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Well, please turn with me in 
your Bibles to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. I'll read verses 31 to 39, beginning 
in Romans 8, verse 31. What then shall we say to these 
things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 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? Who shall bring 
a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 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. 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 day long. We are counted as sheep 
for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are 
more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 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 created thing shall be able to separate 
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank You for this, Your Word. We thank You for this whole epistle 
to the Romans and the glorious things it teaches us concerning 
God, concerning man, and concerning salvation by Christ. How we praise 
You for so great a salvation. How we praise You for justification 
and for sanctification and glorification. How we praise You that those 
whom You foreknew, You predestined to be conformed to the image 
of Your Son. Those predestined You call, You justify and You 
glorify. How we rejoice in the goodness 
and in the mercy and in the graciousness of our God. How we thank You 
for the Gospel, for making us benefactors of so great a salvation. And we pray that tonight as we 
look at this particular chapter or section, You would encourage 
our hearts that we would again stand amazed at the great love 
of God Almighty, demonstrated supremely in the delivering up 
of the Son. How we praise you that you made 
Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become 
the righteousness of God in Him. You've taken care of everything 
in terms of our salvation. You've brought us the forgiveness 
of sins. You've given us a righteousness 
that avails with God. You have blessed us with every 
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And God, 
we pray that you would help us to respond with gratitude to 
the glorious truths of the Christian message. And as we eat this bread 
tonight, as we drink this cup, we would do so to proclaim the 
glory of Jesus Christ and His death. We ask now that you would 
fill us with your Holy Spirit, that he would guide us, that 
he would lead us, that he would help us to understand Paul's 
words here. And as well, we pray for the 
forgiveness of all of our sins and all unrighteousness. Cleanse 
us in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for that 
promise in 1 John, that if we confess our sins, you are faithful 
and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
We praise you through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, we're going 
to take up this particular section under the consideration of the 
liberality of God and the security of the believer. God is liberal 
in terms of His gifts, in terms of His kindness, in terms of 
His provision to His people, and that is primarily highlighted 
in verse 32. So I want to look first at the 
declaration concerning God's liberality there in verse 32, 
and then secondly, the implication flowing from God's liberality, 
and then thirdly, the application with reference to the believer's 
security. The overarching theme is set 
forth in verse 31. I mentioned this this morning. 
Notice he says, what then shall we say to these things? If God 
is for us, then who can be against us? And with that, we have great 
confidence. In fact, John Calvin says, this 
is the chief and the only support which can sustain us in every 
temptation. The reality that God is for us, 
the reality that therefore no one can stand against us. Now 
when Paul says these things in verse 31, he probably refers 
to the entirety of chapters 5 to 8, or perhaps the argument all 
the way up to this point, but it's sort of all encapsulated 
there in chapter 8 at verses 29 and 30. Notice in verse 29, for whom 
He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image 
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 
Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called. Whom He 
called, these He also justified. And whom He justified, these 
He also glorified. So these things ought to promote 
in the believer A great deal of security, a great deal of 
comfort, a great deal of encouragement. That's the point in this particular 
section of Paul's argument. But notice, as we look specifically 
at this statement 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? There is first a negative statement. It says, he who did not spare 
his own son. He who did not spare his own 
son. When we look at this particular 
passage, it ought to suggest in our minds those instances 
where God did not spare his own son. We'll look at Gethsemane 
and Calvary. but we need to appreciate the 
sort of background that is going on here. He who did not spare 
his own son. I think there is an echo of Genesis 
22, that instance where God tells Abraham to take Isaac up to Mount 
Moriah and to offer him up as a sacrifice. We know that it's 
a test according to Genesis 22.1, but Abraham does not know this. 
God tells Abraham, take your son, your only son, the son whom 
you love, up to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him there. On the 
way to the mountain, Isaac makes the observation that we have 
the wood, we have the fire, but we do not have the sacrifice. 
And Abraham makes that theologically pointed statement that God Almighty 
will provide, and ultimately He provides His own dear son. 
Because Abraham is going to bury the knife in his son Isaac, but 
ultimately the angel of Yahweh stops him. And then God says 
this to Abraham. He says, for now I know that 
you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only 
son, from Me. John Flavel comments concerning 
this reality that God did not spare His own Son. He says, and 
thus you see the reasons of all the severity to Jesus Christ. 
God intended the sweetest mercies for you and therefore prepared 
the bitterest sufferings for Christ. From His deep sufferings 
you may confidently conclude the best of mercies are designed 
for you. So he says, he who did not spare 
his own son, as I mentioned, Gethsemane. We've studied this 
recently in Matthew's Gospel, both events actually, Gethsemane 
and Calvary, but it's helpful to reminisce, it's helpful to 
remind ourselves to see what's going on in this particular passage. 
He didn't spare his son in Gethsemane. Remember that particular instance 
where Jesus goes into the garden, and He is exceedingly sorrowful. 
Even unto death, He is troubled. Luke's gospel tells us that He 
poured blood out of His pores. He sweat great drops of blood. And there He prays, My Father, 
if it is possible, let this pass from Me. But He goes on to resign 
Himself, or resolve, nevertheless, Father, I will do your will. And what we find there is that 
the father did not deliver him from that particular situation. 
He spared him not. He allowed him. He enabled him. 
He gave him to go through that particular discourse or rather 
that that suffering on our behalf. Again, John Flavel, I think, 
makes a great observation. He said, "...and that which makes 
a further discovery of divine severity..." That's what's going 
on here. He didn't spare his own son. "...is that God spared not his 
own son in the day of his greatest distress." when he cried to his 
father in an agony, that if it were possible, the cup might 
pass from him. For of that day, the scripture 
is mainly to be understood, the day when he fell to the ground 
and prayed, that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 
And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee. 
Take away this cup from me. He beheld his own dear son sweltering 
under the heaviest pressure of wrath, sweating great drops of 
blood, crying, if it be possible, let this hour, let this cup pass. 
And yet it could not be granted. Oh, the severity of God! He heard 
the cry of Ahab and spared him. He heard the Ninevites cry and 
spared them. He heard the cries of Hagar and 
Ishmael and spared them. Yea, He hears the young ravens 
when they cry and feeds them. But when his son cried with the 
most vehement cry that the cup might pass, he cannot be excused. He must drink it up, even the 
very dregs of the cup of trembling, and to that and to the last drop. 
Oh, the justice and the severity of God. So He who did not spare 
His own Son. He doesn't spare Him in the Garden 
of Gethsemane when the Son of God actually prays that if it 
is possible, and this according to His humanity, if it is possible, 
let this cup pass from Me. But as well, God did not spare 
Him on the cross. Remember, we consider that in 
Matthew's Gospel, in Matthew 27, that cry of dereliction. 
When Jesus says, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? Taking in His own mouth, in His 
own heart, the words of the psalmist in Psalm 22. Why have you forsaken 
Me? I think it is important to rehearse 
what that does not mean. Remember, the cry of Jesus does 
not indicate any division among the persons of the Trinity. There 
is no division among the persons of the Trinity there at the cross. 
The cry of Jesus does not indicate a dissolution of what's called 
the hypostatic union, the reality that we have one Christ, one 
person in two natures. There was no dissolution, there 
was no abolishment of that, there was no rupture in terms of the 
hypostatic union. Thirdly, the cry of Jesus does 
not indicate that the three persons of the Trinity all suffered on 
the cross. Christ, the second person of 
the Trinity, suffered on the cross according to his humanity. Fourth, the cry of Jesus does 
indicate that the Father does not deliver him from the agony 
of the cross. That's the point. There's no 
rupture between Father and Son. The Father doesn't stop loving 
the Son, but the Father does not deliver Him from the agony 
of the cross. The withdrawal of the Father's 
nearness and favor. Matthew Poole says it must be 
understood with respect to God's consolatory manifestations. In other words, that nearness 
and that presence. It's that wherein we see the 
forsakenness. John Gill says, but he was now 
without a sense of the gracious presence of God and was filled 
as the surety of his people with a sense of divine wrath, which 
their iniquities he now bore. And then Turretin says, but as 
to a participation of joy and felicity, God suspending for 
a little while the favorable presence of grace and influx 
of consolation and happiness that he might be able to suffer 
all the punishments due to us. Now why do I rehearse this when 
we saw it several months ago in the Gospel of Matthew? Because 
it's very important. People have a defective theology 
of what happens when Jesus says, my God, my God, why hast thou 
forsaken me? We need to realize there is no 
dissolution of the hypostatic union. There's no rupture between 
the persons of the Trinity. There is no loss of love between 
the father and the son, but rather the father does not deliver the 
son from that agony. And as a result, he bears the 
wrath and the curse and the punishment that is due for us. So the cry 
of Jesus does highlight the doctrine of penal substitution and suffering. He who did not spare his own 
son. Matthew Henry says, Christ was 
made sin for us, a curse for us, and therefore, though God 
loved him as a son, he frowned upon him as a surety. That's what's happening when 
the father does not spare his own son, both in Gethsemane and 
in Calvary, or at Calvary. Now, before we proceed, let us 
just momentarily focus on this reality. The father did not spare 
his own son. As I quoted from Flavel, God 
spares a whole lot of people throughout the record of redemption 
that really didn't deserve it. He mentioned Ahab. I referred 
to Ahab this morning. When God says to Elijah, did 
you see that? He actually repented. The fact 
that God spares Ahab, but He doesn't spare His only begotten 
Son, this demonstrates His liberality. It demonstrates His beneficence. 
It demonstrates His great love, wherewith He loved us, that He 
did not spare His own Son. When His own Son is in the Garden 
of Gethsemane, crying out that the cup might pass from Him. 
Remember, the cup there is the cup of God's wrath and fury and 
curse. That is what Jesus, or provokes 
Jesus, to cry out that it may pass from Him. He doesn't spare 
Him when He's on the cross, suffering the shame, suffering the curses, 
suffering the various insults of the religious leaders. He 
saved others. Let Him come down and save Himself. 
God the Father did not spare His own Son so that ultimately 
He could spare us from divine wrath and fury. That's the negative. He did not spare His own Son, 
but notice the positive, but delivered Him up for us all. delivered Him up for us all. This is the Father's initiative. Isaiah the prophet, chapter 53, 
verse 10, says the Lord, Yahweh, was pleased to bruise Him. In Acts 2, Peter calls the crucifixion 
something that happens according to the predetermined purpose 
of God. Same thing in Acts chapter 4 that Pastor Porter preached 
on last Sunday night. It was the initiative of the 
Father. Again, John Flavel says He delivered 
Him. As a judge, by sentence of law, 
delivers up the prisoner to be executed. It is true Pilate delivered 
him up to be crucified, and he also gave himself for us, but 
betwixt God's delivering, Pilate's delivering, and his own. There 
is this difference to be observed. In God, it was an act of highest 
justice. In Pilate, an act of greatest 
wickedness. In himself, an act of wonderful 
obedience. Beautiful. So He did not spare 
him, but delivered him up for us all. Now that whole idea of 
deliver him up for us all should suggest to our minds as a sacrifice. Remember, behold the Lamb of 
God who takes away the sin of the world. Those of you who are 
in Robert Murray McShane's Bible reading calendar, you've just 
stepped into the book of Leviticus. And the book of Leviticus is 
a book that is filled with sacrifice. It's filled with blood, it's 
filled with fire, it's filled with that approach to God. Because 
the idea of being is at the very end of the book of Exodus, God 
comes down. The Shekinah glory fills the 
very house of God, the tabernacle that they built. But you remember 
at the end of the book of Exodus in chapter 40, not even Moses 
could enter in. Now, you need to appreciate the 
powerfulness of that statement. Moses was a godly man. Moses 
was a faithful man. Moses was a consistent man. So 
when the glory of God comes down to dwell among the people, it 
is yet to become a meeting place. Because not even Moses himself 
is fit and equipped to enter into the very presence of God. 
Hence the book of Leviticus. The book of Leviticus addresses 
the situation. How does the dwelling place of 
God among men become a meeting place between God and man? And as Morales well summarizes, 
he said, Israel learned that the way to Yahweh was through 
a bloody knife and a smoking altar. That's what this language 
suggests to us. He delivered Him up for us all. The deliverance up is on the 
cross. Again, Pilate gave the kill order. Christ went willingly in terms 
of an act of obedience, but what happened ultimately was the predetermined 
plan of God the Father. It pleased Yahweh to bruise Him, 
Isaiah 53.10. So we need to appreciate that 
it was the Father who sent the Son to die in our place. There's oftentimes this idea 
that the Old Testament God or the Father was angry with us, 
and so the Son comes to make it such that the Father can love 
us. One is well said. The cross does 
not procure God's love. The cross is a manifestation 
of God's love. In other words, Christ doesn't 
die for us in order to get the Father to love us. Christ dies 
for us because the Father loves us. You see, that is subtle, 
but it's absolutely crucial that we understand it. Because what 
Jesus does is perfectly consistent with the other persons of the 
Trinity, the Trinity working together in perfect unity to 
save His people from their sins. So it's not the case that Christ 
comes in order to make God love us. Christ comes because God 
loves us. But with reference to Christ's 
sacrifice, in this epistle Paul tells us that that sacrifice 
was propitiatory. Propitiatory means simply this, 
that Christ stood in our place to take the wrath of God. Romans 
chapter 3, the purpose of the sacrifice, at least in Romans 
chapter 3, was so that Christ could be our propitiation. That means he takes in himself 
the very punishment and the wrath and the fury of God that should 
fall upon sinners. We see with reference to this 
sacrifice Christ as substitute. In fact, in Romans chapter 5, 
specifically around verses 18 and following, we see this whole 
emphasis. How is it that we can be justified 
by faith in Jesus Christ? Because of what Christ did in 
our place. Because of what Christ satisfied 
on behalf of divine justice. Because of what Christ went through 
in terms of this sacrifice. So you see, negatively, he did 
not spare his own son. Positively, he delivered him 
up for us all. And we ought to appreciate consistently 
that the Father does this and the Lord Jesus willingly submits. John 10, Christ says, nobody 
takes my life from me. I lay it down willingly. He's 
always operating. in submission to His Father. As the mediator of the new covenant, 
the Lord Jesus Christ marches in lockstep according to the 
will, the purpose, and the plan of the Father. As the mediator. There's no eternal subordination. 
The Son isn't always by nature or essence subordinate to the 
Father, but in the economy of redemption, the Son willingly 
submits Himself to the Father. Now before we move on, notice, 
he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for 
us all. There are persons that will tell 
us that all always means all. And it does, but all always means 
all in particular contexts that we find all. And we need to appreciate 
that this all here is contextual. This all, or the all of verse 
32, is the all in context. The us whom God is for in verse 
31, the ones who were foreknown, predestined, called, justified, 
and will be glorified in verses 29 and 30. They are the elect 
of verse 33, the ones for whom Christ intercedes in verse 34, 
and the ones who can never be lost in verses 35 and 39. So 
in other words, the all in the context is not every man without 
exception, it's every man without distinction. Doesn't matter whether 
you're black, doesn't matter whether you're brown, doesn't 
matter whether you're white, doesn't matter if you're from 
U.S. or Canada or Asia or Africa, wherever it may be, but what 
does matter is that God foreknew you. that God predestined you 
and that in time God called you and justified you and has promised 
to glorify you. Those are the benefactors, those 
are the recipients, those are the ones be graced by the liberality 
of God Most High. So that's the declaration concerning 
God's liberality. Now note, secondly, the implication 
flowing from God's liberality. The end of verse 32. He who did 
not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, here's the 
implication, or here's the question that answers itself, how shall 
He not with Him also freely give us all things? In other words, 
it's an argument from the greater to the lesser. If He doesn't 
spare His Son, He delivers Him up to the cross, if He does the 
greatest, how will He not do the lesser? How will he not tend 
to other needs that you have? How will he not be there with 
you in the trenches? How will he not be there with 
you when you need his grace and his support and his blessing? A brother this morning said that 
he burned his hand yesterday and it caused him to muse on 
whether or not he could be a martyr. Right? You ever burn yourself 
and then you think about, say, a Thomas Hawks who was burned 
to death by the Papists according to Foxe's Book of Martyrs? You 
ever consider that reality? And I said to this brother, well, 
I think it's the case that God gives special grace when we're 
called to step into the flames. In other words, I don't know 
that we're always at that level where we're ready to just dive 
into the flames. You read those stories in the 
history of the church where some Christian is being burned at 
the stake and others say, well, I'm with him, and they jump in 
there too. Not in a suicidal way, but showing 
their fidelity, their faithfulness, their devotion to the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Brethren, we believe that He 
who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, 
how will He not freely give us all other things? In other words, 
if He calls us to suffer in the flames for your sake, we are 
killed all day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. If 
He's going to call upon us to die a martyr's death, He's going 
to equip us with a martyr's grace. He is going to provide those 
things that are requisite for us to bring glory and honor to 
Him. So it's an argument from the greater to the lesser. If 
He does the greatest in sending the Son of His love up to that 
cross, then how will He not also freely give you all the things 
you stand in need of? He's going to justify you freely 
by His grace and not help you on a Thursday morning? He's going 
to be responsible for the plan that sent the Son to the cross 
to bear the shame, to bear the curse, to bear the wrath, and 
He's not going to help you with a difficult situation. Now, again, 
it's not magic. It's not Benny Hinn-ism. It's 
not Joel Osteen-ism. It's not like Jesus is a four-leaf 
clover or a holy horseshoe or a rabbit's foot or some other 
lucky charm. It doesn't work like that. But 
we will, by the grace of God, do what is necessary, by His 
grace, to bring glory to Him. We have the sure promise in Romans 
8, verse 28. And we know that God causes all 
things to work together for good. To who? To those who love God, 
to those who are the called according to His purpose. Now, I don't 
know if you've sufficiently meditated upon that verse, but I doubt 
that Paul meant, we know that all good things work for good. 
That's a tautology. We already know good things are 
good, don't we? We already know that good things work for good. 
We already know that finding a big bag of money worked for 
my good. Not that that happened, I'm using 
an illustration. We know that good things work 
for good in the context, especially as we move to the end of the 
chapter, and he's enforcing upon us the believer's security in 
spite of all opposition. Romans 8.28 must most certainly 
mean we know that all bad things work for good. Why? Because God 
has it under His control. Because God did not spare His 
own Son, but He delivered Him up to the shame of Calvary. How 
will He not also bless us in the midst of bad things? How 
will he not vindicate his own elect who cry to him day and 
night? How will he not be there in the 
fire to encourage his suffering martyrs? How will he not empower 
Thomas Hawkes to proclaim Christ as Lord of the Fire? How will 
he not sustain this young Leah that was captured by Boko Haram? How will he not do that? If he's 
done the greatest, he'll do the lesser. That's the nature of 
the argument that Paul is making at this point. It is most blessed, 
it is most helpful, it is most useful. Manton said, two things 
breed confidence. The fidelity of God, that's his 
faithfulness, and his liberality. His liberality and his gifts 
and his fidelity and his promises. His giving up Christ to die for 
us is a pledge of both. This was the greatest promise, 
the exhibition of the Messiah, and this was the greatest gift. You see, Paul wants the people 
of God at this particular juncture to reflect on these things. Everything he has written up 
to this particular time, as I said, summarized right there in verses 
29 and 30 in terms of the Ordo Salutis. Paul wants us to reflect 
upon that and then engage in praise to God Almighty for the 
security that he is bound to us. That's the point of this 
particular passage. Flavel says, how is it imaginable 
that God should withhold after this, the greater, he didn't 
spare his own son, but he delivered him up for us all, how is it 
imaginable that God should withhold after this spirituals or temporals 
from his people? And by spirituals or temporals, 
I take it spiritual blessings or temporal blessings. How is 
it imaginable? If he does the greater, how is 
he not going to assist you in killing the sin of pornography? If He is going to do the greater, 
how is He not going to assist you in killing the sin of gossip? 
How is He not going to assist you in killing whatever sin you 
struggle with? How is He not going to come to 
the aid and the rescue to those who He sent His Son to die for? Again, not magic, not holy horseshoes, 
not four-leaf clovers, not rabbit's feet, but it is the means or 
rather the plan of God to keep His people in the midst of suffering, 
hardship, and woe. And that brings us to our third 
point. Notice the application of all 
this with reference to the believer's security. Typically a preacher 
goes through a passage, he hopefully does his exegesis, he sees the 
heads or the points, and then points of application sort of 
flow from that. Paul just fills in application 
for us tonight. It's just beautiful. By way of 
question and answer, rhetorically devised to be sure, he provides 
us with a great context of application. Notice, after the declaration 
concerning the liberality of God, the implication concerning 
the liberality of God, notice he comes to apply it in verses 
33 to 39. In the first place, there is 
a refutation of those who bring a charge against God's elect. Notice in verse 33, who shall 
bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Now, we ask the question, who 
would do this? Who would bring a charge against God's elect? 
Well, the devil would, wouldn't he? He's an accuser of the brethren, 
according to Revelation chapter 12. We see him in action in the 
prophet Zechariah chapter 13, verse 1. Remember Joshua, the 
high priest? He's in his filthy garments, 
and the devil's right there, ready to jump and pounce and 
highlight the fact that he's a wicked, filthy, vile man. Before 
the devil can even open his mouth, however, the Lord rebukes him. 
The Lord knows what Joshua's condition is. The Lord knows 
what Joshua's situation is. And of course the Lord deals 
with him in a justifying manner. He orders that Joshua's filthy 
garments be stripped from him, and he orders that new royal 
attire be placed upon him. This is justification by grace 
alone through faith alone. So the devil will seek to bring 
a charge against God's elect. Other people might seek to bring 
a charge against God's elect. It may sort of sound like this. 
How could you ever call yourself a Christian in light of the fact 
that you did this? How in the world could you consider 
yourself to be a Christian in light of the fact that you did 
that? So there might be that charge 
of God's elect coming from other people. Might not just be in 
your own circle of friends, might not just be within your church, 
it might be in the world. How in the world could you call 
yourself a believer? Now brethren, if you're acting 
in such a way that people are saying that a lot to you, there 
might be a problem. So understand that. You want 
to make that necessary qualification. If everybody's saying to you, 
how in the world could you ever call yourself a Christian? It might 
be time to reflect. It might be time to do a personal 
inventory. It might be time to get your 
Bible out and look at your heart and ask the question, maybe I'm 
not. But there are those who with gentle souls, bruised wreaths, 
smoking flax, they are nevertheless upbraided by a certain class 
of people. And so what Paul says here is 
most appropriate in terms of his argument. The believer's 
security is sure because God justifies. It is a refutation 
of those who charge the elect by the justifying grace of God 
Almighty. In other words, what silences 
the opposition? It's not your good works, because 
most of the time you'll have to argue the same. Well, yeah. In fact, maybe we are in there 
as well. Who can bring a charge against 
God's elect? It might not just be from others. It might not 
just be from Satan. It might not just be from the 
world. It might rise up from within. Well, how do we silence 
that? Is it by our good works? Is it 
by our obedience? Or is it by the fact that God 
is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus 
Christ? Hint, it's the second. Don't 
try to silence the opposition by an appeal to your own good 
words. Silence the opposition by an appeal to the glorious 
work of the justifying grace of God Almighty. Notice the refutation 
of those who condemn. Excuse me, verse 34, 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. The elect deserve condemnation. 
Who is he who condemns? Again, it may be the same sort 
of categories. It might be the devil, it might be the world, 
it might be our own flesh, it might be others within our circle 
of influence or friends. But needless to say, the same 
appeal is made. Who is he who condemns? It is 
Christ who died. It is Christ who is risen. It 
is Christ who ever lives to make intercession for his people. 
Again, how do we shut the mouths of those who would condemn us? 
We do so not based on our virtue, but based on the virtue of Jesus 
Christ, based on the doing and the dying and the rising of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the constant appeal. That's 
wherein the believer's security is. Brethren, your security and 
mine in grace is not in words. Our security is in the grace 
of God. I love our Confession of Faith, 
the chapter with reference to adoption. It says, all those 
that are justified, God vouchsafed in and for the sake of His only 
Son, Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption, by 
which they are taken into the number and enjoy the liberties 
and privileges of the children of God, have His name put on 
them, receive the spirit of adoption, have access to the throne of 
grace with boldness, are unable to cry, Abba, Father, are pitied, 
protected, provided for, and chastened by Him as a Father, 
yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption, and 
inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation." You 
see, that's a packed statement concerning our safety ultimately 
in God, not by virtue of our having placed ourselves into 
the family of God, vis-a-vis Pelagianism or Arminianism, but 
having been placed in the family of God by the justifying power 
of God. And it's that to which we appeal 
when charges are laid. It's that to which we appeal 
when condemnation is offered. We don't look at ourselves as 
an argument for silencing the critics. It is the grace of God. And then notice the celebration 
of the immutable love of Christ in verses 35 to 39. I think it 
was Pastor A.N. Martin who said, when you get 
to verses 38 and 39 in the book of Romans, you just can't preach 
that. You can't say it any better. You really can't. I mean, 38 
and 39, that's like, you know, the Mount Sham of the Fraser 
Valley. It just, it doesn't get any better. Notice, again, in the context, 
it's the security of the believer, and that security of the believer 
is tied intimately to the liberality of God. He didn't spare his own 
son, but he delivered him up. How will he not also freely with 
him give us all things? The security of the believer 
is affixed to the God of heaven and earth. But notice the question 
in verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Now, 
the separation in view is not our love for Christ, because 
just about anything could do that. If you know your own heart, 
just about anything could do that. You're supposed to be meditating 
upon the scripture, you're supposed to be thinking through the implications 
of God's word, and immediately you think of dinner. There's 
just about anything that can separate us from the love of 
Christ, with reference to our love to Christ. What, in view, 
is Christ's love for us? So when Paul says, what can separate 
us from the love of Christ? The answer, briefly, is nothing. And he highlights that with several 
sort of statements. Notice, the tribulation endured 
by believers in verses 35 and 36 shall not separate them from 
the love of Christ. Notice, who shall separate us 
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress 
or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? There's no 
way. You see, we are basically dispositionally 
responsive to situations like this. We see problems, difficulties, 
trials, and conclude that God doesn't love us. Or he's mad 
at us. He must be upset with me because 
I'm suffering, I'm struggling. Paul's point here is these things 
do not separate you from the love of Christ. Tribulations, 
trials, hardships, famines, persecutions, nakedness, peril, or even the 
sword do not separate you from the love of Christ. See, that's 
the point. What or who can separate us from 
the love of Christ? What does Paul say in Philippians 
1, verse 21? He says, for to me to live is 
Christ and to die is gain. Now, in that particular context 
or situation, Paul is in prison. At that time, he wasn't sure 
whether he would be executed or not, though I think he thought 
he would be released, and he was. In that imprisonment, he 
was ultimately released. It would be his final imprisonment 
that he would be executed under Nero. But in that Philippians 
context, he's not positive that he's going to get out again. 
So imagine, you happen to be one of his guards at his jail 
cell and you're not sure whether he's going to be fed to the lions 
or not. You know, over here I'm writing this great epistle to 
the Philippians and he says, for to me to live is Christ and 
to die is gain. You'd probably run back to your 
superiors and say, you know, I don't really think we can hurt 
him. He says to die is gain. How do you destroy a man like 
that? How do you hurt a man like that? Why does Paul say, for 
to me to die is gain? Because it means more Christ. 
You see, Paul understood that lions, death, hardship, persecution, 
trial, distress, did not argue for an absence of the love of 
Christ, but was simply one of the things that affected the 
people of God as they had dealings in this lower world. The love 
of Christ is sure. The love of Christ is constant. 
The love of Christ is secure. The love of Christ ain't going 
anywhere. If you end up in a lion's den 
and that big beast is about to collapse your windpipe, realize 
Christ won't stop loving you. Isn't that beautiful? That's 
really the point in this section. Not just lions, but in an increasingly 
hostile Roman Empire. At the time Paul wrote Romans, 
it was still okay. Nero would ultimately go nuts. But in the 50s or the mid-50s 
when Paul wrote Romans, Nero was hedged in a bit by some decent 
human beings. There was some restraint exercised 
upon Nero. He didn't exhibit his truly beastly 
character until the early 60s. In about the mid-50s, there's 
increasing opposition. We'll notice when we study the 
book of Acts, the first great persecutor of the church of Jesus 
Christ was unbelieving Jews. It wasn't the Roman Empire. Initially, 
the Roman Empire thought that Christianity was just a subset 
of Judaism, and Judaism was legal within the empire, so they pretty 
well left Christians alone. They didn't molest Christians. 
They didn't deal badly or poorly with Christians. The empire just 
kind of let Christians be. But increasingly, they received 
the opposition from the state. And Nero specifically was a beast 
with reference to the people of God. So Paul sees these things 
happening. He sees the sorts of things that 
will affect the people of God. And Paul has just discoursed 
concerning the great gospel of justification by faith. Paul 
has told these dear brethren, and us by extension, that not 
only has God called you, not only has God justified you, but 
God is going to glorify you. That's not going to change. The 
love of Christ won't stop. Whatever you face on earth isn't 
going to contaminate that great love. You need to rest assured. You need to celebrate. You need 
to rejoice in the reality that there is nothing that shall separate 
us from the love of Christ. And then, not only do these things 
not stop the love of Christ, and not only do these things 
not stop the believer in Christ, but in verse 37, paradoxically, 
Paul says, yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through 
Him who loved us. These things there is everything 
he just mentioned in terms of a horrible way for us to suffer 
and find distress and pain and death in this life. Yet in all 
these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved 
us. What's the point? What's the purpose? What's the 
statement there? Not only do these trials not 
shipwreck the faith of the believer, but God actually used these trials 
to conform people even more and more under the image of the Son, 
so that we are more than conquerors. So we rise victorious from the 
ashes. We enter into the presence of 
God Most High. The worst that this world can 
do, nevertheless, is a means by which we enter in to the presence 
of God the Lord. And then in verses 38 and 39, 
the comprehensive description of anything that may possibly 
be perceived to separate us from the love of God, which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord. He says in verse 38, 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 created thing shall be able to separate 
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
That is just glorious, isn't it? I want to look at two clauses. 
I know Al Martin said not to preach on this, but allow me 
two clauses here. Notice at the end of verse 38, 
nor things present, nor things to come. Nor things present, 
nor things to come. We need that encouragement, don't 
we? For the present. We need to be stuck in today. 
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. It's 
easy to see Jesus Christ active, and powerful, and glorious, and 
victorious yesterday. It's easy to come to the pages 
of Scripture and say, well, that was then, and forget today. The Christ who is faithful in 
Romans 8 to the initial audience is the Christ who is faithful 
in Romans 8 to the 21st century audience. He doesn't change. He doesn't become defective in 
his execution of his mediatorial office. He's always the same. But not only do we need to be 
reminded for today, we need to be reminded for the future. And 
I would suggest this is very appropriate in troubling times 
like these. I mean, brethren, it doesn't take a rocket scientist 
or a political science major to say, we've got problems in 
this country. We've got problems in the countries 
of the earth. Anytime persons legislate and subsidize murdering 
innocent people, we really are in troublesome times. You hear 
that once in a while. Do you think God's going to deliver 
up the Western world to judgment? Do I think God's going to? We 
bear all the brand marks of having been delivered up. Gross sexual 
immorality, that is a statement or rather an indicator that God 
has delivered up. That's Romans 1, 24, 26, and 
28. He gave them up to what? To a reprobate mind. In other 
words, men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness, men who 
try to excise God from their government, men who try to operate 
autonomously. Those sorts of men are ultimately 
abandoned by God Most High and we start to live like we are. 
We live like the days that Isaiah prophesied in, not about, but 
in. Isaiah saw these things too. 
Woe to those who call good evil and evil good. That's where we're 
at. So don't you need that sure word 
from the apostle that nothing in the present is going to come 
between you and the love of Christ? You hear that too. Well, Islam 
is growing so rapidly. It's not going to stop Jesus' 
love for me. Now that may sound narcissistic, 
I don't just mean me, I mean all the elect. The verse 31, 
the verses 29 to 30, those who are by grace called, justified, 
and will be glorified. Nothing in the present can separate 
us from the love of Jesus Christ. That's where I'd say, can I get 
an amen? Because that's glorious news, 
brethren. When you see the world around 
you, when you look at what's going on, that is most encouraging. The other clause I want to look 
at is in verse 39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any 
other created thing. That's sort of the catch-all. 
I think I've told you before, the Uniform Code of Military 
Justice is what, 134 articles? Articles 100 to 133 deal with 
just about every crime you could imagine, but if those aren't 
covered, 134 covers it. It's the general article. It 
basically says, whatever 1 to 133 didn't cover, you're still 
guilty under 134. It's a catch-all. That's what this is. It's a catch-all. Everything that Paul has said, 
we'd still try to wriggle out of it. But what about me? Can 
I separate me from the love of Christ? No, you're part of any 
other created thing. Even you. can't separate you 
from the love of Christ. Now, carnal wisdom will say, 
well, I'm going to go out and smoke crack and chase prostitutes 
then, because Butler said, I can't remove myself from the love of 
Christ. That's carnal logic. Gospel logic rejoices in this 
statement, rejoices in the power of Jesus' love, rejoices in free 
grace and not free will. rejoices in the fact that it's 
Christ who keeps us and not we who keep ourselves. Nor any other 
created thing shall separate us from the love of God which 
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So in conclusion, my dear brothers 
and sisters, may I say to you, be encouraged. Celebrate your 
security with the Apostle Paul here in Romans chapter 8. I just 
want to close with a quote by John Flavel. He says, When God 
spared not his own son, this was the design of it. And could 
you know the thoughts of his heart, they would appear to be 
such as these. I will now manifest the fierceness 
of my heart to Christ and the fullness of my love to believers. 
The pain shall be His, that the ease and the rest may be theirs. 
The stripes His, and the healing balm issuing from them, theirs. The condemnation His, and the 
justification theirs. The reproach and shame His, and 
the honor and glory theirs. The curse His, and the blessing 
theirs. The death His, and the life theirs. 
The vinegar and gall His, the sweet of it theirs. He shall 
groan and they shall triumph. He shall mourn that they may 
rejoice. His heart shall be heavy for 
a time that theirs may be light and glad forever. He shall be 
forsaken that they may never be forsaken. Out of the worst 
miseries to him shall spring the sweetest mercies to them. Oh, grace, grace beyond conception 
of the largest mind. Amen. Well, let us close in a 
word of prayer. Our Father, we thank you for 
this, your word. We thank you for this comprehensive 
description of everything, and none of it shall separate us 
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. We 
thank you for this love. We thank you, Father, that you 
have bestowed it upon us freely. It's not that we deserved it. 
It's not that we earned it, it's not that we worked for it or 
merited it, it's because of what you did and not sparing your 
son and delivering him up for us. And we pray that you'd help 
us to meditate upon such passages as these and may they comfort 
and encourage us and may they aid us in the battle against 
remaining corruption. Help us to go from this place 
seeking to honor and to glorify and to love you, not as a condition 
for our salvation, but as a consequence of you having saved us. Bless 
us now, strengthen us and help us as we continue in this worship 
time to you. Bless us as we eat this bread 
and we drink this cup and we pray through Jesus Christ our 
Lord, amen.