Pastor Paul Chappell: The Faithfulness of God

take your Bible and turn to Romans chapter 8 and let's stand together and turn to Romans chapter 8 and we're gonna stand in reverence to God's Word and we're going to read in just a moment beginning in verse number 31 and this is our final message from our series Romans six seven and eight which we have called new life today and this is our tenth message from these passages and what a blessing they have been to my heart and I really believe we're gonna end on a crescendo this morning as we look at this chapter Romans chapter 8 and thank you for reading it being attentive we have some great series of messages coming up around the corner but we want to finish strong with this one today Romans 8:31 what shall we then say to these things if God be for us who can be against us he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not be with him also how shall how shall he not with him also freely give us all things who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died he rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord let us pray father thank you for the word of God and for the faithfulness that you exhibit to us even in this passage speak to our hearts this morning I pray in Jesus name Amen you may be seated last week we got a glimpse into the foreknowledge of God the Greek word progeny schoo it taught us that God sees before and God knows before and he has a will for the life of the believer even before we are saved it is his plan that we would conform to the image of his son Romans chapter 8 and verse 29 and ultimately it is his plan that we will be glorified together with him in heaven and one of the great things about this journey of growth called the Christian life is that not only can we look forward to our ultimate glorification but also that along the way of the Christian life as we conform to the image of Christ that he is for us and he is with us and he is faithful to us even when we're not as faithful as we should be that God is always there and always faithful sometimes we may feel alone sometimes we may feel outnumbered but I want you to know today that in Christ you and I are on the winning side now one of my favorite hymns is that hymn we sang a moment ago great is thy faithfulness Thomas Chisolm wrote it after the Civil War he had been through a tremendous difficulty in his life with his health he was a pastor who was told he could no longer preach I can tell you personally that there would be a tremendous heartache in that there would be a tremendous sorrow and being a called preacher told that you could not preach and as his health began to wind down and as his life in some respects people viewed as a miserable life he wrote the words to the song great is thy faithfulness because he learned that no matter what you experience in life God is always there he is always working on our side and we come to verse 31 this morning and as the summary is given to these last three chapters the Holy Spirit asks what shall we say then to these things and he's speaking about the things that we been learning in the previous verses regarding the working of the holy spirit for there is no new life today without the working of the Holy Spirit and we learn here in verse 9 of our chapter that the Holy Spirit indwells the believer and we learn in verse 16 that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit we learned in verse 26 that the Holy Spirit helps us in our time of weakness that he bears up our infirmities and we learned in verse 30 that God's holy spirit has a plan for our lives and all of these verses prove to us three great truths that we're going to discover today all of these point to the fact that God favors his children that God forgives his children and that God is faithful to his children and I want you to see this with me today as we learn about the nature and the faithfulness of our God notice first of all the favor of our God the Bible says in verse number 31 if God be for us who can be against us let's say that together if God be for us who can be against us now here we see the favor of God God is for his children in fact we see the word if and it is not a statement of doubt in fact you could also say in this verse since God is for us psalm 118 in verse 6 the Lord is on my side I will not fear what man can do to me since God is for us God is for his children now I know that every parent here is for your children I think of our four children and and we pray for them we've we prayed before they were married for their spouses we've prayed for their healing we've prayed for them to walk with God we pray for our grandchildren Terry got up early yesterday morning and and was getting ready to go smart said what are you doing she said Delaney has a soccer game I want to go cheer for and I'll tell you what you ever get around some of these parents when their children are playing sports you know what side they're on they are for their children you're for your children and you should be but imagine as much as we are for our children that there is a God in heaven who simply says to us today I am for you I am on your side I don't know about you but I find great comfort in that that he favors his children he not only favors his children he not only is forced but he will guide his children I want you to see this secondly God guides his children if God be for us then who can be against us now God may at times guide us into trials and it is during those trials that sometimes the devil says where's your God sometimes an atheistic person might say what about God when these trials come and the Bible records for us many who experienced trials Joseph was sold into slavery and we read of Daniel who was persecuted and those that were thrown in the three Hebrew children into the fiery furnace and we read of our Lord Jesus himself Forsaken and crucified on the cross yet we understand that all of this is according to the foreknowledge of God it's according to the sovereignty of God first Peter 1 and 6 says wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations sometimes God says that these trials are needful he allowed them in the life of job for a reason God may allow trials but God always has power over the trials he he will never try us above that which we are able all of the fiery trials our Father filtered God has a purpose and a plan last Sunday night we were learning about the Apostle Paul and how he was there in the mammer time prison in Rome and in a few weeks some of the members of our church will be there and touring these sites and and if you were to go to the Roman Colosseum and come down through the forum the shopping area of the governance area of Rome you would come to a place where the prisoners were held a church built the top of it now back in the day the first century was simply a cellar like place where those that were going to die would await their capital punishment Paul was there because he was a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ if you could imagine and three times he went before the Roman proconsul seeking his defence and three times he was rejected and ultimately Nero took the life of the greatest men perhaps to ever preach the gospel other than Jesus Christ himself and Paul gives us a testimony about the love of God in these times of trials in second Timothy chapter 4 in verse 16 he says at my first answer no man stood with me but all men forsook me I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by my preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion I love that phrase which says notwithstanding the Lord stood with me let's say it together notwithstanding the Lord stood with me you see no matter what you go through no matter how mistreated you are if you are saved you can know this the Lord is standing with you you can have the courage that you need to have in witnessing you can face the sickness with courage knowing the Lord is standing with you you are a favored child of God if God be for us then who can be against us the favor of God is a great blessing today but we only have that favor for one reason that's because of the forgiveness of God let's be honest I'm not any better than the guy out on the streets of Lancaster today you and I are no better than anyone else we're no better than the homeless guy we're all common today sinners is what we have in common but there's something else we have in common and that is the forgiveness of God that is the fact that even though we fell short God has forgiven us and has raised us up as his sons and I'm thankful today for the forgiveness of God and I want you to see it in verse 32 it says he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not be with him also and freely give us all things now notice the gift of the Father the gift of the father was His only begotten Son and sometimes people say to me well why doesn't God do anything about all of the sin that's in the world and I often say God did something about that sin 2,000 years ago when he sent his son to bring forgiveness into the world God did not withhold his son no doubt if he favors us he favored his son but look what the Bible says in verse 32 he that spared not his own son but delivered him up he put him into the hands of those Roman soldiers he spared not his own son what I want you to understand that the death of Jesus Christ was no accident it was not something that Jesus stumbled into the Bible says in acts 2 and 23 him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain in other words in eternity past it was the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God that determined that Jesus Christ would come that he would be born of the Virgin Mary that he would live a perfectly sinless life in this world and that he would go upon the cross and that he would shed his blood on that cross and that that royal red blood would flow down and then it would bring forgiveness to the world and that all who put their faith in Jesus Christ can have their sins cleansed away because there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains and Jesus Christ came to shed his blood so that we could be forgiven and justified and one day have a home in heaven he did not withhold his son from us but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us not only did he not withhold his son but he will not withhold his blessings from us did you know that God has many blessings for you and by the way how many of you would say I've already received many blessings from God salvation a Bible the promise of a home in heaven Ephesians 2 and in verse 7 it says that in ages to come he might show us the exceeding riches of His grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus you study Ephesians 2 and you realize one day I'm gonna step into the golden shore one day I'm going to be in heaven and I'm gonna see Jesus face to face and I'm gonna realize wow salvation is a whole lot more than just getting saved there's a whole lot to this when I asked Jesus Christ to save me and he justified me and you see there's a God in heaven who is righteous he could not let us as sinners into heaven there's no way that we deserve heaven we all fall short of the glory of God can I get an amen right there I don't deserve heaven but God sent His Son to pay for my sin I should have died on that cross I should have suffered on that cross but Jesus God's Son took my place and when I trust Jesus Christ as Savior I am justified and now I can have entrance into heaven not because I deserve it but because God is righteous in letting the sinner off because of what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary he forgave me and he promises to me many wonderful blessings in high places with him I heard of a poor family that was trying to get to America from Europe they saved all of their money we finally got on a ship every day they would gather together a couple of times a day and the dad would get some crackers and some cheese and he would give the crackers and cheese to the family and finally their junior age boys said I am sick and tired of crackers and cheese he said if this is all we have to eat I'm gonna die before we ever get to America his dad reached into his pocket literally gave him his last nickel they were literally coming to America with nothing but a dream that little boy came back a while later and he had a big smile on his face they said where have you been we've been worried for you he said I've been down in the galley he said I had three eyes cream cones and a stake they said you got all of that for a nickel how did that work he said oh no he said the food is free it comes with the ticket they've been eating the cheese and the crackers not realizing that they could have it all because they had the ticket and I want to tell you something the ticket for your salvation was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except by me and God not only wants to save you but God helps you with sanctification and God not only helps you with sanctification but he's going to help you with glorification he's going to give you a home in heaven and all of these promises he freely gives as his gift notice the gift of the Father notice secondly the grace of the Father the Bible says in verse number 33 who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect it is God that justify it now think about this for a moment the world will accuse you the world will tell you that you are not worthy they'll tell you that you're a hypocrite they charge God's elect that means the saved Satan will accuse you and he's accused some of you perhaps even today well you're not as good as this other person or you don't belong that's what Satan says in fact the Bible says he's the accuser of the Brethren Revelation chapter 12 the Bible says that he brings accusation against us even before the father but the Lord Jesus is our mediator and and he shows forth the scars of his hands and and of the blood that was shed and he makes mediation for us and he is our justifier and we see here that while the world accuses and while Satan accuses God will forgive it says in verse 33 that it is God that justify a--the who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yayyyy rather is risen again you see the scriptures say for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus yes we sin and yes we fall short of God's glory but we can have justification because of the blood that Jesus Christ and so this morning we see the favor of God the favor of God he says I'm for you we see the forgiveness of God he says I I know but way back when in my foreknowledge I knew that you would be a sinner but I still died for you but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us he said I've got forgiveness for you how many of you are thankful for the mercy of God today folks if we had to get to heaven because of our good works we'd never go you see the Bible says all of our all of our righteousness is like a filthy rag have you ever tried to wash your car with a greasy rag it just never gets it clean it never works but oh Jesus Christ cleanses us from all of our unrighteousness and so we have the forgiveness of God but notice finally this morning not only the favor of God not only the forgiveness of God but I want you to hear about the faithfulness of God today we serve a faithful God verse 34 who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died gave rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us I want you to notice that Jesus is our faithful advocate that he is making intercession for us that he has risen again that he has seated at the right hand of God the Father that by sitting down he is indicating to us that his work is already done Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 12 but this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God do you remember when Jesus was on the cross the last saying of Jesus he said it is finished I want you to understand that and let it settle in your heart that when he sat down at the right hand of God the Father he indicates to us that the atoning work for our sin is done what I want you to understand today is that when you accept Jesus Christ as Savior it is finished it's not something that has to be done again and again and again look at my friend you don't need to keep going to a confessional booth and telling some man your sin you don't need to buy your way into heaven you don't need to work your way into heaven if you trust Christ as your Savior it is finish this man after he had offered what's for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God his blood was the final sacrifice for our sin and what a blessing to know that it's not about religion it's about Jesus and Jesus is making intercession for us today my little children John said these things write unto you that you sin not God says I don't want you to sin I didn't save you so you could just sin and get forgiveness but he says if any man sin we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous how many of you are thankful you can come to the Father and say I come to the Lord Jesus and say Lord I want to confess to you my sin I want to restore fellowship with you and how many of you are thankful that he's already making intercession for us at that time he's our advocate our faithful advocate but he's also our inseparable comforter notice this in verse 39 verse 35 rather who shall separate us from the love of Christ who shall separate us from the love of Christ have you ever had a relationship with someone and you felt a little insecure about where you stood with them have you ever wondered have you ever been maybe like the boy in high school with the Daisy she loves me she loves me not she loves me she loves me not you you're not really sure the world has a way of creating insecurity that's why there's so many struggling with anxiety and depression and so many different kinds of opiates that seem to take the edge off of that feeling of not belonging and the Bible asks a very important question can anyone separate us from the love of God maybe you've had times like that where the devil even tried to get you to believe that you didn't matter to God or maybe you weren't really saved you see we have an enemy who seeks to separate us from the love and security of Christ and so the Bible says who shall separate us from the love of God and notice the questions it says here in verse number 35 shall tribulation I mean can you have enough trouble in your life that the not there and and maybe you've created enough trouble in your life that God does not care the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 1:3 blessed be God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforted us in our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God God says I see the mess that you're in and I want to comfort you in that time the first physician to die of the AIDS virus was a British doctor he was a young Christian just about a year before traveling over to Africa to Zimbabwe he had accepted Christ as his Savior he came in contact with the disease and through his research he came back to England they were trying to tend to him he got to the place where he could not talk he could hardly move he kept trying to write something on a piece of paper and his wife kept trying to understand it and she would guess and finally she thought that it was the letter J and she guessed and tried and the day came and she looked at him and she said does this mean Jesus to which he simply pointed out you see if you base your faith on a lack of affliction and if you base your feeling of it of security on the days when there's no trials then you'll have a very shallow faith that is always on the brink of extinction in which you're always wondering whether or not God loves you God says let's get the record straight on this nothing nothing can separate me from you if you would tell your child no matter what I love you how much more does God love you how much more does the one who shed his blood love you how much more does the one whose spirit has sealed your eternal destiny love you he said nothing's gonna separate you from me nothing no tribulation no distress no anguish of mind or body no kind of persecution no nakedness no peril no sword nothing is gonna keep me from loving you and being with you years ago I visited the prison camp in Dachau and Germany and I had really honestly had read some about Hitler and the atrocities of his regime but I came to face with it that day looking at the prison and seeing where hundreds of thousands of Jews had suffered in these camps and millions were killed seeing where they slept seeing where they walked him into certain rooms and said this is your shower room then they turned the gas on then they would incinerate their bodies and throw the incinerated remains out into the gardens it was amazing to me to see the satanic result of that hateful time in world history but it was there at Dachau that I read about a man by the name of Martin niemöller Martin niemoller was a pastor he was a courageous German pastor who had tried to help the Jewish people he had brought them to his home and hidden them he had nurtured them he had spoken out against Hitler he was a courageous man and for his courage this pastor was placed in the very same prison where the Jewish people were suffering he spent years in this concentration camp he spent years wasting away physically and waiting throughout that time he memorized many scriptures and there were times when he would have a Bible it would be found and be taken away while he had a coffee he would memorize and write and this is what he said in the last days of his life what did this book mean to me during the long and weary years of solitary confinement in Dachau the Word of God was simply everything to me comfort and strength guidance and hope master of my days and companion of my nights you see nothing can separate you from the love of God not a prison camp not cancer not divorce nothing can separate you from the love of God who always is seeking you and wanting you and comforting you we have an enemy who seeks to separate us but we are more than conquerors in Jesus Christ the Bible says in verse 36 as it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep to the slaughter may and all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us I'm here to remind you this morning that nothing can separate you from the love of God and you may feel lonely and you may feel ill and you may wonder what God is doing but never wonder whether or not God is there his spirit is there as your comfort and as your guide and nothing can separate you from the love of God the Bible says in verse 38 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 here was a man fully persuaded and some of you need to get fully persuaded that there's a God who loves you and that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world and that he will walk with you through the fires of this life and the floods of this life he says nothing can separate us he says death cannot separate us oh do you understand this this morning to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord do you understand that when you came alive in the spirit that that is an eternal life that the life of the Spirit is not for this world only but it's for eternal life and that death cannot separate us from the love of God for to me to live as Christ Paul said and to die is gain the Angels cannot separate us speaking here of the Fallen angelic beings who followed Lucifer they cannot separate you from the love of God things present they cannot separate you things tomorrow they cannot separate you nor height nor depth Jesus came down through the very vastness of his own creation into the form of a man to tell us that height nor depth of the expanse of the universe cannot separate us from the very love of God do you understand this he has promised you I will never leave you and I will never forsake you and what I want you to have in your mind this morning is that there is a God in heaven who favors you and he forgives you and he will be faithful to you you can trust him he's there for you and may we never doubt the wonderful love of our Lord and may we who have such a faithful father may we this week be a faithful people to him as we live in this southern California area for his honor and his glory

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

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Keywords: preaching, lancaster, baptist, church, pastor, paul, chappell, Romans 8, new, life, faithful, faith, God

Id: 4ApfpZnK0_M

Length: 29min 24sec (1764 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 08 2019