Romans 8:18-39 "Loved by God" Jack D. Terry, Jr.

The speaker talks about graduating from Southwestern Seminary and the excitement of young people going into ministry. They mention being in Chapter 8 of the Book of Romans and discuss the idea of being joint heirs with Jesus Christ. They talk about suffering in the present time and compare it to the glory that will be revealed in eternity. The speaker also mentions Martin Luther's perspective on this. They discuss sanctification and how it leads to glorification. They talk about creation groaning and eagerly waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. They mention how the creation is in bondage and eagerly waits to be delivered. They also talk about believers eagerly waiting for the redemption of their bodies. The speaker emphasizes the hope that comes from trusting in God and the eternal plan. Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him, all creatures, here below. Praise Him above the heavenly host, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. I can't believe it, but we graduate at Southwestern Seminary on the first Friday in December. So, graduation is almost here. So there will be a lot of young people who will be ready to go out to ministry. There will be a lot of wives who will be very happy. Very, very happy. Because their husbands are out of seminary. And they can get into ministry life and start living again. And not seminary students. So, you all pray for them. It's coming up first Friday in December. I think it's the third of December. So it will be the first Friday. Today we're still in Chapter 8 of the Book of Romans. And we'll continue. The reason we're still in Chapter 8 is because I got halfway through last week where I planned to get. And I plan to get the rest of the way today if possible. And so you all just continue to pray for us all. The interesting thing about the Apostle Paul is he has just said something in Chapter 8 which was kind of dazzling and startling and really I think by the time he got to verse 18 he was still ruminating on what he had just said in verse 17. I think he was still thinking about the importance and the import of what he said in verse 17. Because in verse 17 he just got through saying that we were made heirs and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. And being a joint heir with Jesus Christ all of eternity is ours. All of heaven is ours. All of God is ours. Everything God has is ours. If everything God has is Jesus. It belongs to Jesus. And we are joint heirs with Him. Then everything we have are the same thing that Jesus has. We are joint heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord. And I think Paul was still thinking about that when he started verse 18. Because in verse 18 he said I reckon. Now reckon is a financial word. Every now and again Barbara gets me down. She sits me down and she says reconcile your checkbook. And what she means is look at it and be sure that what you have in the bank is what you have listed in your checkbook. And don't suppose that you have in the bank what's not in your checkbook. Or don't suppose you have in your checkbook what's not in the bank. And you're going to reconcile them. And so Paul uses this word I reckon. And the reckoning that he's talking about is having just said that he was a joint heir with Jesus Christ. And all of eternity is His. And all of heaven is His. And all of God is His. And all of Christ is His. He says because of that I reckon that the minor suffering of this particular world. I consider that the suffering of the present time is not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us. And so the apostle is comparing the suffering that he has been going through in relationship to what's getting ready to happen in eternity. And he's saying I'm reckoning. I'm accounting it. I'm putting it down in the checkbook that the suffering that we're suffering today is in no way even considered to be close to what is going to be happening to us when we all eventually get to heaven. Now Martin Luther said kind of the same thing. He said I would not give one moment of all eternity for all of the thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of years that I could have here on earth. I would not give one moment for that. So he's saying basically the same thing that the apostle Paul is saying. He's saying I suppose that if we suffer some that suffering cannot even be compared to the glory that we're going to be receiving when we get to heaven. So he begins this particular section of chapter 8 talking about glorification. Now you remember we are looking at the process of salvation. And we started off by looking at sin and death. And then we looked at justification. And for the last week or two we have been looking at sanctification. And we'll continue looking at sanctification through today and into next week. The sanctification eventually leading to glorification. Glorification wherein God takes us and he glorifies us and makes us totally and finally exactly like him. And we live with him for eternity and forever. And so we're moving into that particular active part that we call sanctification. Now to be sanctified means to be holy. A person who is sanctified is a person who demonstrates holiness. A person who has relational in them holiness. The holiness of God sanctifies a person. And what God is getting ready to do here, he's getting ready to put into us because he has already given him to us. He's getting ready to put into us the finality of the Holy Spirit who will himself, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, will do a total sanctification on us. And we will be totally sanctified, not in and of ourselves, but in and of the Lord Jesus Christ the Father and the Holy Ghost. And we shall be sanctified together with them. So in verse 19 he says, for because the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. Now he's getting ready to start telling us about how this creation of which we are a part and of which the entire universe that we have any knowledge of is a part and anything that is relational to what's going on presently is a part, all of that is our creation and we're part of that creation. And he's getting ready to say that that creation is waiting for the revelation of the sons of God. Creation, ladies and gentlemen, groans. Creation groans. In fact, the lamb today lies in fear of the lion and tries to stay away from the lion as best as possible. But in a creation where God is in total control, as you remember in the Old Testament, the prophet said, and the lamb shall lie down with the lion. That's the peacefulness of the final and the everlasting creation that is to come. So what Paul's getting ready to do is he's getting ready to let us understand that this creation is in a position of groaning to see the accuracy of the eternality of God in it and yet we groan with it. Let me ask you a question. Having watched television, what you saw in Israel and other things during this last week, how many of you have said, oh Lord Jesus, come on? How many of you said that? Do you know you're groaning? Do you understand that's what I'm talking about here? We all groan. The creation groans. The creation wants to be rejuvenated. The creation wants to be made as it was. The creation wants to be like it was in the Garden of Eden before the fateful sin was conducted. The creation is groaning. The animals groan. Are you aware of the fact that an animal never ever has cavities unless they are put into captivity? Check it out. As long as an animal lives out in the wild, they never have a cavity. But if you domesticate that animal, they'll have cavities. Also, an animal out in the wild will never have any of our human diseases unless you domesticate them. Unless you put them into your home and cause them to be where you have all these flu bugs. And all of a sudden you look at your old dog and his nose is running all over the place like yours is running all over the place. You see, the animal kingdom was made not to be domesticated nor to be put in captivity. Because in captivity is that creation that's groaning for release. And the whole of the creation groans. He says in 21, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. So what Paul is talking about here, he's talking about the fact that since this creation has been corrupted and since it is in corruption and this creation is groaning for God to do his work and to move his kingdom and to establish his relationship with us, it's groaning in order that it might be relieved. Now, all of that groaning in 22, for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pains together until now. And not only they, but we, even the Christians, we who are the believers, the born again ones, even we ourselves eagerly wait for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our bodies. By the way, how many of you all have said, I wish the Lord Christ would come on? Why is he waiting? Why doesn't he step into eternity? Why doesn't he stop it? Why does he allow, why is all this being allowed? What is happening in the creation? Well, what is being allowed is in the creation because of what Adam did in the Garden of Eden. And when he put us all into the corrupted creation. And that creation is now in the process of groaning to see an accomplishment of that creation. Now, the interesting thing about this is, all of us, all of us relate all the way back to eternity past. And all of us relate to eternity future. And all of us are in the process of God's eternal situation. And as we move further in this chapter, you will see how God moves in that eternal creation and how God moves in eternity past and how God is moving into eternity future. So, verse 23 says, for we are saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope if he sees? And so, Paul is saying, we understand, we eagerly wait for the adoption of creation to be redeemed by God. We wait for that. We hope for that. All of our hope is in the adoption of creation. All of our hope is in the creation being responding to what God wanted it to be. And yet, in that hope, we simply hope for it to happen. For we were saved in this hope. In what hope? In the hope that God would move in his creation. And that God would move eventually to correct the creation, which he is going to do, and which all of us, because of our relationship to him, through the Lord Jesus Christ, knows is going to come at the culmination of this world. And so, we're simply, we're in hope. Now, faith is a substance of things hoped for. And that's what the Apostle Paul is talking about. In all of this, we trust eternal God. In all of this, we trust our redeeming Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In all of this, with the filling of the Holy Spirit, we trust the Holy Spirit, because we are in the process of hope. We don't hope in God, we hope in faith. And faith is a substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. If you see it, it's no longer hope, it's seen. In fact, you remember when the scripture says that we walk by faith and not by sight. And that's exactly what he's talking about here. But if we hope for that which we do not see, then we eagerly wait for it with patience or perseverance. So, if we are hoping for something we can't see, and yet we put all of our faith in that which we cannot see, we then put our patience with that faith, and our patience helps us to relate to that faith, and our patience eagerly helps us to eagerly wait for the redemption of the creation and the redemption of our bodies and the culmination of this world. And so we become patient in faith. Now he's getting ready to say something that we understand and need to take to heart. He's getting ready to talk about the relationship of the Holy Spirit in your life. And he's going to talk about the fact that it is the investment of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, three in one, three separate yet one, all of them investing themselves in us. For he says in verse 25, verse 26, Likewise, the Spirit himself helps us in our weaknesses, because we do not know for what we ought to pray, as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for our groanings which cannot be uttered. At this point, Paul is saying to us, God has placed inside each of us, by the power of his creative spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God in a person makes that person holy. It makes that person full of holiness. It makes that person sanctified. The Holy Spirit coming into your life is the process of sanctification in your life, and the Holy Spirit in our life, working out that sanctification process, that Holy Spirit in our life will help us to become more relational to God the Father, God the Son, and to God the Holy Spirit. He says you do not know what you ought to pray for. You don't understand what we need to pray for. And yet he says the Holy Spirit himself will make intercession for us with groanings and utterings that we cannot imagine what they are. And yet, as we pray, the Holy Spirit will make intercession to the Father with us. As I read the other day, it is not the feeble, weak prayer or the prayer that's important. It is he who hears is the one that's important. And he who hears, even how weak or how feeble our prayers may be, our feeble, weak prayers are taken by the power of the Holy Spirit which dwells with us. They are mixed with utterings that we cannot understand, nor things we cannot say, and they are presented to eternal God in our behalf by the Holy Spirit. And as we know from Scripture, Jesus sits at the right hand of God making intercession for us. Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, God the Father, all working together, making relationship for us with him so that he helps us because we do not know for what we should pray. He helps us by making intercessions with groanings and utterings which we cannot know. And then Paul asks a question. He who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Now that's an interesting verse. Now, because of, because of the fact that in you and in me dwells the Holy Spirit. Now, my dear friends, there are some folk who have a difficult time understanding in Christ Jesus. It's kind of interesting. We understand in Adam much more clearly than we understand in Christ. We understand that we were created in Adam, in the sin of Adam. We understand that we were living in the sins of Adam. We understand how that operates. But then when we step over and come into faith in Jesus Christ by redemption through the Lord Christ himself and we are put in Christ, we have a difficult time understanding how it is now that we ought to live in Christ in opposition to how we were living in Adam. That's kind of difficult for us to figure out. It's not impossible, but it's difficult. Because we had lived in Adam so long and we had operated in Adam so long and we didn't operate in relationship to righteousness and now all of a sudden having been, having our life exchanged, our life has changed from being in Adam to being in Christ and at this point you will note in the New Testament every writer begins to start writing about being in Christ Jesus. It's the same kind of relationship only it is a relationship of righteousness rather than a relationship of unrighteousness. So the relationship is basically the same. We are in somebody. We're just not out there floating around doing nothing. We are in somebody. We are no longer in sin. We are still in this body, but our spirit is in Christ Jesus. We are in holiness. And we have to come to understand since we are in holiness we need to understand how we ought to live as holy creatures. In fact, how should we live is a great question of the Bible. How should we live now that we are in Christ Jesus? In fact, we talked last week about the book, What Would Jesus Do, WWJD. And that book simply asks the question, what would Jesus do in this situation? It was kind of a book on morality, a Christian morality, asking yourself in this situation what would Jesus do and can I do that? That particular illustration is an illustration about having been in Adam and now being in Christ, our relationships and our approach is different. It is from unrighteousness to righteousness. And we begin practicing that which is righteous rather than practicing that which is unrighteous. However, back in chapter 7 and 8, back in chapter 7 in particular, you remember what the Apostle Paul said. He said, why is it that what I want to do, the last verses of chapter 7, why is it that what I want to do, I find myself not doing it? I find myself rebelling against not doing it. And why is it that which I know to do, I don't do it? Why is it that those things which I do not need to do, those things I find myself doing too often? And then he comes to a conclusion. Oh wretched, watch the word, man that I am. There's the problem. See, as long as we are in man, as long as we are in Adam, as long as we have this relationship, Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of that death? Who took you out of Adam? Who took you out of Adam? Jesus took you out of Adam. He took you out of Adam by becoming your sacrifice on the cross. And becoming your blood sacrifice, he provided for you relationship with God through redemption in his blood. He later on in resurrection gave you heaven, because in his resurrected resurrection, you and I too shall rise. And so what's happening is, Paul understands that problem. Now what we need to come to ask ourselves the question is, do we understand the problem? Do we understand that that which we choose to do, often times we find ourselves not doing? That which we ought to do, we find ourselves doing other. Could we come to the same conclusion? Oh wretched man am I, who shall deliver me from this body of death? And here comes the conclusion. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory. We have won. Ladies and gentlemen, the battle is over. Jesus won. Have you read the book? Jesus won. The battle's over. And since the battle is over, our battle with Satan is over. But, look what we still carry around. We still carry around the flesh. And guess what? The law of sin and death is still here. And the law of sin and death sits by the side of the law of life and liberty in Jesus Christ. And we can either allow ourselves to be encapsulated in the law of sin and death, even though we are believers, we can allow ourselves to be in that law of sin and death, or we can allow ourselves to be totally encapsulated in the life and liberty of Jesus Christ. The illustration. You remember the airplane last week? As long as that airplane was sitting on the ground, there's a law that had taken over. And the law was the law of gravity. And as long as that airplane was sitting on the ground, the law of gravity had control. You could sit in that airplane all day long, and the law of gravity would keep that airplane right where it was. But if you have a person like Charlie Boozer, who understands all of the instruments and all of the stuff that needs to be done to make that airplane move, and you have him walk into the cockpit, and you're sitting on that airplane, and he turns on those massive engines, and he sets everything that's necessary, he begins to set that which can supersede the law of gravity. He sets the law of aerodynamics. And the law of aerodynamics now, as that giant airplane begins to go down the runway, begins to take over, and it takes over the law of gravity. It supersedes the law of gravity, and that airplane goes into the air, and the law of gravity is overtaken by the law of aerodynamics. And as long as that airplane is set in the law of aerodynamics, it will stay up there. Turn off the engine and see what happens. Turn off the engine, and the law of gravity takes over again. And so, I'm sorry? Rather quickly. Rather quickly, too. Yeah, you have a crash real quick. And so since that has been superseded, you come to look at what we're talking about, the law of sin and death, and the law of life and liberty in Jesus Christ. The law of sin and death, ladies and gentlemen, has been victorized. It has been overcome. It is a victory. Jesus won the law over sin and death. And he has given us a superseding law which overcomes the law of sin and death if we allow ourselves to stay in the law of life and liberty in Jesus Christ. So he comes down to verse 28, observation 27, and he says, and we know who searches the heart. We know that that is God. Because he makes intercession for the saints with groanings and utterings that we cannot know. And God wants us to continue our life in the law of liberty and life in Jesus Christ. At this point, the Apostle Paul gets ready to start telling us what happened in eternity past and what is happening in eternity future. And he introduces some words that if you could look at libraries, theological libraries, if you could look in their holdings of various and sundry written materials, there is probably more written material theologically on the next five words that are listed in this chapter than there are on even the redemption of the cross or even the redemption of sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It's amazing how much has been written on foreknowledge and predestination and calling and justification and glorification. It's amazing how much has been written on foreknowledge and predestination. In fact, there are volumes and volumes and volumes of books on predestinarianism. To be predestined. And men have spent years, theological persons have spent years writing books. And yet, it's a very simple process when you look at it in the light of eternity past and in the light of eternity future. So let's take a look at it for just a minute. And we know. Now, this word we know means we know because we are aware of the fact. There are two kinds of know in the Greek language. There's one that you know because it's factual. There are others that you know because it's experiential. Epigenoso is experiential. I know it to be a fact because I've experienced it. The other one is oidaiae, which simply means I know. I have a physical understanding and a mental knowledge. And that's the word that's used here. Paul says we have a physical and a mental knowledge of the fact that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Pause. This did not say all things were good. And all things that happen to us sometimes do not appear to be good. Because the way this is written in the original language is the way that you have to understand it. And I don't want to bore you with this, nor do I want you to be overcome by it, because I just want you to understand one thing. The Greek language is a perfect language. It really is. I just cannot let you understand how perfect the Greek language is. You cannot make a mistake in Greek. You just can't do it. There's no way to make it. If I tell you something in Greek, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Now, in English, that's not the same. And there's a word here, all. And that word is the word that gives us a little problem at the beginning of this verse. For all things work together. That word is pantai, all. But in the Greek language, there's a little article. In English, we call it the word thee or the. Thee with a vowel and the with a consonant. By the way, I don't like the new ad, rent the car. Have you all seen that one? Come on, give me a break. Rent the car, you know. And he's saying rent a car. That's the article. Now, what happens is, in the Greek language, if you put an article, it changes the end product. If you leave out the article, it leaves the end like it is. And that's why oftentimes you will see in some of my writings, I will say the article was left out. When I say the article was left out, I mean the the was left out. The was not there. It just so happens that in this particular case on the pantai, the the is not there. What does that mean for this scripture? It means that the word all does not mean that all things are good. It means that all things have essence for good. Aha! That's different. If it had the article, it would mean that everything is good. If it doesn't have the article, it means that everything has essence to become good, vis-a-vis. How many times has God taken you and put you in this place where you had to rest some? Come on, tell me. Has God taken you and put you in a place where you had to rest some? You know why? You said, well, boy, I sure didn't like that broken leg. I guess not. No, I don't think you like that broken leg at all. Or, man, I didn't have time to have the virus at that particular point. No, you didn't have time. But God had to stop you and rest you. And although that broken leg was not good, because God rested you, he may have saved your life. The essence of good. You get the picture? So now look. Read the verse again. For all things work for the essence of good. In other words, everything that happens to us eventually has a process around it which is going to make what it did for us good. Why? Because God is good. Now, do you remember God has four names? And you'll need to know all of them in a few minutes. He is omniscient, which simply means God knows everything. From beginning of creation to end of creation. From beginning of eternity past to end to the eternity future. God is omniscient. He knows everything. That's why it's so interesting that we think that we can hide stuff from God. I mean, you know, we do that, don't we? It's a human nature thing. If I don't do that, he won't know about it. Oh, really? If I don't become a part of that, he won't know. Oh, really? If God is omniscient, he knows what? Everything. How are you going to hide from him? He knows the end from the beginning. He knows the start from the end. He knows who you are, what you do, where you are, what you're thinking. He knows your next thought if you're thinking bad thoughts about me. Quit. God knows your thoughts. He knows everything. He's omniscient. You need to keep that in mind. Number two. He's omnipotent. He's all-powerful. He's all-powerful. God is the most powerful being in the entire universe. He is all-powerful. Number three. He's omnipresent. He's everywhere all the time. He's present all the time. You see, that was the difference between God and Satan. Do you think if Satan were omnipresent and if Satan was omniscient, do you think Satan would ever have allowed Jesus to die at the cross? Think about that. If Satan was omniscient and omnipresent, if Satan was all-knowing and everywhere, do you think he would not have been in the conversations about the crucifixion? And would he not have understood what the crucifixion... And would he not have understood Genesis 3.16? For the seed of the woman... You remember? It's going to bruise the head, but the heel of the seed is going to crush. Do you think Satan would not have understood he's going to be crushed? Okay, so he was... Satan's not omniscient, nor is he omnipresent. Also, God is omnibenevolent. God is all-good. So he's all-knowing, he's everywhere present, he's all-powerful, and he's ultimately and wonderfully all-good. He is omniscient. He is omnipresent. He is omnipotent. He is omnibenevolent. Now, because of that, we can look at the next four words. For whom he foreknew, he also be predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined these... Now, watch these words. You've got foreknowledge. You've got predestined. Now you can get a third word. For whom he did predestined these, he also called them. Whom he called these also, and the ones whom he called, he justified. And the ones he justified, he glorified. And so, God's five-verb Aorist propositions. Now, you've been with Brother Jimmy and me long enough to understand the Aorist tense. That's the Aorist tense in Greek that says, once it's said, it's done. All five of these verbs are Aorist. Let me say it again. All five are Aorist. Foreknowledge is Aorist. He did it once. Done. Predestined, Aorist. Called, Aorist. Justified. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be justified. Glorified. All five are Aorist tense. And all five indicate that God did it. And hang on to Ephesians 1. For God hath called you before the foundation of the earth. Now watch. In eternity past, going to eternity future, somewhere in there, God did all five of these. We'll only know when we get to heaven when he did all five of them. But somewhere in eternity past, God called your name. How about that? What's your name? What is your name? Susanna? Somewhere in eternity past, Susanna, God called your name. You know why I know he called your name? Because you're sitting here loving him and reading his work. And evidently somewhere along the way, you must have been justified. You must have been saved. Where out there does he call your name? You know, that's what's kind of mind blowing. I could go around the entire room and each one of you, somewhere in eternity, and it has nothing to do with the process of redemption. That's part of this world. That's part of this physical world in which we found ourselves. The process of redemption is here, but all of this was prior to the process of redemption. This was in foreknowledge. God knew all of this. If God is omniscient, doesn't he know the beginning from the end? And out there somewhere, Meridel, he called your name. Oh, and by the way, that name was put in the book of life. And I said last week, and I'll say it again, there has never been an erasure in the book of life. God has never erased anybody's name because out here somewhere, he called them. Now, we know that he foreknew us out there because then he predestined us to be called. Now, did God, in his omniscience, choose everybody? Or did everybody, at one point or another, have an opportunity to accept him? Did everybody, from the beginning of what we know as creation, to where we are today, to the end of where we're going, even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly. I just did a groaning. Watch yourself. You'll be groaning a lot because this creation wants to see something happen. Amen? We groan a lot. In fact, Barbara said, oh, Jesus, why don't you come? I said, baby, you're fulfilling scripture. You're groaning. That's right. Okay, somewhere in this creation past, in his omniscience, he knew you. He called your name. He wrote it down. And in this life, wherever you are, and I am, he introduced you to his Holy Spirit by the process of his beloved dying son. And because of that process, you were saved. And in that salvation, he was able to justify you. So in eternity past, he called you and justified you. You were justified in eternity past. It was just waiting for you to get here. And when you got here, he concluded your relationship to him. Did he call everybody? No. Whosoever will, let him come and take the water of life freely. Whosoever will can come. Will whosoever come? What's the answer to that question? No. Is there not coming God's fault? Or is it their choice? You see, this thing in eternity past, it's kind of hard to really wrap your head around it to think that before this creation was even spoken into being, God already wrote your name down. He already knew you. He had already justified you. He was already going to glorify you. And he will conclude that glorification eventually in heaven. But God did everything in eternity. And he is concluding everything in eternity. And all of our relationship will conclude with him in eternity. In eternity future. And because of his love for us, and because of his desire to have us as his sons and heirs, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, because he was looking for a family who would begin to look just like Jesus. D. Raymond Edmond, who was president of Wheaton College and chancellor, had a wonderful saying he would always say when he was preaching. He never said just, J-U-S-T. He said, what God wants you to be is just like Jesus. He wants you to be just like Jesus. And that's what is happening here. Because of what he did in eternity past, in the present, he is expecting because he has given you and me his Holy Spirit, has he not filled us with his Holy Spirit? Amen? Or, I'm asking questions, I need some answers. Are we not filled with the Holy Spirit? Are we not filled with the possibility of sanctification? Are we not filled with the possibility of being just like Jesus? Yes, we are. Because out there, he called your name. Wow. That's amazing. That he knew me, and you, before the foundations of the world. And that we are going to be living with him in a new heaven and a new earth of foundations that are coming down from God out of heaven. Eternity past, eternity future. So, he called us. Verse 31, what shall we say then about this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Now, that looks like we have the privilege of doing whatever we goodwill please. But that's not the end of the story. What we do is not what we goodwill please, but what we do is we do the will of God. We do what he pleases. For without faith, it is impossible to do what? Please God. And so by faith daily, we walk with the power of the Holy Spirit, and by faith daily, we are capable of pleasing God. We cannot please God outside of the possibility and the power of the Holy Spirit in us. And the Lord Jesus Christ who dwells in us, we are no longer in Adam, we are in Christ. We are no longer in sin and death, we are in life and liberty. And the same God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. And so, he who did not, he. And what shall we say then? If God be for us, who can be against us? Pause. Do you understand the word substitutionary? Do you understand the word substitutionary? Sure we do. When we use the word substitutionary, that means that somebody took our place. They substituted for us. Okay? And so we talk about the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ, which is a very true doctrine. Jesus Christ was our substitution. Jesus Christ did take our place. Jesus Christ did take the death that we actually deserved. Jesus Christ did suffer the pains of hell that we should have suffered. Jesus Christ did do all of that for us. He became our substitute. If Jesus is our substitute, and if God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, and the Holy Spirit was filling that world with all of himself, then who can stand against us? That's the question. And the Apostle Paul, the great list maker, before this chapter is over, is going to tell you that God cannot stand against us. Now, ladies and gentlemen, let me ask you a question. You really need to understand that God was in Christ reconciling us. If God was in Christ reconciling us on the cross, then God himself, with the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, the whole of the Trinity became our substitution. Have you ever thought about that? Oh, yeah. Physically, Jesus was on the cross. Physically, he was our substitution up there. They wrote about that. That's a historical fact. But, spiritually, the Trinity was there. And the Trinity was there at the cross as our substitution against sin. Now, can God disallow himself? Can God annul himself? If he cannot disallow himself, if he cannot annul himself, then who can stand against us? Well, he goes on to get to those words that he will say can't stand against us. In verse 33, Who shall bring charge against God's elect? Hey, you are God's chosen people. You are the elect. You have been justified. Eternity passed. You're elect. Who can bring charge against you? Nobody. Because it is God who justifies. And if God says you are righteous, who in the world, in this world, can say you're not? Nobody. Are you getting it? No one can bring a charge against you. Because when they do, they bring it against God. And God will not allow himself to be annulled. Or, who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died. And furthermore, he rose from the dead. Who is even right now at the right hand of the Father. Making intercession for us. There's not even anybody condemned you. You remember the lesson last Sunday? Do you know the person who condemns you the most? Do your finger this way and point at your nose. You. You condemn you most. And if you remember the Scripture last week, it said, there is therefore now no condemnation. What part of no do we not understand? If there is no condemnation, folks, against those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation against you and me, because we're in Christ Jesus. Hello? Are you there? You see how beautiful these passages are? Do you see what God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit did in eternity past in order to get you where you are today? You want to talk about a miracle? This is all miracle. Now watch what happens. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Now, here comes the great list maker. And he's going to tell you who would like to separate you. Who can separate you from the love of God? The answer to that is what? Nobody. Very simple, nobody. But he's going to help you. Shall tribulation, I mean, if you're being persecuted, is that going to separate you from the love of God? Shall distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril, or the sword? And then he quotes Psalm 44, 22, For your sake we are killed all the day long. All the day long we are counted as sheep of slaughter. Paul says, Who can separate you? Can any of these things separate you from the love of God? The answer is absolutely no. And the reason is given in verse 37. The reason nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus is because in all of these things that he just got through and we're talking about tribulation, peril, sword, hunger, whatever. In all these things, there's a little word here. It is upernickelment. We have a shoe called Nike. Any of you wear a Nike? You wear Nikes? Anybody buy a Nike? Barbara wears a Nike. I tried. They were too fast for me. I couldn't keep up with them. The word Nike means to overcome. Now, why would an athlete who's running want to be in a Nike? Why do you think they named the shoe company Nike? Because every athlete, every kid down there, every little boy, 10, 12, 15 years of age, he wants a pair of Nikes. It doesn't matter what it costs, Mom. Drop out the 150 bucks. I want a pair of Nikes. I remember one time we were in North Carolina with our grandson, Ryan, and Jordan had just come out with Air Jordans. Now, they weren't a Nike, but they were an Air Jordan. And Ryan wanted one, and guess what Grandma did? Grandma helped him. He got a pair of Air Jordans. The word Nike means to overcome. Uper is the word super. Nikoman means to be overcomers or to overcome. And what the Scripture here is saying, Paul is saying, we are therefore super overcomers through Him. Now, wait a minute. Him. God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, through Him who loved us. Why can we be overcomers? Because we are in Christ Jesus. Now, Paul concludes by saying, For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Why? Because we have a substitute. You are protected and invested with the substitute. You are now in the substitute. You are now, because of your redemptive relationship with the eternal God, in Christ. And if you are in Christ, you are in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. You are in the substitute who substituted for you in all of these things. And in all of these things, the substitute will always take care of us. Remember, in all things, not some, but in all things, we are super-conquerors through Jesus Christ who loves us. Amen? What else can you ask? Now, next week we start chapter 9. And I'm going to do chapter 9 next week. And in chapter 9, we're going to have an interesting discussion because the Apostle Paul is going to tell you who he really, really wants to see saved. And you remember this is a Jewish church in Rome. And you remember in chapter 9, he's going to say, you know what I would do? I would go to hell if it would save my brothers, the Jews. And knowing the life of the Apostle Paul, I think he was honest. And we'll see about that next week. But the Apostle Paul will say, I would give up all of my redemption if my brothers could be saved. Amen? Let's pray. Sovereign God, somewhere in eternity past, You called our name. And because You loved us, and You foreknew who we were, You ordained us, You predestined us, and You called us, and You justified us. And Father, in that process, You have made us equipped for heaven, and You're in the process of sanctifying us through the Spirit of God and moving us as quickly as You can move us into the eternity future. And for that, we give You great praise. Thank You, Father, for the way the Apostle Paul has helped us to come to understand that we are in You. And we're there, not because of anything we did, but because of everything that You did. And You are always doing that because You are our Substitute. And because You are our Substitute, in all things, we are conquerors. And for that, we give You praise through the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us, died for us, rose from the grave in order that we might live in Him, and taking us with Him to heaven on that day. And we even say, with the Apostle John, even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly. And let's have this thing over with. And we thank You in Jesus' name. Amen. See you next week.