Perry, Frank: 2007-11-06-Bahamas Ministry-Romans Chapter 8

Like you to turn to Romans chapter eight. Ro- Romans chapter eight, try to encourage our hearts because often when, and and I make it a custom, really, to try to read Romans eight quite often. Tremendous chapter. You never will be able to plumb the depth of many of the wonderful nuggets of truth that's in it, and it really will encourage your heart. You may not understand all of it. It doesn't matter. What you do understand will be a blessing to you. And, uh, the Apostle Paul was really in the spirit when he penned these letters. In this particular chapter, he excels in it, and, uh, no doubt his own heart was encouraged because in chapter seven it's a very disheartening chapter to a degree. Paul is talking about the wrestling of the flesh, those things that I should do, I do not, you know? Then he says, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God, he says, through Jesus Christ the Lord. And dear old Doctor Harry Ironside, whom I have the pre- uh, privilege of hearing him twice, he was blind the second time, but he said when he came to, uh, the last verse of chapter, uh, seven and chapter eight, he said, what a pity, should never been a chapter eight. Should have been just chapter seven gone right on, because chapter eight answers the problems of chapter seven, and, uh, no break whatsoever. Verse one: there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus had made me free from the law of sin and death. What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, not sinful flesh, in the likeness, being a human being, that is, but apart from sin, you see, uh, of sinful flesh, on account of sin. That is the reason why he came, on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, for those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God, but you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his or none of his. He doesn't have that relationship with the Lord. Keep your finger on the page. In the opening verses that we read, the Apostle Paul is bringing a wonderful truth to us, that now that we are born again believers, we have a new life, and that new life is precious. It's cultivated day by day, and we live in a world where we'll realize, of course, that, uh, the external forces, the forces that are out there, as well as the old nature force that is within you, doesn't make it very easy sometimes to live the Christian life, because we're, we're at a war. It's a warfare, it's a battle. But by having the new life in you is what gives us and garrisons our minds, our hearts, and gives us the strength and the power to live for him day by day. Without him, the Holy Spirit, we would never be able to live that life. We wouldn't have the victory that he, he only can give. It's amazing with this new life. We thank God for it. Uh, this new life is planted within us now. We have Christ in us because the old law, or the law that we had, uh, without the life of the Spirit, uh, I'm talking about in past, in the past tense now, um, the law of the Apostle Paul said, it's good, but it's weak. It's good, but it can't, uh, wash away your sins. It is good in the sense that it's like a, a teacher or a mirror. It only reflects what you really are. It tells you, as I've often illustrated for the sake of some of the young ones, you're out in the yard mowing or whatever you're doing, you notice how so many times, right on the tip of your nose, there seems to be an itch, and you want to wipe, if you're like me. So you, what do you do? You wipe your, your nose or your face, and before you know it, um, your face is sort of blotched with, uh, maybe oil or maybe some other, uh, form of dirt. But you go inside, and you go in the bathroom, you look in the mirror, and bo- lo and behold, the mirror says you are dirty. The mirror says you're unclean. That's the law. See, the law says you are dirty, you're unclean, you're undone, you're wretched, like Paul says in chapter seven. And the law, what it does, it just mirrors our imperfections and our sinful, uh, condition. But what do you do? You take the mirror down off the wall, and then you begin to wipe the s- the dirt off your face? Of course not. The law, you can't take the law and wash away the dirt and wash away the sin. That's where the blood of Jesus Christ is so precious. That's why the Apostle Paul in speaking to the, uh, John rather, speaking to the believers, as we said Sunday morning. If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and to what? To cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Law can't do that. Uh, some time ago, I, I referred to a man who, who wrote the IRS. He was skipping on his tax, cheating, really, and he told him in his letter, he said, please find enclosed three hundred dollars that I've stolen from you. I cannot sleep at night. I've been tormented. I felt extremely guilty. Then he wrote PS in the bottom. If I find out that I cannot sleep in the future, I'll send you the other three hundred dollars. You know, a lot of people might try to do that with God sometimes, and we just halfway confess our sin. That won't do. If you want absolute peace, the moment you know that you have sinned or we have sinned, the moment we know that, it's good to confess it. It's good, uh, to get ri- get it right with the Lord if you are going to enjoy your new life. And the new law. And the new law now is the law of, of absolute liberty and freedom. And you serve the Lord now, not by the old law, but by love. You won't mind serving the Lord when you love him because you know he loved you and or loved us. It's a delight to, to really serve him because we love him. And you're not coerced, you're not forced, you're not brow beaten. Nobody has to challenge you all the time, and, you know, as you read the word, as you hear the sermons from this pulpit or otherwise on television, no matter where, but your heart is deeply moved, and so the word has that effect. And so we serve him, we do what we want for the Lord because we love him. Oh, that's an important note. A new life, a new love, a new law, and this law doesn't have, uh, any kind of legal restrictions like the old law. You don't have to tell a Christian, thou shalt not steal, do you? Why? Are we different than anybody else in the world? Yes, we are. But we're different in this sense. You know, because of the Spirit of God with the new life within us, you know that it is wrong to steal. We don't need the law, but we know that. For instance, I've often illustrated, you go into your mama's living room or to into your living room. Do you put up a sign? Pardon me for being a little raw here. Do not spit here in the floor. Do you do that? No, you don't. Why? Because you know that's not the thing to do, and it's not the place for it even. All right? So, so it is true with the Christian. You don't have to tell him, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness. You know those things, but there's a new law in your heart now, and that new law, out of love, you serve him, and you, and you want to do the things that please him. That's the thing. Oh, how often I'm rebuked in this, how often my heart is stirred. My love could only be deeper in the world that we live in, with all of the distractions and the things that come our way. It rob us of our time and our energy, and sometimes it's very, very difficult. But you know something? We're unique. God has a special place for us, and we're blessed because we belong to him. You know, beloved, I was just thinking while I was sitting in the seat, I was thinking of all the problems, not all, because I can't imagine all of them. We got nations now jockeying for same-sex marriages. We got laws coming out of Europe strongly forbidding capital punishment. We've got ninety percent or more in armies of the states of many of the African states which, which have been tested for HIV. We got the poor folks who are suffering in the south with mudslides. We have tornadoes in America, typhoons in China and Japan. You've got houses that they lived in, and that night left for a couple hours because of the fires that were approaching, and when they went back, hundreds upon hundreds of those homes were literally demolished by a- by fire, reduced to rubble and ashes. Problems, diseases that are breaking out now that we have no name for them. They call it a syndrome, but that's not a name. You've got the staph, which can be deadly. You've got hepatitis, certain form, which is deadly, incurable. Tuberculosis, when once we could treat with penicillin, this particular strain of tuberculosis does not respond. You catch that, you die. Everywhere you turn, doctors are, are really upset. As I mentioned recently, the young girls in Nassau from fifteen and up now are having breast cancer. Unheard of. It was always usually related to women forty and over. You remember that in the olden days, but never young people. But it's not so now. And we could go on and on. I only mentioned those things to tell you that what you're up against, what we're up against in our society, in our world, not talking about the drug war that we're losing. And it's a terrible war, literally destroying the brains, burning out the brains of our young vultures who are standing on the sidelines in the school playground, waiting to hand them, uh, marijuana or something of a nature that will cause an addiction. Then eventually, those same children have to steal from their fathers and mothers or rob others, and in some instances even kill. We're fighting a losing battle to a large degree, beloved, because of it. Men who exploit children. I could go on and on, but it's just sickening. But that's the world we live in. I'm so glad that we have the new life in us, the spirit of the living God dwelling in our hearts, a new life that we can enjoy. I always remember what Brother Worth said once. He said, Frank, I get to find out that there's no heaven, no God, and and I know that isn't so, but if, if that was the case, he says, I have still lived a better life, and I've enjoyed the best life, even if those things are not true. But we know they're true, of course. But that was his, his thought. I thought of that many times since, and you know it is true. The Christian life is still the best life. There are no substitutes for it. Oh, thank God. We have a new life, but we also have a new Lord, the Holy Spirit, as the apostle depicts here in this very chapter. And we that are his are marked by the Spirit of the Lord. He indwells us. And you know, uh, we have the earnest of the Spirit, the guarantee of the Spirit in our life. It marks you out as a child of God. That's what makes you unique and distinct and apart from the world. And so we are his because the Spirit of the Lord is in us. The moment you became a Christian, he indwelt you. And there are those who believe that you get a special baptism of the Spirit as a Christian. You should seek it, you should pray for it. They're getting confused, but perhaps what really they mean is you should go in for a fullness, or we should go in for a fullness of the Spirit of God, and that is scriptural. You have the Holy Ghost in you, and the Holy Ghost, mind you, is an old English word. Holy Spirit is a proper word, and it is not so much that how much of the Spirit I have, because I have all that I could possibly have. He lives in us because he is a divine person. But you know, the truth is, how much of me does the Holy Spirit control? And that's the key to a, a happy, uh, Christian life. If you're, if we are struggling with it, and we often do, this is the lesson that we need to learn. Oh God, just help me to be submissive, uh, to the Holy Spirit day by day. Often we break, um, some of the fundamental laws because of the flesh, but don't stop, don't get discouraged. Remember, he is still there to guide, he's there to teach, he is there to comfort. Wonderful to know that he's within us. Oh, to be conscious of the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. Adrian Rogers once said, remember he is not the resident only, but he should be the president. I like that. The book that Brother Freddie gave me a long time ago, and I still have it, and it's a good book. He is not just the resident, but he must be the what? The president of our life, or the Lord of our life. Thank God, then we have a new life, we have a new law, but we have a new Lord, and he is there to comfort, as I said, to guide and to teach and to co- and to be that, that stay in our lives day by day. No condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Now, briefly, some time ago we mentioned in verse thirty three, and you could turn to it, don't lose your page, verse thirty three: Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Number one, thank God there's no accusation to the child of God. Even though the devil, according to the book of Revelation, is accusing the brethren, the Christians worldwide, before God. He did it with Job. Remember, look at Job. But God said, you, you, you look at him. See if there's any, any unholiness in him. He is my servant. Ah, he's only serving you for what he could get out of you. You've got a hedge around him. Take the hedge away, and he will sin. And you know the story well. If ever a man that went through so many attacks of the adversary, the devil, it was Job. He suffered terribly at his hand, but God said, you shall not take his life. But Job knew what it was to be protected and comforted, uh, by the Lord. Nevertheless, he was severely attacked by Satan, and he accused Job to God. And then he accused God about Job. That was the tactic of the devil. He hasn't changed, and today he's still doing it. I don't know what, uh, conversation he might have, but God can hear him. Wherever he is, whatever he's doing. By the way, he's going to and fro in all the earth, but he's got a network of demons that we have no idea how many there are, but there must be many. If he could spare three thousand in one man, assuming that three thousand were in those pigs that went down, uh, the slope of that mountain, just imagine how many demons that are let loose in the world. Millions, perhaps upon millions. But the devil is not omnipresent, that is, he cannot be everywhere at the same time. But God is, is omnipresent. He's omniscient, which means all-wise. He's omnipotent, which means all-powerful. Oh, thank God, uh, for the divine power and the person of the Godhead that we really have as our Savior and as our Lord. And so he is saying here, who shall accuse us? No accusation can be brought against the church of God. Oh, they, he might accuse us because of our weakness. He might a- accuse us because the time that we have fallen even. He might accuse us to God. But that's his work, the work of accusation. And by the way, let me just gently remind you how dangerous it is to accuse one another. It's very, very, uh, serious when you think of it. Slander is so detrimental. It ruins, it hurts, it's very painful, can destroy an individual and find out in the end that the accusations were not true, especially. Uh, it, it's very, very damaging. One preacher who is so brokenhearted, in fact, it would, he was, he suffered a nervous breakdown, really, because of accusations. However, when this person who spread this particular gossip found out that it was not true, so much damage had already been done, and um, he said he came to the preacher and he cried and he wept and he wept. Oh, he said, brother, calling his name, not in the Bahamas, by the way. He confessed it. He said he was sorry. He don't, he didn't know how he could be so foolish. I realize it's been damaging to your character, to your life. What can I do? The preacher said, I forgive you, but it's not so much as what you can do, it's what you cannot do. He says, what do you mean? He said, come with me. And he had gathered, being on a farm, he had gathered a sack full of feathers, and he went up to this high hill, and it happened to be a windy day. And he took the bag of feathers, and he just opened the mouth and started to flap the, the sack, and the feathers blew in the wind and all over the township below. And he said, now, my friend, I want you to do me a favor. Go and pick up the feathers. He says, oh, it's impossible, impossible. I realized that. You said, what can you do? The truth of the matter is what you cannot do. You cannot regain the damage that has been done. You can't stop the rumor or the rumors. They're gone, and the hurt and the pain had been there very deeply. God can heal that. And he wept even more. And you know, that is the truth, and Mr. Fell always said that a lie will go around the world twice before truth could get his socks on. A very important statement, and yet it is so true. No accusation, though, because we are sheltered in him, we're forgiven by him, we are cleansed by him, we're in him, and he justifies us. That's what I like. Who shall get- make a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Oh, I love that. He declares us righteous in his son, and we rejoice in that. Secondly, there's no condemnation, as we had in verse one. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died. Furthermore, he's also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. I love that. Then lastly, he says, and who shall separate us from the love of Christ? No accusation, no condemnation, no separation. That's the threefold chord that you and I can enjoy, beloved, throughout this very night and the days that are before us. Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things, we're more than conquerors through him who loved us. Isn't that beautiful? We are conquerors and can be conquerors. You might lose a little skirmish here and there, a little battle, but you're not going to lose the war. The war has already been won as far as God is concerned, and it won't be long until we, we will be with him. Then the Apostle Paul bursts forth with these words, yet in all these things we're more than conquerors through him who loved us, for I am persuaded that neither death in the night, nor life with its fright, nor angels with their flight, principalities with their might, nor powers with their rule, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, and I love this, nor any other creature or created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What a, oh, I tell you, just to read that, just to read that is a blessing, is it not? You may not be aware of it, but Mr. Holder is a founder of our assembly here. He was a man who came to Spanish Well, uh, perhaps a hundred, what, twenty nine years ago, and he preached the gospel. The first assembly, I believe, that was formed within a home on Dossville Street, which later became the Central Gospel Chapel. But Mr. Holder came to a certain lady. I think she was a pifom. Don't quote me on that, but she was a Anglican persuasion, if you will, and he began to witness to her. He was outside by the wall. Apparently, she must have been on the porch in a rocking chair. I'm not sure, but he started to talk to her about the Lord, and the woman said, uh, I pray. Those days they spoke the old English. Tell me, what persuasion art thou? And Mr. Holder said, I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor heights, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. And that dear lady said, come in, sir, and have tea. And that was the beginning of a wonderful assembly. And he led her to the Lord, and she was gloriously saved. Oh, beloved, the power of the written word, is it not? And you and I can live in the enjoyment of it day by day. Let me just say this, and I'll close, because it's just to encourage our heart. In Deuteronomy thirty two or thirty three rather, and twenty seven, it says, underneath are the everlasting arms, for he is our refuge, our dwelling place. Beloved, that's who we have as our, our God. He is the one with arms that are not weak, hands that will never lose you. You're eternally secure, but in those arms he bears you up, as, as we have there in that verse. Jesus said, are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And then he said, are ye not of more worth than many sparrows? And my Father knows what you have need of. God knows your need tonight, and I'm not thinking of the materials in the material sense. All of us have a particular need in our hearts. There is a need for more joy. There is a need for more peace, even as Christian, more rest in the Lord. God knows we need more power in our life, more motivation to serve him and to witness for him day by day, and to be willing to do our little part, no matter how small, or you may feel insignificant, but do it for the glory of God. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Oh my, there's so much we could say, but our time is gone. I think sufficient has been said in the chapter, but if I left the reading of this out, I would be remiss. Listen, for your encouragement, verse twenty two: for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only they, but we also have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of the body. Oh, I wanted to say a little more about that. That's going to be the step, the final aspect of salvation, when he takes this old wretched frame of ours, and we will be clothed upon with our new body, waiting to which the redemption of the body. We're going to have a glorified body in a coming day. Beloved, all of us, I know, are looking forward to that, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of the body. Oh, thank God for the truth of that, and it's coming, beloved, it won't be long. You and I will come in for the enjoyment of this and even more. Praise be to his name. Oh God, how we thank you indeed for your word. It never ceases to encourage us every time we read it, or even try, uh, to teach it. How we thank you, Lord, for our new li- life and new law and the new Lord. How we thank you that, that there are now no accusations because we are justified. What though the accuser roar of ills that I have done, I know them well and thousands more, but Jehovah, he findeth none. Blessed be the name of the Lord that cleanses us from all sin by the blood of the Lord Jesus. O God, it is our prayer indeed that you will garrison the minds of all of your dear children. Whatever we're going through, whatever our phase, whether the crisis, emotional or otherwise, you are our stay, you're our helper. Oh God, how we bless you for this. Give encouragement, Lord, to your dear children. As we heard tonight, there are so many with ill bodies. Lord, we pray for these dear ones. Oh God, give comfort. It is jolting when they hear the verdict by a doctor, you have cancer or some other problem. So we pray, Lord, that you gird your dear children, lift them up, draw them close to yourself. Be with family members that hurt along with them. Be pleased to supply their need, and for our men, as they get ready to go away again, pray, Lord, that you be with them. Please keep them, Father. Keep them from harm and danger. May their trip be truly one that you will bless by bringing them back as well to us safely. We commend them to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.