It's great to be here with all of you today.
We have a wonderful crowd for which we are very thankful.
I've enjoyed our worship very much and I want to say I enjoyed
very much all of the songs that were selected this morning
because it's about Jesus. And really in our life it is all
about Jesus. Everything that we have is
because of Jesus. In the title of our lesson, as
we continue our series in Romans chapter 8, we now come to the
part where Jesus is our advocate.
If there's nothing else that you gain from this lesson today, I
hope and pray that everybody would leave here at least with
this idea in mind that it would cause you from the Scriptures
and from the things in which we study to leave here with a
greater love and appreciation for Jesus Christ, all that he
does for us in our life, and the great hope that we have because
of him. Just as way of an introductory
passage, our text is found really in one verse.
It's found in Romans chapter 8 and verse 34.
The apostle Paul says who is he who condemns?
It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who
is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession
for us. Now, by way of an introduction,
I'm going to be very brief. This series is talking about the
five unbelievable blessings that the apostle Paul describes that
God gives us to help sustain us through the difficulties of
life. And I don't have to say it goes
without saying, we're going to have some difficulties in life.
We're even going to have some struggles spiritually in life.
That's just called life. But we're not alone.
We have 5 unbelievable benefits, and four of those are as follows
#1 We have hope. We just sang that song, and by
the way, I'm the one that requested it.
Thank you, Wade, for leaving it. Jesus Christ is our living hope.
And the reason that we have hope, it's not postponed
disappointment. It literally means to wait
expectedly for what is good. And we would not have that hope
without Jesus #2 We have the intercessory work of the Holy
Spirit who takes the longings, signs, and groanings of our
human spirit when we don't know what to pray for.
And He intercedes for us, taking those things to God.
God understands them. The next verse says He knows the
mind of the Spirit who intercedes for us.
Unbelievable blessing #3 The child of God knows this is
assurance. This is a certainty that all
things work together for good. That doesn't mean all the
circumstances in life are going to be good.
It doesn't even mean that God's going to make everything that's
bad good for His purpose. Can he do that?
Yes. Does he providentially do that
from time to time at His will? Yes.
Does he always do that? No.
Sometimes things don't work out, so when it talks about all
things working together for good, it's talking about our
eternal good and our spiritual good.
Great stuff regardless of circumstances in life.
Then our last lesson, it was the last one of our series before
this and that is this. We are not alone.
God Almighty is on our side and if God is for us, who can be
against us? As my dad would say, God plus
one is the majority. And finally today our lesson is
this. Jesus Christ is our advocate,
interceding for us at the right hand of God.
In other words, Jesus not only died for our sins, was buried on
the third day, rose again, but there's so much more.
He's actually exalted now to be at the right hand of God to do
things for us in our life. Don't think for a minute, Jesus
died on the cross and he's done. And let me just say this too,
God, the the entire Godhead, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit
are all working in the capacity that God has given them to do,
are all working in our life. All working in our life.
OK, let's talk about Jesus. Let's talk about two things that
Jesus is number one, He is our propitiation.
It's a great big fancy word, propitiation, and we'll talk
about the passage where this is found later on.
But propitiation, the short answer or the short definition
is he paid our fine. We know that.
But there's more. If you actually look at the word
propitiation, the deeper meaning of propitiation, it is the act
of appeasing, pacifying or regaining the favour of a
person, deity or spirit, often through the the gift, sacrifice
or conciliatory act. In a theological context, it
refers to turning away divine wrath, specifically to the
atoning sacrifice of Jesus, satisfying justice and allowing
reconciliation. So #1 Jesus is our propitiation
to allow reconciliation between US and God #2 He's our advocate.
The word advocate in the Bible comes from that word paracletos.
And we're going to get to that word later on.
And I learned some stuff about it.
I'm going to share it with you in just a little bit.
But that Greek word paracletos, where we get the English word
advocate means it's one called alongside to help defend or
intercede, acting as a legal counselor or helper.
Jesus Christ is described as our advocate with the Father
pleading our case for forgiveness.
First John chapter 2 and verse 1.
So we're going to get to that later, the specifics of it.
And we're also going to get into the difference between what is
the difference between the intercessory work of the Holy
Spirit in Romans chapter 8 and verse 26 and the intercessory
work of Jesus in Romans chapter 8 and verse 34.
And the reason for that is after I preached on Romans 826 about
the intercessory work of the Holy Spirit, it was a question,
what's the difference? Is there a connection?
And I said, hold that thought. Give me a couple of weeks before
we hit verse 34 and we'll deal with it.
We'll get it today, the difference between the
intercessory work of the Holy Spirit and the intercessory work
of Jesus. But first let's go to our
passage in Romans chapter 8 and verse 34.
And the very first thing the apostle Paul says who is he who
condemns? Now in context, and I'm going to
put verse 33 up in a minute, but in context to understand the
first part of verse 34, when Paul says who is he who
condemns? Condemns who?
The context is found in the previous verse and it is talking
about God's elect. Now what's interesting is and be
very careful about the word elect and don't think it means
something. It does not mean.
It does not mean that God pre selected or elected certain
people. It also doesn't mean that God
shows favoritism for certain people.
It doesn't mean that God elevates certain people over
other people he knows show he shows no partiality.
We talked about that last time we get it right.
OK so it's not talking about that.
So my question is this who are God's elect.
This is reviewed. This was last time I'll sum it
up in one sentence. God's elect are all of God's
children that are living faithful to Jesus Christ.
You plug in all the particulars of that, but in general, God's
elect are all of God's children that are faithfully living
according to the word of God and following Jesus Christ.
That is God's elect. Faithful Christians.
That's it. So all faithful Christians are
God's elect. So what Paul's saying is who is
he that condemns God's elect? You know what the answer is?
No one now, meaning no human tribunal or earthly judge can
condemn the child of God. Now, you know what's interesting
about that? He's talking about things that
happened to us in our life. He's talking about all the
challenges that come our way. He's talking about the things
that maybe even mistreatments that come to the people of God,
the persecutions of the people of God.
And I got to tell you, I'm a firm believer and you know it.
I'm a positive guy about people. I am.
But there are bad people in the world and people are what they
are because they do what they do.
And that's just a fact. What I'm saying is this, it
doesn't matter who the human being is, they can't condemn
God's elect. And nothing by way of any human
judge can condemn from a spiritual perspective, God's
elect. And we'll talk about why in just
a moment. Now, the reason for that is God
has committed all forms of judgment to be for Jesus Christ.
And you know, you know what's amazing?
We're singing songs about Jesus being our Lord, Jesus being our
Savior, Jesus dying for our cross.
On the cross we talked about he's our propitiation, He's our
advocate. He's all those wonderful things.
He's our high priest. He is interceding for us.
He's doing all those wonderful things.
He is our Lord. He is our Savior while we're
living and while time still stands.
But someday, when time shall be no more, Jesus will not be the
Savior anymore. Jesus will be the Judge, and
He's rightful to be the judge because He's the one with the
nail prints in his hands. Let me give you a Bible.
Jesus said in John 5 and 22 for the Father judges no one but has
committed all judgment to the Son.
He also said in verses 26 and 27, For as the Father has life
in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself,
and has given him authority to execute judgment.
Also because he is the Son of man.
Jesus 80 times is described in the Gospels as the Son of Man,
always referring to the Messiah, the humanity aspect of the
Messiah. In other words, why is all forms
of judgment going to be given to Jesus by God?
One, he's not only the Son of God, that's deity, but he's also
the Son of Man, meaning he's fully human.
So because of that, he's rightful to be the judge.
He was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin.
He knows our infirmities, He knows our weaknesses, he knows
our frailties. Oh, and incidentally, he's our
propitiation and that he paid our fine and that he died on the
cross. Yeah, he's the rightful guy to
be the judge. Furthermore, the Apostle Paul,
before the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers at Athens, said
this in Acts 17. Truly, these times of ignorance
got overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.
Because He has appointed a day in which He would judge the
world in righteousness. By whom?
By whom He has ordained. That's Jesus.
He has given assurance to this all by raising Him.
That's Jesus from the dead. What's my point?
My point is this, even though Jesus is the judge, even though
Jesus will condemn those that reject him because the Bible
says no one comes into the Father except through me.
You can't go to heaven without Jesus.
Everybody knows that. OK, so there will be a time when
those that reject Jesus will be judged by Jesus and therefore
condemned by Jesus. OK, that's a separate thing.
That's not what we're talking about here, what we're talking
about here in this passage. He will not condemn those that
God has justified. Now we're going to go back to
the verse before this. I said we're going to get it,
get to it. Who shall bring a charge against
God's elect? Faithful Christians.
It is God who justifies. Now, what does it mean to be
justified? There's several definitions, 1
means to have acquitted, meaning not guilty and so on.
But really, the direct definition means this.
He declares blameless. What an amazing concept.
If I sin, I'm to blame. But when I've been forgiven,
I've been justified and I'm considered blameless.
The point is, Jesus Christ will not condemn those who God
justifies. Whiteside said it this way.
It is he that is to judge Jesus, but certainly he will not
condemn those that God justifies, for he died for them
and now makes intercession for them.
Hence, only those who God does not justify will be condemned.
So it's he that condemns. But as Large says, Christ alone
could do it, but he certainly will not condemn those who God
justified, for it is he who died and now pleads with God to
prevent it. OK, now there's more and we'll
get back to that in a minute, but let's move on.
Only notice three things that are found in this passage about
Jesus. Three things that are very
significant #1 Jesus died for our sins.
We know that He was buried, and we know that He rose again the
third day. We know that, but also after 40
days with his disciples, He ascended to his Father and is
now on the right hand of God. Doing what?
Doing a lot. He ascended to the right hand of
God to continue his work in our life.
You know, I don't know why people think that being a
Christian or anything really in life is a destination.
We are a work in progress and the Lord knows that I really
don't care who you are, your background, you're a work in
progress and I really don't care how old you are.
We got some folks here that are, let's just say it, nicely
seasoned. And I'm telling you, please hear
me. I say it with love and respect.
You have not arrived. You know, when you arrive, when
we get to heaven one day, we are all a work in progress.
I don't care who you are, how old you are, we all grow.
So you know what we need? We need somebody at the right
hand of God to help a little bit.
We need somebody at the right hand of God to continue a work
in our life. In other words, even though the
sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross was once and for all for
our sins, even though that's true and that was complete, He
was stricken one time. No other sacrifice would ever
need to be made. That's all true.
That was completed, Calvary. He's still working in our life.
Now let me talk about the throne for just a moment.
There's more to sitting on the right hand of God than reigning
over the Kingdom. Now, is he reigning over the
Kingdom? Yes, Jesus.
It was prophesied he would be risen to reign or or sit on
David's throne. He is on the throne now in
heaven, reigning over the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
He's king of kings. He's Lord of Lords.
Jesus says the Kingdom is within you, Christians, we are in the
Kingdom. OK, he's reigning, but that's
not all he's doing at the right hand of God.
There are other works that he's continually doing in heaven, one
of which is making intercession for us.
He's constantly available. You know, it's, it's hard to
fathom. Somebody asked me this the other
day, said Frank. How is it that all these people
are in the world and everybody prays to God all at different
times during the day? How can God be for every one of
them at the same time? I have no idea.
I'm not God. How can Jesus make intercession
for us as our advocate on the right hand of God and be readily
available? Every time we go to Him in
prayer and ask for forgiveness, He pleads for our forgiveness.
How does He do it for all of us at the same time?
No idea. This mind can't wrap wrap around
that. And you know what?
Here's my favorite thing. I don't care, I don't care.
I just know He's greater than me.
I know He's greater than I am, and I know that He's my
advocate. I know He's my high priest.
I know He is interceding for me. And that's all I need to know
and for you and for all of God's people.
So when we go to God in prayer, He's going to make intercession
for us when we sin first, John 1:00 and 9:00, if we confess our
sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Now remember again, what is an advocate?
An advocate is 1 called alongside to help defend or
intercede, acting as a legal counselor or helper.
Jesus Christ is described as our advocate with the Father
pleading our case for forgiveness.
First John chapter 2 and verse 1.
So now let's look at that verse first John chapter 2 and verse
one. My little children, these things
I write to you so that you may not sin.
And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for
our sins. Notice, please, the word
advocate and the word propitiation sum up the
mediatorial work of Jesus. He is our mediator.
Now there's only one. How do I know that?
First Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5 and 6.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and man,
the man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for
all to be testified in due time. Let a side note here.
OK, we have many intercessors. We have one mediator.
We know that the Holy Spirit is an intercessor.
We know that Jesus Christ is an intercessor.
We also know that each one of us are also intercessors.
Every time you go to God and you pray for someone, we've prayed
for you, dear brother, we've prayed for you.
We've prayed for many members of this congregation.
We pray for people all the time. Do you not understand?
When we do that, we all become an intercessor for that person,
pleading the case to God on their behalf.
Many, many intercessors, one mediator.
What distinguishes Jesus as a mediator than other intercessors
is even though He's also an intercessor, He is one.
That is our propitiation. He's done that too.
He's our advocate and He is also one in heaven.
That is our fighting for us as our advocate and our
propitiation. And nobody else could do that.
Now remember the difference between then a mediator and an
intercessor. A mediator negotiates on behalf
of both parties who are at variance with one another,
whereas an intercessor pleads on behalf of only one side in a
difference. So I said we have many
intercessors, 1 mediator. So that being the case, having
multiple intercessors does not interfere or do away with the
work of 1 mediator. OK, so let's go further.
A mediator is an arbitrator. You know you can go to court and
sometimes they say instead of going to court you can go to
mediation. It's an arbitrator.
A go between settling the matter in advance, right?
A go between 1 commentator said it this way.
He is a peacemaker between two parties at odds or enmity with
each other. For one to stand as a mediator
between God and men and plead the case for reconciliation,
though, he must have the nature and understanding of both.
Therefore Jesus bearing the identity of God, Hebrews 1/3,
and the true image or nature of man Hebrews 2 and Hebrews 4, was
in himself both God and man, and thus the only one qualified as a
mediator for all men. So here's the question then.
If the Holy Spirit is an intercessor verse 26, and Jesus
is an intercessor also verse 34, what's the difference?
It's really simple 2 statements. I'll put them on the screen.
Statement #1 The Holy Spirit intercedes for struggling
believers when we are unable to form the words, when we pray,
but we can only groan or sigh by taking those unutterable
groanings to the Father who understands the mind of the
Spirit. In other words, I groan the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit intercedes to
the Father. We studied that in great detail.
That is the intercessory work of the Holy Spirit.
OK #2 Jesus, however, intercedes for us as our advocate and High
Priest, defending us and interceding for us as our legal
counselor or helper to plead our case for forgiveness.
So in other words, the Holy Spirit intercedes when we don't
know what to pray for, and Jesus intercedes for forgiveness when
we do. First John chapter 1 and verse
9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us
our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You know why we're forgiven? Because Jesus intercedes as our
advocate. Pretty good stuff in it.
The Holy Spirit intercedes when we don't know what to pray for.
We're so distraught. We're at the end of our rope.
You've been there. You know what that means?
You know what that's like, you know how you feel, but you don't
know. Should I pray for this or pray
for that? I don't know what the outcome I
should be praying for, so I'm going to just pray.
And I don't know what to say, but I have the feelings and the
groanings and the signs inside. It's my human spirit groaning.
The Holy Spirit intercedes. I need some help.
He intercedes when I don't know what to pray for.
On the other hand, when I do know what to pray for and I ask
God to forgive me, I know exactly what to pray for when I
mess up. Guess who jumps in?
Here comes Jesus at the right hand of God.
As busy as he may be, He's right there pleading our case back to
first John chapter 2. OK, now this phrase.
We have an advocate with the Father.
Jesus Christ, the righteous, propitiates for our sins.
This is the most amazing thing I can think of because God has
provided a means where fellowship between US and God
does not have to be broken. He gave us a plan.
He gave us help where our relationship with God and our
fellowship with God can remain unbroken.
It's Jesus as our advocate. There's something interesting
though, about the word advocate. And I said I was going to get
back to this about that Greek word.
Thought it was interesting. I want to share it with you.
The word advocate comes from the same Greek word that's
translated comforter in the new in the old King James and helper
in the new King James as found in John chapter 14 and verse 16.
I'm going to say this in advance, the context of John
1415 and 16 where Jesus is going to use this word and we're going
to put up three more scriptures after this one.
Well, when I put the first one, it'd be three more.
So 4 scriptures are going up where Jesus used that word.
He was talking to his apostles, and he was talking about in a
miraculous sense, they were going to get something pretty
good. When Jesus would depart, when he
would ascend to his Father, he'd now be in heaven, and he needed
walking Bibles. It was the apostles, and they
were promised something amazing. It's the same Greek word where
we get the English word advocate in this passage.
It's the same word that's translated comforter or helper
in John 14 and 616. Here's the four verses.
Jesus says, I will pray the Father, and he will give you
another helper, that he may abide with you forever.
Who's the helper? Here's another passage, John
1426. But the helper, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all
things and bring to remembrance all things that I said to you.
Passage #3 John 1526. But when the Helper comes,
that's the Holy Spirit, whom I will send to you from the
Father. The Spirit of truth proceeds
from the Father. He will testify of me.
Finally, one more passage. They didn't understand why Jesus
had to go. And I can just imagine Jesus is
starting to foretell them. I'm going to leave, I'm going to
go away. And they didn't want him to go
away. Can you imagine?
But Jesus said this nevertheless, I tell you the
truth, it is to your advantage. The King James says it is
expedient that I go. It's to your advantage that I go
away. For if I do not go away, the
Helper, new King James Comforter, O King James, it's
the Holy Spirit will not come to you.
But if I depart, I will send him the Holy Spirit to you.
OK stay with me on this. That same Greek word for
advocate and helper is the word paracletos.
It's one of the titles of the Holy Spirit.
It literally means one who is called to another side to aid to
aid him. Jesus is 1 helper advocate and
the Holy Spirit is another helper.
John 14 and 16 in context that was sent to the apostles to
guide them miraculously after Jesus ascended to the Father.
That is the context, but in addition to the additional or
the specific context of John 1415 and 16.
In both cases the helper is for the advantage and encouragement
of Christians. Christ with the Father as our
advocate, the Holy Spirit with Christians, according to
Kaufman. Let me just notice with you,
who's on our side, who's got your back?
Who's who is aiding you? The Christian has one helper who
sits at the right hand of God, Hebrews one and three.
That's Jesus and another helper that indwells his heart.
That's the Holy Spirit. Galatians 4 and verse 6.
I don't know if that that ought to deal with something too
shouldn't. Now with regards to the word
advocate in verse John 2, what does an advocate actually do?
One scholar said it this way. It's one who undertakes and
champions our 'cause it is an amazing blessing when somebody
champions your cause. So many times in life there's a
cause and somebody decides, you know what?
I'm going to champion the 'cause I'm going to take up the fight.
When it comes to your spiritual life, the one that is
championing your cause is Jesus as your advocate.
Now there's more. In other words, in this sense,
John pictures Jesus as our lawyer pleading our case, one
who must defend us from sin. Why?
Because sin is presented under various figures in the
Scriptures. It's presented as moral impurity
and must be cleansed. It is presented as a debt that
must be paid. And it's presented as a disease
that must be cured according to the contending for the faith
commentary. Now remember, why is that
significant? Because sin separates.
Sin separates our relationship with God.
But notice the beauty here. OK, got news for you.
You're going to sin. Everybody is going to sin.
Nobody's perfect, only Jesus. So because of all these things
that it has to be cured and it has to be paid and all that, the
child of God must face God with his sin, with repentance and
confession. I've quoted it twice already,
first John one and nine. OK, but notice his yet he is not
alone. Jesus faces God with the same
sinning child of God before the bar of justice.
What a court saying we have here.
The judge is our father, the lawyer is our brother, and the
only plea is guilty as charged. Our attorney advises us that we
plead guilty and throw ourselves on the mercy of the court
contending for the faith commentary.
Now in verse 2 John says, and when you do that, our court
appointed attorney has already paid the fine.
That's appreciation. Wow.
Which means in a theological context, it refers to turning
away divine wrath, specifically through the atoning sacrifice of
Jesus, satisfying justice and allowing reconciliation.
Now, I don't know about you, but that to me seems like a pretty
incredible relationship. Here's my question, everybody,
please tune in tight. How do you know if you have the
proper relationship with God? How do we actually know if we
have a proper relationship with God?
Because what have we noticed so far?
We know that Jesus will not condemn those that God
justifies. Those that God justifies are
God's elect. Those that are God's elect are
those that are obedient Christians.
My question is, in all this beautiful promise here of Jesus
being our lawyer, our propitiation, paying our fine,
that's a tremendous relationship.
He's got our back. He's in the trenches with us.
He ain't leaving our side. He's fighting for us if we have
that relationship. So here's my question.
How do you know if you have one? All we got to do it ain't coming
from Frank the very next verse. Now by this we know that we know
him if we keep his commandments. You know this word know right
here means have a relationship with.
How do I know if I have a relationship with God if I'm
listening to God, if I'm obeying God?
I didn't say that John did. I know that I have a
relationship with him. If I keep His commandments, then
John says he who says I know him and does not keep his
commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is
perfected in him. I want to just make a statement
about that one little phrase. If I obey His word, then the
love of God is perfected or made evident or made complete in my
life. Now I'm going to say something
about a relationship. Everybody in this room has
relationships. If you're married, you have a
marital relationship. If you have a friend, you have
relationships with your friend. If you have a job, probably have
some relationships in your job. I'm telling you, when
relationships become one sided, it no longer is a relationship.
Everybody gets that if in a relationship of friendship or
marriage, if one is doing all the giving, the other is doing
all the taking, that marital relationship is hurting.
That's not a proper relationship.
And while everybody in the world agrees with that concept, we all
get that. So many times people, from a
religious standpoint, want the relationship to be 1 sided.
In other words, I want all the benefits of God and Jesus
Christ. I just want to do whatever I
want to do, but this phrase right here, if I keep his word
and I obey his word, then the love of God is perfected in Him.
This, by the way, is the relationship.
The love of God is God's love for me, and it's also my love
for God. For example, when I keep His
word, I'm demonstrating or perfecting my love for God in
the demonstration of following Him.
That's number one. Number two, God's love for me is
perfected or made manifest or made complete by giving me
salvation when I obey Him. Why does God love everybody?
Yes, John 316 For God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.
OK, when somebody comes to Jesus and obeys God's word, then God's
love is completed by giving him salvation because of the blood
of Christ. Tells me what I got to do.
By this we know that we are in Him.
He who says He abides in Him ought himself also to walk, just
as He walked. You know, Jesus even said that
the test of knowing Him is obeying Him.
Jesus said in Luke 66 and 46, Why do you call me Lord, Lord,
and do not the things that I say?
In other words, why are you calling me your Lord?
Why are you saying you have a relationship with me as your
Lord, but you don't do what I say?
So it's about that's the test. The test of knowing Him is
obeying him. Now how am I going to know what
God wants for my life? It's really quite simple.
There's only one source and I got to tell you something.
I said this a couple weeks ago. I'm going to say it again.
If it's redundant, it's OK. I'm excited.
I'm telling you, I have seen from every different background
people that are changing what's driving them religiously,
changing from an emotion based religion and pursuing a Bible
based religious practice. In other words, people are
getting back to the word. People are studying the Word.
I know all kinds of people having Bible studies.
They're getting back to the word.
People are wanting to know what God wants in the words that are
found in the Bible. The other day my my dear friend
and sister Misty, she said you know what the Bible stands for?
BIBLEI said no, what? Misty, what is that?
Basic instructions before leaving Earth.
I said ma'am, that'll preach, I'll take it.
Basic instructions before leaving earth.
How simple that is. If you want to know what God
wants for your life, it's found in the word of God.
There's got to be a source. There's got to be something to
guide you. The psalmist David said it this
way. Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path. There's got to be a source.
So all that being said, if I'm going to have that kind of a
relationship with the Lord, I have to follow what the Lord
said, as simple as that. OK, got it.
But when I do have that relationship, when I do have
that relationship with God, one of the great results of that
blessing, it brings us to our last verse today in Romans
chapter 8. It's the very next verse.
And it's this. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? OK, I said in first John that
phrase, love of God means God's love for us and our love for
God. This right here is exclusive to
1 aspect of love. When it says the love of Christ,
it actually means it's as the as one commentator put it, the love
of Christ is almost certainly a subjective genitive.
By the way, that's just grammar. It's a subjective genitive,
referring to the abiding love that Christ has for his people.
It's what Jesus has for us. It'd be the same thing as this,
by the way, if I say don't ever underestimate a mother, a
mother's love, that would be subjective, meaning a mother's
love for her children. Same phraseology, same grammar.
If it was talking about people loving the mother, it would be
objective. That would be different.
So as a mother, a mother's love is her love for her children.
The love of Christ is Christ's love for us.
Lord said it this way, the love of Christ is his love for us and
not our love for Him. We get it.
OK, So since nothing in the world can separate us from the
love that Christ has for us, Whiteside said this.
No one would think that the harsh things that we suffer for
Him would separate His love from us, whereas it might appear
reasonable that the sufferings we undergo in serving Christ
might cause our love to grow cold and even vanish.
But if a man loves Christ as he should, none of the things
mentioned will destroy that love.
Only the conditions of our own heart can cause us to cease
loving Him. And I got to tell you something.
I did. I just thought of it just now,
years ago. Your Father sitting right there
and I was preaching the sermon and I said, if God said no,
would you still love him and breath?
Rumen says yes out loud. Yes, sometimes our love grows
cold. Because we don't get what we
think we should get, or because we have to undergo something
difficult, or because we pray to God and God just happened to
say, no, we think, where was he? Come on now, that's not the
point. The point is, no matter what
happens to you in your life, and regardless of whether the answer
is no, God doesn't stop loving you and neither does Jesus.
When the evils come upon God's, people don't conclude that it's
God or Jesus no longer loving them.
What evils are we talking about? Let's look at the passage.
How about tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness,
peril, or even sword? That's a pretty good list right
there. Let's talk about what they are.
Tribulation. By the way, I don't know what's
going on in your life. I got to tell you something.
We all have some stuff, but it's nothing that we can't handle.
It really isn't. It really isn't compared to what
people have actually undergone in other places and other times
of life. We got it pretty easy, but we
are going to have some stuff in context of what they were going
through. The apostle Paul says this
tribulation, it's a feeling of pressure, while distress is the
inner anxiety that comes from being pinned up in a very narrow
place while not knowing quite where to turn.
Now everybody falls into that category once in a while.
What about this persecution? It's the pursuit or hounding by
enemies, sometimes including bodily harm.
I don't know what that's like. That doesn't happen to me in my
life. Famine follows when you are
fleeing from pillar to post in an effort to escape your
pursuers. I also don't know what that's
like in my life. Nakedness is the lack of proper
clothing when one's property is confiscated or when he has to
flee, leaving his possessions behind.
And praise God, I don't even know what that's like.
Peril speaks of the dangers 1 is in when finally caught by the
persecutors, and sword denotes the death that finally happens
to the pursuit. What I'm getting at is all these
extreme things Paul is saying. Don't ever think that even any
of those things will separate you from the love of Christ.
Not going to happen. It's good stuff.
So what's the point, Frank? Here's the point.
If God is for us and He justifies us because we are His
elect, obedient Christians, and Jesus is our advocate at the
right hand of God, and He's pleading our case when we sin
and the Holy Spirit dwells within us and intercedes for us.
When we can only groan or sigh, when we're in distress and don't
know what to pray for. If all those unbelievable
blessings are true, who shall separate us from the love that
guards us? In conclusion today, remember
those five blessings as we go through life.
And I want to say something really quickly because I'm going
to, I'm wrapping up my remarks, but I want to say something
really quickly about, I don't want to diminish because I said
we don't really know what it's like to suffer.
Like people have really suffered in the past.
If you're going through something difficult or hard or
painful, I'm not I'm not, I'm not diminishing that.
My heart goes out to you. We all do.
What I'm saying is it doesn't matter whatever degree of thing
you might be going through in your life, that's difficult.
It's the same for all of us, either severe or not as severe.
I also know that there's no temptation taken except at what
is common to man. I also know that what you're
going through, somebody else has gone through worse.
I do know that for a fact. What I'm getting at is,
regardless of what any of those things are, we got hope.
We've got hope because of Jesus. We got the intercessory work of
the Holy Spirit. We know that all things are
going to work together for our eternal and spiritual good.
We know that we are not alone. We got God Almighty on our side.
If God is for us, who can be against us?
We know that Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of God,
fighting for our case, interceding for us, for our
forgiveness. He's in there with us every step
of the way. And because of all these
unbelievable blessings to sustain us, that will bring us
to my final lesson of the series when it's my turn again.
Because of all that, we are more than conquerors through Him who
loved us. Now let me just say in closing
today, don't ever quit or give up, regardless of how difficult
life might be. Use the difficult things that
you go through in your life to make you better in your service
to God. I tell you a story and I'm done.
Long time ago there was a boy who was a sophomore in high
school. His dream was to play
basketball. He worked hard, he trained hard.
He wanted to make the varsity team in high school as a
sophomore. He went, he worked hard.
He showed up, he went to the tryouts.
He gave it his best shot. He got cut, he said later on in
his life when he reflected, he said that was a defining moment.
It was failure. It was actually an act of
failure. I failed.
So he had to make a choice. Do I just give up and do
something else, give up on my dreams?
Or do I work harder and use it as a catalyst to get better, to
succeed later? He worked for a whole year,
tried out his junior year, made the team, had a very successful
2 year varsity basketball career.
High school. He was good enough, too, to be
looked at by the colleges. And he went on to the next
level, went on to college, had a successful college career, and
yeah, he went on to the NBA. When his career was over, they
interviewed him. You know what he said?
When I look back on my career as a basketball player in the NBA,
he said, you know what I remember?
He said I missed 9000 shots in my career.
He said I lost 300 games in my career.
He said 26 times I was given the ball and entrusted to take the
final shot to win the game and I missed.
Oh by the way, he also went on to win six world titles, 5 MVPS
and considered arguably the greatest player that ever
played. His name is Michael Jordan.
This is what he said. I failed over and over and over
again in my life, and that is precisely why I succeed.
From a spiritual perspective, it's even more important because
you're going to have struggles, you're going to have failures,
but you're not alone. Got all that?
Remember, as one man said one time, the computer died.
The computer's off on something. Well, I'll just read it.
Success is not final. Failure is not fatal.
It's the courage to continue the counts.
So when you get knocked down, as you, as my kids hurt all their
life, look up. Get up and don't ever give up.
We got this. We got this.
Are you here today? You're not a Christian.
Steps to become one or very simple.
Come believing in Jesus, repent of your sins, confess his name
is the Son of God, be baptized in water for the remission of
sins. Maybe you've taken those steps
of obedience. Maybe you're just not what you
should be for the Lord. Then repent of those things,
confess those things and we'll pray with you and for you, and
God will forgive and restore. Be one of either class.
Come forward while we stand, while we see.