God's Security (Part 2)

Romans 8 and the Present Sufferings of Believers

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures verse by verse with No Compromise.

But the sufferings of this present time, there's a different time too by the way, a future time, are not worth comparing. Your body's fading away, you've got trouble at work, at home, someplace else. It's not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

No wonder Paul said to the Corinthians, momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. Glory dwarfs suffering. When you're suffering you think future and suffering's just part of it.

Even the creation groans, verse 19, creation here personified, for the creation waits. The creation stands on its tiptoes. The creation cranes its neck forward waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God, waiting for Jesus to come back.

For the creation was subjected to futility, it didn't do it itself, it's not by evolution, but because of him who subjected it in hope that creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Adam sinned and it affected everything. It affected Adam, it affected Eve and all those in Adam, and it affected the world as well. By the way, on a side note, you want to deal with ecological problems, Earth Day won't solve it because Earth Day doesn't understand man's sinfulness in Christ's redemption.

Verse 22, for we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now, and you know what, creation groans, we groan, verse 23, and not only creation but we ourselves see suffering hurts.

We're not Christian scientists denying suffering, but we know God uses suffering and we know we serve a suffering servant so we probably are going to suffer too. This is a cursed world, this isn't heaven, but we ourselves who have been the first fruits of the spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies, we long ahead as well, looking forward to heaven.

Verse 24, for in this hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen isn't hope, we can't see but we still hope, for who hopes for what he sees, but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience, even as we suffer, even as we struggle, hoping for what God promised to do, and the spirit of God is going to groan as well, creation groans, we groan, verse 26, likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness, oh thank you.

We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself, now if you see the word spirit intercedes, it means he intercedes, but when you put in himself it's emphatic, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Lord I'm struggling, there's suffering, this is a decaying world, and I need help, and I don't really know how I should pray, or what I should say, or how I should go about it, but the spirit of God dwells in you and he knows, I used to meet people, Kim's relatives and Grandma Evie's friends, and they'd say, we pray for you every day, and then they get older, and then they die, and I think, I need prayer partners, I need people, men and women to say, you know what pastor, we're going to just pray for you every single day.

You know there's something better, as good as that is, and by the way if any of you want to commit to pray for me every day, I need that. But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words.

He helps, I'm weak, but the spirit helps, present tense keeps on helping, and if our main problems and weaknesses are spiritual, then I need the Holy Spirit to take hold face to face, is the idea as we have heavy burdens that he knows all about.

He doesn't have difficulty in praying, he doesn't have a difficulty in having his prayers answered, he always prays in accordance with the Father's will. We're not alone in weaknesses, we're not alone in trials, we have a perfect prayer partner.

And notice it's in groanings too deep for words, so stop trying to do these groanings, it's the spirit himself. I told you the story many times, I just have to make it fast since this is the 1 .5 speed deal, I wanted everything that God wanted for me and I'm in trials, and so what do I do?

It says groanings here, so I would just get down on my knees, make sure Kim was still at work or wherever she was, I'm by myself, turn up the stereo and I would just lay there and go, oh, oh, because I need help.

I needed help just reading the Bible simply is what I needed help on. My poor dog, she'd come up and she's like, you know, are you okay, master? Oh, she's worried. So then I thought, you know what, Satan's in my dog because Satan doesn't want me to have the second blessing and so I rebuke you, her name is Marley, I rebuke you Marley, this is before it was popular to name your dog Marley, I rebuke you and she just went down to the edge of the bed and I thought, I don't need to pray in tongues when I can cast demons out of dogs, I've got it all.

Forget the dog whisperer, friends, this isn't our language, this is the spirit's language, he's the one, he's there for you, he intercedes, the Greek word is wordless, they're unexpressed, but the father hears, this is not a private prayer language, unless it's private between the spirit of God and the father and the good news is, he knows exactly how to pray, verse 27, I love those dear ladies that prayed for me every day, but they can't pray like the spirit of God can pray and he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God, what assurance.

All Things Work Together for Good

Number five, no tragedy, verses 28 through 30, no condemnation, no vacancy, no abandonment, no hopelessness, no tragedy, God works all things together for good, supreme success. People say, well, there's only two things certain in life, death and taxes, better add another one according to Robert Deffenbaugh, you better add that God will sanctify Christians using everything, using all things together for good, everything's of an advantage to the Christian as God uses it for that sake.

Verse 28, ESV reads, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose, NAS says, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good, at the end of the day, both are true because God is the one working in our lives all the time, never getting tired on our account, no deistic God, no blind fate, he's working everything together.

The word working together refers to medicine, mixing several poison ingredients together to make the medicine good for the patient. Yeah, Paul, but you don't realize what I've been through, you haven't been what I've been through, that's true, but Paul's been through more, and you can read 2 Corinthians 11 to see what he's been through, and they all work together for good, so why kill yourself with care?

Why keep asking why questions when you should be asking who questions? Verse 29, and then he gives this great chain, five unbreakable chains to all point to when God calls a sinner, things can't change it.

God doesn't repent of calling a sinner to himself. The first word is the word foreknow, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. Word one, foreknow, I can go a little bit longer here for second service, but I want to make sure you get this right.

Don't ever think to yourself, oh yeah, foreknow, God knows ahead of time, and he looked down the corridors of time, and he looked down that time wormhole, and he saw that I would believe, and therefore he picked me.

There's lots of reasons why that's not true. One, if God would look down the wormhole of time, he would see morally unable people, never able because of sin to pick God. Two, if God would look down the corridor of time and see you pick him and then pick you, then God would have learned something.

God already knew that you wouldn't pick him. This word has nothing to do with to know ahead of time. Amos, God said of Israel, of all the nations, I only knew you. What does he mean? I don't know the Philistines.

I don't know the Egyptians. The Hebrew word for know is intimate love. Adam knew his wife. To know means to love, and here when you were still in the womb, Jeremiah, I loved you. The word is I knew you.

Of course he knows he's omniscient, but I love you in advance. This word means to love in advance, and here the point is not he forloved me because of my actions. Look at the text again. Whom he foreknew.

He foreknows people. It's all about God's choice. It means to love. The Hebraic thought is coming into a relationship with somebody before time begins. Depravity means we can't choose anything. Charles Spurgeon said, I'm so glad he chose me before he saw me because if he had waited until he saw me, he might not have wanted me.

And to correct the Prince of Preachers, he wouldn't have wanted you, Charles, and he wouldn't have wanted me either. Don't let anybody ever tell you that the word for love is derived from the American Heritage Dictionary because it's not.

Two, the word predestined. This is the goal of foreknowledge. This is the goal. This is the end. It focuses on the person as well. To mark out to a point. That's what predestined means. To what end? And what is that goal?

It tells us to become conformed to the image of His Son. That He might be the firstborn among many brethren. And by the way, as you walk through this, if God starts off with a million, whom He forloved, whom He predestined, whom He called, these He also justified, these He also glorified.

If He starts with a million, He doesn't end with 900 ,000. If He starts with 100, He ends with 100. He starts with the elect, He ends with the elect. Third word is called. These He also called, verse 30.

In the New Testament, it just applies in the epistles, not to the outward believe call, but when the Spirit of God changes us on the inside effectually. These He also justified. He declared righteous.

We learned about that in chapter three. And whom He justified, these He also glorified. It's the past tense for a future event because it's as good as done. And He doesn't include sanctification here because that relies upon us.

This is all about what God has done. This is the order of salvation. It reminds me of the story that S. Lewis tells. There's a guy on his seminary final and what are the six stages of the order of salvation.

And the guy writes down foreknows, he writes down predestined, he writes down called, he writes down justified, and he writes down glorified. And he doesn't know the last one. And he can't figure it out.

And he's working through the passage. The bell rings. He's got to hand it in. And then he writes down on number six, more glory. They laugh more when S. Lewis told the story than when I told it. So I didn't tell that to the first service.

You guys get the extra, but take it out of the tape. No ultimate tragedy, no what, no matter what happens to you in your life, it can't undo the work of God of foreknowing, predestinating, calling, justifying, and glory.

No Real Adversaries and No Ultimate Foes

Number six. We've got two more to go. Here we go. No real adversaries. No ultimate foes, verses 31 through 34. And now we come to, this will make you wake up, John Calvin's life verse. Do you have a life verse?

Maybe this would be a good life verse for you. Not because of Calvin, but because of what it says. This is a conclusion. It's a confident conclusion. It's a praise. It's all God-centered. What then should we say to these things?

What do we say to the sovereignty of God in salvation in chapter eight, verses 28, 29, and 30? Well, what do you say to that? Yeah, yeah, no biggie. What do we say to those things? How about hallelujah?

I'm thankful. I'm glad it's not for me to keep my salvation, because I'd surely lose it. What do we say to these things? You ask another question. Derives itself right from Isaiah 50 about the Lord helping us, and who then is the one who condemns.

If God is for us, who can be against us? And by the way, it gets better when we think God should be against us. As unbelievers and all the sins we committed, certainly an inflexibly righteous God should be against us, but God's more than inflexibly righteous.

He's infinitely gracious, and because of Christ's work, he's not against us. Luthi said they would not at all be surprised if God were against us. They know that God would have had good reason for being against us, would serve us right if God were against us.

But now Paul says it's not like there's no opposition to Christianity, but compared to who God is, how puny is the opposition? If God is for us, who is against us? Who dares approach the bench as prosecutor when you have the advocate Christ Jesus?

To what extent is God for you? Verse 32, he who did not spare, that's the exact language used in the Greek Old Testament for Abraham not sparing his son on Mount Moriah. He who did not spare his own dear, intimate possession, the son.

He didn't spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? He didn't spare anything. He showed how generous he was and how giving he was by letting Christ come to earth and die and he was delivered up for us all.

Winslow said, who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas for money, not Pilate for fear, not the Jews for envy, but the Father for love. Here's the point, mark this. Would God do less for his children than he did for his enemies?

And if you were an enemy and Jesus died for you, how will he treat you now? The justification question, verse 33, who shall bring any charge against God elect? The highest court in the land, no one, because it's God who justifies.

There's no impeachment of a Christian. Jesus was the propitiation for our sins. What's the sanctification question, verse 34? Who is to condemn? By the way, Jesus only has the right to condemn, John 5.

Christ is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God. And we thought it was good when the Holy Spirit was praying for us, who is indeed interceding for us. Listen to this.

I quote from an anonymous source. If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me. And doesn't Hebrews 7 say that he always lives to make intercession for us?

No Separation from the Love of Christ

And finally, number seven, no separation. Seven promises of security for the Christian who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ by faith alone. No condemnation, no vacancy, no abandonment, no hopelessness, no tragedy, no real foe, no, no, no, and finally, no separation from God's love, verses 35 through 39.

In the day and age we live in, the fickleness of love, people falling out of love, how does it work with the Lord? Who shall separate us, verse 35, from the love of Christ? How can God love me and let this happen?

If there really is a God and he's all-powerful and all-caring, how does he let this happen to me? Bad circumstances, do they really show that God will separate his love from me? God will divorce me is the word.

And he just lists a bunch of things it can't. Shall tribulation, this is external difficulties, a squeezing, troubles from the outside, that can't do it. Distress is the second one. This is internal problems.

This is internal affliction, that can't do it. Persecution, that can't actually, the Bible says, blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Famine, no rain, no food, nakedness, so vulnerable, so unprotected, running around, can't even afford clothes, wandering around, Hebrews 11 says, in deserts and mounds and caves and holes in the ground.

Peril, exposed to treachery, lots of believers are exposed to treachery. Sword, the assassin's dagger, probably how Paul died. Was Stephen separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus? James, the victims of Nero, Jim Elliot, some say 500 ,000 Christians a year die for their faith.

I don't know what the number is, but it's a big number. Christians suffer, verse 36, Paul quotes the Old Testament to tell us that, as it is written for your sake, we are being killed all the day long.

We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Shouldn't be surprising, it shouldn't be strange, sheep go to the butcher, but God is in charge of it all. That doesn't separate the love of God. God wasn't loving the Son less on Calvary.

No, verse 37, in all these things, we are more than conquerors, we're super-Nikes, we're conquerors, we're invincible, to translate it, we're preeminently conquerors, as one man translated it, far more exceedingly conquerors.

Because we're great? No, because of who God is, through Him who loved us. You look at Calvary and you say to yourself, if I didn't have eyes of faith, it is a defeat, but it was victory. You look at your circumstances, if you don't have eyes of faith, you'll say, it's a defeat, God doesn't love me, but He does.

And the Bible says that very thing. And they work together for good, actually, if we want to back up a little bit. More than conquerors. And then we come to verses 38 and 39. One commentator said, these are the finest expressions of religious exaltation ever recorded, and they cannot be improved by comment.

So I'm not going to try to comment too much. But I will say this, if you put your name in there, it brings out the effect. When you think about, you won't be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

And Paul says, for I'm sure, I'm persuaded, I stand convinced that all these things can't separate me from God's love. And just so you know what they are, death, there's a lot of contrasting pairs here, he's just trying to think of everything.

He's like a guy, it's like all comers, just whoever you are, just come at me and no matter who you are, what you are, you can't knock me down. I remember once in football practice, I wasn't that great in football, but I do remember this drill.

70 guys would get lined up in one line, and you would have to get in this small little box about this big. And your job was to stay in the box where these guys five yards away, the whistle would go, they'd run full blast at you with pads, and you'd try to crouch down low enough.

They would knock you out of the box, and then they would get to be in the box for the next guy. And so five guys, I'm still down there, six guys, and pretty soon things start flying out of your nose and your eyes and your ears and all this stuff.

And pretty soon by about the 10th guy, you're just completely plastered on the ground. You can't get back up to even go over there. But here it's like, okay, come on, what can separate the love of God from Christ, from the love of God from Christians to Jesus?

What can get in there? It's just like, come on, one after another after another. It's like the battery commercial, all right? Think of something. Paul just gives a little example, death, the separator is what it's called.

That can't separate. Even the separator death can't separate us from God's love. Was Lazarus separated from the love of God? Was the thief on the cross separated from the love of God? Was Jesus separated from the love of God?

Francis Bacon said, men fear death as children fear the dark. Well, he's got these pairs. Life, oh, life, distractions, things coming at us, seductions. No, failing health, no, suffering, no. Angels, good angels, they couldn't do it if they wanted to.

Bad angels, principalities, they can't do it. Nor things present, things in time, indwelling sin, temptations. If you stumble into sin, they can't. Nor things to come, God's immutable. You can't say, you know what?

But what if I get to heaven and then somehow sin or God stops loving me in heaven? Or maybe, you know, could I fall in heaven somehow like maybe the angels did fall from grace? No, or powers, verse 7, probably miraculous signs.

Satan has fake power and signs and false wonders, 2 Thessalonians 2. Am I going to somehow get caught up into something and lose my election because of deception of Satan? No. Now he says, nor height, nor depth.

And probably what this means is we're talking about the lowest part of the ocean and the highest part of the stars. And when people started looking up at the stars, they started thinking fate and chance.

And probability and astrological things. Is God's love really more powerful than chance? Of course. Then we come to the end here. Nor any other created thing. I won't make you raise your hand and I won't make you look to your neighbor and say, I am a created thing.

But friend, you are a created thing. So when you hear someone say, do you know what? God's security is sure. Christians can't lose their salvation. But when Jesus and John says, no one can snatch them out of my hand.

Maybe what if I jump out? I hear it all the time. I can unsave myself by jumping out of the father's hand. Friend, are you a created being? Because if you are, you can't do it. Covers everything. Covers everyone, everything except God.

Nothing can separate you. No fine print. No loopholes. No one more loving. No one more sovereign. No one more powerful. No more. No one who's more wise. Can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

So then when you hear these words of Jesus, you say, amen. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And I give eternal life to them and they shall never perish. And no one shall snatch them out of my hand.

My father who has given them to me is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand. I and the father are one. No, no, no condemnation. No separation. Christian, you're free.

Live like it. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. And Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff, or management.