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Romans 8:31-39 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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I'm so thankful that God is pleased with our hallelujahs, even when they're hard to sing.
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I can get up there a little bit high.
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Please take your copy of God's Word and turn to Romans chapter 8 with me this morning.
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It's very good to be here today.
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I intend this morning to finish out chapter 8, which may be a bit of a task before us to do all nine of these verses.
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But I think you'll find it'll be of great benefit to our souls to do so this morning.
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Kind of by way of reminder, and it's quite possibly an oversimplification, but where we have been so far in Romans,
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Paul has given us a very clear gospel presentation, stated our desperate need of a Savior, that all of us have sinned.
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We've all fallen short of the glory of God.
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There's nothing that we can do on our own to gain satisfaction in his sight up through 321.
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And then he tells us that the only way we can be made right with God is to place our faith in Jesus Christ,
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who was the perfect sacrifice on our behalf.
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Then he goes on to tell us about the blessed benefits of the gospel.
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And in chapter 8, he talks about the Spirit that's been given to us, granted to those of us who believe in Christ.
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And we saw the ministries of the Spirit, our regeneration, our sanctification or perfection,
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and then the security that we have unto final, full perfection, eternal perfection or glorification.
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And we know that that's the journey we're on as Christians.
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And even as we suffer, we have this great hope, the hope of eternal future glory,
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that we can bear up then underneath the suffering that might come our way.
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Read with me, beginning in verse 31.
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What then shall we say to these things?
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If God is for us, who can be against us?
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He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,
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how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
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Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
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It is God who justifies.
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Who is to condemn?
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Christ Jesus is the one who died.
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More than that, who was raised.
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Who is at the right hand of God.
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Who indeed is interceding for us.
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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
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Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
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As it is written, for your sake were you being killed all the day long.
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We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
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No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
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For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers,
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nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth,
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nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
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Now, before we pray together over this text this morning and the preaching and the hearing of it,
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I kind of want to set a stage for you as to what I would like to accomplish.
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And I hope that our prayer together as we study this will be the same as that prayed by Paul on behalf of the Ephesians.
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And if you'll turn with me, keep your finger here, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 3.
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I want to read you a couple of verses, and then we'll get going back in Romans.
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Ephesians chapter 3.
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Let's read verses 14 through 19 together.
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For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
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that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
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so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,
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that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints
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what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
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and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,
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that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
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So now his prayer for the church of Ephesus,
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and I believe he would pray the same thing for us,
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is that by the Spirit we would be strengthened to understand,
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to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.
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And what he means by that is that we don't just have a mental assent to it.
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We don't read the end of chapter 8 and say,
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I believe that nothing can separate me from the love of God,
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but that we experience that to be true in our lives.
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That we actually feel the great glorious truth of the gospel,
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that nothing can separate those who love God,
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and who have been called according to his purpose,
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from the love of God in Christ.
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That's his prayer for us here.
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And those of us who know him, who love him,
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and who have been called according to his purpose,
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are rooted and grounded in that love.
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And these two words are so cool.
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Roots, obviously, the roots of a tree,
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our very being is reaching down into the love of God in Christ,
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and we're foundationally built on the same.
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And the implication from this prayer,
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and from 8, 31 through 39,
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is that no matter how deep those roots grow,
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no matter how wide the building we build is,
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as we grow as Christians,
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we'll never run out of the love of Christ to grow into,
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and we'll never run out of a foundation of his love to build upon.
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That's what we should get out of 8, 31 through 39.
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So let's pray together.
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Father God, I thank you for those in this room who are called your own,
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who have been adopted as sons by the power of your spirit.
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And I pray, Father, that this day,
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you will have us know beyond just a knowledge.
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We'll know experientially how great your love for us is in Christ.
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Thank you, Father, for my calling to preach your word,
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and I pray that you'll find me faithful this morning to do it from total dependency on you,
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and that that will generate in everyone here a dependency on you.
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We love you, and we thank you for all the great blessings you pour out on us.
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We pray that you'll bless us now.
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In Christ's name, amen.
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So back to chapter 8.
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We'll get you back there.
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And the one point of this morning,
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I've said it already,
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but the one point that I want you to walk away with
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is that nothing can separate those who love God
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and are called according to his purpose
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from the love of God in Christ.
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But first, I have to ask two questions.
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We see in verse 28 of Romans 8,
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and we know that for those who love God,
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all things work together for good.
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For those who are called according to his purpose.
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So I have to ask you two questions before we go on.
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Number one, do you love God?
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None of us love God perfectly.
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That's not ultimately the question.
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I'm not asking you, do you love God perfectly?
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Certainly, as Christians,
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our affections for God wax and they wane.
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None of us love him perfectly.
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What we're really asking here is,
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do you treasure him?
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Do you treasure him above all else?
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Ultimately, when it's all said and done,
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do you love God more than everything else in this world?
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Do you love God?
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And number two, are you called according to his purpose?
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I'm going to read to you a picture illustration
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that John Piper wrote.
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But before that, let me read to you 1 Corinthians 1, 23 and 24.
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It says,
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We preach Christ crucified,
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a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
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but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks,
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Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
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So to those who don't believe,
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who are not called according to his purpose,
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Christ is foolishness.
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But to those who do, who are called,
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the power of God and the wisdom of God.
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So let me read this little illustration to you.
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Picture it this way.
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Before you were called by God,
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you were in real sense asleep in your bed.
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Into your bedroom came Jesus Christ.
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He stood there in the glory of his Calvary love
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and his resurrection power.
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But you were asleep.
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In fact, you were dreaming.
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And in the dream, which is your ordinary life,
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you saw Jesus.
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Only in the dream, he looked foolish.
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He wasn't attractive.
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You wondered why others made such a big deal out of him.
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In the dream, your television was more exciting.
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Your boyfriend was more real.
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Your job, more satisfying.
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Then God's spirit, the Holy Spirit,
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came into the bedroom where Jesus was standing
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in the glory of his Calvary love and resurrection power.
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And the spirit hovered over your dreaming head
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and called in a voice just loud enough,
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Wake up.
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And it shook you.
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And you opened your eyes.
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And there before you stood the real Jesus Christ.
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And his glory was unmistakable.
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And you knew that all your life you'd been dreaming,
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that all your thoughts about his being foolish
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and unreal and unattractive
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were mere fantasies and empty images of sleeping minds.
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But now the veil of slumber was lifted
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and the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ
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was irresistibly true.
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Christ crucified was now for you what it really is,
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the power of God and the wisdom of God.
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That is what it means to be called.
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I hope that all of us in this room today
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can answer these two questions.
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Do you love God?
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And are you called according to his purpose
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with an emphatic yes?
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If you can't, the promises here are not for you.
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All of this great stuff, secure future glory,
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that nothing can separate you from the love of God
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is not for you because you are already
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separated from the love of God.
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And there's no better time than now
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to place your faith in Christ and believe in him.
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You don't have to wait for me to make
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some special invitation to that end.
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Just believe that Christ is the Son of God
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and that he is the only way to restoration with him.
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Make that happen this morning,
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that these promises may be yours.
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So he asks a question, beginning in verse 31.
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What then shall we say to these things?
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What is he referring to?
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He's referring back a couple of verses to 28 through 30.
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So let's read those together.
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He says, and we know that those who love God,
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all things work together for good.
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It's one of those things.
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For those who were called according to his purpose.
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For those whom he foreknew,
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he also predestined to be conformed to the image of a son
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in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
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And those whom he predestined, he also called.
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And those whom he called, he also justified.
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And those whom he justified, he also glorified.
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And the point Paul is making is that our eternal final glory is fully secure
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because God planned the ends from the beginning.
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The eternal ends have been established from the eternal beginning.
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God is fully sovereign.
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And he will accomplish what he set out to accomplish.
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That is the point Paul is making here.
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We get to get into all the implications of that in the coming chapters.
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But right now, all he's saying to us as Christians is that as you suffer,
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know that you can hope because you have a sovereign God.
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That is good news for us.
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So, what then shall we say to these things?
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If God is for us, then who can be against us?
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I don't know that I even need to explain that to you.
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If God is on our side, then there is nothing in this world that can be against us.
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Because God is sovereign.
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He controls everything.
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It is all under his dominion.
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This world turns under the providence of his power.
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By his word, this world is sustained.
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And if he is for us, none of those things can possibly be against us.
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And God gave up his own son on our behalf.
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And if he did that for us, how will he not then graciously give us all things?
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Verse 32.
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And he's referring back here then to verse 28.
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Where it says, what?
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That all things work together for good.
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For our future glory.
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All things work together for good.
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So, how is it that God will withhold anything good from us?
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You know what that means for you?
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That anything you experience in this life as a believer, as one who follows Christ.
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Anything you experience is a gift from God for your good.
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Even the things we don't feel are good.
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The experiences that we don't particularly like.
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All of those things have been given to us graciously for our good.
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Psalm 84 11 says, for the Lord God is a sun and shield.
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The Lord bestows favor and honor.
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No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
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And for those of us who have placed our faith in Christ, we walk uprightly before God because of Christ.
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And if that is true of you, then everything that happens is good for you.
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For your final and future glory.
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So again, I say, nothing can separate those who love God and are called according to his purpose from the love of God in Christ.
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Verse 33.
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It says, who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
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It is God who justifies.
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God does the justification.
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Who is to condemn?
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Now recall verse 1, chapter 8.
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There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
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Because God is for us.
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Who can be against us?
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We ourselves can't be against us.
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The implication here.
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Our own sin does not condemn us any longer because Christ bore it on our behalf.
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And he makes that case by continuing to say, Christ Jesus is the one who died.
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We know that.
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Christ, the perfect sacrifice, the spotless lamb, the sacrifice that was necessary for us.
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More than that, though, more than him dying, more than that, he was raised.
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And he's at the right hand of God.
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He's interceding for us.
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So Christ took on our sin, died on our behalf, but he was raised again.
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He had victory over death.
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And he is now seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession, praying on our behalf,
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continually and constantly for us.
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Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 4 through 7, reads,
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Paul here speaks of Christ sitting at the right hand as the same thing as us sitting at the right hand.
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Paul here speaks of Christ sitting at the right hand as the same thing as us sitting at his right hand,
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because Christ himself stands there as our representative.
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1 Corinthians 15, 17, Paul said,
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If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
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So he backs up this whole idea of no condemnation.
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Who is to condemn?
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If Christ has died for you, there is no condemnation for you.
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It's impossible that you can be condemned.
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Verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
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Shall tribulation or any pressure or trouble or illness or distress or any difficulty or crisis
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or persecution or any opposition or ridicule or famine or any suffering or scarcity or nakedness or any assault or shame
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or danger or any peril or threat or sword or any injury or violence or death?
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Notice the words I added, to give you no room to wiggle.
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If you are beloved, if you're one of God's own,
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there is no thing that will separate you from the love of Christ.
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No circumstance, no person, no illness, not yourself.
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Nothing will separate you from the love of Christ.
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Verse 36, as it is written,
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For your sake we are being killed all the day long.
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We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
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Paul here quotes Psalm 44, 22.
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To say to us, to remind us once again,
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that our suffering is sure.
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We will suffer.
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We have suffered.
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We're in the midst of suffering now.
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Suffering being anything in this life that's uncomfortable
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as we move towards that final, perfect, glorified state.
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Remember in verse 17 he says,
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And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ,
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provided we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him.
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We get as heirs the glorification of Christ,
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that final thing that we all eagerly long for
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and that the creation groans for and we groan for
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and the spirit groans on our behalf.
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We also get the suffering of Christ.
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We inherit it as well,
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that we might be finally made perfect.
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Psalm 44, if you'll actually turn there,
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you'll appreciate this.
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A reader of the book of Romans at this time
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would have known the rest of the psalm.
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As Paul quoted to them,
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he knew that verse 22 would take their minds to the end of this psalm.
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And I admit that I didn't know the rest of the psalm.
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I had to look it up and read it.
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I would presume that most of you don't know the rest of the psalm.
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So let's look at it together.
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Beginning in verse 22.
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Again, yet for your sake we are killed all the day long.
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We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
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Hear what the psalmist says after this.
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Awake.
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Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
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Rouse yourself.
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Do not reject us forever.
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Why do you hide your face?
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Why do you forget our affliction and depression?
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For our soul is bowed down to the dust.
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Our belly clings to the ground.
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He's desperate.
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Feels as if he's totally been abandoned.
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My God, have you ever felt that way?
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You ever been in the middle of a circumstance
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and you just thought,
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God's left me alone.
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There's no way something this bad happens to a son of God.
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God has just totally forgotten about me.
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Verse 26.
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He writes,
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Rise up.
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Come to our help.
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Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.
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Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.
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I don't think the psalmist even knew what he was writing
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when he penned this.
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Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.
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This is a cry as he's suffering,
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as he's going through this tribulation.
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It's a cry out for what we now have,
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the redemption of our souls.
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How beautiful is that?
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Paul didn't quote the whole thing,
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but he knew that people would know
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exactly what the psalmist was crying out for
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as he makes us sure
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that we will in fact suffer in this world.
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What does Paul then say in verse 37?
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So,
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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
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Shall any of these things,
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all the things we lifted off,
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tribulation, distress, persecution, famine,
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nakedness, danger, sword?
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Lord, verse 37,
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he says,
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No.
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In all these things,
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we are more than conquerors
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through him who loved us.
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All of these things
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have been subjected under us.
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My mind went to Habakkuk chapter 3,
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the very end of the book.
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The book of Habakkuk is a unique minor prophet
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because it's a record of
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of Habakkuk's prayer life.
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You see Habakkuk crying out to God
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and God's responses to him.
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Fairly unique in its literary style.
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At the very end,
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chapter 3,
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beginning in verse 17,
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this is Habakkuk's rested state
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as he's cried out to God.
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He says,
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Though the fig tree should not blossom,
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nor fruit be on the vines,
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the produce of the olive fail,
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and the fields yield no food,
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the flock be cut off from the fold,
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and there be no herd in the stalls.
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Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
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I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
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God the Lord is my strength.
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He makes my feet like the deer's.
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He makes me tread on my high places.
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So Habakkuk says,
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even if everything in this world
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is working against me,
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everything is bad from my perspective,
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I will rejoice.
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I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
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Why?
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Because of his unfailing love in Christ.
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And then he says,
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He'll make my feet like the deer's.
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He makes me tread on my high places.
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And this was a common Hebrew term
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when there was a victor over a battle.
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The way the victor, the king, the general
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would proclaim his victory
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is he would run on the ridge over the valley.
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Seems a bizarre thing for me.
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After a battle, you're probably exhausted.
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But he would get up on the ridge,
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and he would run over the battle
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and declare his victory in doing that.
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And that's exactly what he's saying here.
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We will be more than conquerors.
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We will run in victory
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over all the circumstances of this world
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because of Christ.
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Because we are his.
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Because we experience,
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we experience beyond just simple knowledge,
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we experience his steadfast love for us.
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Verse 38, he says,
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For I am sure.
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Are you sure of these things?
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Can you say without a doubt,
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as Paul does here,
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I am completely confident
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is what the Greek term means.
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I am without a doubt,
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positive,
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that neither death nor life,
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nor angels nor rulers,
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nor things present,
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nor things to come,
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nor powers,
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nor height nor depth,
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nor anything else in all creation
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will be able to separate us
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from the love of God
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in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
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He leaves no room,
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no doubt,
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nothing in this world,
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including you,
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will separate you
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from the love of God
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in Christ Jesus.
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So,
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why ultimately does Paul
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spend so much time
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and space,
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really,
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quite a few verses there,
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making this point?
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Why does he want to drive
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this into our minds?
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Firstly,
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for our good.
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Isn't that the ultimate
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and final aim
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we see in verse 28?
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Not good from our perspective,
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but he's speaking of
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the final good,
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the ultimate good,
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our glorification,
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our perfection.
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All these things
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are working together
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for that.
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If we can keep that in mind
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as we suffer
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in this world,
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as bad things happen to us,
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we can say of these bad things,
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we don't have to enjoy them,
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but we can say,
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ultimately and finally,
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this is for good.
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Secondly,
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for God's glory.
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Verse 36,
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he quotes Psalm 44, 22,
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for your sake,
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we're being slaughtered.
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For your sake.
24:26
So ultimately,
24:27
all things in the world
24:28
serve our good
24:30
and God's glory.
24:32
Have you ever heard
24:32
somebody pray that?
24:33
Remember a prayer that says,
24:34
God, we just pray that
24:35
our meeting today
24:36
will be for our good
24:37
and for your glory.
24:38
It's a very biblical prayer.
24:40
For our good
24:41
and for God's glory.
24:44
I want to give you
24:46
a little analogy
24:47
that I experienced this week.
24:50
Sam,
24:50
I got home from work on,
24:53
well, it doesn't matter.
24:53
I think it was Wednesday.
24:55
And Sam had bought
24:56
Cade,
24:57
just a little toy.
24:58
And I'm pretty sure
24:59
if I remember right,
25:00
on the package,
25:01
it said $2.
25:03
And knowing my wife,
25:04
she probably got
25:04
a better deal on it
25:05
than that.
25:07
She got it for a quarter.
25:08
There you go.
25:10
And I'm pretty sure
25:11
it was an Easter clear out
25:12
because it's a little train
25:13
and it says
25:14
on it,
25:14
Bunny Express.
25:17
she made Cade wait
25:18
until I got home
25:20
to play with it.
25:21
And she had told him
25:22
early in the day
25:23
that he had to wait
25:24
until I got home.
25:25
And the first thing
25:25
he did,
25:26
I came in our front door
25:28
and I saw him
25:28
in the living room
25:29
and he did like
25:30
a little hop step
25:30
happy thing
25:31
and he took off
25:32
what he was doing
25:33
and he brought this to me.
25:34
I'm very excited about it.
25:35
It came with a little bit
25:36
of track
25:36
and a little caboose.
25:39
The track made
25:39
about a nine inch circle.
25:41
Really cheap.
25:42
No big deal
25:42
kind of a thing.
25:44
And so,
25:45
I opened it up
25:46
and we set it up
25:46
on the floor
25:47
and Cade
25:48
didn't touch it
25:50
as an almost two year old
25:51
I would think
25:52
would want to wreak havoc
25:53
with it.
25:53
Didn't touch it.
25:54
We wanted to see
25:54
how it was going
25:55
to be put together
25:55
and how it was going
25:56
to work.
25:56
And I laid on the floor
25:57
with him
25:57
and he laid
25:58
on his stomach
25:59
with his chin
26:00
on his hands
26:01
for 30 minutes
26:03
watching this whole thing
26:04
turn it on.
26:07
Watching it go
26:08
around and around
26:09
and around
26:09
and around.
26:10
It doesn't do
26:10
anything exciting.
26:11
It doesn't like
26:11
back up or switch directions.
26:13
It just went around
26:13
and around and around.
26:14
And let's see
26:15
if we can get a
26:15
Cade man.
26:17
K.K.
26:18
What's this?
26:20
What is it?
26:22
You can talk.
26:23
What is it?
26:26
Okay.
26:26
It's not going to say it.
26:28
It's a choo-choo.
26:29
And he was so
26:30
captivated.
26:32
He was so enthralled
26:33
with this little train.
26:36
For those of you
26:36
who don't hang out
26:37
with two year olds
26:37
very much,
26:38
30 minutes is a really
26:39
long time for one thing
26:40
to keep their attention.
26:41
A really, really long time.
26:42
And he was so excited.
26:44
I think most of the time
26:45
he didn't even notice
26:45
that I was there.
26:46
A couple of times
26:47
I got up and went
26:47
and did something
26:48
and came back.
26:49
The whole time
26:49
he said he went
26:50
he'd go choo-choo.
26:51
Choo-choo.
26:52
Choo-choo.
26:52
Choo-choo.
26:53
And then when I was
26:53
laying there with him
26:54
he'd look at me
26:55
and go choo-choo.
26:56
And back in the train
26:56
choo-choo.
26:57
For 30 minutes.
27:00
Then we did some
27:00
other fun stuff
27:01
beyond that.
27:02
But I was totally
27:04
enthralled by this.
27:06
We love Christ
27:08
because he first
27:09
loved us.
27:11
we have experienced
27:13
the redeeming grace
27:15
of the almighty God
27:17
in Christ.
27:18
Our souls have been
27:19
regenerated by the spirit.
27:21
That should be
27:21
incredible to us.
27:24
And we should never
27:25
grow tired.
27:26
Never grow tired
27:27
of gazing upon
27:29
these types of truths.
27:31
And we should want
27:33
to tell anyone
27:34
who comes along
27:35
and wants to check it
27:36
out with us
27:37
lay on the floor
27:38
and look at the train.
27:39
Anybody who wants
27:39
to see that
27:40
we should be
27:41
more than happy
27:43
to show them.
27:44
So for our good
27:45
Cade was so happy
27:47
with this little train.
27:48
So happy.
27:49
We should be that way
27:50
because Christ loves us
27:51
like this.
27:53
And we should exalt him.
27:55
We should lift him up
27:56
anytime somebody
27:57
comes along
27:57
and wants to know
27:58
what are you looking at?
28:00
Why is that even
28:01
cool to you?
28:03
A Gentile
28:04
who sees Christ
28:05
as foolish
28:06
we ought to
28:06
show them
28:08
the wisdom
28:09
of God.
28:10
in Christ.
28:11
For our good
28:12
and for God's glory.
28:15
So what do you do
28:16
when you don't
28:17
feel these truths?
28:20
When you
28:20
are walking
28:22
through a circumstance
28:23
that just doesn't
28:24
seem possible
28:26
that it's for
28:27
ultimate and final good?
28:28
You know this.
28:30
You quote this scripture.
28:32
You go to Romans chapter 8.
28:33
You read it again
28:33
and you read it again.
28:34
What do you do?
28:35
How do you
28:36
bear up?
28:37
How do you
28:38
experience the love
28:39
of God
28:39
that's beyond
28:40
the simple knowledge
28:42
of it?
28:45
We need to stop
28:46
listening
28:47
to our fickle
28:48
emotions.
28:50
We too often
28:51
let our emotions
28:52
speak to us.
28:54
And we need to
28:55
begin preaching
28:56
to ourselves
28:57
and to each other
28:58
the great glorious
28:59
truths of the gospel.
29:00
We need to begin
29:02
telling ourselves
29:03
what is true
29:04
based off
29:06
the scriptures.
29:07
Quit listening
29:08
to our emotions.
29:10
You have to recognize
29:11
that your emotions
29:12
are fickle.
29:15
Your circumstances
29:16
will change your emotions
29:17
constantly.
29:19
You will say
29:20
God this is not
29:21
a good thing.
29:23
I don't enjoy this.
29:25
I want to feel
29:26
differently
29:26
than I do.
29:29
You can allow
29:29
your emotions
29:30
to control
29:30
your overall
29:32
demeanor
29:33
when in fact
29:34
we ought to be
29:34
preaching to ourselves
29:35
the great glorious
29:37
truths of the gospel.
29:39
And you never
29:39
arrive there
29:40
beloved.
29:40
You never get to a point
29:41
where you just get to
29:42
bring these things up.
29:44
It doesn't matter
29:44
how much scripture
29:45
you memorize.
29:46
It doesn't matter
29:47
how much you've grown
29:48
as a Christian.
29:48
You will always
29:49
falter
29:50
so you constantly
29:52
have to teach yourself
29:53
the truth.
29:54
Preach it to yourself.
29:55
Get up in the morning
29:56
and remind yourself
29:57
of the love
29:58
God for you
30:00
in Christ
30:01
because nothing
30:02
can separate
30:03
those who love God
30:04
and are called
30:05
according to His purpose
30:06
from the love of God
30:07
in Christ.
30:09
Let's pray together.