The Hymn of Security, Part 2
Romans 8:35-39
Tonight, as you know, we come back to the 8th chapter of Romans for our last look in this series as we move through this marvelous epistle. And I want you to open your Bible, if you will, to the 8th chapter of Romans. And as our setting for the message tonight, I want to read to you beginning in verse 35.
Romans 8. "What 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 things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
In Jeremiah 31:3, God said to His people Israel, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." And that is how God expresses His love here in Romans 8. It is an everlasting love. It is a love from which there can be no separation.
One hymn writer, unknown to us, expressed it so beautifully when he wrote, how firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord as laid for your faith in His excellent word. What more can he say than to you he hath said you who unto Jesus for refuge have fled. Fear not. I am with thee. Oh, be not dismayed. For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand. Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand. When through the deep waters I call the to go, the rivers of grief shall not thee overflow. For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be thy supply. The flames shall not hurt thee. I only design thy drawest to consume and thy goal to refine. The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I cannot desert to expose that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake.
What a promise. It is the age old promise of God to His redeemed people. It is expressed in the beautiful and familiar words of the apostle Paul in II Timothy 1:12 when he says, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day."
And so we can stand in our Salvation with great confidence that the one who loved us has loved us with an everlasting love from which there can be no separation. That that which we have committed unto Him, He will keep. What a confidence.
This, of course, is the truth of eternal security. This is the truth of Salvation seen in its fullness. That those who are redeemed are redeemed forever. And that is the theme, indeed, of the end of Romans 8. As it is really the theme of the whole chapter.
Paul has been presenting to us very powerfully the truth of eternal security. He summed up his presentation in verse 28 when he said, "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."
In other words, the reason that all things ultimately work together for our eternal good is because when God called us, He called us unto glory, and nothing can change it. Marvelous comfort that brings to us.
And so all through the chapter we have been learning about how we are secure in Christ because of the Ministry of the Spirit, and it is culminated in verses 28 to 30 in the expression of the confidence that we have in the plan of God. That all things are working together for our ultimate good because that's the way God planned it from the beginning.
First came foreknowledge, then predestination, then calling, then justification, and then glorification, and He shows us to glory. And so we are on the path. And so we have been celebrating the security of the believer. Oh, what a wonderful thing it's been for us.
And as he brings to a conclusion these great truths, he asks the question in verse 31, as you remember from our last study. "What shall we then say to these things?" What should our response be? What should be our reaction to these great profound promises about our eternal security? Well, he anticipates that some will object, and some will say no, we can lose our Salvation.
Well, we could forfeit our Salvation. No, we could reject our Salvation, and we could abandon it, or it could be lost to us. And so as he closes the chapter, he has a sort of running dialogue with any possible objection that might come up. What should be our response? Well, some might say well, maybe God will change his mind, or maybe something will take us out of the hand of God, or maybe God isn't so set up to hold onto us. Maybe He willingly will release us. Maybe there's some way that God can lose His grip. And so he responds to that thought in verse 31 by saying, "If God if or us, who can be against us?" You know anybody more powerful than God?
Who's going to break God's grip? Who's going to cause God to lose hold on His redeemed children? Those for which Christ paid the supreme price of His own blood. Who is powerful enough to do that? Especially when I John 4:4 says, "Greater is he that is in you than he that is," where? "In the world."
Who is greater than God? And the answer, of course, is a ringing no one. No one. You see, since God is God, and God is as God, infinite in power, it is utterly impossible to thwart His will. It is utterly impossible to halt the completion of His eternal plan, and if He saved us unto glory, nothing can change that.
Because my God is infinite in power, I can say I will not fear what man may do unto me. Because my God is infinite in power, I can say in what time I am afraid, I will trust in Him. Because my God is infinite in power, I will say I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou Lord only maketh me dwell in safety. Because my God is infinite in power, I can say with Moses, the eternal God is my refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.
We are secure in God. The Psalmist sums it up so wonderfully in Psalms 91. Look at it for a moment. I read it often. "He who dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." In the first place, we dwell in secret. We are hidden, as it were, from the enemy. We are hidden in the secret place where the most high abides, and we're under His shadow, and that is to say His protection.
"And he," verse 2 says, "is our refuge, and He is our fortress. In Him we trust, and He will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and the noise from pestilence," as if He is a hovering eagle over us, and we are His fledglings. He keeps us safe from the nets of those who would catch the birds. He covers us with His feathers. Under his wings shall we trust. His truth is our shield and buckler, so we're not afraid for the terror by night or the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor the destruction and waste of the noonday. And while a thousand may fall at our side and 10,000 at our right-hand, it never comes near us. The only thing we'll ever see is with our own eyes to see the reward that the wicked. We'll not experience it. We'll only see it. "Because we've made the Lord as our refuge, the most high thy habitation, so no evil shall befall us nor any plague come near our dwelling, for He gives His angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways, and they carry us in their hands lest we dash our feet against a stone, and we tread upon the lion and the adder. The young lion and the serpent we trample under feet." Why? Because He hath done what? Set His love upon me. "Therefore," says God, "I will deliver him and set him on high because he's known My name."
And when someone loves God in return for His love, and when someone believes in God's name, He sets us on high. That's a promise. "He shall call upon me," says God, "and I'll answer him. I'll be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and will show him My Salvation." So you don't have to go only to Romans 8 to see the infinite wonder of the secure Salvation. You can see it in Psalms 91.
In Numbers 14:9, the Scripture says that the people said, "The Lord is with us. Fear them not." That was the word of Joshua and Caleb. In Deuteronomy 33:29, it says, "Happy art thou oh Israel. Who is like unto thee oh people, saved by the Lord. The shield of thy help, who is the sword of that excellency."
And you remember Joshua 10:42 where it says, "The Lord God of Israel fought for Israel." And in the same way does God stand to defend His redeemed people. And so it is a grand and glorious truth that if God be for us, no one can successfully be against us. No one. Certainly not God.
Verse 32, "He that spared not his own son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not with Him that is with His son also freely give us all things. Shall not the God who gave His son to redeem us give us whatever we need." Shall not - to put it another way - the God who redeemed us from sin keep us? To put it another way - shall not the God who gave us the most in the gift of His son to save us give us less than that to keep us?
You see, God predetermined to set His love upon us, and out of that predetermination to an eternal love, we are secured in a strong Salvation that brings us to glory. Having given us the most, the gift of His son, God holds back not the less, or the least, the other things to keep us saved.
You see, if we understand the Cross and we understand what God did to save us out of sin, we understand what it means then to be secure in His Salvation. If we can see that God loved us when we were wretched and when we were wretched and ungodly, He loved us enough to save us, now that we belong to Him, and are in Christ, does He not love us enough to keep us? And if he is powerful enough to redeem us out of our bondage to sin, is He not powerful enough to keep us in His son? And so we understand that God will not abandon us.
To deny security of the believer is to misunderstand the heart of God. It is to misunderstand the gift of Christ. It is to misunderstand the meaning of the Cross. It is to misunderstand the biblical definition of Salvation.
Go back to Romans 5 for a moment, and verse 8. "God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners," that's the important statement. Christ died for us. God loved us so much that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. "Much more then being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." If we've already been justified through the blood of Christ, we're certainly going to be ultimately saved from the wrath.
In other words, if He saved us here and now, He saved us unto glory. If his blood was applied now that we might be saved, He saved us now and then from the wrath that is yet to come. "For if when we were enemies," verse 10 says, "we were reconciled to God by the death of His son, much more already being reconciled, we are being saved by His life."
In other words, Paul says this. If when we were enemies we were saved by the death of His son, don't you think that now that we're sons, we are being kept saved by the life of His son? If in his death he could redeem us, in His living intersession, can he keep us? He answers, of course.
And so 32 says that he will give us all things to keep us in the place of security. He has saved us unto eternal glory, and that is unchanging. And that's why Philippians 4:19 is so comprehensive. "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." And the greatest need we have is the need to be saved and to stay saved, and to reach glory.
You say, "But what if we sin?" II Corinthians 9:8 says, "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you." So it is to understand that the love of God and the work of Christ that is the basis of an understanding of security.
You say, "But what if we fall into sin? What if we get so embroiled in some kind of sin?" Verse 33, comes another objection answered. "Ye shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect." Who's going to come into court and demand a retrial for those that are chosen by God? Who is going to do that? Shall God?! The justified? In other words, if God is the Supreme Court of the universe, then He already rendered His verdict that we are just in Christ. If He already exonerated us, forgave us and freed us from our sins - if that's already done by God, who's going to be a higher court? Who is going to lay any charge to God's elect?
Satan tries. He's the accuser. We saw that last night. Revelation 12:10. Night and day, accusing the brethren before God and always being rejected.
Because God has already rendered His verdict. You say, "Well maybe Christ will change His mind." Verse 34, "Who is he that condemns? Christ? Christ that died? Yay rather than has risen? Who was at the right-hand of God? Who is always making intercession for us?" Hardly.
Now in verses 31-35, as I told you last time, He's dealing with persons. Are there any persons that can take our Salvation away? Well, really we could only say maybe God could, and we find here that He won't. He holds us with an everlasting love. And if He gave us His son to save us, He'll give us less than that to keep us. Christ won't because He went to the Cross for us. He rose for us. He ascended for us. And He intercedes for us, so he's not going to condemn us.
You say Satan. Yes, but Satan isn't a higher court, and he's thrown out every time he comes with his accusations.
In Isaiah 50:8-9, listen to what the prophet says. "He is near that justifieth me, who shall contend with me?" What a great statement. "He is near that justifieth me. Who shall contend with me?" Let us stand together! Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me! Behold, the Lord God will help me. Who is he that shall condemn me? And just maybe Paul's thought came from Isaiah through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
If we're God's elect, if God has made us righteous in Jesus Christ, if Christ has given His life for us - died, rose, ascended, and interceding - if all of that has been done on our behalf, shall not He keep those for whom He has given His life?
Look at Hebrews 9 for a moment, and I want to share with you a few verses. Hebrews 9, and I want you to look at verses 7-11. Hebrews 9:7, "But into the second," that is into the inner part - the holies of holies, "went the high priest alone, once every year. Not without blood, which he offered for himself for the errors for sins of the people." This is the day of atonement. The high priest goes in and offers his offering in the holy of holies.
"The Holy Spirit thus signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while the first tabernacle was yet standing." In other words, it was simply a symbolic act and the Holy Spirit was showing that the real sacrifice hadn't been made. Because if it'd already been made, the priest would have to keep going in there every year. Right?
So it was symbolizing what was yet to come. It was only a "figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that couldn't make him that did the service perfect." That's pertaining to the conscience.
In other words, they were only symbols. They couldn't perfect the individual, "that stood in foods and drinks and various washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation," or the new testament.
All those old testament symbols were picturing something to come in verse 11. "But Christ," underline that somewhere in your Bible. "But Christ," or draw a circle around it. "Being come in High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say not of this building." And he goes on to verse 14, to talk about how through the blood of Christ we have been purged to serve God.
You see, Jesus Christ was that perfect priest who offered that perfect offering to make us perfect. To bring us to God. And to deny security of the believer is to deny the sufficiency of the work of Christ. The sufficiency of the work of Christ. We are secure.
Back up to Hebrew 6 for a moment. When God wanted to show us the security of His Salvation, it says in verse