Today we have a wonderful crowd for which we are thankful and
has already been mentioned. If you do consider yourself a
visitor, we want you to know you are our honored guest and
welcome. It's good to see you.
It's good to worship together and as always is the case, I do
consider it an honor to speak concerning the word of God.
As Wade had announced, we're going to continue in the series
that I'm really, I've really enjoyed the series very much.
I've enjoyed the study of it. I've enjoyed preaching on these
things. These are some of the most
incredible, encouraging things that are practical in our life
to help sustain us as we journey along life's Hwy. on our way to
heaven. Unbelievable blessings.
And today the title of our lesson is God is on our side in
Romans chapter 8 and verse 31, an introductory text reads as
follows. The apostle Paul says, what then
shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? Now remember by way, a very
brief review. There are five unbelievable
blessings that the apostle Paul Lewis in Romans chapter 8 to
help sustain us as we go through life even with the challenges
and the difficult times. And I got to tell you, we're
going to have some difficult stuff.
It's just called life. That's just life.
But as we journey along from a spiritual perspective, we are
not alone. We have 5 unbelievable blessings
that were given from God to help sustain us.
Number one, we have hope, and as we noticed last time, we're not
going to elaborate on these again.
But as we noticed last time, hope is not postponed
disappointment. Hope is real.
Hope is trusting God for the future, just like faith is
trusting God in the present. Unbelievable.
The Christian has hope #2 God has given us the intercessory
work of the Holy Spirit. In Romans chapter 8, there are
times when we need an intercessor, We need help.
And in Romans chapter 8, the Holy Spirit helps us in our
weaknesses when we at sometimes are at the end of our rope and
we don't know what we ought to pray for.
We know about the signs of the groanings that are inside of us.
That's from the human spirit and we can't form the words.
We need an intercessor. We groan unutterable groanings.
The Holy Spirit takes those groanings to the Father.
The very next verse says the Father understands why?
Because he knows the mind of the Holy Spirit.
Who does what? Who makes intercession for us?
Unbelievable. Blessing and then blessing #3 We
talked about this last time. Because of all that, we have
knowledge that all things work together for good to them, that
love God to those that are called according to His purpose.
And as we mentioned last time, this is not talking about all
the individual things that happen in life circumstantially.
It doesn't mean that every circumstance, though, negative
or bad or terrible or whatever, is going to end up turning out
good, because sometimes things don't turn out good.
What this is talking about, this is an absolute promise that all
things are going to work together for our eternal good
and our spiritual good. God's going to make that happen.
OK, that brings us to lesson #4 or the fourth thing of these
great blessings. And that's today's lesson.
And that is God is on our side. And the apostle Paul says, if
God is for us, who can be against us?
Now you might remember the last thing I said.
I said, Tanner said to me, how many times that phrase?
You know, how many times that phrase don't be a phrase in the
Bible? I said, no, I really know.
He said, it's 365 times. And I looked it up and it was
right. So we ended our last lesson on
making the point. So there's 365 days in the year,
365 times in the Bible. You can find a passage or an
instance where God says do not be afraid.
And I don't believe that is an accident at all.
But I want to elaborate and go a little further in our
introduction here. Why would God make such a big
deal in the Bible so many times? Why would he say don't be
afraid? You know why?
Because fear is real. You know anybody that says I'm
not afraid of anything, you know, I'm not trying to be
disrespectful. Really, two things.
One, you're lying. Or two, you're touched a little
and maybe you're all right. Just give you a bowl of soup.
Everybody's afraid of something. I don't care how tough you think
you are or strong you think you are.
Everybody has fear. In fact, let me just say this.
There would be no such thing as courage if there were No Fear.
Fear is your response, or courage is your response to
fear. That's the difference between a
courageous person and a coward is your response to fear.
In other words, fear is a feeling and everybody has it.
Courage is a reaction. So why does God continually in
the Bible say, though, even though fear is real and it's a
real thing, don't be afraid here it is because he will never
leave us nor forsake us. That's why.
Let me notice one example. It's my favorite one example and
we got to move on. When Moses, who was a servant of
the Lord, died, the Lord said to Joshua, my servant Moses is now
dead. And as I was with Moses, he said
to Joshua, I will also be with you.
He said, therefore go over this land, you and all the people, to
the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel
arise, he said. And then he said this in Joshua
chapter 1, beginning in verse 5. No man shall be able to stand
before you all the days of your life.
As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
I will not leave you nor forsake you.
Be strong and of good courage. And to this people you shall
divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their
fathers to get them. Only be strong and very
courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law
which Moses my servant commanded you.
Do not turn from it to the right hand, nor to the left, that you
may prosper wherever you go. This book of the law shall not
depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and
night, that you may observe to do according to all that is
within it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and
you will have good success. Then notice.
Have I not commanded you? Do you see that it's a command?
Have I not commanded you? What?
Be strong and of good courage and do not be afraid, do not be
dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
You know, at the end of the book of Romans, the apostle Paul says
we are more than conquerors of him that loved us through him
that loved us more than conquerors.
Why are we more than conquerors? We're more than conquerors not
because of our own personal strength, because true inner
strength can only come from God. You might call it faith and
courage. I call it God and guts.
It's the way that it is. It comes from God.
That's so very important in our life, though, because life is
about handling losses. You know, in life we lose more
than we win. We have contractors in this
audience, and I guarantee you, those of us that are
contractors, when you bid work, you lose more than you get.
And if you can somehow get half of the ones you bid, man, you're
so excited. You know why?
Because that's life. And in our world of
construction, you're going to get less than what you bid.
So in other words, the losses will exceed the victories.
Kind of like life, though. Trevor Brazil, rodeo cowboy.
He won 26 world titles. Now, you may not understand what
that means, but for a rodeo person, that's huge.
That's 26 gold buckles. Some people go their entire life
in search of one. That rodeo professionally never
get one. Most people don't.
OK, he won 26 gold buckles and he was asked after it was all
said and done and he retired, they asked him.
They said, what was the secret To persevere and keep grinding
forward in your pursuit of 26 world titles?
You know what he said to remember every day that I'm in a
sport that I will lose more than I will win and not be
discouraged and pick myself up and persevere and move on down
the road and keep on going regardless of the outcome.
That's the greatest bit of advice I can give because it's
going to come with a whole lot more losses than victories.
He said this, but without the losses, the victories would have
no meaning. And when it comes to life, we
have to realize that God is on our side.
And when God is on our side, it changes our perspective.
And I got to tell you, perspective is everything.
Attitude is everything. Like somebody so rightly said
one time, your attitude is the aroma of your heart.
And sometimes you got to lay aside you're stinking thinking.
Attitude's everything. Perspective is everything.
Now I got to tell you, I quote my father.
My father died way too young. And if I could have had one, one
deep burning desire that I could have had in the rearing of my
own children is that they could have known my father like I knew
my father, but he passed away way too young.
I loved my father's perspective and I quote from him all the
time. But I got to tell you, when I
was a teenager, my father was unbelievably annoying.
My father's perspective was unbelievably annoying.
My father would walk down the hall and here we are at 594 Rice
Rd. hardwood floors. You can hear somebody coming a
mile away. And when you're a teenager,
you're trying to sleep all you can for as long as you can.
I'm sound asleep. And here comes my dad singing as
loud as he possibly could. Oh, what a beautiful morning.
This is every day by the way. Now my father was one of those
if he couldn't hit the note, instead of softening the tone
the the the volume and reaching the note, he just shouted even
louder, even more annoying. And I knew when that song got
fired up every day. It was just a matter of seconds
before he was coming to my door, opening up the door.
I was cringing waiting for her and he said get up son.
Today's a beautiful day in wish to excel.
Now I get it. Sometimes when we're young our
parents annoy us. I would imagine that maybe once
or twice I annoyed my kids. Maybe perspective though his
perspective made me feel better at the most difficult times in
my life. He would say things to me like,
son, the only time you fail is the last time you try.
He also used to say, you know, look at it differently, son, you
didn't fail, you just took a strategic move to the rear.
You got to look at it differently and press on.
The point is life is about fighting back from adversity.
Life is about getting knocked down, having regardless of what
happens, getting back up, regardless of the outcome.
Please get that. I've often believed in the
concept that that outcome determines effort.
It does. But if you want to succeed in
life, you have to realize that your effort cannot be
proportionate to the outcome. In 1991, the Buffalo Bills went
to their first Super Bowl following the 1990 season.
Those of you that are older like me might remember that that was
during the Gulf War Desert Storm.
Whitney Houston sang the national anthem, Our country was
coming together. People were raving flags.
It was a big deal and the New York Giants played the Buffalo
Bills in the Super Bowl. Buffalo had the ball at the end.
They drove all the way down the field.
They have a chip shot field goal to win it and guess what
happened? Missed wide right.
Team was devastated afterwards. Mark Levy, the coach of the
Buffalo Bills, got his team together and he quoted a
Scottish poem about a naval battle in 1511 between Admiral
Sir Andrew Barton against English ships, a man that showed
immense resilience with the refusal to surrender despite
heavy odds. And he said these words.
Fight on my men, Sir Andrew said a little.
I'm hurt and not yet slain. I'll just lie down and bleed a
while and then I'll rise and fight again.
You know what happened? They fought back.
There was the Super Bowl the next year.
You know what happened? They lost again.
They rallied the troops the third time.
Third time's the charm, right? They're going to win.
The third time, they go and they get blown out by the Dallas
Cowboys, 52 to 17. One more time.
They rally again, they prepare. They get to the Super Bowl.
Fourth straight year, crowds cheering.
This is our year. You know what happened?
I lost again. What's the entire point?
The point is, that's a microcosm of life battling back from
adversity without letting outcome determine effort.
You know what? When I was young and dumb, I
thought it was my own personal strength that got me through
times like that. But when it comes to the
difficult times in life, it is only the Lord's strength that
gets us through. And from a spiritual
perspective, that is abundantly true.
Notice 2nd Thessalonians 3 and verse 3.
Notice, Please get this, the Lord is faithful.
Now I got to tell you, sometimes the word faithful refers to one
who is truly obedient, like you might say, a faithful Christian.
Now what's that? A faithful Christian is somebody
faithful to the Lord, somebody that's faithful, obedient to
Jesus Christ. We get that.
But in this context, this word faithful doesn't mean that it
doesn't mean truly obedient. It means that God can be trusted
and will make good on His promises.
I got to tell you, you may have doubts in your life, I get it.
And you may have people that you don't have any confidence with,
I get it. And you may have people in your
life that have let you down, and I get it.
And there may be people that you cannot trust because trust is
earned. And I get it.
But in all the times and in all the concepts and in all the
times in your life that you doubt, don't ever doubt God.
Why? Because God never lies.
He can always be trusted. He will always make good on His
promises. Specifically in this regard.
What's 1 of the great promises He's going to do, He's going to
keep. He's going to establish you.
You know what the word establish means?
I love this to strengthen, make firm and confirm one's mind.
You don't have to be weak if you realize and you trust that God
has promised I will strengthen you sometimes in your prayers.
Let me just suggest something if I may.
If you have something in your life that you don't think is you
don't think is fair or you're going through something that's
difficult. And what we tend to do is we
pray that God will remove it. I get it, Me too.
And we pray that God will give us relief.
And that's usually the first thing that pops in our head.
How about let's do this? Dear God, please give me the
strength to overcome, to endure, to persevere.
Give me the strength. I believe in all my heart.
When you tell God these words, when you say to God, I'm
vulnerable. When you say to God, I'm nothing
without you. And when you tell God I can't do
this without you, that's when the Lord shows up.
You're stopped to consider. And I don't want to go down a
rabbit hole. Not one of them not doing that.
But I'm just going to say, every time the disciples failed, even
back before the crucifixion, they were all relying on their
own strength. Every time when they trusted in
the Lord and the Lord's promise and they remembered that and
they were fulfilled or filled with the strength that God said
I will give you, they were fine. Even when the outcome wasn't
fine, even when they crucified Peter upside down, even when
they beheaded Paul, even when, even when, even when one thing
God's going to do is going to keep us firm #2 I love this.
He's going to guard you from the evil one.
That's the new King James. The old King James says guard
you from evil. In a general sense.
Really, it's talking about something very specific.
And this is really going to make sense at the end of our lesson.
Who's the one that God's going to guard US against?
Who's the one that's the evil? 1 James 47 Therefore, submit to
God resists the devil, and he will flee from you.
That is a promise. So the promise is this.
God can be trusted. He's going to strengthen us,
He's going to establish us, He's going to keep us.
He's going to do all that, and He's also going to guard us from
the devil. What do we got to do though?
We got to do our part. Here's what we got to do.
We have to submit to God #1 #2 you got to resist the devil.
And I'm going to tell you, when it comes to temptation,
temptations are real. And the way that you resist the
devil is don't put yourself in compromising situations.
If there's people in your life that are dragging you down the
wrong path, stop hanging out with those people that are
dragging you down the wrong path.
Hang out with some better people.
If you frequent places that are causing you to stumble and fall,
then stop frequenting those places that'll that'll cause you
to stumble and fall. That's what resisting the devil
is. You have to submit to God and
then resist the devil and he will flee from you.
OK, with those words now it leads us right into Romans
chapter 8. Actually, let's back up one more
verse, First Corinthians 10/13 about temptation.
This is an unbelievable promise. No temptation has overtaken you
except what is common to man. God is faithful.
There he is again, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond
what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way
of escape that you may be able to bear it.
I'm going to tell you something. If you are struggling with
something, whatever it is, and by the way, everybody struggles
with something. If you will go to your heavenly
Father in prayer, you're submitting yourself to God.
You're resisting the devil. I'm telling you, the temptation
will go away. It's coming back.
But you can keep the devil on the run, just like Jesus did
when he was tempted for those 40 days.
All right, now notice this phrase right here.
Then Paul says, what shall we say to these things?
Now here we go again about context.
The words, these things in context refer to the same things
that go back to verse 28. Remember in verse 28, and we
know that all things work together for good to those who
love God, to those that are called according to His purpose.
OK, so those things in verse 28 are the same things he's
referring to in verse 31. Those things go all the way back
to verse 18. One commentator put it this way.
From all that has been said, what comfort may we derive from
it? We are persecuted and despised,
it is true, but as God has called us to love Him, and all
things work together for good to them that love Him, and if we
continue to possess that faith that works by love, it will
bring us both body and soul to His eternal glory.
Seeing therefore, that all these things are So, what comfort in
our tribulation shall we derive from them?
Now notice the next phrase He says.
What shall we say about these things?
All the things that he just said?
Then he says, if God is for us, who can be against us?
Do you know what the phrase actually, literally means?
If God is for us, it means God is on my side.
Now, the actual phrase is rendered my side.
And I want you to not just pass over that, please.
I want you to know that in your life that's personal.
And when you go through your day, when you go through your
life and things are difficult, Please remember God is on my
side in the circumstance that is before me, that is bad against
me. God is on my side.
I'm telling you, my dad used to say, me and God, that's the
majority. We got this.
God is on my side. The world may turn their back on
you. God never will.
Paul's language here echoes many biblical sources, one of which
is found in Psalm 118 and verse 6 where the psalmist David says
the Lord is on my side. It's the same thing.
He's on my side. That phrase my side is in both
places. One commentator said it this
way. This was actually Reese and
quoted in the contending for the faith commentary.
He said this since God is for us means he is on the Christian
side. He is our friend.
When he planned out in eternity, carries out in time had men's
ultimate good in mind. Whether it's pronouncing the
removing of a curse or sending his Son to pay the price for our
sins, or given the indwelling of the Spirit to help live the
Christian life, or over ruling even the circumstances that seem
to militate against us. All these plainly show that God
in his person and His Providence is for US.
And for that David says, because of that I will not fear.
Because of that I will not fear. Now, folks, please get this.
That's a choice because fear is going to come to every one of
us. You got to make a choice because
the Lord is on my side, David said because of that I will not
fear. That's a choice.
Now, it doesn't mean we don't have adversaries, and it doesn't
mean we don't have enemies and people that are against us,
because that's just not true. We do have those things and we
could not stand against them alone.
In fact, Paul says in this very chapter, some of those things
that are against us. So let's just get real.
Here are some things that are against us.
Romans 835 and 36. 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 your sake? We are killed all, all day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Then in verses 38 and 39. For I am 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 creative thing, shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The point is this. We're not alone because God is
on our side, and God is greater and stronger than all those
things that we just noticed combined.
No match for God. And in the next two verses, God
gently but firmly rebukes any who would even consider the
notion that the forces of evil might overthrow God's purpose
and plan for the faithful. That brings us to the next verse
in verse 32. He who did not spare his own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him
also freely give us all things? Notice this phrase right here.
He begins with the greatest thing that He has ever done for
man. He begins with that, You know,
have you ever noticed? I mean, not only is the Bible
God's holy inspired word, it's all those things.
It's all the things that we wonderful things that we talk
about. It guides us, it rules us and
all that. It's also brilliant.
It's also incredibly brilliant. He begins with the greatest
thing. He's making a point here.
He's giving encouraging blessings.
Don't give up, don't let go. It's all going to work out
because why? God's on your side.
And He begins with the very first thing, which is the
greatest thing God's ever done for us, and that is, He did not
spare his own son, but the phrase his own son.
It's the same phraseology as John 316, the most noted passage
perhaps in all the Bible. 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.
Now it's true. God is our Father, we are his
children. Yes, that's true.
Bringing many sons to glory. Like the song that we sing?
Absolutely. So why is it that there's a
distinction between his own Son, his only begotten son?
Does that have anything to do with his relationship with us?
Well, it doesn't have anything to do with this relationship
with us, meaning it doesn't do away with the fact that we cry
ABBA Father Galatians chapter 4, meaning he's not only our
Heavenly Father, but he's our own personal father too.
The Aramaic term of endearment. All that's true.
So why is there a distinction between that phraseology?
His own Son and his only begotten Son reset it this way,
and this shows the greatest aspect of His gift for us.
The phrase's own Son means there's no other who stands in
the same relation to the Father as Jesus does.
It intimates that the Son was and is of one nature with the
Father. In other words, it shows how
great the price actually was. He could have sent me.
And what kind of a price is that?
Could have sent any one of us. And what kind of a price is
that? He sent the one that was on the
same nature with himself, one of the Godhead that was perfect.
That's the first thing willing to pay that price.
Then he says this but delivered him up for us all.
Now I got to make a point about those two words us all.
It is true. Jesus came to die for every
person in the world. That's true.
OK, we all agree with that. And you know, sometimes we even
say if there's a really bad person in the world, and I knew
no, that there are bad people in the world.
What I don't believe in, I don't believe in the concept that the
world's all gone bad. And I don't believe in that at
all. It's just not true.
There's a lot of good in the world and there's a lot of
wonderful people in the world. That's true.
But that being said, there are some people that are not good.
And it's also true that when Jesus went to the cross, he went
to the cross to die for them too.
However, the blessings in Romans chapter 8 are not for everybody,
us all. Those two words right there is
referring to those that receive the benefits of the cry of the
death of Jesus. So Jesus died for everybody.
But stay with me here. He died for everybody.
Those that have the benefit of his death are those that are
obedient Christians, those that make the choice to come to
Jesus. Those are the ones that are
considered in the promise of us all.
Those are the ones that are considered with that benefit.
Give you some Bible on that in Philippians chapter 2 and verse
12. This from the Amplified Bible.
I love how this reads. Notice so then, my dear ones,
just as you have always obeyed my instructions with enthusiasm,
not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence,
continue to work out your salvation.
That is, cultivate it. Bring it to full effect.
Actively pursue spiritual maturity with all inspiring fear
and trembling, using serious caution and critical self
evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or
discredit the name of Christ. Man, I love that these are the
ones that have the benefits of the death of Jesus Christ.
Oh, by the way, can a bad person have the benefits of the death
of Jesus? Yeah, as soon as they stop their
path and follow Jesus. As soon as they decide I'm going
to follow Jesus. It's all about the Lord, folks.
That's it. The point is, if God was willing
to do all that for us, he didn't spare his own Son, He delivered
him up for us all, then how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Whiteside says this Certainly if
God gave us the greatest, the most precious gift, the gift of
his Son, he will not withhold any of the lesser things that
might be good for us and are not all things that he gives us with
Christ, the all things that work together for good.
What do we say? Things that are for our eternal
good and spiritual benefit? Gospel Advocate Commentary If
God so loved us that he did not spare his own Son, but delivered
him up to supper for us, willing not with him freely give us all
things needed to gain the salvation Jesus died to gain for
us. In as much as God has done the
greater giving, the most precious being in his sight,
that's Jesus, He will with him give all less costly gifts that
are needed to perfect our salvation.
I don't know about you, but I look at that and I think, man, I
can't lose. I'm going to ask a question, I'm
going to put it on the screen, and I want you to really see
what I'm putting on there and listen to my question here, OK?
Don't misunderstand me, but I think it's very important.
All that stuff being said, if God has so freely made such
provisions for man's salvation, can we actually believe that he
will permit a single soul willing to accept the gospel and
be saved to die without the knowledge of it, not bind it?
I have said for years, I believe with all my heart, if somebody
in fitting with what Jesus says, ask and you shall receive, seek
and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you that if
somebody's looking for the Lord, they're going to find the Lord.
Oh, I believe that. I also believe that that's the
reason the world still stands is because there's people that are
still willing to come to Jesus and there's still good people
that want Jesus and need time. So all that being said, you
really think that God's going to allow time to go away if there's
somebody that is willing to come to Jesus, but they never get to
hear it. So let's get aside, let's throw
aside the argument. What about that person on the
other side of the world? I'm not worried about that.
You know the, you know what the Lord said, go preach the gospel,
go preach the word. Just go preach the word.
That's what he said. I'm going to let the Lord handle
all that. Does that mean that the Lord's
going to put me in their life, you in their life somewhere in
the life? I don't know and I don't care.
I just believe he's going to get it done.
And if there's somebody that's out there willing, it's going to
happen. I believe that.
Now give me some Bible. Why do I believe that?
Second, Peter 39, The Lord is not slack concerning His
promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. Second Peter 315, And consider
that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation.
You know, the Bible says that God is no or shows no
partiality. In fact, the King James says,
and I'm going to get to that passage in a minute, the King
James Version renders that God is no respecter of persons.
But let's look at the actual passage and the context of the
passage because sometimes we use that phrase as a negative, like
something bad is going to happen to somebody.
God has no respecter of persons just because whatever.
Well, let's look at the context of the passage and maybe have a
little different perspective about God showing no partiality.
In Acts chapter 10, the Holy Spirit declared through Peter
these words Acts chapter 10 beginning in verse 35.
Then Peter opened his mouth and said, in truth, I perceive that
God shows no partiality. Then he says that in every
nation whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted
by him. The Gospel Advocate Commentary
summed it up like this. He Peter, declared on this
occasion that God sent the gospel to Cornelius, a Gentile,
because he saw that he was desirous of knowing and doing
the will of God, if God shows no partiality.
And he called Abraham while he was an idolater, Paul while he
was a persecutor, Cornelius and Lydia in the midst of idolatry.
Why? Because he saw that they were
anxious to know and do the truth and had courage and perseverance
to be true to the end. We may rest assured that he is
never permitted, nor will ever permit a single soul with the
same willingness and ability to know and continue in the truth
to perish without the knowledge of the same.
That's why I believe the world still stands.
Talking to a friend of mine on the phone the other day and I
said, you know, when it comes to perspective about the Lord's
return, we all long for the Lord's return.
We just sang a song about heaven.
Unbelievable. The gates open wide, we come
inside, we're home at last. Oh, someday I want to go home,
but not yet. Hear me now.
I haven't gone off the reservation.
I got work to do. Paul says for me to live is
Christ, to die is gain. I've got work for the cause of
Christ to do. I'm not ready.
I'm ready. It's the Lord decides to blow me
out here. Yeah, that's right.
But I got work to do #2 #2 I want the world to continue to
stand. You know why?
Because I see people every day that are on a journey toward the
Lord and I want them to have time.
I think that's the only reason the world still stands today.
Because if you look in the Old Testament, every time God had
enough because there was no one left, that was it.
Judgment came every time. I got to tell you something,
folks, and this isn't, I'm going to say something I think is
really encouraging, but what I've seen with my sleeves rolled
up, talking to people every day, there's a trend happening in
this town that is for the great. People are trying to get to God.
People are trying to get to the Lord.
People are trying to study. People are getting together and
studying the Bible. People are trying to find Jesus
and know what he wants them to do in their life.
You know something? It might be better than it's
ever been in this area for the years I've been around.
So don't have the mindset. No, it ain't all that.
Roll your sleeves up. Tell people about the Lord,
because I'm telling you there's a trend happening and the world
still stands because of them. One final verse.
Then in verse 33, he sums it up. Who shall bring a charge against
the God's elect? It is God who justifies.
Look at the image here. The image is a courtroom.
Here's the courtroom. Now I know at the end of time,
and Jesus, who is our Savior now, will be the judge.
That's what it says, and it's rightful because he's the one
with the nail prints in his hands.
OK, I get it. But these blessings are
something that's happening right now while you're living, not the
end of time. The image here is a courtroom,
and the judge on the bench is God.
The defendant is God's elect or faithful Christians.
The prosecutor is the devil and this is the best part and the
defense attorneys, Jesus. Now one commentator just said it
all that this way I'll just put it on the screen.
The judge on the bench is God who is forced.
That's verse 31. The lawyer is Jesus, God's own
son, who died for us, thus paying the penalty of our sins.
The prosecutor is the devil who accuses the brethren before God
day and night, but actually he's the one that's banished from
heaven because of his rejection of God's authority.
In such a scenario, as in all situations, the devil stands no
chance before God to bring down the elect of God.
God justified them by forgiving them of their past sins upon
their faithful obedience to the God gospel, and He continues to
justify them for their occasional sins committed as
Christians because of their repentance, confession, and
prayers to God for forgiveness. Acts 822 through 24 and 1st John
chapter 1 and verse nine. OK, but as we're wrapping up, I
have to make a point of clarification about the 2 words
God's elect. I'm not going to go into divine
election and do all that. I'm not going into all of that.
I'm just going to say this, OK? This does not mean that God pre
selected a specific individual before time begin.
That's going to have these benefits.
When you look at the context of Romans 8, God's elect is the
summation, or it is the basic summary in 2 words of everything
that Paul has ever described, the people that are going to
have these benefits, and they are as follows.
He called them already the sons of God.
He called them already the children of God.
He called them already those that love God.
He called them those who are called according to his purpose.
So who's that? All faithful Christians, Don't
you see, all these blessings we're talking about are for all
faithful Christians. Faithful to who?
The Lord? Just keep following the Lord.
All faithful Christians, when we remain faithful to God, the
devil's accusations have no merit.
Why? Because it's God who justifies
justified. By the way, one translation
actually renders it like this. It means to have acquitted you
go through the court of law and you and you've been tried and
the judge says not guilty. In reality, the phrase actually
means he declares us blameless. Why?
Because we're worthy? No, because we're forgiven.
You never underestimate the power of being forgiven.
And let me just say this too. If you have things from your
past that are holding you back because you can't get past
things you've done before, let me just say, if God forgave you,
let it go. And let me just tell you
something else too, Christian. I mean, this, some of the
greatest examples of those of Christian influence that I have
ever known in my life to people that are struggling in the world
that don't know Jesus are not the people that go through life
with having nothing that they've been derailed by or nothing that
they've struggled with. They've just kind of lived in a
glass house with no issues, right?
No, it ain't that guy. It's the one where the world
kicked him around a little bit. It's the one where they made
some bad choices, but you know what, they fought back.
It's the one where they kind of said, you know what, I don't
want this life anymore. I want Jesus, I want the Lord.
When people do that, you want to talk about having an influence,
unbelievable influence. Don't ever underestimate the
power of forgiveness. So in closing today, remember
we've got 5 unbelievable blessings in Romans 8 that
sustain us through life. 5 incredible things.
Number one, we've talked about in our introduction.
We got hope #2 the intercessory work of the Holy Spirit #3 all
things work together for our eternal good and spiritual good.
And we studied today. We got this because God is on
our side. And Paul says, if God is for us,
who can be against us? And that brings us to #5 and
that's next time when it next in two weeks or whatever it is my
next time. Jesus, as our advocate is at the
right hand of God, interceding for us.
Now think about it. You got God right here.
He's involved. He's part of the Godhead, right?
The Almighty God doing his part. You got the Holy Spirit, another
part of the Godhead, doing his part.
Next time we're talking about Jesus at the right hand of God
as our advocate making intercession for us.
And by the way, after we do that, we got one more lesson to
do before I leave Romans 8. I'm going to do it and we're
going to talk about this phrase right here because of all that.
And we truly are more than conquerors through Him who loved
us. And what does all that mean?
OK, so let me just say finally, don't ever quit.
Don't ever turn your back on the only one that can help.
Do you realize that every time you have fear, every time a
famous coach one time says fatigue makes cowards of us all?
I get it, when you get weary, the first thing you want to do
is have the mindset that maybe I want to tap out and I want to
quit. It's normal.
What I'm saying is don't. Why?
Because God's for us, God's with us.
God will strengthen us. God's not leaving us, right?
All that stuff. And it may get difficult, just
like in John chapter 6. Do you remember that story real
quick? There were many that couldn't
handle what Jesus preached. He said unless you eat my flesh
and drink my blood, you can't have eternal life.
And they didn't know what that meant.
And it says it was too much for them to handle.
And many of the disciples failed.
Many of the disciples turned their back and and decided I'm
not going to follow Jesus anymore, right.
I want you to picture this please.
Then there's Jesus and he turns to his 12 and he says, will you
also go away? I can almost hear the sadness in
his tone. What about you?
Will you also go away? And Peter said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? For you have the words of
eternal life. I'm finished.
Thank you for your kind listening this morning.
Next we're talking about the work that Jesus does for us in
our life. We never close the time that we
teach from the Word of God without extending an invitation
to someone that might be subject to the gospel call.
The steps to become a child of God are very simple.
You got to hear the Word of God in Romans 10/17.
So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
After you hear the word of God, you got a choice.
You got to believe in all your heart.
Hebrews 11 and 6. Without faith it's impossible to
please Him either. He who comes to God must believe
that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently
seek Him. Then what?
You got to change your life? You got to repent of your sins.
Acts 17 and 30. Truly these times of ignorance
God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.
Then what? You got to be willing to confess
Jesus as the Son of God. Acts 837.
Then Philip said, If you believe with all your heart you may.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. Then for a fit candidate to go
to the point of salvation and be baptized for the remission of
sins, Mark 16/16. He who believes and is baptized
will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.
Is it necessary for salvation first?
Peter 321 The light figure where to even baptism doth also now
save us, not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the
answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. If you've never taken those
steps to become a child of God, we would love to assist you in
that. Maybe you've just been away from
the Lord. You've taken those steps, but
you've drifted. You, you need to get right with
God. Then do it today.
Repent, confess those things. We'll pray with you and for you,
and God will forgive and restore like it never happened.
If you've been away from Jesus, come back.
You want to be baptized, the mission of sins.
It's open to you too. While we stand.