe in Christ. Now notice this, continuing in
the prayer, verse 23. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, now watch this, and hast loved them as
thou hast loved me. How may we know if God has loved
us, if he loves us rather with an everlasting love? Well, we
know that he loves us even as he loved his son. Now, how has
the father loved his son? Well, there's several things
we can say about that. But remember, when I say his
son, we're talking about the God-man here who is praying,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And surely we would see that
God has loved him from everlasting. In the eighth chapter of Proverbs,
you know the Lord Jesus Christ tells us that he was set up We
know that there was an essence before Christ ever became incarnate. He was set up from everlasting,
and God loved him from everlasting. And he loves us, those who receive
his word, those who believe on him through the word which he
has given us, even as he loved Christ. Now notice in our text
tonight, Paul in this passage here in Romans 8, he tells us
that this everlasting love, that there's nothing that can separate
us from this love. He names, it looks like just
about everything you could name, doesn't it? Death? Death's not going to separate
you from the love of God. Life, angels, principalities,
that is, those angels that are higher in rank than angels, powers,
same thing, things present, things to come. Nothing's going to come
that will ever separate you from the love of Christ. nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So
that was one thing that John Newton said that was one part
of his threefold card, the everlasting love of God for his people. Never question that. If you are
a believer, if you trust in him tonight, you do so because he
first loved you. The second string of his threefold
chord, the unspeakable merits of Christ's righteousness. The
unspeakable merits of Christ's righteousness. How does anyone
measure the merits of Christ's righteousness. You can't, can
you? His righteousness is infinite. What makes up that righteousness?
What makes up the righteousness of Christ? Well, we know it is
his perfect obedience unto God. His perfect obedience unto God
in every thought, never having a thought, that was not to the
glory of God. In every word, in every look,
everything that the Lord Jesus Christ did was in obedience unto
the Father. How do you measure that righteousness? And I thought about the fact
when he was 30 years of age, we believe that because that
was the age that the Levites or the family of Aaron entered
into the priesthood, began to serve as a priest when they were
30 years of age. And we believe that it was at
30 that he came to John the Baptist to be baptized. And I thought
about the fact now, at that point in his life, He had passed through
childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and what did God say
at that point? This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. And then the remainder of his
life in this world, we know that the father was well pleased with
that work also because he raised him from the dead, because he
came out of the grave. Could the father have given such
testimony? Had his obedience been anything
other than perfect, perfect obedience? Yes, his obedience was perfect. It was without a fall, but what
gave it merit? What gave it its merit? John
Newton said, the unspeakable merits of Christ's righteousness. His obedience was perfect, but
what gave that obedience its infinite value, its infiniteness? The fact that he was God. The
fact that he was God in flesh. His obedience was that of man,
but the man who was God. The merit of his righteousness
is unspeakable. It is above the words of man
to measure. It's infinite in value. And I
ask these questions, merit enough to justify a vile sinner? Is that what I am by nature,
by practice? Absolutely. Is his merit, that
perfect obedience, is his merit of infinite value? Is it enough
to justify a sinner like me? Is his merit enough to justify
murderers like Moses and David? Is the merit of his righteousness
enough to justify a king by the name of Manasseh? It was the
most wicked king that Judah ever had. And God said that he shed
innocent blood till he filled Jerusalem from one end to the
other. What a wicked man he was. And
he wasn't content just to sin against God himself. He encouraged
and brought others into his evil works. of Christ enough to justify someone
like that? Absolutely, absolutely, we know. And what about Saul of Tarsus?
What about Saul of Tarsus? He hated, he hated the people
of God, didn't he? Doing everything he could to
stamp out the name of Christ. And yet, God apprehended him. on the road to Damascus and imputed
that righteousness to him, justifying him. And as I was thinking upon
the truth and going over these various ones in the scriptures
that I have mentioned to us here tonight, I thought about this
wonderful truth. And this is truly wonderful. That his merit, his righteousness,
not only is able to justify the most wicked sinner who's ever
walked on the face of God's earth, but to use that man, to use that
woman, right? Isn't that wonderful? Here's
a man breathing out threatenings against the people of God and
God apprehends him and imputes this Righteousness of Christ
to him that is Saul of Tarsus and my, he didn't just take a
back seat, did he? God used him in such a great
way. Yes, that was John Newton's second
string in this three-fold chord. It's getting pretty strong, isn't
it? Getting pretty strong now. God's everlasting love. the unspeakable
merits of Christ's righteousness, but he had one more strength,
the absolute freeness of the gospel promises. Absolute freeness of the gospel
promises. And I thought of a few, if any
man thirst. Oh, what a promise. If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Without money, without price,
without preparation, just thirst. If any man, that's
a free promise, isn't it? If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. And then that promise in, And
John, where the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking to Nicodemus, told him,
for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever, whosoever. And you've heard this story before.
Several preachers have used it, but the first person I ever saw
read it was or use it rather, was in a message by Charles Spurgeon. He said, I'm so thankful, I'm
so thankful that that verse that the Lord did not say, for God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that Charles
Spurgeon, believing in him, should not perish but have everlasting
life. You say, well, why, Mr. Spurgeon, would you say such
a thing? And he said, because I'd be probably
caused to think there's another Charles Spurgeon somewhere in
this world. There's another Charles Spurgeon
somewhere in this world that this promise, this verse applies
to. Surely he couldn't be talking
about me. Whosoever, whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. What about
this one, that old jailer in the city of Philippi when Paul
and Barnabas spoke to him? He was right on the point of
suicide, wasn't he? Taking his life because he knew
he would probably be executed if the prisoners had escaped. Believe. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. Whosoever will, let him
take of the water of life. The absolute freeness of the
gospel promises. What comfort this gave John Newton
and to me these three parts of this threefold card. It cannot
be broken. God's everlasting love, the infinite
merits of Christ's righteousness and the freeness of the gospel
promises. Then he continued in that letter.
A vile sinner, indeed I am, but since God, who alone has the
right to judge, is pleased to justify the believer in Jesus,
who is there that shall dare to condemn? A threefold card
is not easily broken. I pray the Lord would bless these
words to us here tonight. He's a wonderful savior, isn't
he? He's a wonderful savior. Can you call him yours tonight? Can you say in your heart of
hearts right now, my God and my Savior. My God and my Lord. He's my Savior. He's my Savior. I read a message this past week
on the general judgment The text was Matthew 25, when
the Lord will come again and he will divide the sheep from the goats. And that judgment is final. It's final. Oh, my prayer is that everyone
here, everyone that hears my voice tonight, when we stand
there, and we will, before the Lord Jesus Christ, that he'll
say to you and he'll say to me, enter in. to your rest, to the
kingdom which the Father hath prepared before the foundation
of the world. And oh, that no one would hear
those awful words. Depart from me, you cursed, for
I never knew you. May it be so. Let's sing a chorus
or a hymn and we'll be dismissed.