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You may turn in your Bibles to 
Romans chapter 8 for our meditation this evening before we participate 
in the Lord's Supper. Romans chapter 8, our focus will 
be on verse 32 specifically. I do want to read the larger 
section 31 to 39. I want to acknowledge my thankfulness 
to the sermons of John Flavel and Thomas Manton. I will probably 
quote those men several times tonight. Both sermons on this 
particular text are very edifying. Romans 8, beginning in 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 accounted 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 the Word of God, we thank you for 
this epistle to the Romans, and for the great exposition of the 
Gospel. We thank you, our Father, for 
making us participants in these blessings. We know it's not because 
of our merit, it's not because of our choices, it's not because 
of our wretched free will, but it's all because of the free 
grace of God Almighty and His purpose and His plan to save 
a great multitude, His purpose to redeem His elect by the Lord 
Jesus Christ. We give all praise to You, Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit, for so great a salvation. May this particular 
passage tonight encourage our hearts along the way As pilgrims 
in this world, God, may you strengthen us as we reflect upon this most 
blessed argument given by the Apostle for the encouragement 
of the people of God. And we pray these things through 
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, in this particular 
section in verses 31 to 39, the Apostle is celebrating essentially 
the believer's security in Jesus Christ. Douglas Moo in his commentary 
says that this section, this beautiful and familiar celebration 
of the believers' security in Christ comes in response to Paul's 
rehearsal of the blessings that have been granted to the believer 
through the gospel. In other words, 31 to 39 are 
intimately connected to what has preceded. If you go back 
for just a moment in verses 29 and 30, 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." This has been referred to as the golden 
chain of salvation. Others call it the ordo salutis, 
or the order of salvation. But based on the reality of verses 
29 and 30, 31 to 39 certainly and necessarily follow. In other 
words, if God has purposed to save a great multitude, if God 
has given His elect to His Son, the Lord Jesus, Jesus has shed 
His blood on their behalf and the Holy Spirit has been given 
to them to seal and to guarantee their redemption. If they have 
been called, they have been justified, they have been or they will be 
rather glorified then we ought to see that 31 to 39 necessarily 
and gloriously follows. In other words, our God doesn't 
initiate a salvation plan. He doesn't predestine things 
in such a way so as to lose the elect that he has given to his 
son. No, rather it is to secure them, 
most certainly. As we look specifically at verse 
32, what we see is a proposition or a declaration in the first 
part of the verse, and then we see an implication drawn out. 
We want to consider these two broad categories. First, the 
declaration concerning God's liberality. Liberality. God's not a liberal in that political 
sense, but He is very liberal in terms of pouring out His grace 
and His mercy upon His people. So we have in the first part 
of the verse a declaration or an assertion or a proposition 
concerning God's liberality. And then in the second place 
we have an implication concerning God's liberality. In other words, 
if this is true, that God did not spare His own Son, God gave 
Him up for us all, then it necessarily follows, or this implication 
comes to us, how will He not with Him also freely give us 
all things? It truly is a blessed and wonderful 
argument. So let's look first at the declaration 
concerning God's liberality in verse 32a. And it's a negative 
and a positive. Notice in the first place the 
negative. He who did not spare his own 
son He who did not spare his own son. That means that God 
the Father gave his son on our behalf. That will come in the 
positive declaration wherein he delivered him up for us all. 
This whole idea of not sparing him. The relationship is highlighted 
here. He who did not spare his own 
son. Now the obvious antecedent to 
the he is God from verse 31. Specifically, God the Father. And it speaks of His own Son. Now, chapter 8 in the book of 
Romans makes much of the doctrine of adoption. We are adopted sons 
and daughters of our God Most High. We are joint heirs with 
Christ. But the highlight, or the emphasis 
here, is on His own Son. His eternally begotten Son, His 
unique Son, the Son that is of the very nature of the Father. The uniqueness is highlighted 
in this particular instance and perhaps in the backdrop is the 
Mount Moriah in Genesis chapter 22. Remember that God tells Abraham 
to take Isaac, your only son, the son whom you love, take him 
up there and deliver him up. Do not let him, or rather make 
sure that you bring this knife to bear upon him. And in Genesis 
22 at verse 12, the father says to Abraham, For now I know that 
you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only 
son, from me. So what we find in this particular 
instance is that God, the father, did not spare his own son. Flavel says, and thus you see 
the reasons of all this severity to Jesus Christ. God intended 
the sweetest mercies for you and therefore prepared the bitterest 
sufferings for Christ. From the deep sufferings you 
may confidently conclude the best of mercies are designed 
for you. God did not spare his own son. He didn't spare his son first 
in the incarnation. He did not spare His Son in the 
incarnation. The Son of Man came. He takes 
on our humanity. He clothes Himself in our flesh. The Father doesn't spare Him. 
He takes on the seed of Abraham. And in so doing, He is in the 
incarnate Son. The Father does not spare Him 
in Gethsemane. What happens when the Son cries 
out to the Father, If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me. But he says, nevertheless, not 
my will but thine be done. Listen again to John Flavel on 
this particular statement. The fact that the Father did 
not spare the Son in Gethsemane. He said, and that which makes 
a further discovery of divine severity towards Jesus Christ. You understand what divine severity 
is. The Father dealt severely with 
the Son. in terms of the sufferings, in 
terms of death, in terms of all that he bore on behalf of his 
people so that we would receive mercy from the Father. Blabel 
says that which makes a further discovery of divine severity 
towards Jesus Christ is this. 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 this 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. 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 pass. And yet, it could not be granted. Listen to what Flavel goes on 
to say. 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 that to the last drop. Oh, the justice and the severity 
of God. He who did not spare his own 
son. He didn't spare him in the garden. 
He certainly didn't spare him on Calvary's cross. The son of 
God himself cries out in that dereliction. He says, why hast 
thou forsaken me? You see, what the Apostle Paul 
wants us as believers to understand is that this proposition, this 
assertion, the reality that he did not spare his own son, the 
reality that he delivered him up for us all, this serves in 
Manton's language as the super structure of grace. It is on 
this basis, it is on this foundation, it is on this redemptive reality 
that the implication necessarily follows. If God has done the 
greater, then certainly he will do the lesser. If your father 
gives you a million dollars, certainly he will give you ten 
dollars. If your father did not spare his only begotten son on 
your behalf, shall he not come to your aid when you have trial? 
Shall he not come to your aid when you are sorrowful? Shall 
he not come and deliver you in the hour of death? Most assuredly 
he will. So there is the negative statement. 
He didn't spare his own son, but notice the positive. It says, 
but delivered him up for us all. We need to recognize the Father's 
initiative here. We need to see this. Isaiah the 
prophet, 53.10 says that Yahweh was pleased to bruise him, the 
servant of the Lord. In Acts 2, we just read it. I 
hope that you remember. The Father delivered up the Son. In Acts chapter 4, they pray 
and they acknowledge that whatever has happened, happened according 
to the predetermined plan and purpose of God Almighty. Now, the Scripture tells us that 
Pilate delivered up Jesus. The Scripture tells us that the 
people delivered up Jesus. The Scripture tells us that Jesus 
willingly was delivered up. So all those persons are involved 
to be sure, but what the Apostle highlights here is the divine 
initiative behind the scenes. Again, listen to Flavel. God 
the Father 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. So what 
is behind or what is Paul doing here? But he is highlighting 
the divine initiative in the delivering up of his own son 
on behalf of the people whom the father had given to him. 
And if we tease this out with some other scriptures, we know 
that in the first place, he was delivered up as a substitutionary 
sacrifice. It's all about substitution. 
Penal substitution is what took place on the cross. He bore our 
sins on the tree. This is very clearly declared 
in 1 Peter. In Matthew 20, 28, it says, the Son of Man came 
not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom 
for many. He is a substitutionary, curse-bearing 
sacrifice on behalf of the people. The Father delivered Him up for 
this very purpose. 1 Corinthians 5, 7, Jesus Christ 
is our Passover. He was sacrificed for us. In the second place, he was delivered 
up as a propitiatory sacrifice. You can go back to 3.25 in the 
book of Romans. Notice in Romans 3, we'll pick 
up reading in verse 23. The apostle there says, for all 
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. being justified 
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ 
Jesus, whom Christ Jesus, God the Father, set forth as a propitiation 
by His blood through faith. You see, the divine initiative 
in the cross. The Father sets forth the Son 
as the propitiation, as the one who bears the wrath and the fury 
of God Most High. This is what propitiation assumes, 
is that God is angry and that God is wrathful towards sinners. Well, Christ, as a substitute, 
as the sacrifice, propitiates the wrath of God. Notice what 
He continues to say, to demonstrate His righteousness. We notice 
this on Wednesday night. The cross publishes the love 
of God. The cross testifies concerning 
the mercy of God, the goodness of God, the kindness of God. 
But the cross declares the righteousness of God. You see, it is at the 
cross that God can be both just and the justifier of the one 
who has faith in the Lord Jesus. God did not relax His law, God 
did not bend it, God did not wink at sin, but rather because 
of the doctrine of imputation, Christ stood in the place of 
His people and He took the wrath and fury that you and I deserve. The Father delivered Him up to 
be a propitiatory sacrifice. In the third place, He was delivered 
up as a sin-bearing sacrifice. What's the point in 2 Corinthians 
5.21? God, the Father, made Him, Christ, 
the Son, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. That we might 
become the righteousness of God in Him. See, the idea is that 
by amputation, it's put on Christ. And it's punished in Christ who 
stands in the stead of His people and satisfies divine justice. In the fourth place, he was delivered 
up. Again, just taking some of the 
passages, you could comb through the New Testament and find a 
multitude more of reasons why this happens. Romans 4.25. We read that he was delivered 
up because of our offenses, and he was raised because of our 
justification. He was delivered up because of 
our offenses. He is the sin-bearing sacrifice. Now remember, he does not become 
sinful. You need to understand this whole 
doctrine of imputation. Our sin cast upon the Lord Jesus 
Christ is a legal transaction. It is forensic in nature. The father punishes the son who 
has the imputed sins of all his people. Just like when the righteousness 
of Christ is imputed to us, we don't magically get real holy, 
do we? It is forensic. It is legal. It is a declaration. It is a 
transaction. This is why the reformers emphasize 
the forensic nature of justification. In justification, it's not transformative. It's not me being more holy. 
It is constitutive. It is God declaring because of 
what Christ has done, not guilty to those whom the Father had 
given to Him. And he was delivered up finally 
for the curse, or as a curse, for those who were under the 
curse. Galatians 3.13. You can turn 
there. It's important for us to understand 
this text in the larger scheme of redemptive history. Galatians 3.13, Christ has redeemed 
us from the curse of the law. having become a curse for us. For it is written, curse it is 
everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham 
might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might 
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. One of my sons 
recently listened to Ralph Davis' sermon from Genesis chapter 15. 
If you remember Genesis chapter 15, it's a covenant ratification 
ceremony between, or betwixt, if I can use Flavel's old language 
there, the Twix, the Father, and Abraham. You remember what 
Abraham was instructed to do. Abraham was told to take animals 
and to cut them into pieces and set them in two rows. You see, 
this was a cutting of the covenant ceremony. The participants in 
this cutting of the covenant ceremony would march between 
those two rows with the dead animals on either side. And when 
the two parties marched between those two rows, what they were 
affirming by this activity What they were symbolically conveying 
is that if we renege on the covenant, if we break the covenant, if 
we don't fulfill our covenantal obligations, may what happened 
to these animals happen to us. It was a malediction. It was 
a curse. You know the word benediction. Sometimes we end the service 
with a benediction. We say a good word. The contrary 
to benediction is a malediction. It is a bad word. And I don't 
mean a curse word, you know, like a bad word that you might 
hear on the playground. But it's a curse or an invoking 
of a curse upon the person that expresses this maledictory oath. What's intriguing about that 
covenantal ceremony? What happens? God puts Abraham 
to sleep. Abraham wakes up long enough 
to see this torch passing betwixt the animals. What's the symbolism 
involved? God ratifies the covenant on 
his own. God undertakes on his own. God says, essentially, if parties 
break this covenant, then what happens to the animals must happen 
to me. It ought not to surprise us that 
Galatians 3.13 is in our Bibles. Because what happens? We broke 
that covenant. There must be someone treated 
like those animals. There must be penalty inflicted 
on the part of the covenant breaker. You see, that's the beauty of 
Christ. He takes our place. He renders 
to God a perfect obedience, but that sin is heaped upon him in 
the doctrine of imputation. Christ then suffers the wrath 
and fury of God that you and I deserve. Those bleeding animals 
should be us. That cutting off should be us, 
but Christ was made a curse for us. Those who were under the 
curse of the law have been blessed very much by our Lord Jesus, 
because the Father spared Him not, and the Father delivered 
Him up as a curse for us all. We go back to Romans chapter 
8 and we ask the question, who is all? Does all mean everybody 
without distinction? Does all mean everybody without 
exception? Does all mean every single human 
being? Did the father spare not his 
own son? Did the father deliver up his 
son for all? Are the Universalists right? 
Are the Armenians right? Are the Pelagians right? Remember 
that words find definition in the context. What is or who are 
the all? They're the verse 29 and 30 people. They're the ones that were foreknown. They're the ones that were predestined. They're the ones that were called. 
They're the ones that were justified. They're the ones that will be 
glorified. That's the all in verse 32. We see that in verse 31 as well. 
What shall we say to these things if God is for us? Of course God 
is for his elect. Of course God is for those called 
and justified, on their way to glory. He's not for those who 
are outside of Christ. This is not a promise, verse 
31, for the unbeliever. If you are not a believer tonight, 
God is against you. If you are not a believer in 
Christ tonight, the Lord God Most High, maker of heaven and 
earth, maker of things seen and unseen, the one who holds this 
world together and is bringing it to a particular end, that 
God is against you. The Psalter says that God is 
angry with the wicked every single day. This is not a text for the 
unbeliever. It is for us. It is for those 
who by God's grace are in Christ. They are called the elect in 
verse 33. In verses 35 and 39 it's indicated 
that they will never fall away. The ones for whom Christ was 
not spared, the ones for whom Christ was delivered up, are 
all those whom the Father had given to Him in the covenant 
of redemption, when He said essentially to His Son, here is a miserable 
lot of sinners, go and redeem them. And Christ willingly undertakes, 
He obeys the terms and the obligations laid upon Him. And he successfully 
executes this covenant in a manner that brings glory to God and 
eternal blessing to his people. Truly is an amazing thing. Amen, 
brother. Go ahead and say amen because 
there's a world of amening to be had in Romans 8.32. Now notice 
the implication is drawn out. Notice the implication is drawn 
out. 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? You see, it's a greater to the 
lesser argument. As I mentioned before, if your 
father hands you a million dollars, you can trust him to give you 
ten. If the father spared not his own son, but delivered him 
up for us all, you can trust him to guide you and grant you 
grace with a peculiar temptation you are facing. How will he not 
with him also freely give us all things? The basis of this 
particular implication is what we have seen preceding. The basis 
is the redemptive work of Christ that was initiated by the Father 
and executed by the Son. Manton again says, two things 
breed confidence. Two things breed confidence, 
the fidelity of God and His liberality, right? Doesn't this provoke confidence 
in you? The fidelity or the faithfulness 
of God and His liberality. Isn't that what's been set forth 
in this particular passage? Manton says His liberality in 
His gifts and His fidelity in 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. 
If He's done the greater, He will do the lesser. If He did 
not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall 
He not? You see, it's a no-brainer, isn't 
it? Paul's not trying to insult us, 
but in many respects, he's saying, this is just the way you ought 
to figure it to be. Flavel says, how is it imaginable 
that God should withhold, after this, spirituals or temporals 
from his people? The Father is going to give us 
this. He's going to give us the lesser. Manton summarizes the 
doctrine of the sermon this way. that in the death of Christ, 
God hath laid a broad foundation for a large superstructure of 
grace to be freely dispensed to all those that have an interest 
in Him." It's a beautiful argument. With reference to the particular 
application, what's the context? Your security, your stability, 
your place before a holy God. When we get to verses 31 to 39, 
as I said, they follow naturally from what has been given to us 
in 29 to 30. Actually, the entirety of the 
book. After Paul sets forth the universality of God's wrath and 
judgment upon sin and sinners in 118 to 320, he shifts directions, 
or he rather expounds the truth of the gospel. He gives the bad 
news in 1.18 to 3.20, and from 3.21 all the way to the end of 
11. He gives the good news, but now the righteousness of God 
is revealed from faith to faith. It is witnessed by the Law and 
the Prophets, simply this, that those who are in Christ have 
everlasting life. So you see, all of that is given 
to the believers so that we will not be fearful. so that we will not falter, so 
that we will not conclude that God is going to leave us. If He did not spare His own Son, 
if He delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with 
Him freely give you all things that you stand in need of? You 
see, this implication brings a bit of responsibility. Maybe 
it is the case that we have not because we ask not. Maybe it 
is the case that we do not successfully battle sin and temptation and 
resist evil because we are not crying out to the Lord in light 
of Romans 8.32. Perhaps we ought to come to the 
Father and say, Lord, we know you didn't spare your own son. 
We know that you delivered him up for us all. And we know that 
you have promised to freely, with him, give us all things. 
God, I need grace. I need strength. I need stability. I am facing a peculiar temptation 
in this particular regard. Help me to resist it. Help me to fight it. Help me, 
Lord God. I know that You did not send 
Your Son in vain. I know that You did not send 
Him for naught. I know that You sent Him to secure 
my salvation, and through His blood I have everlasting life. 
You're not going to be finished with me now. I love the way our 
confession describes adoption. I think it's a different Adoption 
isn't strictly what verses 31 to 39 are, but it certainly encompasses 
this. Our confession 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 upon 
them, receive the spirit of adoption, have access to the throne of 
grace with boldness, are enabled to cry, Abba, Father, are pitied, 
protected, provided for, and chastened by Him as by a father. You've probably heard me before 
say it bugs me when people treat the confessions as just these 
sort of academic and sort of clinical approaches to Christian 
theology. Can you get any more hearty than 
this? Can you get any more soul-stirring than this? They are enabled to 
cry, Abba, Father, are pitied, protected, provided for, and 
chastened by Him as by a father. You could comb the modern Christian 
bookstore and search in vain to find that rich of theology. That is beautifully formulated. That's experimental Christianity. That is experientialism and not 
in some whacked out mystical esoteric sense. It is experiencing 
the blessings of the gospel because of the goodness of God. Confession 
in this chapter ends by saying, yet never cast off, but sealed 
to the day of redemption and inherit the promises as heirs 
of everlasting salvation. You see, Paul wants us, in the 
context of the security of the believer, consider the superstructure 
of grace. He did not spare his own son, 
but he delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him 
also freely give us all things? We have security in our God. We have stability in our God. I echo Spurgeon when he said 
that such a gospel that teaches that men who are saved can finally 
be lost is no gospel at all. I abhor such an arrangement. 
The one who begins a good work in us will complete it onto the 
day of Christ. Brethren, you need to understand, 
as Moat wrote, his oath, his covenant, his blood, support 
me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives 
way, he then is all my hope and stay. It's on Christ the solid 
rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. 
Isn't that what 8.32a says? He did not spare his own son. 
He delivered him up for us all. That's the solid rock that the 
believer's security is tapped into, is tied onto. You ought to be a happy people, 
brethren, if you have a saving interest in the Lord Jesus. Yes, 
there'll be doubts. Yes, there'll be temptations. 
Yes, there'll be resistance. Yes, there'll be hardship. Yes, 
there'll be woes. Yes, there'll be sufferings. 
But His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the whelming 
flood. When all around my soul gives 
way, He then is all my hope and stay. The believer's security 
is bound up in the implication of verse 32. As well, the believer's 
sanctification. You say, well, I just can't get 
over this, or I can't stop this. I'm a gossipy Gertrude, and I 
just can't stop. I'm a nagging Nelly, and I just 
can't stop. I'm kleptomaniac Kevin, and I 
just can't stop. No, if you are in Christ, if 
the Spirit of God is yours, you can resist those temptations. You must fight, you must endure, 
you must persevere. You must resist those things 
every step of the way. You need to understand the reality 
of Him not sparing His own Son, but delivering Him up for us 
all. The primary focus, or at least an aspect there, is that 
Christ saves us from the penalty of sin. The whole idea of atonement 
is in the idea of the satisfaction of divine punishment, or the 
divine penalty for sin. But it's not just the penalty 
that Christ breaks. It is the power of sin. You see, 
you cannot say, well, I just can't do it. You cannot say, 
I'll never be successful. You cannot say, I'll never get 
to the place. You'll never get to the place 
of perfection. You'll never be sinlessly holy. 
You'll never be without spot. But to make progress in the faith 
has been secured for you by the gift and the power of the Holy 
Spirit Himself. He is the Holy Spirit. He has 
been given to us. Yes, as a seal. Yes, as a guarantee. But as a person who indwells 
us so that we resist pornography. So that we resist pride. So that 
we resist drugs. So that we resist drunkenness. 
So that we put things to death by his spirit. Never forget, 
this is the climax of chapter 8 as a whole. What else does 
chapter 8 deal with? If by the Spirit, verse 13, you 
do mortify the deeds of the body, then you will live. Romans chapter 
8 is a blessed, glorious statement concerning or starting off with 
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We have 
been justified freely by His grace. Moves on into sanctification. moves on into this ordo salutis 
or golden chain in 29 to 30, and it ends on this high crescendo 
that there is nothing that can ever separate us from the love 
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Brethren, you need 
to understand if He's done the greater, He can do the lesser, 
giving you aid in a particular day to fight manfully against 
a particular sin. So how shall He not with Him 
also freely give us all things? security of the believer, the 
sanctification of the believer, and ultimately the glorification 
of the believer. Isn't that beautiful? And isn't 
that what the cross and the empty tomb teaches us? You know, what's 
one of the significances of the tomb? He was delivered up because 
of our offenses. He was raised for our justification. Paul then in 1 Corinthians chapter 
15 indicates the close relationship between the resurrection of Jesus 
and the resurrection of all men. If Christ has been raised, what 
does that mean? It means that you and I will 
be raised. It means that you and I will enter into glory. 
That you and I will be in the presence of the Father and the 
Son and the Spirit, world without end. Amen. It means that we will 
stand before Him and we will see Him as He is. And in the 
gospel, God has not only secured our justification and our sanctification, 
but he has secured our glorification. And we need to understand this 
and we need to be encouraged by this and strengthened and 
blessed and helped. We are heading to glory. We are 
on our way to Emmanuel's land. We're going to that place where 
there's no sorrow, no pain, no hunger, no thirst, no more death. We're going to be with God and 
the Lamb who sits upon the throne. And in light of that, if you 
are not a believer tonight, I invite you to believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ. There is nothing better. There is nothing more excellent 
in this world than to be able to say with Paul, 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 nothing, 
no joy greater than to know that my sins are blotted out, that 
Christ paid the debt, that I have a righteousness that avails with 
God. I have been clothed in the righteousness of another. I will 
go into that wedding feast and I will be able to sit down at 
the marriage supper of the Lamb. If you have not believed, come 
to the Lord Jesus Christ. and by His grace and for His 
glory lay hold of offered mercy." Well, in conclusion, we see first 
the graciousness of the Father in this passage. I could have 
already concluded, but I did want to read this one more quote 
from John Flavel. Listen to this. The man had a 
way with words, I got to say. 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. He does 
this in another place with reference to the covenant of redemption. 
He personifies the person of the father and the person of 
the son. Says the father says something to the effect, my son, 
here is a lot of miserable sinners. They demand punishment and all 
these sorts of things. And the son steps up and says, 
father, give them to me. I will be their surety. I will 
pay their debt. I will pay it to the uttermost. 
Beautiful, beautiful. Does the same thing here in this 
context. 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 of mercies to them. 
Oh, grace, grace beyond conception of the largest mind. The graciousness 
of the Father we ought to consider. Secondly, the willingness of 
the Son. He was a willing participant 
in this covenant. He willingly goes into this world. He willingly becomes a man of 
sorrows and acquainted with grief. He willingly sees the foxes with 
their holes and the birds of the air with their nests. And 
he sees that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. He willingly 
passes through Gethsemane. He does pray in his humanity. 
If it be possible, Father, let this cup pass from me. Christ, 
of all persons, knew what the cup contained. If you do a bare 
study on the idea, the idea is that the wrath of God is in the 
cup. The wrath of God is poured out 
upon the nations. The wrath of God is what must 
be drank. And the Lord Jesus says, nevertheless, 
not my will but thine be done. How many times in the Gospel 
of John, how many times does He willingly acquiesce to the 
Father? How many times does He express 
His submission? How many times does He say, whatever 
my Father commands, I love to do? How many times does He say 
that my meat is to do the will of Him who sent me? So the graciousness 
of the Father is paralleled by the willingness of the Son. The 
Lord Jesus says, I lay down my life for the sheep. The Lord 
Jesus is an active participant in this whole affair. The Lord 
Jesus, through His active and passive obedience, provides the 
basis and the framework and the ground for our justification. The Lord Jesus takes the cup 
of God's wrath and He drinks it down. He exhausts damnation 
in the language of John Murray. He cries, why hast thou forsaken 
me? He does this because of the elect. He does this for the glory of 
his Father. You see, all these things converge 
finally upon the security of the believer. If the Father has 
been willing to do this, if the Son has been willing to do this, 
then get up out of your bed and live your Christian life for 
the glory of God, for the praise and exaltation of His name. You 
ought to be rejoicing when you come to the house of the Lord. 
You ought not to be falling in here. You ought to imbibe the 
ethic of King David when he said, I was glad when they said unto 
me, let us go to the house of the Lord. We open our books of 
Psalms. We open our books of hymns. And 
we use this time to praise and to glorify and honor God. We come to the supper tonight 
not because it's some religious ritual that Christians through 
the ages have done, but it's the Father feeding His children. It's the Father giving us bread 
and wine as weary pilgrims along the way. We come into His house 
on the Lord's Day, and He refreshes us, and He blesses us, and He 
encourages us, and He sends us back out in there. And we daily 
have the Spirit, we daily have the Word, we daily have prayer, 
we daily have this abundance of resources given unto us. Brethren, 
let us run with endurance the race that is laid before us. 
Let us look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. For 
God did not spare His own Son, but God delivered Him up for 
us all. And in light of that proposition, in light of that 
declaration, in light of that assertion, the implication necessarily 
follows. How will He not with Him also 
freely give us all things? all things necessary for our 
security, all things necessary for our sanctification, all things 
necessary that will land us in Emmanuel's land. And we will 
say it with the hymn writer. We may even be in close proximity 
to Newton. When we've been there 10,000 
years, we've bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to 
sing what? To sing God's praise than when 
we first begun. for this largeness, this massiveness, 
this liberality of grace. God has poured it upon us. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank you so much for this passage. We thank you, God, that 
you did the greater and you promised to do the lesser. We ask that 
you would keep us, that you'd watch over us, that passages 
like these would encourage us along the way, and that as we 
eat this bread and we drink this cup tonight, we would do so in 
remembrance of the Lord, the one who willingly submitted to 
the wrath and judgment of God Most High. And may we do so in 
light of the reality that our Father has purposed these things 
for our well-being and for our eternal bliss. God, we praise 
Father, Son, and Spirit for so great a salvation, and may you 
bless this time together. who we ask through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen.