Gooding, David: 3 - The Magnitude of the Gospel

Tonight, let's read together from Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five. Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. And let us rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but let us also rejoice in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience probation, and probation hope, and hope putteth not to shame, because the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which was given unto us. For while we were yet weak in due season, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. For peradventure, for the good man, some would even dare to die, but God commendeth his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Therefore, as through one man, sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression, who is a figure of him that was to. But not as the trespass, so also is the free gift. For if by the trespass of the one, the many die, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many. Not as through one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment came of one unto condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses unto justification. For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one, much more shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through one, even Jesus Christ. So then, as through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to condemnation, even so through the one act of righteousness, the free gift came unto all men to justification of life. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be made. The law came in defiance that the trespass might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly. That as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And may the Lord give us good understanding of his words. As we proceed in our studies, we are trying to keep in our minds the skeleton outline and theme of this letter. So we can see the thing as a whole, the more easily to fit the parts into the overall scheme. So far we have found that man's terrible plight can be traced to a wrong attitude of heart to God. The men knew God, were not willing to recognize him and hold him in their hearts as God, they were not prepared to be thankful, to own their constant dependence on him. In consequence, we found in chapters three and four that the way back to God is simply the reversal of this wrong attitude of heart. The way back is not by works, however many, however good. The way back is the cancelling out of that independence of heart, returning to God to learn to believe him. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified not by works, but by faith. And then last week we spent quite a long time in chapter four of his epistle, being told what faith really is. Faith is not a work of merit through which we attain. Faith is the opposite of merit, the opposite of work. It is rest. We never earn God's salvation by believing, or by believing in the right word. We're not to look at it as a work, in that sense, a work of merit that is earned. It is, in fact, a bankrupt dependence, absolutely and for all upon his creditor and upon his creditor's grace. Faith in God in that way, we are told in chapter four, wipes out the past of our guilt. David and his experience of forgiveness were quoted to us as an example of that. But faith in God in this fashion not only brings us forgiveness for the past, but leads us into a new and positive life with immeasurable potential. And so it is said of Abraham in this chapter four that he became the father of many nations, all stemming from this one act, when he believed God that his faith was counted unto him for righteousness. In fact, Romans chapter four tells us that not only was Abram therefore justified, but he became an heir, an heir of God, heir to the whole world, and nothing less than universal dominion of God's vast universe is open to the man whose heart is right with God. And tonight we move forward. If we have believed God in that sense, therefore we may have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, if you read in your authorized version, chapter five, verse one, it will say, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. If you should read it in the revised version, it says, let us have peace with God. The difference, of course, as you probably know, is a difference between two manuscripts. Some manuscripts have the word we have, and some manuscripts have the word let us have. The difference is very slight in the original language. So we've got to make up our minds which is which, and in the end it doesn't amount to very big, to a very big difference, does it. It is the fact that we have peace with God, if we have learned to believe him. And if we don't enjoy peace, we might as well enjoy it, for there's no reason why we shouldn't. So it would be quite possible that Paul would have said, let us have peace. Is that what he said originally? Is that what he wrote? What he meant was, not let us get it, but let us enjoy it. Sometimes the exaltation is necessary, is- isn't it, even for folks who have learned to believe. Satan comes along with his fiery darts attacking our faith and filled with the small thoughts of gloom and self-despair and disappointment and frustration. We do well to listen to the holy exhortation that if we've learned to believe, then are we justified and we have faith, or we might as well have faith. We are fit to enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. As many have pointed out, it's peace with God, not necessarily peace with ourselves. It may be far from peace with ourselves. It is peace with God that we might have. It is so important a difference, isn't it? I suspect if I searched in the streets of Armagh tonight, I might find men and women who were at peace with themselves because their conscience has not yet been disturbed, and they are doing all sorts of unfortunate and positively simple things. But simply because they are at peace with themselves and conscience isn't working as conscience ought to work, they have no idea of the holiness of God. They think all is well. They have peace with themselves. As far as God is concerned, they have no peace with God. And conversely, it's possible to find a believer, a veritable war with himself, become aware through God's holy word and light of all those massive corruptions that lie within our hearts. Discovering that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Finding a constant battle against the works and desires of the flesh. Very much at war inside, that even such a believer may know he has peace with God, not on the ground of his spiritual attainment, but on the ground of a worth of suffer. Justify thy faith. We have peace, let us enjoy that peace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. And the next thing we are to notice in this passage are the conditions that God has now laid down on us. Through whom we have had access into this grace in which we stand, says the Holy Apostle. Now we are reconciled, and we're brought back, and we have peace with God. The next thing, presumably, we should want to inquire is, now what, what quite are my terms of reference with God now? How do I stand with God? You think for a moment of what might be, what might have been, what God could have done. It could have been, couldn't it, that God would have hauled us out before his tribunal and said, now look here, you deserve my force, you deserve to perish eternally. But now I'm prepared to forgive you the past, but don't you ever sin again. From now onwards, if you ever sin again, then that's you finished. But the situation, of course, would have been hopeless for us who know our own hearts. That would have been to put us back once more on the ground of law. Listen to what the facts are. We have had access through Christ into this, into this grace wherein we stand. Oh, God has us season, and we stand now before him holy on the ground of his grace, unconditionally accepted for Christ. You say, but if I know that God has received me and whatever happens, he will never cast me out, shall I not grow careless? Friend, it is possible that we do grow careless. And should we grow careless, God will have his ways and means of dealing with us to stop us in our foolish carelessness. And of that, we shall find more in other sessions. But tonight I ask you to observe the advantage, if I may so put it, that comes from God's wise way of dealing with us. I wonder if you've ever noticed people being asked out to tea or to supper or to a Christmas party. Whether the Christmas party is a very rich, high party, you know, some folks will get little sort of feelings of misgiving inside and a little nervousness. And when they, uh, don't feel altogether at home and feel obliged to put on their very best behavior, you'll observe sometimes that they do some funny things. It kind of gets all exaggerated, they're not at their ease. And instead of being calm, nice, easy folks, they're all a lot of jitters. Yeah. And you know, if God had put us on conditions of law, we should have always been trying, shouldn't we, to make the best of ourselves and to show how good we were. Well, as you know, God wants now to do the very opposite, in a sense. Instead of us trying to prove to him how good we are, he wants us to be shown so sure of his love that we're prepared to open our hearts, open our minds, open our consciences, and admit the very worst about ourselves. So long as I'm trying to tell myself I'm pretty decent, and proving to everybody else how decent I am, and better than I am actually inside, putting on airs and braces, I can't get at my sin, can he? But if he could put me so at ease in his presence, so secure in his love, so sure that I shall never be cast out, then one of these days I might find the courage to open my heart and have a real good look inside, mightn't I? And be unafraid to tell God what I find there, and the first step to getting delivered from my sinful habit, is that security in God's love that makes me courageous enough to face them. I suspect in all our hearts there are things that we wouldn't want to confess, would we? Not even to our nearest and dearest. If your heart is anything like mine, the tendency is to try and hide it even from the Lord. No, God is wiser than we. He has not only forgiven the past, he has received us on the ground of his grace. We shall never be cast out if we have received his son. Now onwards in that security, we can begin to open our hearts for God to deal with them. And what's the first question that's going to ar- to arise, I wonder? Well, says the Holy Apostle, not only so, but let us rejoice in hope of the, of the glory of God. They're hungry for the future. It is described as the glory of God. You say, what does that mean? Well, I presume it means here what it means in chapter three. Chapter three tells us, verse twenty three, twenty two and twenty three, there is no distinction, for all have sinned and do constantly fall short of the glory of God. There is no difference. There's no difference here between sinner and saint. All have been, and all do constantly come short of God's glory. God's chiefest glory is the glory of his character, the glory of his personality, his sinless being, his positive excellence in all that he is and does. The glory of God. How tremendously far we come short of it. I often stand back from my daily work and have a look at it, don't you, and say, well, that's a poor thing you've made a battle for. The glory of God in the way I do my daily job. With all the efficiency of God. God's utter honesty and truth. God's holiness and yet his love. God's glory. Not only his negative sinlessness, but his positive, vigorous enthusiasm. When I think of God, I think sometimes I myself am only half alive, a quarter of alive. This verse tells me I may rejoice in hope of the glory of God. That is, one day I shall attain to that glory. One day I shall be conformed to that glory. Really? That verse of the poem then, it doesn't say merely that when we're justified by faith, we are free from the torments of hell. Well, that's true, blessedly true. It doesn't even say that once we've been justified by faith, we may be absolutely certain that we're going to heaven. That's true and blessedly true. It says something bigger than that. It says that once a man has been justified by faith, he may confidently exult in the very glory of God. Let's take that off. It could even happen sometimes, couldn't it, that we could take our salvation and his grace to be merely a kind of fire escape. It could be sometimes in the battle of life, could it not, that as Christians we should say to ourselves, ah, well, I've come far short, but never mind, I'm saved. That will be a tragedy. God's salvation is not designed merely to deliver us from the consequences of breaking his law. God's salvation is aimed at bringing me to share his very glorious character and person. And if virtue is so full of gospel as it tells me, I may rejoice in hope of the glory of God. You'll have to forgive me if I talk a little bit tonight about words and what they mean. But words have a way of meaning all sorts of things, don't they? In fact, it's important sometimes to get them the right way round. And the Bible says here, rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And I suppose for most of us, the word rejoice means that kind of feeling that makes us clap our hands and feel so happy. And certainly it's a good thing to do. But the word Paul uses here is even a deeper word than that. It doesn't mean merely that we clap our hands and feel like dancing along the mile for very joy. It means that calm, deep, sounded confidence that would lead you to be determined and to say, yes, I'm going to win through. Like a certain gentleman in our province at the moment professes to have a good deal of it. His face is raw and white, the responsibilities are great decisions are upon him, but as far as the public knows, he keeps on saying he has absolute confidence he's going to win through. What the apostle is saying here is not merely you may be ever so happy. Days will come when you may be desperately unhappy. But whether you be happy and gay and feel like singing all the day long like a bird on a tree, or whether you feel down in the dumps and disgusted with yourself and with nearly everybody else. This is a state of heart that may ever be with you unmoved. You may exult. You may be absolutely confident, you may glory in the fact that you will attain the glory of God. I find a tremendous calm and comfort in that myself. I don't know how you find it. As many a day, I come to the end of a day and have got to own before the Lord miserable defeats. As week after week, I march round some of the jerrycans in my life. Have you got any jerrycans in your life? Some people tell me, you know, that you've only got to believe on the Lord and you'll have victory over sin in the next five minutes. I have never found it like that exactly. I have found it more like the Israelites when they were commanded to walk around Jericho, and it didn't fall flat the first day, and it didn't fall flat the second either, nor yet the third, nor yet the fourth, nor yet the fifth. Six! Jericho was still there. They marched around it so many times, I'd dare say they were sick at the sight of it. They knew how thick its walls were. It seemed as if the place would never come down. On some days, when I've marched around some of my Jericho's for the hundred and onest time. The devil says, old boy, aren't you on a wild goose chase? Do you think we'll ever be any different? Then the verse comes ringing in my ears, we may confidently exult in the glory of God. God is going to finish his work. This is, if I may say so, no half-baked salvation. On what grounds can we be so confident? Well, says the verse, not only so, verse three, but let us also rejoice in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience and patience, probation and probation, hope and hope, put us not to shame because the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. I was very honest. One day we shall attain the glory of God. That may not be tomorrow, though. And between now and then, there might even be a very long path. And don't let us suppose it's going to be a path of magical ease and miraculous progress. It is a path that, for a good many miles of it, will be resisted inch by inch by foes outside and traitors within our breast. And tribulation there will be, dastardly thing that it It is. is All all to too efficient weapon in the enemy's hands, and that tribulation will have as its objective the ruining of our faith. That's the tactic we don't always recognize, isn't it? We think that is Satan or the world can get a believer to fall into immorality or vice or something. That's a terrible bad thing. But I can tell you something worse. And that would be if the enemy could so attack that man that he could destroy his faith. For so be it, the man's faith remains, by God's grace, he'll pick himself out of that nest and he will do his course rather than the law. Didn't Peter get in a mess one day? Didn't he fall into a terrible mud hole of denial of the law himself? Yes, it was that the Lord prayed for him that his faith didn't fail, and because of it, Peter, Peter came out of that mud hole. You show me a man in whose heart Satan has almost succeeded in breaking faith, and you'll find a man who's utterly dissenter and lost his power to get up again. That is why, my good brethren, I just turn aside from addressing you and speak to myself for a moment, as one who uses the word of God publicly to talk to other folks, however much you think your brethren have to say, you will be careful, won't you? See that your ministry to them leads them. It may be with a more tender conscience, but please see you lead them, lead them with a stronger faith. Or if your ministry tends to decrease their faith and unsettle their faith, you'll rob them of the only strength they have for overcoming the sins you denounce. In life battles, it will be life faith that will be the target. What happens if it gets broken? You say, I believe in the security of the believer. That's a very good thing to believe in. If you see, if your faith got broken, you wouldn't be a believer, would you? There would be no use talking about the security of a believer if your faith would get broken, then you wouldn't be a believer. So that we come back once more to this thing essential. We found out in the beginning, didn't we, that things went wrong when man's heart attitude to God went wrong. So for independence of God. We found out that these things are put right when man's heart is put right with God, and he comes to believe God, if it is then absolutely simple and vital. Hey, before I start the road, can my faith be broken? If my faith can be broken, it's going to shatter the whole of my salvation. Wisely, therefore, the apostle turns to the problem of the Christian heart and whispers, so see, we are to rejoice in our tribulations. Once more, we'll come back to talking about words. Here's this word again, rejoice. And you will see some sense here, I suspect, when I tell you again that the word rejoice doesn't mean to feel happy and sing glad songs and hymns all the day long. You may have the grace, my brother, when tribulation comes upon you to feel ever so happy. I don't normally do so. I feel more the sense of Peter's words when he says, if needs be, you are in ma- inhered through manifold temptation. Yeah. It's not a question of innocently and unrealistically pretending to be happy when tribulation is upon us. It is once more this, I nearly said grim word, the glorious word of grim confidence. We may be utterly confident in face of tribulation, knowing that, knowing that tribulation works endurance. Here now we cite another word. I want you to notice it very, very strongly, and if you're one of those that mark your Bible, I wonder if you might even care to mark it. It is such an important key word for the next two chapters that we're going to read, that we must get hold of it. It's this little word, know. We observe it in chapter uh five and verse three: We are to rejoice in our situation, knowing that. Would you look over the page to chapter six? verse three: Or don't you know? Are you ignorant? Don't you know? Verse six: And knowing this. Verse nine: knowing that. Verse sixteen. don't you know? Chapter seven, verse one. or are you ignorant? Don't you know? You can't get hold of that. So many folks, when they come to this stage in spiritual experience, they have trust with the Savior, they have peace with God, they have a certain gratitude coming up in their heart, and they expect everything is going to be rosy. And they're looking for those feelings of joy that they've got in their bed to continue. Sometimes they fall into the trap of making those feelings of joy the sort of ground of their faith. And so long as they're feeling happy, they feel secure. But their troubles come and sorrows come, and they be downcast and depressed, then they feel insecure. All these. The thing to get hold of at this stage in the career is not the importance of my feelings, but the importance of my knowledge. I want you to know certain things, says God. Know them. I want you to know certain facts. It's like as if perhaps a father and a son were falling together, and the boy is now grown up to the point where he can be entrusted to represent his father's business in the other side of the world. It will lead him into many difficult situations, into many burdensome decisions. It will take him to many countries where the climate is difficult, and sometimes to places where it is dangerous. And Father gets the lad and he says, now lad, I- I- I'm going to put my trust in you and I think you're able to carry yourself home. But before you leave on the train tomorrow to go those seven thousand miles away, in all the months you'll be away, now lad, I want you to get hold of certain facts. There are certain things I want you to know. I want you to know this, that if ever you are in need, you may ring me at once. I'm a hundred percent behind you. I want you to know this, that if ever it's a question between your health and business, well, choose your health, man, and let the business go. I'd rather have a living son than a prosperous business. And so Father might go on. Now, before you start, old fellow, there are certain things I want you to know. At this stage in the epistle, answering to a very real stage in our Christian experience, God comes alongside, and he says, look, there are things I want you to know. You will have tribulations. I want you to see that it needs never upset your confidence. I want you to know that tribulation works and produces. What does it produce? The authorized version says patience. That's a good thing. You can rise to that frequently told story of the man who came to his friend and said, I wish to pray for me that the Lord would give me patience. And the man got down on his knees, so the story goes, and says, uh, Lord, send the man tribulation. You see, the man objected. He said that wasn't what he pray- asked for. No, said the man, but you see, the Bible says tribulation works patience. Hm. So when we in modern English use the word patience, we generally mean that sort of calm attitude of mind that doesn't get all worried and pressured and upset and short-tempered and irritable. Hm. I'm not sure that tribulation under normal circumstances will produce that virtue. It might produce the very opposite. I've known it to produce the very opposite many times. Oh, many folks find it easy to be charming when they haven't a worry in the world. If you put somebody in a sick room, looking after the sick, getting very little sleep for months on end. And I'm not sure that that's the kind of stuff that's calculated to make them patient. You might find after nine months they were almost nervous, wrecked, irritable, jumpy, or cold. Now, this word doesn't mean patience in the sense of calmness of spirit and mind. It means endurance. Pat- our tribulation work endures. I assisted, and they made churches, or they used to, and in my youth, there's nothing for it on times that I had to act in model. Not that my figure was always good, of course, but it was useful sometimes getting the hem straight. You won't spit on me, will you, if I tell you that sometimes when the old hem wouldn't go right, you know the way dresses have when you're making them, they will not go right sometimes. Do what you'll do, they'll come out here or go down there or be lopsided, anything to be perverse dresses will not find. And well, if I didn't stand absolutely still, my dear sister sometimes used to get a title irritable, the thing's not going right. Ah. But you know, by and large, though they got sometimes a bit irritable at being unreasonable, brethren, they stuck it out and finished it. They endured, even if they weren't always too patient, they endured. It out to the end. Tribulation work endures. Listen to the Lord Jesus. He told a story, might have been the account it was, of a fellow who went off to sow. And as he sowed, some of the seeds fell on stone ground, and some among thorns, and some on the hard path, and some on good ground. That that fell on the path, the devil thought it a way, came another. That that fell on stony ground, well, it spun out after a fashion, but it had no root. And when the sun came out, what didn't it do? Well, it didn't endure, it didn't stick it. It gave up. And the same that which fell among thorns, it didn't last, it didn't come to perfection. But the seed that fell on the good ground, says our Lord, according to Saint Luke, these are they that receive the word of God into a good and honest heart and bring forth fruit with endurance. Or anybody who's worked on a farm for more than five minutes will know that a farmer can't see, not sure to see the first green little blade come up. He's looking off to the heart, and the only corn that ever was any good was the corn that endured right away to heart. And they come is attaining the glory of God. Hello, angels. When all the brigands of the devil fall upon my face, with all the difficulties of life and its temptations, can I be utterly certain I do endure? He says, God, before you start out on the road, I want to tell you something. I want you to know that tribulation works. Works. Endurance. Endure. Good, isn't it? Because then you see endurance works. It should be translated approvedness. When the farmer goes out in his field and has a lot, I know, remember the farmer I worked for, he did, you know, particularly after the sugar beet had been sown, he'd come around nearly every morning to have a look, where are they coming up? The sugar beet seed is temperamental stuff, or it used to be, and it's very difficult to get the thing rooted and grounded and coming up. And he would come around and have a look. Ah. Then the farmer would see a thin little old thing coming through the ground, yellow, no use if he was going to make the grade at all. He would shake his beard and hit it with his stick in disgust sometimes. But as he come along, he see a bit of a breeze coming out and out and out and out and out and out and out. Ah, this is the stuff. This is a good bit of stuff. Proves itself good seed, isn't it, by coming to his power. Oh yeah. The man goes on and endures his work, that's proven. And the provenness gives rise to hope, of course it does. If I, as a young man, were to suggest to some of you, dear old, I nearly said grayheads, I don't like that with every respect, right? If I were to try and come along, sit down by your side and try to tell you this book is not inspired, you'd laugh in my face, wouldn't you? You'd say, don't be silly, young man. Don't be silly. I've proved it. If I were to try and tell you that you will be lost, that there's nothing in salvation, you would say, don't be silly, young man. I have proved this reality in my soul. I can look back and see what I was before Christ found me, and I know by God's grace I have felt his power within me. These long years I have come through, and I have proved his word that he does not fail or let him go. Your faith is stronger now than ever it was. So may we know, as we step out, if our faith is genuine at the start, even tribulation will only make it endure. Therefore, we can accept the accurate confidence. We can be confident, says the Bible, on the broader aspect for two main reasons. Our confidence can base itself first in the love of God. And I have no need to go into great detail, have I, to get home the arguments that now follow. I am sure this is one of your favorite passages of faith. First great reason, then, I can be sure that I shall attain the glory of God is found first of all in God's love. Who sends his Holy Spirit and sheds his love abroad in our hearts, just as though I might get a thumber of water, and pours it out. So does the Holy Spirit come alongside the person who has trusted the Savior, and in his heart he begins to pour out the very love of God, God's love of us, and teaches us to argue and to reason, to draw all the inferences we can from the love of God. The Holy Spirit puts it like this. When did God love you? When did God first love you? Was it when you had become good? Was it when you had attained righteousness? Or look at the fact that God loved you first when you were still a sinner. Isn't that our Lord? You hadn't moved an inch. You hadn't got a centimeter on the road to glory. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's the nature of God. Well, it stands to reason, doesn't it, friends? If God loved you when you were a sinner, do you think he will ever abandon you as a friend? Tell me, what do you think of the biggest thing that God has done for you or ever will do for you? The biggest thing, come on, the biggest thing. Will the biggest thing be if God gives you a whole planet to yourself when you get home to heaven, a whole big star, group of stars, galaxy of stars, to tell you? I think not. I think on sober reflection you would admit that the biggest thing God has ever or ever will do for you is to let Christ die on a cross for you, isn't it? Can you conceive of anything bigger? Tell me, God was kind to you before you got on from purpose, but when was it that God gave his son to die for you? I should think you had to be a bit improved, didn't you? You had to make great strides in the Christian life, didn't you, before God Christ died for you, didn't you? The look of the Holy Spirit. It was while we were yet sinners that God died for us. God has done the biggest thing he possibly can for us while we were still sinners, while in fact we were enemies. You're not an enemy of God now, are you? You may not be a very close specimen of a saint, but you're not a positive enemy. I know. Think back to the day when you were an enemy, when you would have kicked God in the face if he came too near. If when we were enemies, we were reconciled through the death of his son. How we were. I always echo in my mind the parable our Lord taught of a husbandman who sent his servants to receive the fruit of the vineyard. Pardon me this diversion, do this sensationally. He sent his, uh, his servants to get the, uh, fruit of the vineyard, and they kicked them out. He said, last of all, I will send my son. And then so they'll go see him. And they took him down and cast him out. Never such a thing that Paul the Father's heart was wetted. The day, my good Christian friend, when Christ hung upon that tree, if ever your eternal salvation was in doubt, it was that day. When When your your enemy enemy, enmity entity with with God God, was was put putting in spiteful spite through his power. heart, it was tearing God's heart to its very limit. And in spite of that, God says it. Indeed, through that very thing, says it. Now his son is alive. Moment by moment ministers to God's inexpressible pleasure. If you were reconciled by his death, shall you not be saved by his life? Look at it this way, friend. God's own tongue tries to save you, puppet saves. Shall God ever throw you away and let you come under his law? And see what it means. I was once leading a conference meeting in England, my student days, hurrying for a train to get back to my college. When out beside me drew a gentleman in a car, a friend of mine in the world, uh, and the car offered me a lift. Well, I doubted the wisdom of it when I looked at the thing, but there, well, I couldn't be good, so I got in the car. Well, it was only a quarter of a mile or so to the station, but that car did everything it knew how to do, and it knew a lot of things, I tell you. It would go for five inches, and then it would stop. Then you would press it here or pat it there, and it would jump like a kangaroo for the next two or three feet, and then it would stop. And then the old starter wouldn't make it go at all. He did all the tricks it knew. And I could have said to my friend, hey, look, you old fellow, why don't you back this in my car? But I wouldn't say that. For one very good reason. He was a young married man, and he hadn't much cash to spare, and all the cash he had had been invested in the car. And he did. I want to tell you something exceedingly, exceedingly fun. Phone. There are some things in life that are more valuable, more costly than cash. There is no coin in all God's treasure house more valuable than cotton, more costly. Can a woman forget the child she's had earlier? Well, it could happen to God, perhaps. But the mightiest God of eternity, even he knows nothing more costly and therefore more valuable than the pain of Christ upon the tree. And when the day comes, friends, that God can take those sufferings of Christ and throw them into eternity's dustbin, then he may consider giving you up. Long as Christ, long as God remembers the sufferings of Calvary, that he endured for your sake, he'll never let you go. Never. Or throw you away. If we just throw away as something that has been bought by One all all had, hands and and the beside fight. it he had nothing left to give. The soul that on Jesus has lain for its own, he'll never, he said it, desert to its own. That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, will never, no, never, no, never forfeit.