Lesson 38b
Romans 8:31-33 · Courtney Hemenway · Aug 25, 2019
Romans (2018-21), No. 78
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261915597582

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We are in Romans lesson 38. I think we got a whopping one question done last week, but that's because Mike took up so much time at the beginning. So we're on question 2. I'm going to go back up there. Let's read the verses again for this lesson, Romans 8, 31 through 33. So Romans 8, 31-33. What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Alright, so let me get back down to question two here. Alright, so The word if in verse 31, is it hypothetical or reality? So what then should we say? If God is for us, who is against us? So which do you think it is?

It's since. Since. Hypothetical or reality? Reality. So let me change it. So should it read, maybe, possibly, if by chance God could be for us? Or should it read, since undeniably, without a doubt, unquestioningly, God is for us? Like Verne would say, it says, if, and it's true, it's an if, but it's a certainty. Yeah, it's a certainty. It's a translation, since. Since God is for us. It's not a hypothetical or a chance or anything like that. This is true. And so it is definitely not by chance. God is for us. Undeniably, undoubtedly, he is for us. Unquestionably, he is for us. So from Wiest, it says, the if is A, the conditional particle of fulfilled condition.

The word be or can be are in italics, which means they are not in the Greek text, but were supplied by the translators in an effort to fill out the thought. The thought of Paul is not in the form of a hypothetical condition, as if it were a question of whether God was for us or not. His thought is, in view of the fact that God is for us, who is or could be against us so as to do us harm? That is, since God is for the saints on their side, who can harm them? So again, it's no doubt He is for us. I started to think about that. I always ask this question. Do you believe that God is for us? What about when the 18-wheeler hits your car? Is God for you?

And He is, whether you live through it in this body or not. Exactly. It doesn't matter. He is for you, even in the trials. And that's what's sometimes hard, even what we're talking about with you guys. You know, these are trials, but I always go back to the two things God's pounding in me, I think, these days, is God's sovereignty and His love. He is in control of all that. Did He allow that to happen, the 18-wheeler? Absolutely. But He protected them and had them safe through that, totaled their car.

So God is for us, and we have to remember that. It's really easy in the blessings to do that. When He's blessing us, God is for us. Yes, He's blessing me. He gave me a closing on a house. He blessed me with a great job. He blessed me with this. He blessed me. Oh, God is for me. Then when the trials come, God is for me? Where did He go? Where did He go? What happened? So again, I think these are important things. We kind of blow by them a lot of times. God is for us. But in the times of trials, we've got to remember these verses. God is for us, in the trials and in the blessings. Isn't it a sign of maturity to really rejoice in your sufferings? See, mine isn't, James.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith... That was always a... Mick loves it when I say that. Faith. That's the key that I, you know, for years I'd memorize those verses and I'd consider it all joy, the trials, yeah.

But what was it for? To test your faith. And that's, I think, so consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that testing your faith, what, produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So, again, in those trials, do you consider it joy? You know, those are the hard ones. Do you consider it all joy?

But what's happening is testing your faith. You know, I've mentioned that with you. When somebody goes home to be with the Lord, I mention this a lot of times, maybe it's just, I really think, you know, it's like Jean, who's gone home. She's face to face with the Lord. Holy moly.

What's better than that? You know, but what's for us? It's our testing of our faith. Do we believe that? Do we believe that? If we do, that's a joyous thing. Yeah, we suffer. It's not to diminish the fact that we miss people. Absolutely. Both my parents are gone. I miss them. But, if you know that they're in heaven, with Christ, face to face, if you believe that, that's a joyous thing. That's great.

Again, I don't want to diminish the missing of people. We're stuck in time here, and we still miss people. We still go through time and we miss those people who have gone home to be with the Lord. But the challenge is to our faith that we believe that. If it is, we should be thinking about the joyous reunion of them with the Lord. That's awesome. Which is more difficult for your faith, the blessing or the trial? I think it's the blessing. The blessing is the trial, because we get complacent in that.

I've said this a lot of times when I have my own business and all that, and I get a great contract, something goes on. I call it the Nebuchadnezzar syndrome on me. It's where I go and I get this great job, great thing comes up, great contract. I'm thinking, it's great. I'm pretty darn good, aren't I? I'm a pretty smart little kid here. got this contract thinking I'm great as I'm heading down the road realizing, I call it the Nebuchadnezzar one, remember when Nebuchadnezzar goes out and says, look at all my kingdom, look at all that is mine and what I created.

What happened immediately after that? He's eaten grass with the cows. So I think of that, how I take for granted what the Lord does, you know, that He in the blessings, that's when I forget about Him. You know, I may initially have something really Yeah, but then I forget about it.

I totally agree, it's the blessings trap. In the trials, you're forced to depend on Him. In the blessings, it's like, it's partly mine, isn't it? That's me. You know, I did something really good. I was going to say, I've learned that, like, there was a time when I'd see a thing like testing your faith.

I'm thinking, maybe I'm going to go to heaven, maybe I'm not. It has nothing to do with salvation. Oh, no. We're bound for heaven. So that test isn't like, well, let's see, how good is this guy doing? No, it's to draw you to Him. And what did we just learn in these verses earlier in chapter 8? What is it for? Conform us to what? The image of Christ.

So when we do that, we're dependent upon Him. We're dependent upon the Holy Spirit in us. We're dependent upon that in the trials. In the blessings, we start to take our eyes off the one who gave us the blessing, and we look at the blessing. And that's the trap, I think, that we have. I think that's much more dangerous than the blessings. Not that we just want to have trials endlessly.

We are his children, and he takes care of us. You know, I get great comfort in the trials. I can't believe how much I'm comforted in the trials. And that gives me great joy and peace through a trial that he's there. And he's sovereignly the one giving it. I look to the lesson that he wants me to learn or what he wants me to grow in. In a trial, that's what I'm trying to look for. Why'd you bring this trial to me? What part of the onion are you peeling back to get to conforming to the image?

Also, on this one from Newell, ìWe are expected to have heard, understood, and believed all the previous marvels of our salvation written in the epistle. The conclusion is, God is for us, the creator of the universe, the upholder of all things, the Redeemer, God Himself, is for us.î Again, do we believe this in the trials, the testing? What about the conforming us to His image?

What did he say in verses 17 and 18? Somebody read, well, I'll read it. Verse 18. We just went through this. We're in chapter 8, and again, this is one of these problems when we get so, we're looking at two or three verses, and we've spent eight months on, you know, between 6 and 7, and we're going through this. What does it say in verse 18?

Well, we'll do it in 17. If indeed we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him. Hmm. If we suffer with him. But look at verse 18. For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. So when you're going through a trial, it's not even close to what is going to be when we are in glory. Not even close. So in the trial, focusing on Him and what we have in Christ, the trial is nothing in comparison to what we're going to get in glory, and what we have right now.

So, I guess couple this with Sovereign of God. The Sovereign God of the universe is for us, with Romans 8.28. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. If you tie those things together, that He's in control, even in the suffering, He's the one in control and allowing us to do it, to be conformed to His image. So I said, as we've learned in this chapter, the God of the universe wants us innocently to come to Him crying out, Abba, Daddy, Father. So again, all of this comes together beautifully, and it all fits together. all that we've learned through 6, 7, and 8 is incredible.

So, I said, doesn't this bring peace, comfort, strength, and rest to you, knowing these truths that we've gone through? And so, also, what challenge in our lives cannot be overcome if by faith we believe these truths? What challenge or trial can you go through that would circumvent these conditions?

Is there anything? And that worst trial, Nothing. Nothing can separate us from His love, which we're going to get to in the last verses of Romans 8. So again, I think the question, again, it's reality. This is reality. And what that reality means is an incredible amount of truths that we can hold on to. And again, it comes down to, as with everything, do you believe it? Faith is the key. Do you believe it? The testing of our faith.

So again, just I think tremendous verses that we're going through. Question three, is this a question for information or a question of challenge? So what should we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Similar type question. So is this a question for information such as, if God is for us, is there anybody or anything in the entire world or universe that can be better, stronger, powerful than God who is for us?

Is that where it's challenging? Is there somebody out there? Is that what it's asking? I think it's just information. Or as a challenge question, if God is for us, who could possibly be out there that could be greater, who could go against or overpower or be greater than our God who is for us? Previous or latter? What about the aliens? TV. Could it be both?

I, you know, I don't think so. I think it's, I think it's really, it's the sense. Explain, explain. Well, it causes you to think about it. What should we say? Oh yeah, and it is a challenge, but it's a challenge to say there's nobody else out there. The challenge is that there's nobody, nobody there. I think it's a challenge to make you think. Well, that's kind of the way I see it as a challenge question. If God is for us, who could possibly be out there that could go against or overpower or be greater than our God who is for us? A challenge. There's nobody. It's a null set. There's nobody that will meet that criteria. There's nobody more powerful than God. Of course there's nobody that can challenge it.

You think about it for a second maybe, maybe a split second. But you said it's both. I asked the question, could it be you can seek information about it and you look through the scriptures and you see different verses which say essentially the same thing, that there's nothing that God can't. Right, sovereign, powerful, all-powerful, universal, yeah, all that. I guess the question, maybe it could be both.

It's a question with no valid answer. There isn't anybody out there, so no matter how much you seek or question, there's nobody out there. So again, the null set. You can ask the question, but nobody is out there. So it's more of a challenge to us. There isn't anybody out there. There's nobody. Somebody had a hand up? Anyway, okay.

So from Newell, he said, therefore the challenge, who is against us? And this again from Newell, Paul knew as none have ever known the power and malignity of Satan and his host, the persecuting energy of the haters of the gospel, the relentless watchfulness of the Roman empire that had flung justice to the winds and crucified Paul's Lord and ever stood ready on occasion to see him Yet he challenges all. It is not a question of logic, as the King James puts it. Who can be against us? But it is a direct challenge in the list to all and any in the whole possible universe, literally, if God is for us, who is against us?

Again, it's just, it's a null set. There's nobody out there. The challenge is that there is nobody out there that is more powerful, that can overcome God. You know, the thing, if there was a possibility of that, how does that affect the sovereignty of God? It means He's not.

So if somebody can overrule Him, challenge Him, change Him, in any way, overcome His power, He's not a sovereign God. Satan is so much more powerful than anybody here on earth, and God controls Satan, as is testified by Job. So God's more powerful than Satan? Oh yeah, and again, I've said this many times when people say I'm being challenged by Satan or whatever.

One, it's your lucky day because he's not omnipresent. So if it's actually him, it's, you know. But he only goes as far as God allows him. That's it. He's a defeated foe. You know, when you defeat an enemy, what do you do? You use them. And so he uses them for his purposes. So no, there's no, nothing that Satan can overdo what God's power and what he allows. So he's under God's, you know, limits and power. Yeah. His authority, his sovereignty, everything.

I was just going to say that, yeah, it's information and it is, there is a challenge there, but in the midst of the trial, how edifying are these verses? Oh, all of these in the trials and as we're about to see in the last verse of which, you love to get to is how can we be separated from his love?

And he lists out all those things. This all fits together. How comforting are all of these things? The verses where we just went through that he works all things together for good to those who love him. All things, not just the blessings, the trials, everything.

All of these give you great peace. These truths, when you really grasp a hold of them, the Holy Spirit convinces and convicts you of them. He gives you what he says, the peace that surpasses all understanding. The rest that the world cannot give you, he provides in this. Rest, comfort, peace, all those things are given by these when we believe them.

It still comes down to faith. Every bit of this comes down to faith that we believe it. The Holy Spirit is going to convince you and convict you through trials and blessings and all this, but it's the peace that you get from this. The rest, in the midst of a trial, you can get through anything.

Again, I don't want to diminish the pain of these things. Jesus wept. He had feelings, emotions and stuff when losing somebody. So, I don't want to diminish the pain of this, that it does, but in the midst of that trial, you have great peace. You can have it. It still hurts, but you have something that the world doesn't give you.

And then with unbelievers, I can't even understand how an unbeliever goes through some of these trials. I would hate to go through that. If I lost somebody and you go to some of these memorials and you know they aren't a believer and they say they're in a better place all that just stabs me in the heart you know that's when I heard is when I hear that when a believer goes it is joyous but I miss I miss people you know I miss people all the time that are here that we've had but I know you know if I really believe that they are face to face with the Lord oh man you know again come back come back to us I'd hate to see what their response would be. I don't think it would be as kind as when...

Are you kidding me? Alright, so what proof was given to validate the challenge? Does Paul give any validation of the challenge that if God is for us, who is against us? Is this just one of those verses that's just cause? Just cause? Does he give any validation of it? Is it verse 32, the validation? Exactly. He validates by the next statement. So, if He's for us, who's against us?

Well then, the next verse he says, "...he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?" So, he didn't even spare his own son to get us to this position. If God is for us, Do you realize how far that love is? He gave us his son. How many of you would be willing to give up your son for the worst guy down on Skid Row? Huh? And he knew he'd be giving him up for the foundation of the world. See, that's my whole thing.

The definition of love should be, is Christ. Because before we were even created, he knew we were going to fail. Time is immaterial to him. And so he knew before he even created this slug that he was going to have to pay for my sins and send his son. That's incredible. That's the most incredible thing, I think, is that this whole plan was to send his son. He didn't even spare his own son.

That means if God is for us, he's willing to give us his son. How much more validation do you want than that? That he's for us. He gave us his son. There's no greater validation of He's for us than what He did even before the foundation, before Adam was created, A-T-O-M, was created. He already knew that. That to me is just incredible. From Newell, was this the one you were talking about, Jim?

Both the Revised Version and the King James neglect to translate the little particle, gē, which gives this passage particular emphasis, literally, God for us, who even spared not His own Son, when even that length. That is, that God who is for us, and this is the proof, spared not, what the Word shows of infinite of the infinite price of redemption, of the measureless, unconquerable love of God that would not be stopped at such a frightful cost, His own Son, His only Son, His well-beloved Son, from all eternity, and for us, how wretched we are, even in our own sight, guilty, undone, defiled, powerless, worthless, for us all, verily the most miserable of sheep, He died for us.

So again, the validation is that he gave us his son. What more validation of he's for us? What more could he give us to show that he's for us? Is there something in addition to that? What does he need to do beyond give us his son to prove that he is for us? That was another challenge question. Is there something out there that is greater than that? been giving us his son, his only son, the one he spent eternity with, who stepped out of eternity. But he does go on and list other wonderful things that he gives us. We'll get to some of those. We'll get to some of those. Because we'll get to the all things. What are all things?

Question 5. What is the logic in verse 32? I'm going to read both 31 and 32. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?" Usually the logic comes in the form of an if-then. So in verse 32, what is the if or since portion of this verse? If what?

What did he do? Would he inherit from us the things for which his son was sacrificed? So the logical part of this, he did something and then there's an if-then. So what did he do first? He spared not his own son. He didn't spare his son. So if he didn't spare, I put it in the logical question, if he didn't spare his son, then what? What's the logical conclusion from this?

He'll grant us everything. The verse says, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? It's the kind of logic that Paul uses in several places where he says, you have that. Yeah, but that's okay. That's what I was going to say. This is the way Paul does it. He gives a fact, and then what's the result of it? And not logical imperatives. What I mean is that he proposes, if God gave you the best, would he not give you the lesser? Yeah. If he gave you the best, he's not going to withhold the little thing. Right. Okay. Yeah. Different. Yeah.

This is difficult style, but in this particular one, yeah, the generic sense, he's giving you the best. So he's going to withhold something from you, you know, the little things. So again, you know, these are tremendous, uh, versus so, but, uh, Newell has an, and we'll get into some of them, the all things, which I think are going to take a little bit of time. from Newell.

God has not spared His Son. What are all else to Him? God has opened to us His heart. He has spared not, giving us His best, His all, even Christ. Now with Him all things come. God cannot but do this. Shall He give us His dear Son and then hold back all the trifles?

For all things of this created universe, yea, even all gifts or blessings, God may give us here or hereafter are but nothing compared to Christ." You know, as we read earlier, the sufferings of this world are not even close to be compared to the glory that's going to be revealed to us. We've gotten Christ.

What is better than that? Eternal life? Christ life? Name something better than that. You know, you have eternal life, you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. Convincing, convincing. Remember what we just said, or the verses we also went through? God searches the mind of the Holy Spirit indwelling us. Wow!

To see what we need, what we need to be drawn to Him. Not that I need a new Porsche, but how am I to be drawn to Him? How am I to rest in Him? How am I going to trust in Him? Convincing me of all those things. the Spirit working in me to accomplish God's will. Oh! You know, the best thing we have is Christ. There's nothing better than that. So no matter what befalls you in this world, there's nothing better than the gift of Christ and the life that we have in Him. And that's where He's going here.

He didn't even spare His own Son for us. Again, I always go back to the thought as a reference, you know, He died for the Skid Row bum. He died for me. no better than the Skid Row bomb. He died for the president. He died for anybody. He died for all.

And it wasn't that we were just brilliantly blessed and wonderful people when we came to know him. That's the shocker to me. I look in the mirror and I think, how did this idiot get it? But he opened it up to anybody. The gift of Christ is a gift that cannot be compared to anything on this earth. Six. Now we'll get into the fun stuff.

What are the all things that he will give us? Question. Does this mean he gives us everything we ask for? Can we ask for all things? Isn't he talking about all the blessings that are delineated in Ephesians 1? Yes. All things. Others? Can we ask for all things? That's a two-parter, and that's kind of what I get. I can ask for anything. I get through this a lot. I think we battle sometimes about this. I can ask for anything, even if it's stupid. Guess what his answer will be?

No. That is not according to my will. When I'm praying in according to his will, And again, remember what we've gone through with the verse that we just mentioned about the Spirit indwelling you, and God searches the mind of the Spirit for what's good for you? That's the important part, not what my desires are.

It's what the Holy Spirit needs in drawing me and conforming me to the image of Christ. But I think we can ask for all things. Now, what are the all things? Remember, let's go through Romans 8, 26-28. In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should. So that's the key right there. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for saints according to what? The will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to what? His purpose.

Yeah. So what are your thoughts about what Newell brought up in these? I have some quotes from him. All things. It will greatly please God for us boldly to beg Him for this or that saying. thou didst not spare thy son, but gavest him for me. Now I need a thing from thee, and I ask, as one to whom thou gavest Christ, how shall he not, how shall he not, not how shall he? As Doubtwood put it, let all things be all things indeed to thee, only seeking wisdom and asking. This verse is a great feeder of faith. There are other places that say that we should not ask amiss. Amiss? Meaning, because we are saddled with the sin nature, and the sin nature does its primary purpose is to desire. He's not going to respond. Yeah, he is. No. He will, and I'll tell you why. Because as far as he's concerned, the old man has been crucified, and he's not even going to respond. Otherwise, he would have to recognize that it was in existence.

Yeah, but he's given us the will, so we can ask dumb things. This is where I think, you know, this gets back to me with the intimacy with God. If I can't ask my daddy everything I want, even though it's dumb, if my kids could only ask smart questions, how good a dad am I? My point is, what if I went to him and said, I want to sin?

Well, in essence, you do that. When you sin, what do you do? You know, you're doing that. Yeah, I don't ask him about it, I just do it. You do it. Well, asking or doing, okay. You know, I can do it and ask for forgiveness later. But it's still the same thing. So mine is that I think we can ask for anything. And then, you know, the thing is, and how many times has this happened to you? I ask something stupid and he gives it to me. Sure. Gee, that was the dumbest thing I ever did. And what's he teaching me?

You know, there are some times he does it and it's like, well that was stupid. Okay, now do you understand why? You know, and I think there are those times he does that. Again, he allows us to sin, he allows us to be, you know, not the brightest bulb in the drawer.

You know, and I think he allows it, but he does that for our growth. Is this about asking, or is this about what He graciously and freely gives us? Redemption, His Son, salvation, justification, the whole litany of things, adoption. Is this about us asking, or is this about what He so graciously has given us? Yes. Yes, I think it is, but I think it's the all things, and those are the all things, I think. as we ask, those are the things that we should be focused on. Many times we're not. And so I think it's kind of yes and no on that one.

I go to, we can ask for anything, and how will He not give us all things freely? And I think the all things are just what you said. Those are the things He gives us freely. How much does it cost for salvation? How much did it cost you? Nothing. So the freely part, again the freely part of the things he gives, what about grace? Did you pay for grace? Have you paid for all those things you named? None of it. So the freely gives are all those things. Were you going to say something?

One thing that I've come to believe is that God hears every single prayer that the billions of people pray to Him. He hears every single one. It's not like He's busy at all. He really literally hears them all. And sometimes He says no. Sometimes He says yes.

Sometimes He, you know, like when Mary said, Jesus, come and and raises Lazarus, and he waits, and she's going, I want you, and so you got a better deal. Where were you? Had you been here two days earlier? Yeah. And so he answered her prayer, and it might have been painful watching him die and everything, but he sometimes doesn't give us what we ask for, but something actually incredibly better. And it's glorious. It's glorious.

And also the thing is, You know, this I go back to, this is one of my favorite things, when Job is challenging God, I love that, I love the speeches to him about, you know, so when you're asking for that good thing that you think is just tremendous, even Lazarus, why did you let Lazarus die? He's my brother, you loved him, what are you doing? You have a better plan than he does? How much did he get out of raising Lazarus versus just if he was sick and treated him?

It was a validation of who he was. Exactly! I mean, had you... I mean, the miracle of healing somebody. What about bringing somebody back? Resurrection? You know, that has a lot more than had he just come and, you know, you're good. Yeah. So again, the... yeah. Go ahead. That was so effective that the Pharisees decided to kill Lazarus too. The Pharisees did? The Pharisees decided, yeah, we can't have Lazarus There's so many people going to Jesus because of Lazarus.

Is that historical or is that in there? I don't know. Yeah, that was in the Gospels. Yeah, I don't remember that. I guess I don't remember that they tried to kill him. I don't remember that. You know, I also wanted to say that a lot of times I don't know God's will, but I pray.

I pray anyway, and if it isn't God's will, I know it's not going to happen. But I try to know God's will. Yeah, I think we all do that. But my point is, I don't know God's will all the time. So I can't ask the right prayer every time. That's where the Spirit comes in. And that's what I was going to say.

When he hears our prayers, he's searching the heart of the Spirit. Remember, he intercedes for us. So he's searching the mind of every billion Christians that there are. searching the mind and the spirit indwelling them about the intercession. So it's not just hearing a billion prayers. It's hearing a billion of the indwelling spirit in all those people listening to what they need. So it's beyond just answering a billion phone calls.

I've got to tell you the correlation of this. I'm helping camp next to Camp Elam. Oh, Erica is not here. She saw the email. It's hilarious. They have a water problem, so they're asking me to give some help. And I am so thankful that the Lord did answer prayer in Camp Elam. It's no longer under the Forest Service. I should show you this email. This is hilarious. The Quaker Ridge guy called and said, you know, what's under water rights? Can you help us? This is the Forest Service guy.

He responds. He says, I can't get back to you, maybe until October or later. I get 600 emails a day and I have to respond right now to 22,000 emails. So you can get back to me, was that October 2020, 22, 23? I've never seen a response like that. It was hilarious. In other words, go pound sand. I'm not talking to you anytime soon. I get 600 emails a day and I've got 22,000 I've got to respond to. Anyway, I thought you had a bad day. There's a guy who was having a bad day. Anyway, maybe I can get to, there's so many on this. Well, I'll get to a couple of them. There are some other things in Newell. Things with the gracious souls discover, you know, in these things.

To hope to be better is to fail to see yourself in Christ only. To be disappointed with yourself is to have believed in yourself. To be discouraged is unbelief. As to the Father's purpose and plan of blessing for you, to be proud is to be blind, for we have no standing before God and ourselves.

The lack of divine blessing, therefore, comes from unbelief and not from failure of devotion. Real devotion to the Father arises not from man's will to show it, but from the discovery that blessing has been received from Him while we are yet unworthy and undevoted. To preach devotion first and blessing second is to reverse God's order and preach law, not grace. The law made man's blessings depend on devotion. Grace confers undeserved, unconditional blessings. Our devotion may follow, but does not always do so in proper measure. So, there are a whole bunch of things we have in this section. All things, this is again from Newell.

During the spirit's process of bringing your reckoning and resultant condition into the life out of death balance, There is far more death to the old man than there is life in the new. However, since resurrection life emerges from crucifixion death, there is ever growth toward the proper balance. The Spirit uses all and wastes nothing in producing the balance of death unto life. All consists of crucifying the old man and sanctifying the new man.

Mr. Stoney affirms this process. I think we are sometimes ready to say to the Lord, could you not have taught me without subjecting me to so much sorrow and humiliation? The answer I have had is, you could not be effectually taught in any other way. The Lord knows the nature of the obstacle in me, which He has to overcome. A less efficient hand might think it could be dealt with in some easier way.

All becomes the joy of knowing Him more fully in the fires, plus the Spirit's regulated and interspersed deliverances and victories, answers to faith and prayer, continual progress in knowing the Lord Jesus. and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings." Yeah, I thought that was some powerful stuff. We just have this one last question, quickly.

Who are God's elect? Question 7. Believers. Believers? Yep, it's us. So, the quick question I have, which has divided churches, How were we elected? By popular vote? How were we elected? See, this divided the Brethren Church, actually. This had great... Ending on a note, I'll leave you with that separating question, because there was basically in the Brethren Church, between free will and election, created a great rift. So we'll leave you on that one, and then we may answer it next Sunday. All right, let's close.

Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for this time. Again, we just thank you for all these truths. It is just amazing, all the truths that you have for us. And it comes down to simple faith. Do we believe it? And Father, we come before you as weak individuals, but we are strong in the Holy Spirit. And we just pray that we will just be Cognizant and listen to the indwelling Holy Spirit who convinces us of these truths and We just thank you again for the system that you have you've left us with your word Which is so powerful and more powerful is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit We just thank you for that that those two you have left us with and what a comfort what a joy what peace we derive from that and just knowing these truths by faith and And we just, uh, uh, we thank you for this time. We pray for Roger in the next meeting, just to, uh, uh, speak through him, your worth, your word accurately, and just prepare our hearts to receive it. We thank you for this time in Jesus name we pray. Amen.