Let's turn together to Romans chapter eight, tonight, shall we? Romans chapter eight. Now Mr. McDonald was not in our service this morning, but we just sang about showers of blessing. You remember we talked about many kinds of blessing this morning, and different measures of blessing this morning, and the fact that sometimes blessing comes in disguise. So I thought that tonight we ought to look. at some of our blessings. Now, if I were to ask you, which is the most well-known verse in this chapter and the favorite of many, many believers, what would you say? All together? That's right, verse twenty-eight. Do you think you could recite that? For we know that That's very good. And I'm not going to talk about that at all tonight. But that's one of the blessings. Let's read from verse thirty-one, shall we? Verse thirty-one of Romans chapter eight. What shall we then say to these things? If God before us Who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yet rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And to that you have to say, Amen. Amen. Let's pray, shall we? Our Father, we want to thank thee tonight for any measure in which our hearts are conscious of thy goodness to us, for any measure in which thy blessings are very apparent to us in our own lives. We want to thank thee also for the many, many blessings of that we do not recognize, and yet that come to us from thy hand of love, and that in the end bring about our good and thy glory. We pray that tonight, as we look at part of this well-known chapter, our heart shall be blessed afresh and stirred afresh, These things are so familiar to us. The language that we have read is a language that we know so well, and it is so very easy for us, human as we are, to read these things without gathering the import and wonder of them. Tonight we ask that by thy spirit, thou wilt take up this familiar word and make it a blessing to our hearts in a fresh and new way, for we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. Now the passage that I read to you is a passage of questions. First there's a what, and then there's a how. And then there are several whos. Concerning the what, we read this. What shall we say then to these things? In the chapter as a whole we have a statement. And here the Spirit of God is saying it calls for a response. What? Shall we say, then to these things? The second is in verse thirty two. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not? How shall he not? With him also. Freely give us all things. Now here is a reminder. Calling for a conclusion. How shall he not, with him, freely give us all things? Seeing that he gave his son and delivered him up. Now the whole chapter is a statement, and then there's a call for the response in that thirty-first verse. Just very quickly, let me point out... Lost the chapter. But there is a statement here as to the reality of the Spirit of God. And then there is a statement as to the future of the child of God. And then there is a statement as to the transformation of the creation of God. Now this is part and only part of the statement. The reality of the Spirit of God. One of the greatest blessings that we as believers enjoy and perhaps appreciate far, far less than we should is the fact that the Spirit of God dwells in our hearts. That's one of God's greatest blessings. He is resident in every believer. And the Spirit of God is real. Sometimes we almost automatically assume that there is something ethereal and not so solid about the Spirit of God. but the Spirit of God is very real. Now this chapter tells us this. Look at verse ten very quickly, where it tells us that the Spirit lives. It says more than that. It says the Spirit is life. Go a little further down and look at verse fourteen. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God... They are the sons of God. So the one who lives is also the one who leads. Now mark you, we always have the choice of submitting to his leadership or insisting on going our own way. Look at verse sixteen. The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our Spirit... that we are the children of God. The one who lives and who leads is also the one who speaks to our hearts. The problem is that so many of the other voices that clamor to be heard so often drown his voice. Go a little further down the chapter again, and notice verse twenty-six. But the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. The one who lives and who leaves and who speaks is also the one who prays. And he prays for you and he prays for me with groanings that cannot be uttered. I hope you're beginning to appreciate a little more the blessing of the gift of the Spirit of God. Look at verse twenty-seven. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. The mind of the Spirit, the one who lives and leads. and who speaks and prays is the one who knows. There is nothing hidden from the Spirit of God, and he's the one who lives in your heart. Now this is part of the statement that is to elicit some response. What shall we say then to these things? The Lord Jesus was very anxious that we should recognize the importance and the wonder and the preciousness of the Spirit of God. He said, If I do not go away, the Spirit will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you, and he will do this, and he will do that. And among the things that Jesus said he would do was this. He shall take up the things of Christ and reveal them. unto you. Here then is the reality of the Spirit of God. Now part of the statement is what is said about the future of the child of God. Look at verse eighteen. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. the glory that shall be revealed in us I don't expect you to understand that I sure don't understand it but it indicates that there is something of great wonder in our future the glory which shall be revealed in us look at verse twenty three and not only they but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. Now that's in our future. Now in view of all your aches and pains, and in view of those times a very real weakness, and in view of those times... when you're brought face to face with your own strict limitations in view of those areas of your life that bring to you the greatest trials when the old body groans. Be encouraged. It isn't always going to be that way. The chapter tells us that the body is going to be redeemed. You know, don't you, that you have been redeemed, and you know that you are being redeemed, and you know that you are going to be redeemed, don't you? All of that's involved in our salvation, and eventually this old body will be shed, and we'll have a new body like unto His glorious body it's in our future. And look at verse twenty-nine. for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. Now that's in our future. This is part of the statement. The future of the child of God. The glory that shall be revealed in us. The redemption of our body and our conformation to the image of Christ. somebody has very aptly said, God had only one son, but he loved that son so much that he wanted many more like him. And in a coming day that is what God is going to have, and you and I are going to be among them. Now it's in view of that also that the question is asked, what then shall we say to these things? when we're inclined to complain a little, when we're inclined to shrink a little, when we're inclined to feel a little sad. Let's remember it's greater on before. It's part of the promise of God. The future of the believer is wonderful. Every believer, it's part of the statement. Now look at verse twenty-one. The creature itself, or that is the creation itself, also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. So you see, there's going to be a transformation of the creation of God. Now all of that, along with plenty more, is in the statement. And then comes the question. Then comes the call for a response. What shall we say then to these things? What can we say? I know what one good brother would say, and he can't hear me saying this. he'd say, wow. And I think it's the mind and desire of the Spirit of God that these things should have just that effect upon us, that we stand back and say, I can scarcely believe it. God is so wonderful, and these things are so precious, What shall we say then? We can say a thing. So let's gasp with wonder and just go on from there. I said there's a reminder in verse thirty-two, calling for a conclusion. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things now here again we're talking about these blessings that we take so often for granted god didn't spare his son how familiar those words are to But do you really, from the bottom of your heart, appreciate what they mean? God did not spare his son. And we know that when we see him with his sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground in the Garden of Gethsemane. We know that is true when we see the rude mob jostling him and pushing him, when we see the soldiers literally pummeling him and beating him and humiliating. And when we see the Lord Jesus finally with the nails through his hands and his feet on the cross, we know it's true. He spared not his own son. It says more, but delivered him up for us all. He delivered him up. He became a party to the suffering of his son because there was no other way. And there was no other one. And so he who loved him so much delivered him up. And again, that's a familiar expression. I wonder, do we really appreciate what it means? The conclusion is this. How shall he not, with him also, freely give us all things? And the thought here is, how in the world can we believe Having done what he's done, he can hold anything back. That's the force here. We have a God who's not going to hold back anything. How shall he not with him freely give us all things? We have a generous God, but that word doesn't really fill the bill. We have a God who gives and gives and gives and gives, and not only so. We have a God who gives to the uttermost, holding nothing back. It doesn't matter what your need is, God is there to meet it. It doesn't matter what your perplexities may be, God is there to support you in the midst of them. Not necessarily now to clear them up for you, but He's right there to make sure that you are supported and upheld and taken care of when the crises come and so on. This is a God who doesn't hold anything back. No wonder we sing sometimes. but not very often, since it doesn't happen to be in our hymn book, count your blessings, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Now I want you to look at the other four questions here. The whos. Verse thirty-one, who can be against us? Verse thirty-three, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Verse thirty-four, Who is he that condemneth? And verse thirty-five, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? For whose? They're all familiar to you. We are covering grounds you've covered time and time again. Who can be against us? Now that's the question. Now in the first place... we have an assertion here and we have to notice it if God be for us who can be against us as someone has said one with God is in the majority now think that over one with God is in the majority and it doesn't matter how vast the host may be that are fitted against you with God you have the majority if God be for us now this is an assertion here because the if is the if of argument and not the if of doubt it has the force of sin since God is for us now that's the assertion shouldn't you imagine that to have the God of heaven before whom all the angels bow To have the God of heaven who flung the universes and there are thousands of them into space. To have him for you? Can you imagine the wonder of that? Can you imagine the tragedy of having him against you? Because if somebody here and you're not saved, my that's a solemn thought. I wouldn't want to stand in your shoes if God is against you. because there is absolutely no possibility that you can ever win out. What you better do is change that situation by trusting the Lord Jesus and being brought into the family of God and coming among the number of, the vast number of all the saints of God that God is for. Aren't you glad that God's on your side? Sometimes we forget that, and we struggle and we strive, and we try so hard when if we just sit back and let God take over, things would be so different. Here's the assertion, God is for us. And that's the mighty God that we read about throughout the Scriptures, and that our conscience from time to time reminds us of. But there's something else here, and that is a sort of vulnerability. It is possible to be opposed. We can find ourselves at odds, because there are those who would destroy us if they could. There are those who have no sympathy with the things that we believe. We have our opposers. and we are vulnerable before them, unless we recognize that God is here. Many a Christian has been defeated by the opposition because he sought to fight a warfare on his own charges and didn't let God take over and fight the battle for him. We are very vulnerable people, you know. even though it's true that God is for us. There's a third thought in the verse here, and this is an absurdity. Possibility of fighting God. I don't mean us. God is for us. Who can be against us? And yet there are those who dare to fight against the church of God and in social... heaven what a stupid what an absurd thing to do and they do it and they live their lives doing it and one day they're going to wake up and realize how foolish they have been when everything is wasted and gone because nobody can fight against God and sin I've told some of the folks before about a man who said there was no God. He didn't believe in God. He lived in a small village and he was very vociferous. He let everybody know, loud mouth that he was, that he wasn't afraid of God because there wasn't any God. And he let it be known in the village that he was going to go out in farmer so and so's field and he was going to challenge God to a fight. And all the village they gathered on farmer so and so's field, And the man stood there, ringed around by all these people. And he shook his fist at heaven, and he said, God, if you're there, I challenge you to come and fight with me. And nothing happened. Correct you. A tiny little nat flew into his arm. That was all. but he caused an inflammation of the eye. And before the week was out, he was a dead man. Now, that's a true story. God doesn't have to come down with fists and fight. He took the tiniest little insect, and he showed the man what a fool he was. And that village never forgot that day. The thought here is, who can be successfully against us? And the answer is, with God, nobody. See, we're counting our best things. We're looking at the things that are ours as Christians, the things we ought to be enjoying and rolling like sweet morsels under our tongues and never getting used to. never losing the sense of wonder about who can be against us. The thought is nobody successfully because God is for us. What about the next question? Who shall lay... Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect It is God that justifies. Now there are three simple things here. The first is that God uses a very precious title. God elects. There are some people that have a problem with this word. They think that you can be elected to be saved and elected to be lost. Now I don't believe that at all. I believe what Spurgeon believes. He used to say that over the door of salvation is written the word whosoever. You make your choice and you walk through the door and when you look back over the same door is written the word elect. And that's the way it is. You choose Christ or you refuse Christ and that's how you become. one of the elects or not one of the elects. It's a very precious title, God elects, and it's true of every believer. God doesn't have some that are elected than others, you know. He doesn't have some that are less elect than others. Every one of us elect, and that word is linked to another word, the word I use and precious. It's a very lovely title, Elect of God. The second thought is this, that the foe may level an accusation. That's what it says here, a charge. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's election? And there are many people who accuse the people of God. I remember when Dr. Falwell dared to stand before the television microphone and say that the world is viewing God's punishment for its amoral condition, its vileness by sending the disease called AIDS. My, what a fury that caused. How much of a... Why, the waves went from shore to shore. Here's a man who says that AIDS is a punishment from God. I believe it is. I really and truly believe it is. And do you notice how scared the people are, the media that's so bold in other directions, to say, we've got the homosexual to blame for this. He's the guy who's brought it into the... No, we've just got to remember, his is an alternate way of life, and if he wants to live that way, that's his business. But the fact is that the result of his sin is spilling over now into the whole of the world population. And they don't have to be homosexual. They can be perfectly normal. The world accuses the church. Do you remember when the believers got together, and I think, again, Dr. In fact, I know, Dr. Baldwin was involved here, and he said, look, it's time that the believers made themselves felt by the election process. Do you remember this two or three years ago? And they targeted eleven men. They said, these men are godless. These men are men who not only do not believe in God, but who oppose the things that the Church of God stands for and even ridicule the things of God. These eleven men have got to go. Do you know what happened in the election? every single one of those eleven men was defeated because believers rose up in their millions and they voted them out after they had earnestly prayed about the situation and my those men sat back and they lit their wounds and they said what right have these Christians got to get together and and have things their way as liberals they'd had their things their things their way for decades upon decades and nobody wakened up to the fact but now here they were here they were out on their heads i tell you i got very unholy glee out of that I watched the results of the election. I went down the names and I said, hallelujah, as I saw one after the other of these eleven men thrown out on his neck. The Church of God suffered accusations because of that. And all they were doing was exercising their right to stand up for the things that they believe and to elect men that believe the things that they believe. tell you very frankly, the moral majority, or whatever, may have its critics, but it has a real place on God's program in these days. God uses then a precious title, God's elect. Our foes may level accusations against us, and they do. Charges against God's elect. But do you know the believer stands totally exonerated because the word of God says they can charge what they like, but it's God the justifies. So the believer stands before his foes, and he stands before his opposers, and they hurl their charges, and they hurl their accusations, and he smiles in their faces and says, I'm acquitted. I'm exonerated. You can charge what you like, but your charges have no button, and they have no body either. The believer may stand in the dark, but God's evidence is irrefutable, and acquittal has to be the end result. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God? It's God that justifies us. When we look into our lives, we realize that there are many, many areas that make us feel guilty. If God hadn't justified us, these accusations would have bowled us over. They would have been perfectly in order that our sins have been washed away. Not only so, but God has made us as though we had never committed one of them. Who is he that condemneth? That's the next question. Who is he that condemneth? Now that's verse thirty-four. Immediately after that we are told why condemnation is not like them and is not logical. Christ dies. rose again, is at the right hand of God and maketh intercession for us. The man who condemns is the one who ignores, first of all, the plan of God for salvation. Secondly, the death of Christ for redemption. Thirdly, the intercession of the Spirit of God for strength and enabling, and fourthly, the acquittal of the believer forever. I don't have time to cover these four, but you think about them. For a man to condemn the child of God is for him to ignore these very important things. There's a thought here that God the Spirit is getting through. He's saying to the enemies of the children of God, don't you even point a finger at the child. Isn't that a wonderful position to be in and we don't deserve it? One tiny little... I quoted a verse this morning. I'll quote it again. God hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Another one. It's of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassion fail not. And here we are, saved by the grace of God, redeemed through the blood of Christ, eternally safe and he's saying to our would-be accusers don't you dare to point a finger at him here's the last one who shall separate us from the love of christ who shall separate us from the love of christ now i was going to cover some of these things but i don't know where the time goes but he says in effect and you can look for it yourself Who can separate us? Not problems. Tribulation cannot do it. Our circumstances can't separate us from the love of Christ. Distress. Our weaknesses can't separate us from the love of Christ. Persecution. Our foes cannot separate us from the love of Christ. Famine and nakedness. Our times cannot separate us from the love of Christ. Now, problems cannot do it. Dangers cannot do it. He mentions perils. He mentions the sword. And he mentions death. Not one of them is able to separate us from the love of Christ. Not our spiritual antagonists. Angels cannot do it. Principalities and powers cannot do it. The devil himself cannot do it. Certainly not our spiritual antagonists in these high places. Not natural things. They can't do it. Things present? No. Things to come? No. Height? No. Depths? No. Nor any other creature. And among all of those, I missed out one. Not even life. It's on the list. can separate us from the love of Christ. Now what does this mean? It means this, that once you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior, it matters not how you may fail God. God knows where you will lose out because of your failure, but even your own failure and sin, cannot separate you from the love of Christ. Once God saves you, God has saved you forever so life can't even separate you. Your life can't separate you. Somebody says, I know what it says in the Bible. He says, no man is able to pluck them out of my hand, but you're able to pluck yourself out of his hand. No, you're not. Life can't do it. No other creature, nothing can do it. the love of Christ is just too strong and too tenacious and too wonderful. That's why in among these verses we read, we are more than