Bringing Glory to God

Well, we're closing out here, we're closing out the year in 2025 and heading into 2026. Life is exciting. There's a lot of things going on in the world and a lot of challenges we may be facing ahead here.

So I wanted to, this morning, this last message for this year, heading into a new year, is to bring an encouraging message, try to be an encouragement to all of us. And I thought about the most, one of the most encouraging, maybe the most encouraging passages in the Bible, in the New Testament is found in Romans chapter 8. So I would like to share with you from Romans chapter 8. So if you'd like to turn there this morning in Romans chapter 8, and I'd like to read starting in verse number 31. Romans chapter 8, starting in verse number 31.

I'm going to read down through this passage, then we're going to come back and talk about it here. There are seven question marks in this passage. There's a lot of questions here.

Paul is giving a question, then answering the question. And he does that here with seven questions that he has. Many of these verses are familiar to all of us.

So let me read down through here and then we'll try to teach you and be an encouragement for each one of us this morning. Verse 31 of Romans chapter 8 says, What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long.

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus the Lord.

That's a beautiful passage there, encouraging passage, oftentimes quoted. Those verses are on plaques, on walls, in many different homes, many different places. This is written, obviously, by the Spirit of God, inspiring the apostle Paul, who had a rather difficult life.

He was in prison often, and all the things that he had to go through, and difficulties that he faced, and yet he wrote these words. And many of these words are encouraging words to us. But I'd like to, I think oftentimes this passage is misunderstood, and misinterpreted.

I'd like to go down through here, and try to expound it for you, and help you to understand all that's here in Romans chapter 8. And I want to take the first question, we'll look at all these questions, but I want to take the first question, because the first question is the most important. Maybe not seem that way to you, but in verse 31, the first question he asked here is this, what shall we then say to these things? That's his first question. What shall we say then to these things? So in order to understand the rest of these questions, we need to answer that question.

What shall we say then to these things? Well, he's referring to the things he has just spoken. The things that he has just spoken, a few verses here before. And so let's go back to verse number 29, and look here what he has spoken.

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. And then the next verse, what shall we say to these things? What shall we say to these things? That he foreknew us, that he predestinated us, that he called us, that he justified us, that he glorified us, what shall we say to these things? And that's where you get this whole list of questions that come from verse 31, all the way down to verse 39 is Paul's answer to that question.

You know, God has done all these things for us. What shall we say then to these things? I'd like you to notice something here, first of all, about verse 29 and 30. Notice all the he's here.

Notice all the he's. 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.

And if you think about all that God is doing in our life and make this personal for each one of us, it's his work. He predestinates us. He foreknows us.

He calls us. He justifies us. He glorifies us.

It is all his work. And Ephesians chapter 2, which Brother Austin was mentioning here this morning, after he talks about salvation by grace, he says, we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. And so God is doing a work.

And you have to understand this at the very beginning. I'm going to spend some time here to lay a foundation because a lot of these verses won't make sense to you unless you embrace the idea that God has saved you to do a work in you. And as we'll see here in just a little bit, he has saved you to do a work in you that he might be glorified because of that work.

And so all these things, he foreknew you, he predestinated you, he called you, he justified you, he glorified you, he did all of those things and he is doing all those things for the purpose of bringing him glory. And of course, the scripture says to, you know, everything is for the glory of God. And so we are his workmanship.

One of my favorite verses, it's God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And he's working and I trust he's working in all of you. He's working and he has purpose.

He's going to bring this thing to an expected end. He tells Jeremiah the prophet, I have good thoughts towards you. I want to bring you to a place that not only is an honoring place for you, but as a place that's going to bring me glory.

And that's what grace is. It's God's help or God's influence in life. The prophet, the Old Testament prophet likened it unto a potter and a lump of clay.

And you and I are the lump of clay and he's the potter. And he is molding and making each one of us into the image of his son. And that is his purpose.

And as we go down through this passage, you need to keep that in mind, that you are simply this lump of clay, and he is the potter, and he is doing all of these things. And your responsibility is that word in the book of Romans, the two chapters earlier is to yield, is to yield yourself unto him, to submit yourself, to have a broken and a contrite heart, that when he puts his finger on the clay, the clay is very tender, the clay is very soft and it's molded very easily. Amen.

And so he is doing a work and it's all his work. Our place is to say amen. And so God saved you for that purpose.

Is this thing a little loud here this morning? I'm hearing some echoes back there, but our responsibility is to yield. The book of Romans says to yield yourselves unto God as they that are alive from the dead. So what is he making? What is he designing for his honor and glory? Well, if you look at verse number 29, it says this, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he, speaking of Jesus, might be the firstborn among many brethren.

And so here's what God has intended for you. This is the purpose. Every one of you who have faith in Jesus Christ, who are born again, this is the end goal, the end game.

And that is that God is molding you through this life to be fashioned into the image of his son, that Jesus might be the firstborn among many. And you're the many that, you know, I was down, I told you this a few weeks ago, I was down at my daughter, Emily's house there. And we were sitting there at Tony and Emily's and I had my feet out and she had her feet out and she made the comment, dad, you have, I have your feet.

I have your feet. And, and she probably does have my feet, but you know, if you take my children, they have certain parts of me and they have certain parts of, of their mother. And, and so when you think of as a child of God, our goal or God's goal for us is to bring us into the place that we are like him or that there is a likeness.

We have his humility. We have his sobriety. We have his gentleness.

We have his love. We have all the characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ that we are being molded into his image. And so that we are all brethren and as brethren, we're from the same family and we ought to look alike.

Amen. And we ought to look like our elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, so that's his goal to have a, a group of people, his people, his household, his family that, that remind him of his son, that look like his son.

So very beginning here, foundational, because we're going to see some verses that are often misinterpreted, but the purpose that God has for each one of you in life is to be conformed into the image of his son. And so that's where the foundation is. God is doing a work and that work is to conform you into the image of his son.

Now, let me just clarify. This is a lot of confusion out there in the world. Even the Bible talks about this, but God's purpose in salvation is far more than keeping you out of hell.

And I know that's a great thing. And yes, my sins are forgiven and I'm washing the blood of Jesus and, and I'm going to go to heaven, but God has a greater purpose and plan for salvation. And that is to glorify him.

And he is going to glorify himself and we'll see this in a minute. He will glorify himself as he is able to change you and I more and more into the image of his son. And so brother Jonah Dabb here this morning just read it.

I have a number of verses, but be holy, prime holy. It's not just a suggestion. That's, that's the goal and purpose of God for every one of us to be holy people because he is working.

His spirit is working. The word of God is working to conform you into the image of his son. Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.

Again, maturity, perfection, my little children, these things right unto you that you sin not. That's the goal. My son, he'd ever sinned, never sinned one time.

And, and I want to mold you into the image of my son. That's the goal. And so the idea that, well, and even some groups like Calvinistic groups even say, well, the more you sin, the more grace and the more glory.

That's just ridiculous. Paul even said it. They did say that you do evil, that good may come.

Judgment damnation should come upon them. That's, that's not true. So just to clarify here, you know, the Lord saves us for the, for yes, our sake to get us out of eternal separation from him in hell.

But he also saves us with purpose. And that purpose is in every one of you, none of you can get away from this is that purpose is that I'm trying to bring you to the place where you look like my son, the Lord Jesus. And so that's his purpose.

So in light of all that, let's keep reading here. And as we understand the context of this passage, verse 31, it says, what shall we say then to these things? If this is what God's heart is and his purpose, what shall we say to these things? If God, thank you. If God before us, who can be against us? If God before us, if he is for us in getting all these things accomplished, not only bringing us into the place of, or in the image of his son, but also to give us reward in eternity for our, our willingness and our yieldedness to that goal and purpose.

If God is for us, and by the way, this morning, God is for you. Amen. He is for you.

As a matter of fact, the scripture says, even when we were sinners, he loved us and he gave himself for us, how much more being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from wrath through him? So God is for you. So don't let anyone tell you that God is against you or, or God is, you know, doesn't want to see you succeed or all those lies that you hear from people and from the devil himself. But the scripture says that God is for you.

And again, the purpose, what is God for you for? You know, some people read that and say, God is for me. So that must mean God wants me to be rich. That must mean God wants me to have a, you know, a mansion.

That must mean God, he's for me. That must mean God wants me to be popular and have all the things I want. Well, that's not what that, that says in the context, God is for you for the purposes that he has intended his purpose.

I like verse 28. It's the one that we oftentimes quote, but look back to verse 28. It says that we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to what's the next two words, his purposes.

Again, it's about his purposes. Life is about his purposes. It's not about your purposes.

And you find this out. If you'll find this out early in life, that if you try to pursue your purposes, God is going to frustrate you as a child of God. It's not about your purpose.

It's about his purpose. It's about his glory. And so God is for you.

He is for you. I mean, he has foreknown you. He has predestined you.

He has called you. He has justified you. He is glorified.

He's going to glorify you. He's going to do all these things. He wants to do all these things.

He is for you. And many, many people read it and maybe they draw something out of context. And they say, if God is for us, who can be against us? I'm going to be a millionaire.

Well, that's way out of context there. God is for you in the purposes that he's intended. And we have to cross that bridge here first.

We have to say, Lord, I realize that I'm saved, not just to be able to go to heaven and live my life the way I want to, right? That's not the purpose. It's going to be a very frustrating life. A lot of Christians are frustrated, frustrated.

It doesn't seem to work. I meet some on college campuses. You know, I used to be a Christian, but it doesn't work.

Well, if you think that being a Christian is getting saved so you can live your life any way you want to, it's not going to work because it's not his purpose. And that is why we're not going to spend time on that verse, but that is why all things work together for good. You know, God is in heaven and he's molding you and he comes across something that's difficult in your life, maybe a stone or something like that, and it mars that vessel.

Then he has to remove that stone and make it a new vessel. It talks about that in the prophet, I think it's Jeremiah. But God is at work in your life on a regular basis to fulfill his purpose.

And the more you resist it, the more frustrating it is. And so it's not for us to resist his purposes. Turn with me to the Old Testament book of Haggai.

One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament here of frustrating the Lord's purposes. But Haggai, this is a little background here. Haggai is a prophet.

He has sent the Israelites, the Jews were sent to Jerusalem to build the wall. And you remember Malachi, who was the guy that was supposed to build the wall? Nehemiah, Nehemiah, Nehemiah and Ezra. And they're supposed to build the wall and they're supposed to build the temple.

And so these are projects that they're working on. Well, God sends Haggai to preach to them, to prophesy to them because they're frustrating the Lord's purposes, just like many of us are frustrating his purposes for our life. And in Haggai chapter one here, I want to read starting in verse number two, if you'd like to follow along, it says, thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying, this people say the time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.

Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet saying, is it time for you, O ye to dwell in your sealed houses? And this house lie waste. Now, what they did is they went with the intention, the purpose of building the Lord's house, the temple, and they got there and they started building their own houses. You know, they all had nice houses, they build additions and they had a great place for them to live.

And yet, when you went down to where the temple was, it was still waste. There was nothing going on. In other words, they were missing the purpose for what God had intended for them to do.

Verse five, now, therefore, thus sayeth the Lord, consider your ways. You have so much and bring in little. You eat, but you have not enough.

You drink, but you're not filled with drink. You clothe you, but there is none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it in a bag with holes.

Now, God is frustrating them. And how frustrating it is, you know, to, man, we're, you know, we're sowing much, but it's not bringing in much. We're drinking much, but I just never feel satisfied.

And, and here I'm earning wages, I've got a job, I'm making good money, but somehow it just seems like my money is going into a bag with holes in it. Well, do you know what was happening? The Lord is coming along in that bag and popping holes in the bottom. And, and it seems like, you know, people say, I just don't understand why we can never get ahead.

You ever heard someone say that? We just can never get ahead. It seems like when things are going well, then the washing machine breaks down, then the car breaks down. It just seems like we can't get ahead.

Well, the problem here in, in Jerusalem is they've come supposedly to do the Lord's will and his purpose to build the temple. And now they're doing their own thing. They're nice.

They're making their houses all nice and sealing their houses and, and doing things that, that they should not have done. I remember the Bible says, seek ye first the kingdom of God. Verse seven, thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways.

Think about this for a minute. Maybe what we ought to think about that, Lord, consider your ways, go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the house. That's my house.

And I will take pleasure in it. And I will be glorified. You know, if you do my purpose, I will receive glory from it.

You look for much, and lo, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? You know, can you imagine? Honey, look, look at my paycheck this week.

And all of a sudden, God blows on it. It just goes, oh, where did it all go? It's gone. And he does it on purpose.

Why? He says, look, why saith the Lord of hosts, because of mine house that is waste, and you run every man unto his own house. Therefore, the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. Now, I think this is at the very core of many of our problems in the, in the Christian world is we don't understand that God saved us, and our purpose is to be conformed into his image and to glorify him.

And yet we're going about our own purposes. Life is about our purposes. Life is about what I want to accomplish, what I want to do.

Yes, Lord, thank you for being there. You be there when I want to call on you when I'm in trouble. I expect you to answer and help me out.

But I am pursuing my purposes. Yeah, I'll go to church. I'm in church.

But it's my purposes. And the Lord says, I'm going to frustrate it. I'm going to frustrate it.

A lot of people are frustrated. Not working. Well, they got to get on the right page.

You got to get on the right track if you want to work on the right track is I'm saved to be conformed into the image of his son. And everything it says that comes down my road down the pike is to conform me into the image of his son. Therefore, I know that all things work together for good.

Amen to them who love him, to them who are called according to his purposes, his purposes. There's a lot of stories like that. And I think of the prodigal son.

He was another individual that was not going according to the father's desire. And he was a frustrated man. Hey, things went so bad for him.

He got to the place where he was eating the husk of the swine reading in just a bad situation. And I meet a lot of people like that. A lot of Christians, just not working, not working for me.

You read the Bible, it just doesn't work for me. Well, they're on the wrong track altogether. So let's make sure we're on the right track.

Now, notice here in Haggai 1.8, I want to use this to jump off into another thing here. He says in verse eight, go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the house. That's my house.

And I will take pleasure in and I will be glorified. You see, that's the heart of the of the matter here. I want that house built so that my name is going to be glorified.

And you've left off that purpose. You've left it off. Do you know how that God glorifies himself today? Through his work in you.

That brings him glory. What has God wrought? Do you know that to save a lost soul and to change that soul into the image of his son is God's great work? You know, it says six days, the Bible says the Lord made the heavens and the earth. But he's still working on me as a songwriter says he's still working on me.

This is a more difficult and a greater work to save a sinner and to conform him into the image of his son. But that work is what glorifies him. You know, let's just let's just look at it from a from a fallen angel's perspective.

And there's a lot of angelic beings all over the universe and probably more angels than humans. I don't know. But you have a demon up there and that demon fell and he's just lost and hopelessly corrupted and vile and just he's just a it's a bad being.

And then they watch as humanity falls also through the sin of Adam and humans are just corrupt and evil. There is an unrighteous, no, not one. And all of a sudden he sees or these demonic beings see God begin to create a new creation in a human.

And now to save them from destruction, but also to to make them a new creature. Wow, that's amazing. From their perspective.

That's amazing. Changing or saving a lost soul and changing him into the image of his son is God's great work, and it glorifies him. I brought some things here this morning.

Zach is down at the boys camp and we picked him up this week. And so he he had some things for us that he had made. And I looked at that.

You might want to look at that. I said, wow, Zach, that's pretty good. Zach, you made that and that brings honor and praise to him because you made that.

And then this spoon here. It's a nice one. Did you eat out of this one yet, honey? No.

It's a nice spoon, really nice smooth spoon. And Zach was making that probably had some help from his friends. But this brings honor and praise to him.

You you made that. Yeah, I made that. And to think of how that the Lord foreknows he predestines he he conforms us into the image of his son.

He justifies us. He glorifies us. And and the the angelic world praises God.

That's amazing what you're doing. With humanity. Let me ask you this question.

Does your life bring glory to God? That's a good question. Does your life bring glory to God? Wow. I know that man.

I know that woman. That's that's the work of God. I mean, when they get offended, they don't lash out.

They they bless you. That's God's work. They live such a contented life.

That's the work of God. They're so humble. They have such a passion and love for the Lord Jesus.

That's the work of God. I knew that man before his conversion. God, he did a great one.

Now, they may not say it publicly, but you know what Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, he said, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and do what? Glorify your father, which is in heaven. Brings glory to God. So does your life bring glory to God? A lot of people don't think about that.

It'll bring glory to God as you're transformed in the image of his son. And so as you go through life and you face difficulties, and many of us do face those, we need to respond to them like Jesus. That people will say, that's amazing.

That's the work of God. So God is for us in this. He is for us in this.

And because he's much bigger, much wiser, much more powerful than any, we can have great confidence. He has the ability to do this work. If he is for us, who is going to stop him, right? If God is for us in this work, who is going to be against us or who can be against us? I mean, you're the most powerful, most wise, most understanding entity.

God himself is going to do this work in us. Paul says, hey, who can stop it? The only people I know that can stop it is you and I. If we stiffen ourselves, who has hardened himself against God and prospered, right? And so it's our responsibility to say, amen, Lord, whatever you want, I'm ready. I'm ready to change.

And when difficulties come, just say, hey, this is, this, God is designing this, whatever it may be, to change me into his image. And I need to learn to accept these things. Thank God for them and say, Lord, mold me into his character.

That's the purpose. If you don't want to go down that direction, you ought to get off the train right now. Amen.

It's going to be a frustrating life. Well, let's keep reading here. Go back to Romans chapter 8. So God is for you, but he's for you in his purposes.

If God be for us, who could be against us? Verse 32 says, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? There you go. If God gave his life, his son's life, he's going to give me everything. That means I'm going to be rich.

That means I'm going to have nice cars and nice tractors and everything's going to be wonderful. All things. A lot of people make that promise.

You know, God, you said you're going to give me, you gave me your son. You're going to give me everything I want. No, it's in the context of, of his purposes.

All things necessary to accomplish his purposes. Amen. I like, I like if you look at verse 32 there, it says, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Now jump down to verse 28.

And we know that all things work together for good. You know, the all things there don't always mean money, riches, fame. It means everything that comes down the pipe to you is designed to mold you into the image of his son.

We got to stop kind of against it, you know? That's why complaining is such a nasty thing in the Bible, right? You know, the, the beautiful thing that God had in his intention was to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt to save them from their bondage and bring them into a promised land. And he brought them through the wilderness. That wilderness was a place that he wanted to teach them his ways.

He wanted to prepare them for the promised land and all the way through the wilderness, they complaining and murmuring. Why is this happening to me? Why is this happening to anyone else? And they murmured and complained and God was frustrated with them. All things.

That's what grace gives us. Everything that is needed, not for you to have a, you know, a rich and prosperous life, but everything that's needed to bring you to the place of being conformed into his image. Let me read a couple of verses to you.

We talked about this verse when we were in second Corinthians, but second Corinthians nine, it says, and God is able to make all grace abound towards you that you always having all sufficiency and all things may abound to every good work. Yeah, he's able. I like this one here.

Same wording is used in second Peter, second Peter chapter one. It says this grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of him and knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things. There's that phrase, all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue.

And again, sometimes our minds are carnal and we think God is going to give us all things. And we think of it in terms of material possessions or fame or ease or all the things that comfort the flesh, instead of thinking of it, all things that I need to become Christ like his precious promises as an example. I know some of you are going through difficult times right now.

And I think all of us have seasons where we have to go through hardship. But instead of looking at hardship as, ah, something that's frustrating my purposes, we need to look at it more than in light of, okay, Lord, I'm yielded. I mean, I can't change these things.

Just mold me. Let me, I say amen to it. Just mold me into, give me some more character quality that will conform me into the images of your son.

Help me to take disappointments. Help me to take persecution. Help me to take these things and embrace them for my good.

Because at the end of your life, you're going to realize God was trying to get you into the image of his son. Yes, someday we're going to see him coming and we're going to be changed into his image. But he's trying to get you there now.

Some people go faster than others. Some people go very slow. Let's keep reading here in Romans chapter 8, verse 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies.

That word charge means accuse or an accusation. Who can accuse you of anything? Boy, here's some real blessed passages. Who can accuse you of anything? See, well, I've done things wrong.

Well, I'm sure people can accuse me. Yeah, people can accuse you. And you might hear people accusing you of many things.

But before the judgment throne of God, no one will accuse you of anything as a child of God. Amen. No accusation.

Who can lay any charge against you? It is God who justifies you. He is the supreme judge. And he has justified you.

And we talked about justification a few weeks ago. But justification means to declare you righteous without any fault or accusation. He's righteous.

All your sin and accusations have fallen upon him. So a lot of people are all concerned about people accusing them, maybe false accusations and all these things. And people are judging them.

Ah, forget it. Who can lay anything to your charge? Doesn't matter, you know. Be a Teflon person.

Everything just slides off of you. It should slide off of you. Because the judge of all has not any charges against me.

So what does it matter if you make accusation against me? Second Corinthians 521 says, For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, I realize the devil can accuse you, and some of you need not listen to the devil. He accuses you.

He's called the accuser of the brethren. But God does not accuse you. He has justified you.

And all of your sins, past, present, and future, have been laid upon his son. Jesus bore the accusation. And if God says there's no accusation here, then that settles it.

Let's look at one more verse on this subject. Turn to Zechariah once. Zechariah, that's in the Old Testament there, Old Testament prophets.

When you find the other Z, you'll find Zechariah. Zephaniah is just before Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 3 is an example of this in the Old Testament.

In Zechariah chapter 3, verse 1, it says, And he showed me Joshua the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. Now, here's a man. His name's Joshua.

He's a high priest. And it's this vision Zechariah sees of this Joshua standing before the Lord and Satan is there to resist him, the accuser. He's got all kinds of accusations against this man.

Verse 2, And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee. O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee. Is not this a bran plucked out of the fire? How many of you know that you're a bran plucked out of the fire? Yeah, you are.

Now, Joshua was clothed with filthy garments. Can you imagine that? Here he is before God with filthy garments. I don't know what they look like, but they didn't look good.

Filthy. And he stood before the angel, and he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away, this is the Lord speaking, take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with a change of raiment.

And I said, Let them set a fair miter upon his head. So they set a fair miter upon his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by.

So here's an example of what it means to be without accusation, without fault before the Lord. So people can accuse you, and sometimes those accusations can be accurate. And we need to address them on this level if we've sinned and done wrong.

But before God, before the throne of God, just like Joshua, though we have filthy garments, those garments are taken away, and white garments are given unto us. Let's keep reading here in Romans 8, Romans 8 chapter verse 34. It says, Who is he that condemneth? It's another question.

Who is he that condemneth? Who can judge you? Who can condemn you to hell? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who can judge you? Who can sentence you to hell? Well, Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. He can pardon every sin.

Think about that. He loved you enough to die for every sin. Certainly now he loves you enough to keep you through his intercession.

He ever liveth to make intercession for us. We have someone at the right hand of God who has already demonstrated his love to us. Isn't that a comforting thought? Think about that for a minute.

Jesus came when we were sinners and loved us, and took his place as a sinner in all of our sin, and now he is the one, same heart, who is interceding for you at the right hand of God. I really enjoy this passage in Romans chapter 5 there in verse 8. If you want to turn back, it explains this very well. It says, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, while we were sinners, much more than being now justified by his blood.

Now you all here are justified by his blood. Most of you are. We shall be saved from wrath through him.

For if when we were enemies, cursing God, living vile lives, if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of the Son, if Jesus came at that place in our life we were enemies, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And that idea of by his life is his life of intercession, that he is interceding on our behalf. So who is it that can judge you? The judge of all the earth, the judge of everyone, has already laid down his Son's life for you.

And then the last question here in Romans chapter 8 is given in verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Now I want to remind you of something here that Paul was writing to the Romans and there's a good chance that, God knowing the future, that this is around 64, 63 AD that he's writing this letter. In another four or five years Nero is going to be in command there and he's going to, you read history, he's going to make candles out of Christians.

He's going to throw them to the lions in the Colosseum and they're going to be made a sport of. And so this letter is coming to the Roman Christians just prior to some serious things that are about to happen. So can you imagine sitting there in the cave there in the Colosseum and you got all of us and you got a crowd full of people laughing and ridiculing and mocking and, you know, here goes another one of us.

They call out and they push you out there in the middle of the Colosseum and people are yelling and screaming and laughing and that lion begins to devour you. And it's a sport, right? And so maybe what happens is we start asking ourselves this question, does God love us? Does God love us? Is that, is this what's the love of God? Some Christians were made candles in the streets and were burned as candles. And so the stories that you read about Nero and the persecution, but these are people who need to hear these words, who shall separate us from the love of Christ.

And he talks about different things here. He says, shall tribulation, and they're about to go through it, or distress or persecution or famine. And a lot of these things we may face in our life, you know, nakedness, not being able to eat, having very little or peril or sore, that could mean war, you know, is, does God care for us? We have to go through such great difficulty and great hardship.

And sometimes when people go through a hardship, you know, when everything's going well, the bills are getting paid, you're making a lot of money and everything's fine, we say, God loves us. But when things start to fall apart and, you know, and may happen in our country, you know, things start to fall apart. It's like, doesn't God love us? And so the question is, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? There is, this is no indication at all that the Lord does not love us.

Look at verse 36. He explains it, as it is written, for thy sake, we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

And that's where we are as children of God. I know people don't like that. But how many of you know that we're a follower of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ ended up being crucified? He was hated, He was persecuted, and you and I are to follow in His steps, to follow Him.

And so our shepherd went before us, and we as sheep in this world face a lot of tribulation, a lot of distress, a lot of persecution, and famine, and nakedness, and peril, and sorrow. But Paul says that does not mitigate the reality that the Lord loves each one of us. So who can separate us from the love of Christ? This is our calling.

Take up a cross. By the way, if you're going to be conformed into the image of His Son, then there's a good chance you're going to have to endure some of the things His Son endured, right? If you're going to be able to say, when they nail you to a cross, Father, forgive them, then you're probably going to be, in some ways, harmed greatly and challenged with the same response. Forgive them.

I forgive them. I forgive them. They hurt me bad, bad, but I forgive them.

Because, you know, the reason why I'm here in God's work is to make me into the image of His Son, and that's how Jesus responded. So I need to respond that way. And if you're sitting here and you have issues in your heart, you can't forgive people, then you still have a long way to go, amen, to be conformed in the image of His Son.

And you need to yield yourself, and humble yourself, and have a broken and contrite heart. We ought not to carry grievances against people. And if anything, God is trying to work out of us.

I mean, we think of Jesus, one of the character traits of Him was He was forgiving, forgiving. So that ought to be at a prime in each one of our hearts. So that's our calling.

Verse 37, Nay, in all these things, by the way, the word Nay there is an answer to verse 34, Who? No, verse 35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Verse 37, Nay. Nay meaning no. No.

So it doesn't matter. Circumstances. Don't think that circumstances are good.

God must love me. Circumstances are bad. God doesn't love me.

That's not good thinking. Verse 37 says, Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Now, I want to remind us all because there is a philosophy today that would like to say in verse 37, this, Nay, in all these things, we are more than escapists.

That we are trying to escape these things. You know, we're trying to run away from these things, but no, we are conquerors through Him that loved us. Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't escape if we have an opportunity.

If somebody opens the door in the back of the Coliseum and says, Hey, you guys, get out. I'll probably bolt. Chad, will you bolt with me? He'll bolt too.

But really, the heart of God is I want you to go through this difficult situation and conquer. Conquer it. I want you to stand out there and just sing and praise me and just conquer it.

And let those people just say, What in the world? You conquer it. And God doesn't call us to be escapists. He calls us to take the difficulties that we're facing and to take them head on and to be a conqueror in the situation by His grace.

The Bible uses the word an overcomer, someone who overcomes these things. That's where real grace is found. And so as you're treated unfairly or as things come your way that are not good, the real sign of a Christian maturity is to be able to conquer it, not to run from it or not to excuse yourself, is to conquer it.

I'm going to conquer this thing. Someone did me wrong. I'm going to bless them.

I'm going to forgive them. I'm going to conquer. I'm not going to be an escapist.

And then he lists here in verse 38, For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers. There's a lot of things here, death, life, these angelic beings, demonic beings, nor things present, nor things to come. Some of you are concerned about 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, the Lord. So there's a pretty good band there holding you in. John chapter 10, I want to read here and I'll close with this, but John chapter 10, Jesus made this comment here in verse 27.

He says, My sheep hear my voice and I know them. And they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

My father, which gave them me is greater than all. That's what Jesus, he's way up there. He's greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand.

Don't worry about this. Nobody's going to take you out of his hand. Now, if you rebel and you want to walk and flee him and say, I'll turn your back on him and say, I don't want the grace of God.

I want to go my own way. That's a totally different story. But you hold on, you hold on to him.

He's not going to forsake you. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. And my love for you is not going to dwindle no matter what circumstance I put you in and trial you go through.

All these things, nothing will separate you from the love of Christ. I don't know what we have in store for us. We keep saying that, but someday we may end up having great affliction and trial.

And we ought never to question because of that. Does God love us? Yes, yes. This is a part of the Christian experience.

Jesus faced it and were to follow in his steps. So let's, as Zach did here, let's allow him to make something glorious out of us. Wow, God, I saw you take that sinner and turn him into or her into a saint.

That's, that's, I received glory from it. So he's working on that. Zach's finished up with these projects here.

He's probably going to start on other projects when he gets back. But God is still working. How many of you know that song? He's still working on me to make me what I ought to be.

It took him just a week to make the moon and the stars, the sun and the moon and Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient he must be. He's still working on me.

You can make it a lot easier on him if you just say, Lord, whatever you want. Life is not about me and my purposes. It's about you.

And, you know, if you feel frustrated, I'm just not, I don't know, just not getting anywhere. And it's probably because the Lord is frustrating you, frustrating you. So let's, let's understand why he saved us and what our purpose is here.

And let's move into a more important, most important thing in life, into his image. Attitudes. Anthony mentions the fruit of the spirit.

Those are the big things, love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, meekness. All these things are attitudes of the Lord Jesus.