back to index2017-01-15 Absolute Security in God's Love
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans Chapter 8, we're going to be reading from 00:00:22.680 |
What then shall we say to these things, if God is for us, who can be against us? 00:00:26.360 |
He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for Saul. 00:00:28.880 |
How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 00:00:32.200 |
Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? 00:00:40.800 |
Who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us? 00:00:44.160 |
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 00:00:46.080 |
Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 00:00:53.400 |
Father God, we want to thank you for our brother Tim and for sustaining him, watching over 00:01:00.040 |
him and using him, Lord God, to support the ministry going on in China. 00:01:04.840 |
I pray that you would continue to help him, Lord God, to not to simply be a missionary 00:01:10.800 |
who's done his work and come home, but to really be able to continue the work here, 00:01:18.640 |
We pray for our missionaries, Pastor Alex and Jen and the family, Lord, that in their 00:01:24.880 |
travel here, I pray that you would watch over them and that the brief time that they will 00:01:29.200 |
join us, I pray that you would refresh and strengthen them, that they may be re-equipped 00:01:33.840 |
and refreshed, Lord God, for the sake of your work. 00:01:38.860 |
Help us to see your word as your word and not mine or anyone else's and that your word 00:01:47.480 |
>> Now, we've been talking about our salvation and our security that we have in Christ and 00:01:52.400 |
Paul, understandably, has been taking chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 8, and if you were to 00:02:01.760 |
take a step back, we can say that that's basically what he's been talking about from chapter 00:02:06.240 |
1, by establishing our need for Christ, establishing that Christ came and died for us in our sins 00:02:13.160 |
and then the security that we have and what happens as a result of our salvation. 00:02:17.220 |
And so he's been pounding that over and over again. 00:02:20.520 |
And it is absolutely essential, our security in Christ, that we're able to confess with 00:02:26.520 |
absolute confidence that our salvation cannot be shaken, that it was not initiated by us 00:02:34.560 |
and it is not something that God just kind of handed over to us, it's all dependent on 00:02:39.740 |
you to see if you persevere, and it is not ultimately dependent on us and our glorification, 00:02:45.280 |
that God initiated, he's the one who causes us to persevere and he's the one who causes 00:02:52.440 |
There are things in our life that if we don't have security, if we don't have confidence, 00:03:02.760 |
Every time you go through the intersection, if you don't have confidence that if it's 00:03:06.680 |
green and you cross, that the other guy who's coming is not going to stop, you can't drive. 00:03:14.060 |
Every time you get to the intersection, you're going to have to make a stop and look left 00:03:17.720 |
There are certain people in your life that you depend on and you lean on, maybe even 00:03:24.640 |
You go in and there's some security in what you're doing. 00:03:28.360 |
But no matter how much we depend on some of these things, as soon as your confidence is 00:03:32.960 |
broken, even while you're driving, if 99% of the time you feel safe, but that one time 00:03:39.360 |
that you cross the intersection and somebody didn't stop, if you've ever gotten in an accident 00:03:44.120 |
where somebody who was supposed to stop, didn't stop, came through and hit you, and it was 00:03:48.980 |
a pretty bad accident, from that moment on, you're going to think twice every time you 00:03:56.100 |
That confidence, that lack of confidence in that traffic light or what the other person 00:04:01.060 |
is going to do is going to affect the way you drive your car. 00:04:06.340 |
If you had a good friend that you completely relied on and later on somehow you found out 00:04:10.620 |
they talked bad about you or gossiped about you and you've lost confidence. 00:04:16.140 |
Now that doesn't have to happen over and over again. 00:04:19.260 |
It can happen once or twice and it's enough for you to lose confidence in friendship. 00:04:24.920 |
Sometimes that happens even in family relationships. 00:04:29.020 |
All these things that are absolutely essential for us for survival, for normal living, the 00:04:35.380 |
longer you live, you realize that nothing is absolutely secure. 00:04:41.580 |
But there is this one thing in our salvation, in our relationship with God, that without 00:04:56.520 |
Everything that we know about our relationship with God, all the confidence that we have 00:04:59.480 |
in eternal life, every perspective that we've had, every decision that we've made, it unravels 00:05:09.140 |
That is why it's absolutely essential that in our beginning walk with God, in our continuing 00:05:15.700 |
persevering walk with God, in our final glorification that you and I understand as Paul has been 00:05:22.700 |
pounding that our salvation is absolutely in his hands. 00:05:28.660 |
One saved, always be saved if salvation is genuine. 00:05:34.100 |
Whenever we talk about eternal security or election or predestination, there's always 00:05:38.400 |
this thought, there's always this opposition. 00:05:40.940 |
Well, if you preach predestination like the way you preach or what Paul seems like he's 00:05:46.340 |
saying, isn't that going to lead to licentiousness? 00:05:51.660 |
Aren't some people going to say, "Well, if one saved, always saved and our salvation 00:05:55.660 |
is absolutely secure, it doesn't matter how we live." 00:05:59.060 |
So all this preaching about, "Let's do this, let's do that, I mean, there's nothing wrong 00:06:02.020 |
with that, but whether I do it or don't do it, it doesn't matter." 00:06:06.580 |
Wouldn't some people respond in a way where they don't think obedience, "I should do it, 00:06:18.660 |
Truth of the matter is, a lot of the people do respond that way. 00:06:21.660 |
A lot of people, when we talk about predestination, will respond in a way where it's kind of like 00:06:27.020 |
a security blanket, "Well, I'm not following Christ. 00:06:30.860 |
I say He's my Lord, but I don't live like it, but again, thank God I'm saved and all 00:06:36.860 |
Well, let me tell you plainly, that is not a Christian response. 00:06:44.100 |
Somebody who does not have faith may superficially hold on to the doctrine of our security in 00:06:49.780 |
Christ and will say, "Well, I believe that, and so I should, but I don't, but it doesn't 00:06:58.700 |
Somebody who does not have faith may confess to believe that, but by their life, they demonstrate 00:07:17.140 |
So, the real application of what they really believe is YOLO. 00:07:25.340 |
And then, Jesus and the gospel that we profess to believe in is nothing more than an extra 00:07:32.740 |
See, the doctrine of election doesn't cause genuine believers to be passive at all. 00:07:39.420 |
If anything, it gives us confidence to live righteously. 00:07:43.380 |
It gives us security to be able to pursue holiness without constant fear of anxiety 00:07:48.660 |
that I haven't done enough, that I'm not trying to earn an A. All I'm trying to do is be faithful. 00:07:56.300 |
See, this doctrine of election is the foundation upon which we build everything else that we 00:08:02.820 |
It is not a security blanket so that I can live any way I want. 00:08:06.660 |
Again, like I said, it will, whenever the Word of God is preached, it always reveals 00:08:12.540 |
the genuineness of someone's faith and how they respond to the Word that they hear will 00:08:20.420 |
Paul has been expositing some chapter 6, chapter 7, and chapter 8, the absolute security that 00:08:28.100 |
It's at the end of this important message of absolute security that we have in Christ. 00:08:34.740 |
And so, the way he's going to end it is by giving seven rhetorical questions. 00:08:40.060 |
Now, whenever we give a rhetorical question, it's not, we don't give it because we don't 00:08:49.220 |
If I asked you, "Well, what comes after Monday?" 00:08:52.660 |
It's not because I don't know that it's Tuesday. 00:08:55.440 |
It's not because I don't think you know that it's Tuesday. 00:09:04.980 |
Because there's something important on Tuesday. 00:09:11.100 |
Something important is happening, and I'm trying to convey that through a rhetorical 00:09:18.420 |
Paul gives seven rhetorical questions in conclusion, kind of a crescendo of obvious answers that 00:09:29.220 |
He begins by asking, "What then shall we say to these things?" 00:09:32.940 |
Well, what is it these things that he's talking about? 00:09:36.740 |
The union with Christ in his death and resurrection. 00:09:40.220 |
The Holy Spirit that's given to us as a seal to empower us to live godly lives. 00:09:46.220 |
He said that all things work together for good. 00:09:51.820 |
That whether it is our foreknowledge, predestination, justification, that all of these things, ultimately 00:10:03.100 |
So when he asks this question, "What then shall we say to these things?" 00:10:06.500 |
He's already answered these questions in the previous chapters. 00:10:12.060 |
Just in case, let's summarize what we've said up to this point. 00:10:19.500 |
So he has seven questions, including the one I just read. 00:10:22.980 |
But in the seven questions, I think can be summarized in four. 00:10:26.820 |
So I'm going to condense it to four, and we're going to go over that this morning. 00:10:32.300 |
First thing he says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" 00:10:38.260 |
That's the first, again, confirmation that he gives. 00:10:42.660 |
If you had any doubt that because of opposition, because of failures, because of doubts or 00:10:49.500 |
whatever it is happening in your life, if God is for you, who can possibly be against 00:10:58.820 |
The first thing that I think about when I think about the confidence that we have, that 00:11:02.820 |
we ought to have in Christ, a lot of times, whether it is doubt or anxiety, it all comes 00:11:08.460 |
because we're not able to see the reality that is in Christ. 00:11:14.600 |
If you remember the story in 2 Kings 6, it was during a period of Israel's history where 00:11:20.980 |
they were kind of shaky in their relationship with God. 00:11:24.220 |
And the Syrians were constantly coming in to try to conquer Israel. 00:11:28.980 |
Well, Elisha the prophet had a very intimate relationship with God, and God would constantly 00:11:34.700 |
reveal to him that Syrians are going to come, and they're going to attack you in this valley, 00:11:40.380 |
And the Syrians aren't able to conquer them, so they make another plan. 00:11:45.380 |
And then Elisha tells the king of Israel, "Don't go there either, because God told me 00:11:48.660 |
if you go there, they're going to attack you from every side." 00:11:51.660 |
So every time the Syrians make a plan to attack them, Elisha tells them what's happening. 00:12:01.700 |
And one of his servants says, "No, there's not a spy within us. 00:12:04.020 |
There's a man named Elisha who is constantly prophesying about what's happening." 00:12:09.820 |
And that's the setup for 2 Kings 6, 15, and 17. 00:12:15.180 |
The Syrian army has surrounded Elisha and his servant, basically captured them and probably 00:12:24.940 |
"When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, 00:12:29.180 |
an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. 00:12:32.780 |
And the servant said, 'Alas, my master, what shall we do?' 00:12:37.300 |
He said, 'Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with 00:12:43.460 |
Now, physically speaking, Elisha, you're crazy. 00:12:49.540 |
And again, the servant doesn't know what Elisha knows. 00:12:53.660 |
The servant doesn't see because he sees with his physical eyes. 00:12:57.860 |
So he prays, Elisha prays to God and says, "Oh Lord, please open his eyes that he may 00:13:03.180 |
So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full 00:13:07.220 |
of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 00:13:10.900 |
Kind of reminds me of the scene when Jesus was in the boat when the storm came and all 00:13:16.220 |
these professional fishermen, they're freaking out, right? 00:13:20.180 |
And these guys fish for a living, so they're probably used to storms and rocky waters and 00:13:25.180 |
it was bad enough or they're freaking out, saying, thinking they think they're going 00:13:29.380 |
And Jesus wakes up and says, "You have little faith," right? 00:13:35.540 |
And the reason why they were in fear is because they didn't really know who was on the boat 00:13:43.940 |
See this scene with Elisha and the servant, Elisha is calm because Elisha knows that God 00:13:54.860 |
Again, Paul says in Galatians 6.17, "From now on, let no one cause trouble for me, for 00:14:02.180 |
Paul is not saying, "Don't mess with me because I got a bigger sword." 00:14:08.420 |
I planted all these churches and if you mess with me, I'm going to be able to call all 00:14:12.900 |
of them and you're not going to be able to overpower me. 00:14:19.500 |
Galatians is written in the context of him being beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, going 00:14:27.340 |
Even as he is sitting in prison in Philippi, somebody in the church is preaching the gospel 00:14:31.420 |
to make it harder for him, to put more pressure on him. 00:14:39.340 |
And he explains that in the midst of all of this, even, he's a human being. 00:14:45.640 |
He struggles with anxiety, he says in Corinthians, over the churches that he's planted. 00:14:53.380 |
I think you and I know exactly what he's talking about. 00:14:56.020 |
"Now on, let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." 00:15:02.820 |
He's not talking about the whipping that he got. 00:15:20.740 |
That the seal of the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing his salvation, is on Peter, spiritually. 00:15:27.980 |
So whether you beat me, persecute me, or ultimately even kill me, God is on my side. 00:15:36.660 |
That's what he means, "Let no one cause trouble for me." 00:15:40.400 |
And that's the first thing that Paul says in our salvation. 00:15:45.480 |
The first thing about justification, the doctrine of justification, tells us God is for us. 00:16:03.300 |
Well, I mean, I think our opposition as Christians can be probably divided into three parts. 00:16:13.300 |
The world, the devil, and our own flesh is constantly opposing us. 00:16:17.900 |
Jesus said in John 16, 1-4, "I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling 00:16:25.300 |
Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 00:16:30.620 |
And they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me. 00:16:34.140 |
But I have said these things to you that when their hour comes you may remember that I told 00:16:41.060 |
You know, it's a strange thing that we are experiencing in our generation of Christianity 00:16:46.380 |
that we're trying so hard to be cool in the eyes of the world so that the coolest people 00:16:51.820 |
in the world, you know, will think that we're cool. 00:16:55.700 |
And that this is not going to be a strange place. 00:16:57.380 |
So when all the cool people in the world step into the church that they'll fit right in. 00:17:01.540 |
It is a strange thing that the church has embraced knowing full well that Jesus said 00:17:12.780 |
You're going to be aliens and strangers in this world. 00:17:14.980 |
In fact, if you look at every gospel, every epistle in the New Testament, there is a warning. 00:17:22.260 |
There is a warning that persecution is going to come if you stand up and declare the gospel. 00:17:29.180 |
If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you are light in darkness and the darkness doesn't 00:17:39.180 |
It doesn't matter how cool and nice we try to make it into the church. 00:17:50.020 |
That when they start to hate you and think you're weird because of the things that you 00:17:52.660 |
profess to believe, that you don't become surprised and as a result of that fall away 00:17:58.900 |
So he warns us and he tells us, brace yourself for that. 00:18:02.780 |
We have opposition clearly in the world, but it goes even further than that. 00:18:10.660 |
First Peter 5, 8, be sober minded, be watchful. 00:18:13.180 |
Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a rowing lion seeking someone to devour. 00:18:18.980 |
We can make a mistake of thinking of the devil in two extremes. 00:18:23.300 |
You have one extreme where Hollywood makes him the superpower. 00:18:28.540 |
You open up the Bible and the devil tears it up. 00:18:33.540 |
There's nothing can overpower the devil except for this cross. 00:18:38.020 |
Or you go in and you make this devil the supernatural power being that no one can do anything about. 00:18:48.180 |
And then you have the other extreme where you're kind of like, ah, the devil is nothing. 00:18:52.060 |
And you kind of minimize him to the point where you don't even think he really exists 00:18:56.260 |
other than every once in a while it's mentioned in the Bible. 00:19:00.140 |
Well the biblical view of the devil is powerful. 00:19:05.180 |
Out of all the created beings, there's nothing more powerful than Satan himself. 00:19:12.260 |
And he was so powerful and influential, he was able to take a third of the angels with 00:19:16.140 |
him and third of the angels created in heaven fell away with him and is in rebellion against 00:19:22.260 |
So you imagine what that means when the scripture says you have an adversary, the devil, like 00:19:43.580 |
That someone he's talking about are people who claim to be children of God. 00:19:49.300 |
And that's why we are warned again and again, Ephesians 6, 12, for we do not wrestle against 00:19:54.020 |
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over 00:19:58.340 |
the present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 00:20:04.660 |
I mean, if you claim to be a Christian, if this is all true and we believe all this to 00:20:11.540 |
be true, how can we possibly not fall into despair if it wasn't for Christ? 00:20:19.500 |
Knowing that this superpower being is actively pursuing to go against you, to knock you down. 00:20:28.620 |
How can we possibly not being connected with Christ have any confidence? 00:20:36.440 |
The whole world around us doesn't want the light. 00:20:42.240 |
And then on top of that, the God of this age is actively working with all his intellect, 00:20:49.980 |
And see, the devil doesn't need to be invited. 00:20:52.880 |
That's why the Bible says, "Do not give him a foothold." 00:20:55.340 |
See, the devil is on the constantly attacking. 00:20:58.820 |
So if you give him a crack and you give him any way to get in, he'll get in. 00:21:04.420 |
Generally speaking, how can we not be in despair? 00:21:14.580 |
Galatians 5, 17, "For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires 00:21:20.460 |
For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to 00:21:26.000 |
We have the Holy Spirit that's made an indwelling in us, but we are not home yet. 00:21:31.760 |
As long as we are in this tent, our flesh is going to be fighting us. 00:21:38.200 |
Galatians 6, 8, "For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, 00:21:42.800 |
but the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life." 00:21:46.440 |
How can we possibly think that we're going to be victorious with that kind of opposition? 00:21:54.200 |
So the key to what Paul is saying is not, "You are great. 00:22:02.200 |
No, the key to what he is saying is, if God is for us, if God is for us, the world, the 00:22:14.280 |
Our security isn't because God looked at us and he found some diamond in the rough. 00:22:21.800 |
He saw some people with potential who were able to do great things for God. 00:22:26.760 |
The Bible actually reminds us that he loved us and saved us while we were yet sinners. 00:22:31.760 |
We weren't diamond in the rough that he tripped over and said, "Oh, I forgot this one." 00:22:41.000 |
In the next verse he says, "He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us 00:22:46.200 |
all, how will he not graciously give us all things?" 00:22:53.440 |
If he gave his son, his most precious being, why do you question that God has power or 00:23:04.800 |
Years ago, when I was a youth pastor dealing with teenagers, every once in a while I would 00:23:09.160 |
have to counsel some teenager who would come and tell me some off the wall stuff and would 00:23:16.240 |
come and tell me, "My mom, she won't feed me dinner. 00:23:26.160 |
So I'm like, "That same mom who just dropped you off, she's not making you dinner." 00:23:33.560 |
"That same mom who picked you up when you got in trouble at school." 00:23:39.640 |
"The one that took you to the hospital because you were sick and got you medicine and took 00:23:43.600 |
time off of work so that she can be by your bedside all day long. 00:23:49.480 |
"That same lady for 16 years have been wiping your butt, feeding your food every single 00:24:03.680 |
You're saying that mom doesn't want you to eat." 00:24:04.680 |
And then you dig a little bit further and you realize that that kid was eating junk 00:24:13.800 |
food all day long and the mom says, "You can't keep eating like that. 00:24:17.280 |
If you eat like that, you can't have dinner." 00:24:21.440 |
And all he knows is angry because he doesn't get to do what he wants to do. 00:24:27.600 |
Now no one would believe that because that mom won't feed you dinner. 00:24:32.480 |
As ridiculous as that statement may be, what Paul is saying is, "How can you not have confidence 00:24:40.320 |
You come in here singing about His Son dying for you and then you're living every day thinking 00:24:45.320 |
like, 'Oh, He doesn't care, doesn't give me a job, I don't have food, I don't have this.'" 00:24:54.960 |
If He gave you His Son to justify you, how will He not along with Him give you everything? 00:25:02.760 |
Somebody gives you a million dollars and then you say, "You know what? 00:25:12.520 |
I don't want to ask Him because I don't know if He's going to give it to me." 00:25:19.320 |
See the illogical, the way we feel sometimes, the anxiousness and the despair that we fall 00:25:25.400 |
into sometimes is inconsistent with our faith. 00:25:33.080 |
Psalm 84, 11, 12, "For the Lord God is a Son and a shield. 00:25:42.920 |
No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly, O Lord of hosts, blessed 00:25:56.400 |
In Matthew 9, 5, when Jesus heals the paralytic, they come to Him, drops a paralytic and say, 00:26:09.520 |
Only God can forgive sins and Jesus responds to them and says, "What's easier? 00:26:14.920 |
To say your sins are forgiven or to tell them to get up and walk?" 00:26:18.680 |
Now for me and you, it's much harder to say, "Get up and walk," because I can't do that, 00:26:28.600 |
I'll pray for you, but I don't have healing power, right? 00:26:41.760 |
The God of the universe who created all things, who simply gets up and says, "Storm, stop," 00:26:52.880 |
You know, lepers, you say, "Go show yourself to the priest." 00:26:57.960 |
A woman who's hemorrhaging, all she does is reach out to him in faith and just by being 00:27:06.000 |
So for him to say, "Get up and walk," there's no sweat off of his back. 00:27:17.300 |
In order for him to say, "Your sins are forgiven," and for that to actually have any kind of 00:27:21.400 |
power, that same God who created the universe, that same God who can heal simply by someone's 00:27:28.000 |
touch and being near him, Emdid himself became nothing. 00:27:36.960 |
He experienced all the pain that you and I would experience in life because of living 00:27:44.080 |
Performing all these miracles, loving and serving these very people that at the end 00:27:47.640 |
of the ministry were going to reject him and crucify him. 00:27:55.540 |
And then even as he's about to go to the cross, his closest companion denied him and they're 00:28:00.600 |
If that wasn't enough, as he's hanging on the cross, he cries out to his father for 00:28:05.400 |
the first time in his existence, "Father, Father, my God, my God, why have you forsaken 00:28:23.700 |
He sacrificed all of that just to say, "Your sins are forgiven." 00:28:30.000 |
So he who did not spare his own son, how will he not along with that give us all these other 00:28:36.240 |
You think he went through all that trouble to justify us and then left sanctification? 00:28:44.840 |
He said, "No, our security is firmly in his hands because he who began a good work in 00:28:54.240 |
you, he will carry it onto completion on the day of Christ." 00:29:00.120 |
Again, a non-Christian may hear this and say, "Wow, that's great. 00:29:09.760 |
Someone who is unbelieving may simply see the doctrine of security as a ticket to do 00:29:15.160 |
whatever they want because they don't really believe that Jesus is life. 00:29:21.520 |
But if you're a genuine believer and you believe that Christ is life, that's where I find life. 00:29:27.800 |
Then, the doctrine of security gives us strength to persevere. 00:29:35.120 |
Even when we fail, it gives us strength to get back up and continue. 00:29:39.800 |
Why Peter and Judas, the sorrow that led to condemnation, all he saw was, "I did wrong 00:29:55.560 |
The sorrow that leads to repentance and sorrow that leads to condemnation. 00:30:00.800 |
This doctrine of security gives us absolute security in Christ. 00:30:04.800 |
And then he says, the next verse, "Who shall bring any charge against God, God's elect? 00:30:29.320 |
You'd have to be one arrogant being to say, "I'll do it." 00:30:36.720 |
Well, scripture tells us there is a being, Satan. 00:30:41.760 |
In Revelation chapter 12, 10, it says, "And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, 'Now 00:30:46.040 |
the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ 00:30:49.920 |
have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down.'" 00:30:59.560 |
There are a couple of things I want to highlight about Satan here. 00:31:04.560 |
Now if you want to, in modern terms, he's a prosecutor, constantly pointing out. 00:31:09.400 |
If you're guilty, he's going to point it out. 00:31:13.400 |
The audacity to stand before the throne of God, to accuse those that God claims is his. 00:31:25.720 |
Not only is he the accuser, who does he accuse? 00:31:51.920 |
He accuses them day and night before our God. 00:31:58.520 |
He doesn't do it on Monday and then he forgets on Tuesday. 00:32:00.600 |
He says constantly, the accuser is accusing the brothers day and night. 00:32:05.320 |
And that is why in Romans 8.34 it says, "Christ Jesus is the one who died. 00:32:17.880 |
He doesn't just say, "He justified and then the end. 00:32:21.520 |
And now he's watching to see who's going to make it." 00:32:48.920 |
He didn't just start and then just kind of let you guys go and say, "Okay, hopefully 00:32:57.720 |
He loved us enough to die for us while we were yet sinners. 00:33:03.300 |
It doesn't make any sense that he who loved us while we were sinners. 00:33:08.240 |
And the scripture tells us that we were enemies of God. 00:33:11.300 |
That all of a sudden he said, "Oh my gosh, I didn't know he was going to do that. 00:33:16.560 |
I thought if I poured a little love that there would be some change but nothing happened." 00:33:32.640 |
We use that term so cliche and so often that it kind of lost its meaning. 00:33:39.200 |
But originally that's where the term comes from. 00:33:41.600 |
Unconditional because it is not based upon any condition. 00:33:44.160 |
It is not conditioned upon you becoming a diamond. 00:33:47.760 |
It's not conditioned upon you being a famous evangelist. 00:34:02.440 |
I don't know why some were chosen and some were not chosen. 00:34:06.520 |
But what the Bible does make it clear, what Paul says, we don't even know what to pray 00:34:12.280 |
But one thing that we do know, that all things work together for good for those who have 00:34:30.800 |
And that's why the final thing that he concludes in all of this thing, he says, "Then who 00:34:37.560 |
You see how this crescendo of all these rhetorical questions, but the last of the rhetorical 00:34:42.040 |
questions really sums up everything that he says. 00:34:46.760 |
All of these things, justification, sanctification, glorification, eternal security, the Holy 00:34:51.080 |
Spirit, our union with Christ, death and resurrection. 00:35:07.440 |
Why do we look at our children like hawks, those of you who have small children? 00:35:14.880 |
You can't bear to imagine any harm coming to them. 00:35:21.880 |
Any parent with small children, I mean you're watching over them. 00:35:27.480 |
Are they going to, even the babysitters, are they going to hurt them? 00:35:36.080 |
The greatest job that you can possibly do is limited by your limitation. 00:35:42.840 |
John 3, 16, it says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." 00:35:50.280 |
See that word "so" in "for God so loved the world" isn't saying God so loved the world. 00:36:03.400 |
The demonstration of God's love is that he gave his only begotten Son. 00:36:17.960 |
Sometimes we want to measure God's love by our bank account, by friendship, by security. 00:36:25.240 |
What more do you want than the Son of God who died for you?" 00:36:28.640 |
And then he says, "Shall tribulation" - tribulation is talking about outside forces. 00:36:34.840 |
It's a general word that really describes everything. 00:36:37.640 |
"Distress, the inner anxiety that comes from living in a fallen world when things don't 00:36:43.040 |
Persecution, trials that are deliberately brought into our life by the world and our 00:36:48.280 |
Famine or nakedness, our basic necessity of food and clothing. 00:36:53.200 |
Danger, when somebody actually decides to bring harm. 00:37:01.600 |
So basically what Paul is saying, he's describing in every circumstance. 00:37:06.720 |
Even trivial things as food and clothing, just someone else's threat. 00:37:15.600 |
Can any of this separate us from the love of Christ? 00:37:20.280 |
Is something or anything more powerful in this world than the love of Christ? 00:37:27.200 |
What will separate us from the love of Christ? 00:37:35.360 |
There is nothing more beautiful in our world than love. 00:37:43.560 |
When you see people falling in love, everybody's like, "Oh." 00:37:50.200 |
Whether it's love between husband and wife or love for mother or children or usually 00:37:54.800 |
love and when it is pure, which has no greater love than this, than a friend laid down his 00:38:03.840 |
One person laid down his life for his friend. 00:38:08.120 |
But even that description of love doesn't describe Jesus' love. 00:38:14.960 |
He laid down his life for enemies and made us friends. 00:38:20.160 |
Who shall separate us from this love of Christ? 00:38:29.360 |
Those of you who are being accused because of your weakness. 00:38:36.100 |
Those of you who are questioning, "Am I going to make it?" 00:38:39.600 |
If you have true faith, our confidence is in Him. 00:38:44.680 |
That's why we are encouraged, challenged, commanded to fix your eyes upon Christ, the 00:38:56.680 |
If it wasn't for Christ, if our confidence wasn't in Him, if it wasn't security in Him 00:39:01.760 |
and His love, we would be overwhelmed with doubt, overwhelmed with anxiety, considering 00:39:19.440 |
He who contends with me, who will contend with me? 00:39:32.360 |
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment. 00:39:39.480 |
"I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your 00:39:54.680 |
And I know you guys are very familiar with this hymn. 00:39:58.960 |
And so instead of inviting you to pray, I'm going to invite you to take some time to reflect 00:40:03.440 |
on the lyrics of this hymn because it basically is a summary of everything that we talked 00:40:10.200 |
And I know we sing it, and I know you probably have memorized the song, but I want to go 00:40:18.880 |
Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea. 00:40:23.560 |
A great high priest whose name is love, who never lives, who ever lives and pleads for 00:40:36.020 |
I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart. 00:40:43.480 |
"When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and 00:40:53.440 |
Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. 00:40:57.480 |
For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me. 00:41:03.800 |
Behold him there, the risen lamb, my perfect spotless righteousness. 00:41:07.320 |
The great unchangeable I am, the king of glory and of grace. 00:41:15.360 |
My life is hid with Christ on high, with Christ my Savior and my God." 00:41:20.040 |
So as we sing this hymn together, again I pray that these words of our security that 00:41:25.040 |
we have in Christ would really be embedded in our hearts. 00:41:27.960 |
And that that would be the foundation in which we build everything that we do.