00 Gathering
How do we face the worst?
How do we face the worst that life can throw at us?
I don't know what the worst is for you, but I'll bet you can fill in the blank.
What's the greatest disappointment you faced?
What's the greatest disappointment you fear?
The fact is that we might get into a competition and try to compare.
Well, my worst might be worse than your worst.
Your worst might be worse than my worst.
But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, does it?
Because it's your worst in that moment when it happens to you.
When your hopes and your hearts are invested in something,
when they are dashed and broken,
when they are broken,
they cause us to ask questions about God.
Jerry Sitzer writes in his book,
A Grace Disguised,
a book he wrote after the loss of several family members in a terrible car crash.
He said,
My loss made God seem terrifying and inscrutable.
For a long time I saw his sovereignty as a towering cliff in winter, icy, cold, and windswept.
I stood in my misery at the base of this cliff and looked up at its forbidding, unscalable wall.
I felt overwhelmed, intimidated, and crushed by its hugeness.
It loomed over me, completely oblivious to my presence and pain.
It defied climbing.
It mocked my pusiness.
I yelled at God to acknowledge my suffering and to take responsibility for it.
But all I heard was the lonely echo of my own voice.
Maybe you've been there.
Maybe you're there today.
But our worst suffering, our worst disappointment,
is only a part of what could be the worst in our own lives.
Because there's also our worst failure.
When we do the thing we said we would never do.
Maybe something comes to your mind when I see this.
If anyone ever knew that I did that.
The thing you promised you'd never do again.
And you did.
The act of violence or selfishness that destroyed the ones that you loved.
The things that decent people are disgusted by.
That you have done.
Our greatest failures are our David moments.
You remember King David in 2 Samuel 11 and 12.
He looked upon a woman.
He took what was not his.
He schemed to cover it up.
When he couldn't work out his first scheme,
he worked out a worse one.
That killed a man.
And even after that,
he continued to sit in his throne in self-righteousness.
And proclaim with outrage
how terrible it was that other people would do such terrible things.
And it was only until the prophet Nathan looked at him and said,
you are the man.
That David's worst failure came to light.
And we'd like to think we're not like that.
And we wouldn't get there.
But the Bible says otherwise.
The Bible says that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
The Bible says that there is no one righteous.
Not one.
The Bible tells us that we are all capable of our worst failure and sin.
Maybe these moments have not happened to you yet.
Maybe you feel like so far in life you've kind of skated by.
I'd love to tell you, good for you.
That'll be great.
Hope that continues.
But instead, I can only warn you,
the day will come.
The day will come when you will see these things.
And they will test you to the core of your being.
Some of you are sitting there and you are nodding
because you've already seen it.
Although you never know,
there may be another one yet to come.
But you've already seen what feels like your worst.
Your worst trial.
Your worst suffering.
Your worst failure.
Where do you turn?
How do you face it?
How will you walk through these worst of times?
Well, this is what brings us to our passage this morning in Romans.
We're in Romans chapter 8 in your pew Bible.
It's page 944.
We're looking today at Romans 8, 31 through 34.
I'm going to read it in context.
So that you can get a flow of the thought.
I'm actually going to read it starting all the way back in verse 18.
So if you want to start with me there, you can.
We're going to read and pray and then look at this passage together.
The Apostle Paul will help us think through how we face these worst moments in our lives.
Let's read together.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it.
In hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
And not only the creation but we ourselves.
We who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved.
Now hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he sees.
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
For we do not know what we ought to pray for as we ought.
But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
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.
And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.
For those who are called according to his purpose.
For those 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.
For those whom he predestined, he also called.
And those whom he called, he also justified.
And those whom he justified, he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
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?
Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
It is God who justifies.
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?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long.
We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors.
Through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation.
Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
Let's pray together.
Lord, we thank you for this word and we thank you for this morning that we have a chance to think on you and what a savior you are.
God, I pray this morning that you would help us to wrestle with these texts.
Lord, I pray for your spirit to apply them to our hearts.
Lord, I pray that we might be encouraged as we meditate on what you have done for us.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So as we look at verses 31 through 34, this is the final section, the climactic section of this tremendous chapter,
which is the final chapter in this tremendous section in the first half of Romans,
whereby God has laid out in careful detail and argumentation all that God has done for us
in working salvation for us in Christ.
We've seen in chapter 8 this great argument.
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
Because in Christ, God has done what we could not do to satisfy the law.
And he's given us the spirit so that we might actually be able to fulfill the law.
And he's given us the spirit so we might actually live a new life, not according to our old paths of living in sin,
but our new paths.
And the spirit reminds us that we now have this new spirit of life.
Because Christ has been raised from the dead, and the spirit of Christ who has been raised from the dead is now ours.
And not only do we have this new life, but we have this new place as an adopted child of God,
where he brings us.
Not only does he raise us from the dead and call us right before him,
but he brings us into his family.
He calls us ours.
And knowing that, he says, now we can face even the greatest sufferings of life with hope.
Because we know that even the creation itself was subjected to futility, to corruption, to judgment,
so that it might also, with us who are joined with Christ, be redeemed and brought into a place of glory.
And we know that at the center of this glory is that we will be saved from our sin,
and we will be renewed in the image of Christ.
We will be conformed to who he is and his perfect humanity and sinlessness one day.
And as we take up that glory, we reflect his glory, and we enjoy his glory.
And it will be a beautiful thing, a beautiful place, and a beautiful world,
where God will perfectly reign, and we will worship him.
This is, in some ways, the argument of Romans 8.
And it brings us then to this.
What shall we say to these things, Paul says?
How do we respond to all these great things that God has done for us?
And then what we see in the thrust of these few verses in 31 through 34 is that no matter what,
we are secure in the work of Christ for us.
No matter what sufferings we face, no matter how great our sin and our failures are,
the work of Christ is enough for us.
And that's what we're going to look at.
We're going to look at those things in order.
So verses 31 and 32, in light of our suffering and hardship,
we are secure in the work of Christ.
Look at it with me again.
Paul begins this.
This section has five rhetorical questions in 31 through 39.
We're going to answer the first four today.
And Nick's going to get to finish with the last one in verse 35 next week.
His rhetorical question is,
what then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
And if you know anything about rhetorical questions,
the answer should be obvious.
Who can be against us?
And what's the answer?
Nobody.
Nobody can be against us.
And you sit there, and I sit here, and we say,
really?
Really, Paul?
Nothing can be against us.
It's one of those places where what the Bible tells us
seems to be so jarringly out of step with our experience of life
that it's almost shocking.
I know because I've walked with many of you
through your circumstances of life.
I know what is against you.
I've seen when to have and to hold from this day forward
till death do us part
seems like an empty at best and cruel at worst promise.
I've seen some of you walk through singleness
for longer than you would want to,
hearing too many times,
it's not you, it's me,
but being left alone with your longing and your desire.
I've seen you come into the office and say,
I lost my section eight.
I don't have a place to stay.
I don't know where to go.
I've seen you as you have tried again and again
to have that baby you most wanted and failed and struggled.
God, why wouldn't you give me this?
I've seen you submit your papers
and your applications for your jobs
as you're finishing your PhDs
and to find the silence be resounding
or to find that all the work that your lab has done
for the last four years
hasn't really produced any results
or the other lab produced their paper first.
I've seen some of you hear the words,
I'm sorry, there's nothing more we can do.
All of these circumstances seem to say
that God is not for us.
All of these life challenges seem to say to us
that God cannot be for us.
I think of one of my high school friends.
Married, had a family.
After they had a couple of biological kids,
they felt led to adopt.
They'd been to Haiti.
They'd seen the orphans left alone
after the great earthquake.
They said, we want to be a part of God adopting
and loving those kids.
They signed up, had a kid assigned to them.
They knew there were a few developmental delays,
but that was pretty typical
of kids who had suffered that trauma.
When they brought him home,
they realized that his trauma
was much deeper than that.
He's never spoken.
His emotional thermostat
is completely unpredictable.
He has fragile X.
He has autism.
He has a number of other things.
How's God for us
when we signed up to love a child
and to help them,
and we get this,
this child whom we seek to love,
but who is a terror in our household?
It's so hard, isn't it?
It's so hard when you face these things,
and it causes us to question God.
God cannot be for us, it seems,
if these things are true.
Paul knows that these are the things
that we think,
and so he leads us in verse 32
to the second rhetorical question,
which is an answer for us.
Look with me again, verse 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?
Friends, this is the reality
of how we face hard circumstances
and the worst that life can throw at you.
It has to do with where you look.
Because what Paul says is,
in the face of that,
you must look at Jesus.
You must look at what God has done for us
in him.
The cross is the place
where we see something
that we may not know
in other places in our lives,
but where we see it so securely.
Look with me and walk through this,
the language that Paul uses here.
What did God do?
First of all, he did not spare his son.
What parent would choose
to willingly subject his or her child
to suffering,
and yet God gave up his own son,
not only in the incarnation,
as he became human
and took on human frailty,
but also in the crucifixion,
where he was treated abominably,
unjustly, abusively, painfully.
God, greater than Abraham,
as he offered up his son Isaac on the altar,
did not spare his son.
He did not just spare his son,
but he spared his,
do you see the language,
his own son.
There is only one like this.
For God, it was deeply personal.
God gave up his greatest treasure
of his own son
in that sense for us.
And it is not just for some of us,
but it is,
in this language,
it is for us all.
All who are in Christ,
God gave his son up for us.
None of us in Christ
can say,
yeah, God did that for others,
but not for me.
God, 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?
God will graciously give us with him.
Do you see that?
What God gives us first and foremost
is his son.
But he doesn't just give us his son.
He gives us all things with his son.
All the things that we really want,
all the things that we really need,
all the things that we were created for,
all the things so that we might be
the glory that God created
and intended humanity to be.
Let's be clear.
All things here does not include
a big house,
a comfortable life,
lots of children,
a fast car,
and an easy retirement.
It is not those things
that God is most concerned about.
He is concerned about those he called
and those he predestined
and those he justified
and those he glorified.
He is far more concerned
with the salvation of your soul
and your eternal destiny with God.
And in that,
his redemptive work of freeing you
from the sin and brokenness
and pain of life in a fallen world
so that you might experience with him
a restoration to perfection
and to joy
and to beauty
and to glory beyond all imagination.
He who did not spare his son
but gave him up for us all,
will he not
also with him
graciously,
not because we deserve it,
not because we've been such good
or faithful Christians,
not because we've sacrificed
to serve him
or to know him,
but simply out of the abundance
of his undeserved favor
towards us,
graciously give us
all things.
Friends,
this is what it means.
If God is for us,
who can be against us?
Well, it seems like
there are a lot of things.
God,
how do I know
that you're really for me?
He who did not spare his son
but gave him up for us all,
will he not also
graciously give us
all things?
What's the answer
to that rhetorical question?
Of course he will.
God who gave up
his greatest treasure for us,
will he withhold from you?
Will he hold back
from giving you all
that you need
in this life
and the life to come?
Is he stingy?
Is he hard-hearted?
Friends,
when we look at the cross,
we can't say that he is.
Some of you know
that God has given me
a chance to walk
a road of great loss.
And I can't tell you
why he did it.
Even today.
It still doesn't make sense
to me.
Doesn't make sense
when I see my kids
without a mom
day to day
in our home.
Doesn't make sense
as I walk through life
feeling like I've lost
half of me
in ministry
and in parenting
and in life.
It doesn't make sense
as I know many of you
have lost a friend,
a confidant,
an encourager,
someone who prayed
for you.
I don't see
the good in it.
Even today,
the loss seems great
and I don't understand
why.
But friends,
if there's one thing
that I know,
it's this truth
right here
in verses 31
and 32.
that though I cannot
explain my circumstances
and I do not know
all that God has done,
I do know this.
He did not spare
his own son
but he gave us,
gave him up,
us,
gave him up for us,
for me
and for you
and for Brandy
and for our family
and for our church.
He did that
and that is how I know
that God is for us
and not against us.
That is how I know
for sure.
It is how I can sing
when peace like a river
attendeth my way,
when sorrows
like sea billows roll,
whatever my lot,
he has taught me to say
it is well,
it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet,
though trials should come,
let this blessed assurance
control
that Christ has regarded
my helpless estate
and has shed his own blood
for my soul.
My sin of the bliss
of this glorious thought,
my sin not in part
but the whole
is nailed to the cross
and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord,
oh my soul.
It is well.
It is well with my soul.
God is for us.
Who can stand against us?
But Paul says
there is more
than just facing
the trials
and the hardships
and suffering of life.
As he goes on
in verses 33 and 34,
he faces another part
of the worst
of our lives.
Look with me again
and it is important
to get the cadence.
The language
in the English translation
sometimes is a little jarring.
He is not asking a question
and then giving an answer
and then asking a question
and then giving another answer.
Listen as I read it again
so you can try to get
what he is saying here.
33,
who shall bring any charge
against God's elect?
It is God who justifies.
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.
So he starts off
with this question
and he moves it
into a courtroom language.
He is using
forensic language here
like we have now
been brought into
the courtroom of heaven
and we are standing
before God the judge
and Paul says
if our worst sufferings
are one of our great trials,
our worst sin and failure
is our other great trial
in this life.
And he says,
who can bring a charge
against God's elect?
And he says,
listen,
if it is God
who is justified,
then who can condemn?
If God sitting in
the throne room
has said,
no,
you are,
because of your attachment
to Christ,
been covered
in his righteousness
and are able
to stand before me
and I declare you
righteous,
then how can anyone
gainsay that?
How can anyone say,
no,
God,
you don't understand.
Let me tell you
about him.
Let me tell you
about what he's done.
I will bring
a condemnation
against him.
Then Paul says,
no,
it is Christ.
Christ who has died,
Christ who was raised,
Christ who is now
at the right hand of God
interceding for us
like a lawyer,
advocating for us,
in fact,
stepping in
and taking our place
in that judicial courtroom
so that we might
stand there.
That's the basic
argument here.
The challenge,
of course,
is like in the first section.
Who shall bring
any charges
against God elect?
Well,
I can think of a few people
who could bring some charges
against me.
Maybe you can think
of a few people as well.
Those in our past,
people you grew up with.
Oh,
you say you're a Christian now,
huh?
Really?
Well,
I knew you when.
I know what you did.
I was reading last night,
rereading a testimony
of Chuck Colson.
You may know him.
He worked for Nixon.
He was a part of the Watergate
damage control team.
And he did,
well,
a number of not very
upright things
as he served in government.
But God saved him.
And he stayed in Washington
and he did ministry there.
And the article is interesting
because it talked about
how he continued to pursue
relationships with his
political friends
who knew what he was like
before.
And how he had to endure
at times
the accusation.
What are you now?
One of those
goody-two-shoe Christians?
I don't think so.
I know you.
I know where you've been.
Those in our past
can bring accusations
against us.
Our own conscience
can bring accusations
against us.
Because you know
better than anyone else
the worst things
that you've done.
You know the deepest
and darkest secrets
of your life.
You know your worst sins.
And even when it wasn't
an action,
even when it was
only a thought
or an attitude
in your heart,
you know how evil
and vile
your thoughts have been.
You know how often
you have lusted
for power,
for pleasure,
for selfish gain.
You know how often
you have hated
others
for your own good.
You know the ways
that you have doubted
and denied
and rejected
and resisted
God.
You know
the way
that you
so often
make your whole life
revolve around you
and you usurp
God
from the center
of the universe
and from your own life.
And if you are honest,
your conscience
tells you
how terrible
you are.
It's not just
people in our past,
it's not just
our consciences,
but there is
in the spiritual world
a power
that brings
to us
accusation
again and again
and again.
Revelation 12, 10
talks about
the accuser
of the brethren,
that is,
Satan,
who accuses them
day and night
and he whispers
the lies.
If they knew
how bad you really were,
if they knew
that you had done that,
they would never
accept you.
You can never
be forgiven
of that sin.
You will never
be good enough
for God
or for anyone else.
And he will
bring to mind
to you
again and again
and again
the worst
of your sin
and he will bring
the weight
of condemnation
and judgment
upon it
and he will seek
to crush you
under guilt
and shame.
because that's
what he does.
Friends,
not only do
these things
accuse you
but here's the thing,
the law of God
itself,
the holiness
of God Almighty
brings to you
a charge
because what we
see in the scriptures
and what we see
in the character
of God
is a holiness
that we will
never attain to.
we are only
fooling ourselves
when we think
we can be good enough.
If we think
that a 60% good
outweighs
our 40% bad
is good enough,
we don't know
the holiness of God.
We don't understand
the gravity of sin.
We don't understand
the weightiness
of our rebellion
and our rejection
of God.
God,
he holds up
a standard
that we cannot
meet
because of our sin.
These voices
speak to us.
So when Paul says,
who can bring a charge
against God's elect,
it seems like
there's a whole room
full of them.
Right?
guilty,
vile,
and helpless
we.
Who then
does God
think of us?
What then
does God
say about us?
I want to
pause here
for a minute
because I want
to make sure
that we do
understand this.
Right?
Because the argument
in Romans
doesn't make
any sense at all
if we think
we're good.
Go back and read
Romans 1-3 again.
That's the whole point
of Romans 1-18-3-20
is that
all
have sinned
and fallen short
of the glory of God.
All of us
are under it.
Religious people,
not religious people,
Jews,
Gentiles,
people with consciences,
people without consciences.
It doesn't matter
who you are.
All of us.
This is true.
And here's the crazy
thing about it.
It is the most
verifiable
theological doctrine
in human history.
All you have to do
is stop and think
about your own life.
Are you a sinful person?
Have you done things
that are not right?
Well,
of course you have.
And when you look
at the greater swath
of human history,
you think,
well,
what else is
the story
of human history?
Oh,
there are moments
of bright lights.
There are moments
of redemptive breakthroughs.
There are moments
when our created goodness
shines through
and we respond
for a moment
with goodness.
But when we look
over all,
human sinfulness
is one of the most
historically verifiable
theological doctrines
the church has.
We must not
live with the illusion
that we will be good
or good enough.
If you're here
this morning
and you're exploring
Christianity,
know how central
this is.
And I do not say it
to say that you are bad
and we,
I sitting up here,
am good.
No,
what the Bible says
is that we are all
sinful.
No one is righteous,
not one.
And we are all helpless
before our sin.
And if we stood
in that heavenly courtroom
before God
on our own merits,
we would all
face condemnation
condemnation
and judgment
and punishment
for it.
I started quoting
the hymn.
Some of you probably
filled it in,
right?
Guilty,
vile,
and helpless we.
Spotless
Lamb of God
is He.
Full atonement
can it be.
Hallelujah.
What a Savior.
And this is where
Paul points us
again.
Look with me
in verse 34.
We cannot be condemned
because Jesus Christ
has died.
And more than that,
has risen.
And more than that,
is at the right hand
of God
interceding for us.
What is He saying here?
He who died,
the righteous one,
the one who is
perfectly sinless,
died for us.
He took our place
when He came
and died
on the cross.
He died not for Himself
but for us.
And bearing our sin
and taking the punishment
of God for us,
we see both
the greatness
of the offense
of our sin,
but also
the perfection
of God's sinlessness
in Christ
that He might do it
for us.
Death would be
the only proper judgment
for sin
against a holy God
who is the giver
of life.
And so Jesus
took that death
for us.
But He did not
simply die for us.
But Paul goes on,
he says,
and He rose
from the dead.
And being raised
from the dead
shows that the death
that He died
was effective
to erase
the punishment
and to be able
to then,
as He rises
to new life,
He is able then
to justify us,
that is to give us
a right standing
before God
by giving us
His righteousness
and by giving us
a new heart
and a new life,
a new spirit,
so that we might
actually be
His people.
And so we are now
raised
to a new
and indestructible
life with Christ.
And this,
by faith.
And so Christ,
who was raised
from the dead,
not only was He
raised from the dead,
but He was raised
up to the right hand
of God,
the right hand of God
being first and foremost
a place of honor,
but not only is He there,
but He also is seated
at the right hand of God,
which means that His work
is finished.
There is nothing else
to do
because what Christ did
when He died on the cross
and rose from the grave
was to defeat
the power of sin
and death
in the life
of all who believe
in Him
forever.
Sins past,
sins present,
sins future,
they are covered
by Christ's death
and resurrection.
And therefore,
when we stand
in the courtroom,
when we,
the accused,
stand before Him,
God looks at us
and He sees
not our sin,
but He sees
the righteousness
of Christ.
He looks at us
and He cannot see
what the rest of us
all see
is our sin.
and He does not
see it
because Christ
has covered us
in His righteousness.
And that's why
no one can condemn us
because can you
condemn Jesus?
That's where we stand,
in Jesus.
And no one
can condemn Jesus
because He was
the perfect man
who was without sin.
and this is His
intercession for us.
This is His standing
in our place
for us.
This is His advocacy
for us
in the heavenly throne room.
So friends,
just as we face
the greatest
sufferings
and look to Christ,
so when we face
the greatest sin
in our lives,
we look to Christ.
Is Jesus' death
sufficient
for the worst thing
that you've ever done?
Yes,
it is.
Can Jesus' righteousness
cover your worst sin?
Yes,
it can.
Is there any accusation
that can be brought
against you
when you are clothed
in the righteousness
of Christ?
No,
there is not one.
There is none.
And so we sing,
when Satan tempts me
to despair
and tells me
of the guilt within,
upward I look
and see Him there
who made an end
to all my sin.
Because the sinless
Savior died,
my sinful soul
is counted free
for God the just
is satisfied
to look on Him
and pardon me.
Friends,
I wonder how many of you
are buried this morning
under the weight
of guilt and shame.
I wonder if you
are here this morning
and you have thought,
if only I were good enough.
I look at all these
really good looking people
around me
and I think,
well,
they all have their acts
together.
What's wrong with me?
And so you hide.
And so you carry
this burden
of guilt and shame.
some of you
really struggle
to believe,
can God forgive me
of this sin?
Can God forgive me
when I blew it
like that?
Who can bring a charge
against God's elect?
It is God
who justifies.
Who can condemn?
Christ Jesus,
it is He
who died
and was raised
and now intercedes
for us.
Friends,
I want to say
these things to you.
This is how
we face
the worst moments
of our lives.
We look
not at those things,
not at the circumstances
and not at the realities
and it is not
to deny
that those things
are true,
that we are suffering
and that we are sinful.
It is not
to deny
those things
but Paul says
when we face
those things,
how do we face them?
We look up.
We look
to Christ
and when we look
to Christ,
we see
what we really need
because He
has done it
for us.
it is there
that we find
assurance
that God
is for us
because He
died for us.
It is there
that we find
the assurance
that even
our worst sin
cannot condemn us
because Christ
has taken
that condemnation
for us.
And friends,
I want to say
this with all,
I know some of you
may be thinking,
yeah,
I grew up in church,
I've heard that
my whole life,
I know,
Jesus died on the
cross for my sins,
blah, blah, blah.
Friends,
they may feel
like pat answers
and they may feel
like platitudes
to you
but I tell you
that they are
the very bedrock.
When everything
else is stripped
away,
they are the thing
that will,
these truths
are the things
that will remain.
Christ crucified
and risen
is the
unchangeable
truth
that will help
you through,
that will help
you to face
those worst
moments.
And friends,
as you think
about how to
prepare for those
worst moments,
I tell you,
practice this.
Practice looking
to Christ.
Practice looking
to Christ
in a life
of hopeful
faith,
even when you're
not in your
worst moments.
Look to Him
and remember
His goodness.
Look to Him
and develop
a reflex
of trusting
Him with
little things
so that you
can trust Him
with the big
things.
Friends,
look to Him
and live
a life
of costly
obedience.
Don't let
your suffering
or your failure
become an excuse
for you to say,
well,
it's all
gone to hell
in a handbasket
anyway,
so I might as
well just indulge.
Don't let that
happen to you.
Look to Christ
and seek to live
a life of
obedience,
even when it's
costly,
knowing
the greatness
of His sacrifice
for you.
And finally,
look to Him
in a life
of worship.
Whatever treasure
you are clinging
to,
the treasure
of peace
or security
or satisfaction
in this life,
the treasure
of your own
righteousness,
whatever treasures
you are holding
on to,
release them
so that you
might treasure
Christ
for you.
Let this
be the thing.
and as you
prepare
now
by doing
those things
daily,
weekly,
then
when you
face those
moments
of the worst,
you will know
where to stand.
What then
shall we say
of these things?
If God
is for us,
who
can be
against us?
Let's pray.
Lord,
this morning
we have
talked about
things that
are
touch on
perhaps
some of the
most painful
and difficult
things of our
lives.
Lord,
we pray
this morning
that you
would come
and bring
the comfort
and the
balm of
the cross
to our
hearts.
Lord,
I pray
for those
this morning
who are
burdened,
who are
doubting,
who are
questioning,
who are
wrestling
as they
face
suffering,
Lord,
as they
see and
feel the
guilt of
their own
sin.
Lord,
I pray
that you
will meet
them in
those moments
and Lord,
that you
will raise
them,
raise their
eyes to
see what
you have
done in
Christ for
them.
Lord,
that you
would help
us,
Lord,
to look not
on the
earthly things
but to look
at Christ
in the heavenly
realms,
to fix our
eyes on
him,
Lord,
to be
helped.
Lord,
will you do
this,
we pray in
Jesus' name.
Amen.
As the
music team
comes forward,
we're going
to sing a
great hymn,
Immovable Our
Hope Remains,
and I hope
that as you
sing it,
you will
consider the
words as
he walks
us through
the very
things we've
been looking
at this
morning in
Romans 8.
Please stand
as we sing
together.
Amen.