In order to finish the eighth chapter this
evening, it will be necessary for us to spend but a short time
on each verse. Yet I believe it will be best to briefly review
the verses considered at our last study.
And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified:
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30).
You will notice that the verbs in these
texts are all in the past tense. The blessings and promises contained
here are true continually of those who are called of God and
of all who are called of God. Who are called? "For the promise
is unto you, and to your children and to all that are afar off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call." He calls,
"Whosoever will." "Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely."
Now what is the purpose of God in calling
all the world--whosoever will come, to Him? "That in the
dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which
are on earth, even in him." Ephesians 1:10. Speaking on
the same subject in 2 Timothy 1:9, the apostle Paul says, "Who
hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according
to our own works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given in Christ Jesus before the world began."
We are then to be gathered together in Christ according to the
purpose and grace of God. Seeing this, what is our duty? "Therefore
the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and
election sure, for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall."
2 Peter 1:10.
Now how can we make our calling and election
sure? Every one is called, but the purpose of God is in Christ,
"for of him and through him and to him are all things: to
whom be glory forever. Amen." Romans 11:36. We are all called
and abiding in Him; then we are called according to the purpose
of God, because we are in Christ. Give up everything of self,
and everything that is connected with self; then you can have
Christ and you are called according to the purpose of God.
If we say, "Here I am, Lord, take
me," then we are in Christ; but that saying, "Here
I am, take me," must be in deed and in truth. It is not
simply the words, but we must know what it means. Then we are
in Him and therefore we are predestinated to be conformed according
to the image of His Son.
"All things work together for good
to them that love God." When? Now. How is that? "For
whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son." "Behold, what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God." When we tell the Lord day by day, "Here
is my heart, Lord, I have made no change in the gift. I want
Thee to have it," He will bind us with cords of divine love
to the horns of the altar. We are then predestinated with Christ.
What He has, we have. He has given us eternal life, and hath
said Himself, "Neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand." John 10:28.
God had a purpose. Can it be changed?
No, the thing is fixed. Those that are called are justified;
in Christ, therefore, we have justification. But those that are
justified are also glorified. Can we believe that? If we can,
we have got hold of a wonderful amount of strength. We have the
glory of Christ? Yes, "And the glory which thou gavest me
I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one."
John 17:22.
Mark, it is past tense. The glory that
God has given to Christ is ours today. It is true that that glory
doth not yet appear and the world knoweth us not, because it
knew not Christ. But it is ours, and it will appear and even
now it appears in the form of grace. Inwardly we have it, for
says Paul, "That he would grant you, according to the riches
of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in
the inner man." Ephesians 3:10. For the same reason for
thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory."
Jeremiah 10:21.
"The Lord will give grace and glory,
no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly."
Peter says that, believing, we may "rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory." 1 Peter 1:8.
The glory is all ours; we have it now.
By and by when we have accepted this grace according to the riches
of His glory and worked out in us His purpose, then we will step
out of grace into glory on the same level.
"What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" Take this
verse and read it and commit it to memory; and then remember
to say, "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and
by the word of their testimony." Revelation 12:11. And remember
that Christ gave the example of defeating Satan by the word of
the testimony; every time the temptation came He said, "It
is written." So when the clouds of darkness come and the
thick darkness gathers around, just say, "If God be for
us, who can be against us!" And God is for us, as is shown
in that He gave Christ to die for us and raised Him again for
our justification.
There is peace in the thought that God
works out all things after the counsel of His own will and that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. Then it does not
matter what comes against us, for in that it comes against us,
it comes against the purpose of God, and that is as sure and
firm as the existence of the Almighty can make it.
Now who is against us? Satan is against
us. That does not make any difference if he is. Satan has tried
his power with Christ, and it has proved itself to be nothing.
"All power in heaven and earth is given to me," says
Christ. Then if all power has been given to Christ in heaven
and in earth and it has been given, where is there any left for
Satan? there is none. In a contest with Christ, Satan has no
power; so if we have Christ for us, nothing can be against us.
Some of us have been talking about the
power of Satan in the past; but he has none, there is none left
for him. Technically speaking, Satan is against us. Who is he?
"The prince of the power of the air." He brings pestilence;
he brings disease; he puts things in our way and arrays them
against us. But the very things which he arrays against us to
work our ruin, God takes and makes them for us. They are all
good. We often sing: Let good or ill befall, It must be good
for me, Secure of having Thee in all, Of having all in thee.
But we very often sing things that we
do not believe at all. Now I would not have anyone sing these
things any less, but I would have you believe them more. It is
often the case that if you took the words from the music and
put them into plain prose, there would not be anyone in a whole
congregation who would believe or dare to say them. Let us believe
them not because they are in the hymn, but because they are Bible
truth.
We are like the people who are represented
by the prophet Ezekiel: "Also, thou son of man, the children
of thy people still are talking against [about] thee by the walls
and in the doors of the houses and speak one to another, everyone
to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the
word that cometh forth from the Lord." That is it--they
say, Come, let us go to meeting and hear the sermon. "And
they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before
thee as my people and they hear thy words, but they will not
do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their
heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto
them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice,
and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words,
but they do them not." Ezekiel 33:30-32.
I say that a great many of these truths
are just a song to many people. They hear them and are interested
in them and then pass on but they do not believe or do them.
But the Lord has given them for us to both believe and to do,
and they will be our strength. So everything works for good to
them that love God. We cannot always see how or tell how, but
God has said it and we know it is so. There are many things that
we cannot tell why we believe and to our very senses they do
not appear to be so, but the very fact that God has promised
that if we do believe them they will be so, makes them so, when
we take hold and believe them. We can never know this till we
do believe, but when we do believe, then we will know. So if
God be for us, who can be against us?
Think of that lone prophet of God, Elisha.
He was down in Samaria; the mountains were all around him. A
whole host of armed men had come to take him. He stood alone
with his servant, and that servant was afraid. He did not think
in that moment, nor did he say, that the King of Israel ought
to send a troop of horse or some infantry to defend him. The
young man came to him and said, "Alas, my master! How shall
we do?" Elisha prayed, "Lord, I pray thee, open his
eyes." and the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and
he saw and behold the mountains were full of horses and chariots
of fire round about.
The whole mountain and plain was filled
with chariots and horses, and only one of them was stronger than
the whole host of the enemy. It is as true in our case as in
that of Elisha, that "they that be for us are more than
they that be against us," and the only thing for us to do
is to get our eyes open so that we may see that this is so. What
opens our eyes? The word; it is a lamp unto our feet and a light
to our path, and if we believe it, we will know that they that
are for us are more than they that are against us.
He who is with us is the living God of
Israel, who has power to turn darkness into light and weakness
into strength; and every evil thing that comes against us, He
turns into a blessing to help us on our way.
"He that spared not His own Son but
delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely
give us all things?" Why will He with Christ also give us
all things? Because all things are in Him. Note Ephesians 1:23.
"Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all
in all."
He that hath put on Christ is "strengthened
with all might!" Why? Because God has placed Christ "far
above all principality and power and might and dominion and every
name that is named not only in this world but also in that which
is to come, and hath put all things under his feet and gave him
to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body,
the fullness of him that filleth all in all." Therefore
everything is in Christ. In him are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. He has all power given him in heaven and
in earth. Don't you see that this being the case, it is a foregone
conclusion that when God gave Christ for us and freely delivered
Him up for us all, that in Him He does give us all things.
"Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Ephesians 1:3.
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you
through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according
as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath
called us to knowledge and virtue; whereby are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. 2 Peter 1:2-4.
Christ has all power, and He hath given
unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Notice
that the past tense is used. This has been done for us. Then
why don't we have them? for just one reason--because we don't
take them. We have been mourning for so long and saying that
we want these things; well, we can have them, they have been
given to us, and there is no reason why we should not appropriate
them to ourselves.
Suppose I come to you and say that I am
very hungry and that I would like something to eat. All right,
you say, just sit down here to the table and we will get something
for you. Soon you place the best of what you have on the table
and tell me that there it is and now, eat. But I say, "O,
I am so hungry and I do want food so much." All right, take
it and eat. "But I am so hungry and I do want something
to eat. I have not had anything for days." Well, take it.
"Yes, but I do want food so bad." You would say that
I was out of my mind if I acted that way and did not eat of the
food that was so freely placed before me.
Said one to me the other night, "If
that is the way that the Lord does with these blessings that
pertain to life and godliness, we are certainly foolish that
we do not take them, but I do not think that the illustration
is a fair one, because we cannot see these things that the Lord
has to offer, and we can see the food." Neither do I think
that is a fair illustration, because it does not half fill the
bill.
Did not you often think you saw something
that you did not see? Does not your sight often deceive you?
Sometimes you think you saw a thing that you did not see and
then again you saw things that when you came to look at them
closely were not as they really appeared to be. But the word
of God never deceives. Therefore I am more sure of the things
promised in the word of God that if I could see them. "Therefore
it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise
might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the
law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is
the father of us all." Romans 4:16.
"The things which are seen are temporal,
but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Corinthians
4:18. We must revise our logic a little in this matter. We think
that anything that we can see is all right and sure. Therefore
we get hold of a house or a piece of land or some other property
and think that we have something, because there is in our possession
something that we can see. But the truth of the matter is that
the only things that we can depend on are the things that we
cannot see. We can see the earth, and we can see the heavens,
but they are going to pass away. "But the word of the Lord
endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is
preached unto you." 1 Peter 1:25.
With the psalmist we can say, "God
is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore
will not we fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains
be carried into the midst of the sea." Psalm 46:1-3. Can
we say that? Brethren, that time is coming. The earth will reel
to and from like a drunken man and be removed like a cottage
and the mountains will skip away and pass over into the ocean.
This is going to happen and there will be some people at that
time who will feel perfectly calm and trustful, but they will
not be composed of men and women who have never learned to say
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are the called according to His purpose. The man
that doubts God now will doubt Him then. "He that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty."
He that spared not His own Son but delivered
Him up for us all, how shall He [not] with Him freely give us
all things? That promise includes all. "Therefore let no
man glory in men. For all things are yours. Whether Paul or Apollos
or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or
things to come; and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's."
1 Corinthians 3:21-23. This is not in the future. All things
are yours at the present time. Everything is ours and therefore
we can say with the psalmist, "The lines have fallen unto
me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage."
Yes, we have everything; we are children
of the King, of the Most High. What difference does it make if
people do not own us? God owns us, and He knows us, and therefore
if men heap on us reproach and persecution, the only thing we
can do is to pity them and labor for them, for they do not know
the riches of the inheritance.
"Who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." Well, there
is one that will do it surely. We have his name, Satan. Here
is a testimony concerning him. "And I heard a loud voice
saying in heaven, now is come salvation and strength and the
kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ, for the accuser
of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day
and night." Revelation 11:10. Yes, Satan is the accuser
of the brethren. He has done it day and night and he is doing
it still--laying everything he can to the charge of God's elect.
But he is cast down and now is come salvation and strength and
the kingdom of God and the power of His Christ. Christ has all
power; how good that is.
But says one poor, discouraged, desponding
soul, "I believe all that, and I have confessed my sins,
and I believe that God is faithful and just to forgive them and
to cleanse me from all unrighteousness; but these sins keep coming
up before me all the time!" Are you sure that it is Satan
that brings them up? That is an important point, for if you are
sure of that and they do come up, you ought to be one of the
happiest creatures alive.
Why does Satan bring these things up?
Because he is the accuser of the brethren, and he is a false
accuser; he is a liar and the father of it, and therefore if
Satan brings these sins up and accuses you, then you know that
they are forgiven, because he would never have brought them up
if they had not been forgiven. He could not tell the truth if
he tried, and unless they had been forgiven he never would bring
them up, never in the world, because he would be afraid that
you would confess them, and they would be forgiven.
Well, another query: "I don't know;
perhaps it is not Satan. It must be God." No, "It is
God that justifieth." If God justifies, He cannot condemn.
Who has any right to condemn but God? No one. God is judge alone.
Then there is no other soul that has any right to condemn, except
God. He shows us our sins and we confess them and give ourselves
to Him and He justifies us, and in Him is no variableness nor
shadow of turning; therefore, when He justifies, who is there
in the universe that can condemn? Who will do it? Satan. But
what have we to do with him? If we would only give more credence
to God's truth and less to Satan's's lies, it would be better
for us.
"Who is he that condemneth? It is
Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."
Who is going to condemn us, then, since God justifies and Christ
died and rose again as a pledge of that justification. Christ
died and rose again and is even now at the right hand of God
to make intercession for us. Don't you see there is not a possible
loophole left for discouragement for the Christian?
There is a time when God brings sins up
before us, but it is when they have not been confessed. That
is the only time. But it is the Comforter that convicts of sin,
so He comforts us in every place, and in the very act of calling
to our remembrance the wrongs that we have done. Then when God
brings sins to my notice that I have not confessed, I will thank
Him for the comfort, and when Satan brings them up again, I will
praise God again, for if they were not forgiven, Satan would
never bring them up, but if they have been confessed, they have
been forgiven.
In Christ are mercy and truth met together.
The same hand that holds the law, holds the pardon also. Brethren,
remember this, that when the law was spoken from Sinai in thunder
tones, it was in the hand of a mediator, even our Lord Jesus
Christ. Then the same hand which holds the justice and that which
convicts of sin, holds also the pardon. Thanks be unto God which
always causeth us to triumph in Christ.
"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." That idea of "much more"
which is so prominent in chapter five, is found again in these
verses.
We often hear the expression, "If
I can only get inside the gates of heaven, I will be satisfied."
I am so thankful that we don't have to just get in, as if we
wished to apologize for our presence after we were there. Why
not? Because He has promised that "an entrance shall be
ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
"We have enemies to contend with,"
says one. Don't talk about them or your trials and temptations,
but talk of the power of Christ. All power has been given to
Him. so when we wrestle, we will remember that it is not an even-handed
battle, but we fight a fight of faith and the power is given
unto us whereby we can be more than conquerors through Him that
loved us and gave Himself for us. Where sin abounded, there did
grace much more abound.
Who are conquerors? They are those who
have gained the victory. "We wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places." It is not flesh and blood that we are fighting
against, therefore flesh and blood are of no account in the defense.
Then how do we meet the foe? "Fight the good fight of faith,
lay hold on eternal life."
There comes in that life question again.
"Lay hold on eternal life." The only power that can
resist evil is the power of an endless life, and He that hath
the Son hath that life. We are to fight the good fight of faith.
What is faith? Trusting in another. If I fight a fight with my
fists, I do the fighting. If I fight the fight of faith, someone
else is fighting for me, and I am getting the benefit. We are
more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Thanks be to
God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Well how is this? Christ has fought, has
He not? Yes, He has fought hand to hand with Satan here on earth.
He conquered Satan and all his host, and He has put down all
might and dominion, for He has put above all "principality
and power and might." Mark, those are the very things that
we wrestle with. How great was the victory of Christ over them?
"Having spoiled principalities and powers, He made show
of them openly, triumphing over them in himself." Colossians
2:15. So Christ met these very enemies that we have to wrestle
with, and He triumphed over them and spoiled them. he has gained
the victory over them. What is the result? What always must be
the result when a battle has been fought and one side has conquered
the other completely--peace. Satan would not give in, so the
Saviour conquered a peace.
"He is our peace." "Peace
I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world
giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither
let it be afraid." John 14:27. As He has given us His peace
and peace follows victory, so the victory has been gained already.
And if we have Christ, that victory is ours already. We simply
lay hold of the eternal life of Christ and that is done by laying
hold of His word, which is spirit and life. Thus we bring Christ
into our hearts and so we have Christ, and the victory that He
has won for us.
The great trouble with us is that sometimes
we are afraid that Christ will gain the victory. Why? We have
some darling sin that we do not want to give up; we are willing
we think that all the rest should go but that, and so we are
afraid that Christ will gain the victory and that that sin will
have to be given up. Just think of it! We call Christ in to help
defeat our enemy, and when He comes, he finds us on the side
of the enemy. But if we will give up all these things, Christ
will give us something that is infinitely better. When we make
up our minds from the word of God that all that God has to give
us is in Christ, that He is the fullness of Him that filleth
all in all, we will realize that the meager things of this earth
are not worth having, compared to what is going to be given us.
In 1 John 4:2-4 we have reference to the
wicked spirits with which we have to fight, and this assurance
is given to the children of God: "Ye are of God, little
children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that
is in you, than he that is in the world." So with Elisha
we know that they that are for us are more than they that are
against us. "This is the victory that hath overcome the
world, even our faith." 1 John 5:5, R. V.
Do we believe that Christ has conquered
everything and that when we have Him we have everything and that
there is no power of darkness that can do us any hurt?
When this has been done, we are crucified
with Him. Our own lives have been given up to Christ, but we
still live. Then it must be some other life that we live, and
that life is the life of Christ. That is the life in which we
glory. Christ is our life, and He has the victory and therefore
we have it. "Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be
able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Ephesians
6:11.
What is it to put on the whole armour?
To stand in Christ complete, that is what we mean.
He is the truth, the Lord our righteousness.
Shod with peace, He is our peace. It is Christ all through. Then
take the sword in your hand and it is the word of God and Christ
is the eternal word.
"And ye are complete in him."
Having put on the whole armour which is Christ, we are complete
in Him. "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ!" He is the
armour and the armour is He. Thus it is that in all these things
we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us and gave
His life for us. There is nothing that can take the armour away
from 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.
[Sermons on Romans Contents]