Lesson by Pastor John Skaggs

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

P. O. Box 1173

Claypool, Arizona 85532

520-425-8345

Date: 07-2-00

Sermon Number: 046

Text: Romans 8:32

Topics Addressed in this Lesson

(The perseverance of the saints)

Those in advertising discovered long ago that if you advertise something as free the world will beat a path to your door. I have always found it interesting how many people actually believe that businesses give things away for free. We all want to believe such adds but they are seldom true. Nothing in life is free and if it appears to be you will soon find strings attached which lead quickly to a price tag. Nevertheless such advertising still sucks in millions each year. We want with all our hearts to believe that the car we just paid thirty thousand dollars for came with a FREE rear-view mirror.

We find just the opposite response in the spiritual world. The church preaches a free and completely gracious salvation. But even those who say they believe often act as though it is not free at all. They do this in various ways. The one that fits our lesson best has to do with adding to the finished work of Jesus. This person says they believe that Jesus died for their sins and that it is His blood and righteousness that saves them. Yet they spend their lives working hard to gain acceptance with God, the very acceptance Jesus has gained for them. Some how, for some reason, they think that even though the perfect, spotless, Lamb of God purchased their salvation, they must also pay a price. They "feel" as though they must do something and do it well or God will at last reject them in spite of the shed blood and righteousness of Jesus. Such a person may very well be saved from the wrath to come by faith in Christ but at the same time this person will never find rest for his soul. For in his mind his eternal safety depends not on Jesus but on how well he performs. I have a special place in my heart for such people and have always worked hard to help them find rest for their souls. There is no greater peace, rest, or freedom than to finally come to understand that Jesus paid the price in full and there is nothing to add. As far as salvation is concerned, the man or woman who trusts in Christ for forgiveness of sins and acceptance with God can and should put down their tools. For they are now and will forever be accepted in the Beloved. Salvation is really and truly free from its inception to its completion.

Paul, in the eighth chapter of Romans has, been working hard to convince the struggling Christian, described in the seventh chapter, of these very truths. Of the fact that once a sinner has come to Christ by faith he is saved, he is being saved, and he will finally be saved from the wrath of God. This remains true even if his performance is less than spectacular. Why? Because his salvation is based on the righteousness of Jesus imputed to him through faith. Therefore, the only way a saved person can be lost is if Jesus is no longer righteous on his behalf. This, beloved, can never be. For our Savior is the Creator of all, He is and always has been the thrice-holy God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus is perfect for me, therefore, I will always be perfect and acceptable to God.

We have dealt with the bulk of the eighth chapter and now find ourselves studying Paul’s conclusion. Here he presents four arguments intended to persuade the un-persuadable saint of the wonderful and comforting truth that a Christian cannot fall from grace, he cannot loose the salvation ordered for him by God, purchased for him by Christ, and bestowed by God the Holy Spirit. The four arguments are found in verse thirty-one through the end of the chapter. The first is, "If God is for us, who is against us?" (verse 31) Then we have, "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (verse 32) In verses 33-34 we find this question, "Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies? And beginning in verse thirty-five Paul asks his final question, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"

On our last Lord’s Supper Sunday we considered the first of these arguments. "If God is for us who is against us?" In that lesson we reviewed all of Paul’s work in this chapter. Again and again he sets before us reasons to rest in the finished work of Christ. He has fulfilled the law for us and taken away the penalty. God the Holy Spirit has caused and enabled us to love God and man. He has given us hearts that sorrow over sin and long to practice righteousness for the glory of God. That same Spirit lives within us teaching, convicting, comforting, directing, and causing us to cry out as children of God. Paul has told us that the suffering we experience here will be swallowed up in an immeasurably glorious future. God is, says the great apostle, working all things together for our good. Therefore, we needn’t be afraid that something might remove us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. For God is working behind the scenes in every situation to keep us safe from eternal harm. Then he spoke of our inseparable connection with His Son Jesus, His glory, and reputation. And finally our ancient brother set before us the golden chain of redemption. God predestined our salvation and He applies it to us at the right time in history. All the elect will be called, justified, and finally glorified, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It is at this point in his letter that he asks the question, "If God be for us in all these ways how can a Christian ever fall from grace." The answer Paul waits to hear is obvious. The truly saved person cannot loose his salvation because God intends that he or she be saved forever to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Follow along as I read through this closing section. (Romans 8:31-39 NASB) "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? {32} He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? (Everything necessary for Christian living on earth and all things necessary for our journey to heaven.) {33} Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; {34} who is the one who condemns? (If God has justified a sinner who then can condemn him? Who can overthrow the Divine verdict?) Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. {35} Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? {36} Just as it is written, "FOR THY SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." {37} But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. {38} For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, {39} 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."

Our lesson today has to do with verse thirty-two, Paul’s second argument. (Romans 8:32 NASB) "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?"

Here Paul argues his case by moving from the greater to the lesser of two things. Our initial salvation was the great and seemingly impossible work of Divine grace. God the Creator gave His Son Jesus, God in the flesh, to die for our sins. By this sacrifice He successfully cleansed us from every sin and stain. He succeeded in reconciling us to Himself in Christ. Everything else concerning our salvation pales in comparison to the giving of Christ on the cross. Paul is asking this question, "Is it possible that God, having done the greater thing, would now fail to do the lesser thing?" By the lesser he means all things necessary for keeping us safe in this life and taking us into the next. It’s quite simply unreasonable to think that God would accomplish our salvation by putting His Son to death only to let us fall away again into eternal perdition. Thus wasting the life and blood of Jesus. This is Paul’s argument for the security of the believer.

The first phrase in the verse is, "He who did not spare His own Son." This is Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God, God in the flesh, Immanuel. God, the great God, the only true and living God, did not spare Jesus. He did not withhold Him or refuse to offer Him as a sacrifice for our sins. Rather He delivered Him up. Second, He did not spare Him in the sense of punishment for our sins. God laid all the sins of His chosen ones upon Christ. Then He poured out the fullness of His wrath upon Jesus even to the "dregs", as the old timers like to put it. He spared Him nothing. Jesus bore the full and awful penalty of the law. Which, of course, has resulted in our salvation. There is no price left to pay, Jesus paid it all by the will and intent of our God and Father. Lets look at this great thing God has done which guarantees that He will do all the smaller things necessary to insure our eternal safety. Consider the words of Isaiah 53:4-6 NASB.

"Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. (Jesus was smitten, and afflicted with immeasurable spiritual miseries so that we would not have to be smitten and afflicted.) {5} But He was pierced through for our transgressions, (Therefore, we will not have to be pierced through for our transgressions.) He was crushed for our iniquities; (Therefore, we will be crushed for our sins.) The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, (Therefore, we will not be chastened for our iniquities.) And by His scourging we are healed. (Jesus endured all things necessary for our salvation. By His work and sacrifice we have been healed of all that sin did to us spiritually. This statement has nothing to do with the healing of physical disease. The context demands that this statement, like all the others in the passage, has to do with spiritual life and health. By Christ’s suffering we have been healed of all that sin did to us.) {6} All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him." (God caused our iniquity, our sin, our transgression, our wickedness and guilt to be laid on Christ. This is the great thing about our salvation. God gave His Son to die for us! Paul asks the question, "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" The answer called for is this, "Since God has done so great a thing in saving us He will most certainly do the lesser thing of keeping us saved." The great work is done the rest is just clean up.

(Isaiah 53:10 NASB) "But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, (Jesus gave Himself as a guilt offering on our behalf so that we would never have to die for our sin! Since Jesus did this, and since His offering was a 100% success . . . ) He will see His offspring, (Those for whom He died will surely be saved to the uttermost and that forever.) He will prolong His days, (He will live forever as the risen Savior.) And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand." The good pleasure of the Lord was that Jesus save all those given to Him for salvation. See John 6) Jesus came to save His people from their sin and this is exactly what He did. This is the great thing God has done. The rest, keeping us safe from here to heaven, is a piece of cake.

God crucified Jesus because He love us and was determined to save us. (Acts 2:22-24 NASB) "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know-- {23} this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. {24} "And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power."

God, by the hands of the unbelieving Jews and Romans, nailed Jesus to the cross FOR US. He sacrificed His Son so that we might have life, abundant, everlasting, life. This is our great salvation, nothing greater could have been done than this. Paul asks us today, how could any reasonable person believe that having given His Son for their sins God would then deprive His blood bought people of the things necessary to life, godliness, and perseverance all the way to glory? Please note the all-encompassing nature of the atonement as it is described in verse thirty-two of our text. Jesus was delivered up "for us all." Of course the "us all" must be defined by the context. If we look back to verse twenty-eight of Romans eight we discover very quickly whom this statement refers to. They are the people who love God and are the called according to His purpose. The "us all" refers to these and these alone. In other words, brothers and sisters, this applies to every Christian without exception. The God who gave His Son for you will also give you everything you must have to make it through this life to heaven without any possibility of loosing your salvation. Come let us reason together. If God is for us to the extent He sacrificed His only Son so that we could be saved. Do you not think, is it not reasonable to assume, that He will take us all the way to heaven?

Paul used this same type of argument in Romans 5:6-10 NASB. "For while we were still helpless, (Sinners are dead and, therefore, cannot save themselves, they are spiritually helpless.) at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (This is a most amazing thing. Christ, the perfect Son of God, died for the positively ungodly, enemies of God.) {7} For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. {8} But God demonstrates His own love toward us, (He shows us how much He loved us and what His intentions are toward us . .) in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Christ died for us as ungodly, undeserving, rebels against God, Christ, God the Holy Spirit, holiness, and anything really good. If He died for us when we were in that shape what will he do for us now? Now that Christ’s blood has washed us and made us clean; Now that the demands of the law have been met on our behalf; Now that we are in Christ and He is in us; Now that we have become the very righteousness of God in Him; Now that we love God and hate sin with all our hearts, what will He do for us now? Cast us off? To the devil with such a thought!) {8} But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. {9} Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we SHALL BE SAVED from the wrath of God through Him. {10} For if while we were enemies, (dead in trespasses and sins) we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, (If God did this great thing for us while we were wicked, sinful, God-haters.) much more, (Surely now) having been reconciled, (having become God-lovers) we shall be saved by His life."

In other words, God reconciled us to Himself by turning His Son over to death on the cross. At that time we were God’s enemies. Paul is saying that since God has gone to all the trouble and expense of reconciling us to Himself surely He will see to our everlasting salvation. "We shall be saved by His life." This phrase is glorious indeed. It takes us back to a discussion some of us had last Sunday about the resurrection. The death of Christ is wonderful and redemptive but not unless He is risen from the dead. If His body is yet in the tomb then His blood did not cleanse us from sin and we have not been saved. But He has risen which proves that God accepted His death on our behalf. Remember the great statement made in Romans 4:25 NASB. "He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification." Jesus died because of our sins and rose because His death really did atone for our sins. Otherwise He would not have risen. (Hebrews 7:25 NASB) "Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since (or because) He always lives to make intercession for them." This is what is meant when the apostle says, "We shall be saved by His life."

This passage sets before us two unalterable truths. The wicked shall be punished whether angels or men. The righteous shall be redeemed, saved to the uttermost, preserved from the judgment and condemnation coming upon the wicked.

Why was Noah preserved, was he a perfect man? Not on your life! He was a sinner saved by grace through faith. Noah was God’s child by election, calling, and justification based on the perfections of the coming Redeemer. This man lived among a vile people about whom it was said every imagination of their heart was evil. Because of their sin and un-repentance God vowed destruction by flood. What about Noah and his family, what would happen to them? There was no mountain sufficiently tall to escape for the water was to cover the whole earth. There was no human effort Noah could put forth to save himself. But God provided salvation for his people. This time it came in the form of an enormous boat built by Noah and his sons according to God’s instruction. The point is, God has always saved his people from His wrath and He always will. On board His ark of grace and mercy in Jesus Christ there is room for everyone who believes. In that ark there is protection from every danger, every evil, everything that could do the child of God spiritual harm. In the Beloved, dear ones, there is eternal security!

Consider righteous Lot for a moment. Abraham gave him a choice as to where he would live. Lust, of one kind or the other, filled his heart so he chose to dwell in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He is called righteous Lot not because he made a good choice but in spite of that and because He was a God lover, a man of faith. He should not have gone there, he should not have stayed there once he found out what it was like. But he did. This was a sinful act performed by one of God’s truly saved children. Yet God did not cast him off. He loved him and convicted him of his sin and the sin around him. (verses 7-8) Lot was tempted to sin by these Sodomites but God intervened. He rescued Lot saving him from the wrath and destruction that He poured out on the cities of the plain. These few verses speak volumes about God preserving His children. "If God rescued Lot from temptation and certain destruction will He not do the same for all His children? Yes, He will! He will take us all the way to heaven even if he has to send an angel to pull us to safety! This is the answer to Paul’s question, "If God, by many miracles and in many ways, has saved His people in the past, will He not save us?" "If Noah’s God and Lot’s God is for us who can stand successfully against us?" (Romans 8:32 NASB) "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?"

God has already done the greatest possible thing in saving us. Do you really believe He would not do all the little things necessary to keep us in His grace? Do you really think God would shed the blood of His son only to let it go to waste by loosing those for whom He died. Paul, by the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, says "Impossible!" For, nothing can remove us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There is one passage of scripture left to consider which is a fitting conclusion to this lesson. Look with me at 2 Peter 1:1-11 NASB.

"Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received (as a gift) a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: (Not by works of any kind but by the righteousness of Christ.) {2} Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; {3} seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. {4} For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."

This half of the reference speaks to us of how we have been saved. It was by the divine power of God wherein He gave us everything pertaining to life, physical and spiritual life. This gift came to us through the "knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. That is, through the gospel. God has communicated everything we need for salvation here and forever through the knowledge of God found in His word. That this text is speaking of salvation is seen in the next verse. There, verse 4, we are told that it is in this way that He has granted to us all His magnificent promises and had caused us to become partakers of the divine nature. Which is to say we Christians have a new nature, a Godly, Christ like nature, which God has given to us. But that is not all. By this great and wonderful salvation we, Christians, have escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. This is salvation folks, it is a free, no strings attached gift from God. He has given us everything pertaining to life and Godliness. The promises are ours and the one that concerns us most in this lesson is preceded by a command. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ . . . . and you shall be saved!"

The second half of this text has to do with our awareness or assurance of salvation. Often times we don’t feel like we saved and eternally secure. In these verses the apostle tells how to help ourselves find comfort and peace in this area of our lives.

{5} Now for this very reason also (Because you know that God has done all things necessary for your salvation here and in eternity, do the following.), applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; {6} and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; {7} and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. (These are the things that Christians do naturally. Here we are told to exercise ourselves in them things so that they grow or increase.) {8} For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (In other words these qualities, if they are present and growing, prove that you are the recipient of the grace of God. You are not useless, or unfruitful, rather you have a true saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.) {9} For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. (The person who does not have the fruit of love and obedience in his life is either not saved at all, (blind), or he has momentarily forgotten the salvation that is his by faith in Christ, (short-sighted). It might be said that this person is backslidden. If this is the case he will have no sense, awareness, or assurance of his salvation. What are these two people to do?) {10} Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; {11} for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you." If you love God and man in a consistent manor, if you "practice these things" you will not stumble, i.e., be unsure of your salvation. Quite the opposite will be true. The man who lives consistently for the Lord will have assurance of his salvation. He will not have the sense that the way to heaven is restricted and tight. It will seem to this person that the gate is wide open and inviting. This is the meaning of the statement, "The entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you." On the other hand if one says he is a Christian and that person does not live in the way here described they will be filled with fear and uncertainty concerning their eternal future.

So we discover there are two things that contribute to our assurance as Christians. One is knowledge. The believer must understand God’s truth. He must know the truth about himself and what Christ has done for him. He must understand that he had nothing to do with his salvation in the beginning, has nothing to do with it now, and will have nothing to do with it in eternity. He is either saved by free grace through faith that rests exclusively in Christ or he is not saved at all. The second thing that contributes to the Christian’s assurance of salvation is the change in his desires and behavior. If there is an abiding love for God and man that expresses itself in works of obedience and kindness and if these things are always growing then one may be certain that God has granted him or her everything pertaining to life and godliness, true salvation.

The text we have dealt with today asks a question which we have answered. "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" The answer is this, "Since God has done so great a thing in saving us He will most certainly do the lesser thing of keeping us saved." The great work is done the rest is a piece of cake.