Grosey's Messages

IF GOD BE FOR US: HOW TO KNOW GOD REALLY LOVES YOU

ROMANS 8:26-34

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died---more than that, who was raised---who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us

Romans 8, we have discovered, is mainly about our salvation from the power of our sins.

But is God really for us? How can we know that the great God of the universe is actually on our side? Perhaps he is too busy to care about us. Maybe we are too insignificant for him to give us even a second thought. What if our sins have caused him to regret that he brought us into being in the first place? Why should I then "live for Christ?" Maybe it is Christian hogwash? Maybe life is nothing more than that make-believe Gold Coast suburb in Muriel's Wedding called Porpoise Spit.

GOD LOVES YOU ACTIVELY
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
THIS IS ABOUT GOD.

God spared Him not  (Gen 22)

Some people think of the atonement as something accomplished by a loving Jesus to change the mind of an angry God. They think that God is ready to condemn us, but Jesus enters the picture to plead for us. "I love these people," he says. "Look, I am dying for them, in their place. Spare them for my sake." So God, who initially is reluctant or hostile, eventually agrees. "All right," he says. "I'll do it since you seem to care so much."  But the salvation of sinners by the death of Jesus is God's idea, that he, to use theological language, is the author or source of our salvation.

God "did not spare" Jesus. He could have spared him, but he did not.

This term here contains a strong reference to the story of Abraham's near sacrifice of his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. This is because the Septuagint (Greek) translation of the Old Testament uses the Greek word for "spared" that is found in Romans 8:32 to translate one of God's words to Abraham following the patriarch's amazing obedience to God's command to sacrifice his son. The New International Version translates it as "withheld" in the Genesis text, but it is the same word. God said, "... because you have done this and have not withheld [spared] your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore..." (Gen. 22:16-17). And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven16 and said, "By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.ESV

ἐφείσω (Gen 22:12 [LXXA])  καὶ εἶπεν μὴ ἐπιβάλῃς τὴν χεῖρά σου ἐπὶ τὸ παιδάριον μηδὲ ποιήσῃς αὐτῷ μηδέν νῦν γὰρ ἔγνων ὅτι φοβῇ τὸν θεὸν σὺ καὶ οὐκ ἐφείσω τοῦ υἱοῦ σου τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ δι' ἐμέ

You have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me: Abraham displayed his heart towards God in that he was willing to give his only son. God displays His heart towards us in the same way, by giving His only begotten Son (John 3:16).

The irony of the story, however, is that although Abraham was obedient to God up to the point of actually raising the knife to kill his son—that is, he did not spare him—God intervened to accomplish just that. God did spare Isaac, though Abraham was willing not to do so.

But the story also illustrates, and undoubtedly was also used by God to teach Abraham, that one day God literally would not spare his own Son but would allow him to die in order that Isaac and Abraham and all other believers down through the long ages of human history might be spared. Jesus is the only one who has ever deserved to be spared. Certainly none of us do. But by refusing to spare his Son, God spared us so that we might be saved and come to spend an eternity in glory with him. Somehow God taught that to Abraham on Mount Moriah, which is why Abraham named the place Jehovah Jireh, "The Lord Will Provide" (Gen. 22:14). God provided for us by giving up Jesus.

Trapp: " And yet what was this to that excess of love in God, that moved him to send his Son to die for our sins? He loved Christ far better than Abraham could love Isaac; and yet he gave him up freely, which Abraham would never have done without a command and to die as a malefactor, and by the hands of barbarous and bloody enemies; whereas Isaac was to die as a holy sacrifice, and by the hand of a tender father. How much more cause have we to say, Now I know the Lord loves me.."

God gave Him up for us  (John 3:16)

Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned---every one---to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea.

A great high Priest whose Name is Love Who ever lives and pleads for me.

Because the sinless Savior died  My sinful soul is counted free

For God the just is satisfied  To look on Him and pardon me

Nah 1:7 The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.

1 John 4: ⁹ In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.¹⁰ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins…¹⁶ God is Love

I was moved to tears this week, hearing again a Dottie Rambo song that Elvis sang.

He left the splendor of heaven  Knowing His destiny  Was the lonely hill of Golgotha
There to lay down His life for me

And if that isn't love Then the ocean is dry There's no stars in the sky And the little sparrows can't fly Yeah if that isn't love Then heaven's a myth There's no feeling like this If that isn't love

Even in death He remembered   The thief hanging by His side
Then he spoke of love and compassion  And He took him to paradise

GOD LOVES YOU DIRECTLY
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
THIS IS ABOUT YOU!

God predestined you

My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.—PSALM 139:15–16

Henri Nouwen explains: From all eternity we are hidden "in the shadow of God's hand" and "engraved on his palm." Before any human being touches us, God "forms us in secret" and "textures us" in the depth of the earth, and before any human being decides about us, God "knits us together in our mother's womb." God loves us before any human person can show love to us. He loves us with a "first" love, an unlimited, unconditional love, wants us to be his beloved children

Before You Were Born, God Knew Your Complexity For You formed my inward parts;  You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. —PSALM 139:13–14

Before You Were Born, God Knew Your Individuality Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. —PSALM 139:16

Before You Were Born, God Knew Your Dignity For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. —COLOSSIANS 1:16

Before You Were Born, God Knew Your Destiny Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.— JEREMIAH 1:5

In this passage God says four specific things to Jeremiah:  I formed you. I knew you. I sanctified you. I ordained you.

God called you

Criswell wrote  "I felt that call.  Didn't you, in your day and time?  Didn't you?  Something down in your soul and in your heart, didn't you?  Like that old story of the mallard.  When those wild geese came over, those native, those indigenous, those plain ducks, they just wander around in the farm yard.  But when those ducks will fly north and began to call, that wild mallard who has been caught, he looks up and he tries to fly.  And that snap pulled him back.  But there was something in his soul that heard the call of the mallard and of the wild. You felt it in your life.  There was a day when that thing pounded into you're soul."

Paul wrote of it in Galatians 1:13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles,"

It was an outward call of the gospel, heard in preaching of the good news. And the inward call of the Holy Spirit to faith in Jesus Christ.  It is an irresistible call.

God justified you

It is God himself who has justified you! A few paragraphs back, I wrote that the greatest fear we have, if we think through our spiritual state carefully, is not that our consciences and/or Satan accuse us, but that the God who knows everything is our Judge. It terrifies us to consider that while we may harden our hearts or deaden our consciences and perhaps even fool Satan, we cannot avoid or fool God. It is God with whom we have to deal. Ah, but that very fact is our comfort. For if, instead of being condemned by God we are actually acquitted or justified by him, then who is left to condemn us? If we have been saved by God, who can possibly overturn God's judgment?

If we have actually been justified by God, the fact that causes us most to tremble is actually that which gives us most assurance and comfort.

Our greatest offense is against God, however great our offenses against other persons may be. So, if God has forgiven us, we are justified indeed.  God knows the law perfectly ang He has justified us. Therefore, we need not fear that Satan (Rev. 12:10), will somehow find something we have done that has not been covered by the blood of Christ or some technicality that would make it impossible for God to justify us.

God is omniscient. He knows our outward sins and our inward sins. He knows the sins of our heart as well as the sins of our minds.  Nevertheless, knowing all this, God has justified us. And the reason he has justified us is that he also knows what price He paid in sending His Son to be our Saviour. He knows the price is paid. You are forgiven. Justified by what Christ did at the cross for you. God has satisfied all possible claims against us; he has done this himself, through Jesus Christ.  Romans 8:33: "It is God who pronounces acquittal." We are pardoned because of Christ's work.  We are "justified," we are clothed with the very righteousness of Christ.

 (1) our sin has been placed upon Jesus Christ and has been punished there, and (2) his righteousness has been placed on us, credited to our account.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones puts it: "To justify means more than to pardon; it means more than to forgive. God makes a declaration, a judicial declaration, to the effect that he has not only forgiven us, but that he now regards us as just and righteous and holy, as if we had never sinned at all.... God not only imputes my sin to his Son, he takes his righteousness and imputes it to me."

God has guaranteed you to glory.

My name is graven on His hands, My name is written in His heart.

I know that while in heaven He stands No tongue can bid me thence depart

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 Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who 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 created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

—ROMANS 8:35–39

Better than superglue. Twice Paul emphatically asserts that nothing can separate us from the love of God found in Christ Jesus (vv. 35, 39). Surely few would disagree that this is the greatest message of the Bible—that nothing in the entire universe can stop God from loving us. It simply cannot and will not happen.

We don't hang on to God's love; he says that God's love hangs on to us.

God's love doesn't depend on how well we love Him back. It doesn't depend upon whether or not we let go. We don't earn it, deserve it, or maintain it. Yet His love is wrapped around us, reinforced by His promises. It holds us perfectly and permanently. We may slip and fall, but we are not lost. As Paul wrote to Timothy, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself" (2 Timothy 2:13). Whatever happens, the rope holds fast. Nothing can separate us from His love.

John Calvin expressed beautifully and powerfully  "'If God is for us, who is against us?' "This is the chief and therefore the only support to sustain us in every temptation. If God is not propitious to us, no sure confidence can be conceived, even though everything should smile upon us. On the other hand, however, his favor alone is a sufficiently great consolation for every sorrow, and a sufficiently strong protection against all the storms of misfortune."

This comfort consoles us. This comfort challenges us and controls us.

GOD LOVES YOU DELIBERATELY
²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

THIS IS ABOUT CHRIST
You bring glory to Christ by your transformation

You are called according to his purpose. What is God's will for your life? God's purpose for your life is already spelled out.  His will is that you be conformed to the image of His Son.  God's will is more about what is happening in you than what is happening to you and around you.

But what about your trials?

Hey that's where we got on board this sermon today. We got on board with, "what of it doesn't feel like God loves you." When does it feel like God doesn't love you? In your trails and temptations. When are you most likely to believe that God doesn't love you? When you have fallen into sin through your temptations. 

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

You bring glory to Christ by your trials. When you choose to trust in God's love in spite of not getting what you want when you want it, that is where God is glorified most in your life.

Job brought glory to God in His trials. He didn't know what God's purposes were in the severe trial of losing all his possessions, all his children in a catastrophic situation, being destroyed by thieves and robbers who destroyed all he had, and then by sickness, and unmitigated pain and shame.  Do you know what God showed him? God showed him who He is.  James 5:11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

Here Paul reminds you of who God is!

God is Sovereign over your trials. God has a purpose for your trials.