Jesus Is Our Advocate | Frank Brancato

It's great to be here with all of you today.

We have a wonderful crowd for which we are very thankful.

I've enjoyed our worship very much and I want to say I enjoyed

very much all of the songs that were selected this morning

because it's about Jesus. And really in our life it is all

about Jesus. Everything that we have is

because of Jesus. In the title of our lesson, as

we continue our series in Romans chapter 8, we now come to the

Romans 8 · chapter mention

part where Jesus is our advocate.

If there's nothing else that you gain from this lesson today, I

hope and pray that everybody would leave here at least with

this idea in mind that it would cause you from the Scriptures

and from the things in which we study to leave here with a

greater love and appreciation for Jesus Christ, all that he

does for us in our life, and the great hope that we have because

of him. Just as way of an introductory

passage, our text is found really in one verse.

It's found in Romans chapter 8 and verse 34.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

The apostle Paul says who is he who condemns?

It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who

is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession

for us. Now, by way of an introduction,

I'm going to be very brief. This series is talking about the

five unbelievable blessings that the apostle Paul describes that

God gives us to help sustain us through the difficulties of

life. And I don't have to say it goes

without saying, we're going to have some difficulties in life.

We're even going to have some struggles spiritually in life.

That's just called life. But we're not alone.

We have 5 unbelievable benefits, and four of those are as follows

#1 We have hope. We just sang that song, and by

the way, I'm the one that requested it.

Thank you, Wade, for leaving it. Jesus Christ is our living hope.

And the reason that we have hope, it's not postponed

disappointment. It literally means to wait

expectedly for what is good. And we would not have that hope

without Jesus #2 We have the intercessory work of the Holy

Spirit who takes the longings, signs, and groanings of our

human spirit when we don't know what to pray for.

And He intercedes for us, taking those things to God.

God understands them. The next verse says He knows the

mind of the Spirit who intercedes for us.

Unbelievable blessing #3 The child of God knows this is

assurance. This is a certainty that all

things work together for good. That doesn't mean all the

circumstances in life are going to be good.

It doesn't even mean that God's going to make everything that's

bad good for His purpose. Can he do that?

Yes. Does he providentially do that

from time to time at His will? Yes.

Does he always do that? No.

Sometimes things don't work out, so when it talks about all

things working together for good, it's talking about our

eternal good and our spiritual good.

Great stuff regardless of circumstances in life.

Then our last lesson, it was the last one of our series before

this and that is this. We are not alone.

God Almighty is on our side and if God is for us, who can be

against us? As my dad would say, God plus

one is the majority. And finally today our lesson is

this. Jesus Christ is our advocate,

interceding for us at the right hand of God.

In other words, Jesus not only died for our sins, was buried on

the third day, rose again, but there's so much more.

He's actually exalted now to be at the right hand of God to do

things for us in our life. Don't think for a minute, Jesus

died on the cross and he's done. And let me just say this too,

God, the the entire Godhead, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit

are all working in the capacity that God has given them to do,

are all working in our life. All working in our life.

OK, let's talk about Jesus. Let's talk about two things that

Jesus is number one, He is our propitiation.

It's a great big fancy word, propitiation, and we'll talk

about the passage where this is found later on.

But propitiation, the short answer or the short definition

is he paid our fine. We know that.

But there's more. If you actually look at the word

propitiation, the deeper meaning of propitiation, it is the act

of appeasing, pacifying or regaining the favour of a

person, deity or spirit, often through the the gift, sacrifice

or conciliatory act. In a theological context, it

refers to turning away divine wrath, specifically to the

atoning sacrifice of Jesus, satisfying justice and allowing

reconciliation. So #1 Jesus is our propitiation

to allow reconciliation between US and God #2 He's our advocate.

The word advocate in the Bible comes from that word paracletos.

And we're going to get to that word later on.

And I learned some stuff about it.

I'm going to share it with you in just a little bit.

But that Greek word paracletos, where we get the English word

advocate means it's one called alongside to help defend or

intercede, acting as a legal counselor or helper.

Jesus Christ is described as our advocate with the Father

pleading our case for forgiveness.

First John chapter 2 and verse 1.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

So we're going to get to that later, the specifics of it.

And we're also going to get into the difference between what is

the difference between the intercessory work of the Holy

Spirit in Romans chapter 8 and verse 26 and the intercessory

Romans 8 · chapter mention

work of Jesus in Romans chapter 8 and verse 34.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

And the reason for that is after I preached on Romans 826 about

the intercessory work of the Holy Spirit, it was a question,

what's the difference? Is there a connection?

And I said, hold that thought. Give me a couple of weeks before

we hit verse 34 and we'll deal with it.

We'll get it today, the difference between the

intercessory work of the Holy Spirit and the intercessory work

of Jesus. But first let's go to our

passage in Romans chapter 8 and verse 34.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

And the very first thing the apostle Paul says who is he who

condemns? Now in context, and I'm going to

put verse 33 up in a minute, but in context to understand the

first part of verse 34, when Paul says who is he who

condemns? Condemns who?

The context is found in the previous verse and it is talking

about God's elect. Now what's interesting is and be

very careful about the word elect and don't think it means

something. It does not mean.

It does not mean that God pre selected or elected certain

people. It also doesn't mean that God

shows favoritism for certain people.

It doesn't mean that God elevates certain people over

other people he knows show he shows no partiality.

We talked about that last time we get it right.

OK so it's not talking about that.

So my question is this who are God's elect.

This is reviewed. This was last time I'll sum it

up in one sentence. God's elect are all of God's

children that are living faithful to Jesus Christ.

You plug in all the particulars of that, but in general, God's

elect are all of God's children that are faithfully living

according to the word of God and following Jesus Christ.

That is God's elect. Faithful Christians.

That's it. So all faithful Christians are

God's elect. So what Paul's saying is who is

he that condemns God's elect? You know what the answer is?

No one now, meaning no human tribunal or earthly judge can

condemn the child of God. Now, you know what's interesting

about that? He's talking about things that

happened to us in our life. He's talking about all the

challenges that come our way. He's talking about the things

that maybe even mistreatments that come to the people of God,

the persecutions of the people of God.

And I got to tell you, I'm a firm believer and you know it.

I'm a positive guy about people. I am.

But there are bad people in the world and people are what they

are because they do what they do.

And that's just a fact. What I'm saying is this, it

doesn't matter who the human being is, they can't condemn

God's elect. And nothing by way of any human

judge can condemn from a spiritual perspective, God's

elect. And we'll talk about why in just

a moment. Now, the reason for that is God

has committed all forms of judgment to be for Jesus Christ.

And you know, you know what's amazing?

We're singing songs about Jesus being our Lord, Jesus being our

Savior, Jesus dying for our cross.

On the cross we talked about he's our propitiation, He's our

advocate. He's all those wonderful things.

He's our high priest. He is interceding for us.

He's doing all those wonderful things.

He is our Lord. He is our Savior while we're

living and while time still stands.

But someday, when time shall be no more, Jesus will not be the

Savior anymore. Jesus will be the Judge, and

He's rightful to be the judge because He's the one with the

nail prints in his hands. Let me give you a Bible.

Jesus said in John 5 and 22 for the Father judges no one but has

committed all judgment to the Son.

He also said in verses 26 and 27, For as the Father has life

in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself,

and has given him authority to execute judgment.

Also because he is the Son of man.

Jesus 80 times is described in the Gospels as the Son of Man,

always referring to the Messiah, the humanity aspect of the

Messiah. In other words, why is all forms

of judgment going to be given to Jesus by God?

One, he's not only the Son of God, that's deity, but he's also

the Son of Man, meaning he's fully human.

So because of that, he's rightful to be the judge.

He was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin.

He knows our infirmities, He knows our weaknesses, he knows

our frailties. Oh, and incidentally, he's our

propitiation and that he paid our fine and that he died on the

cross. Yeah, he's the rightful guy to

be the judge. Furthermore, the Apostle Paul,

before the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers at Athens, said

this in Acts 17. Truly, these times of ignorance

got overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.

Because He has appointed a day in which He would judge the

world in righteousness. By whom?

By whom He has ordained. That's Jesus.

He has given assurance to this all by raising Him.

That's Jesus from the dead. What's my point?

My point is this, even though Jesus is the judge, even though

Jesus will condemn those that reject him because the Bible

says no one comes into the Father except through me.

You can't go to heaven without Jesus.

Everybody knows that. OK, so there will be a time when

those that reject Jesus will be judged by Jesus and therefore

condemned by Jesus. OK, that's a separate thing.

That's not what we're talking about here, what we're talking

about here in this passage. He will not condemn those that

God has justified. Now we're going to go back to

the verse before this. I said we're going to get it,

get to it. Who shall bring a charge against

God's elect? Faithful Christians.

It is God who justifies. Now, what does it mean to be

justified? There's several definitions, 1

means to have acquitted, meaning not guilty and so on.

But really, the direct definition means this.

He declares blameless. What an amazing concept.

If I sin, I'm to blame. But when I've been forgiven,

I've been justified and I'm considered blameless.

The point is, Jesus Christ will not condemn those who God

justifies. Whiteside said it this way.

It is he that is to judge Jesus, but certainly he will not

condemn those that God justifies, for he died for them

and now makes intercession for them.

Hence, only those who God does not justify will be condemned.

So it's he that condemns. But as Large says, Christ alone

could do it, but he certainly will not condemn those who God

justified, for it is he who died and now pleads with God to

prevent it. OK, now there's more and we'll

get back to that in a minute, but let's move on.

Only notice three things that are found in this passage about

Jesus. Three things that are very

significant #1 Jesus died for our sins.

We know that He was buried, and we know that He rose again the

third day. We know that, but also after 40

days with his disciples, He ascended to his Father and is

now on the right hand of God. Doing what?

Doing a lot. He ascended to the right hand of

God to continue his work in our life.

You know, I don't know why people think that being a

Christian or anything really in life is a destination.

We are a work in progress and the Lord knows that I really

don't care who you are, your background, you're a work in

progress and I really don't care how old you are.

We got some folks here that are, let's just say it, nicely

seasoned. And I'm telling you, please hear

me. I say it with love and respect.

You have not arrived. You know, when you arrive, when

we get to heaven one day, we are all a work in progress.

I don't care who you are, how old you are, we all grow.

So you know what we need? We need somebody at the right

hand of God to help a little bit.

We need somebody at the right hand of God to continue a work

in our life. In other words, even though the

sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross was once and for all for

our sins, even though that's true and that was complete, He

was stricken one time. No other sacrifice would ever

need to be made. That's all true.

That was completed, Calvary. He's still working in our life.

Now let me talk about the throne for just a moment.

There's more to sitting on the right hand of God than reigning

over the Kingdom. Now, is he reigning over the

Kingdom? Yes, Jesus.

It was prophesied he would be risen to reign or or sit on

David's throne. He is on the throne now in

heaven, reigning over the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

He's king of kings. He's Lord of Lords.

Jesus says the Kingdom is within you, Christians, we are in the

Kingdom. OK, he's reigning, but that's

not all he's doing at the right hand of God.

There are other works that he's continually doing in heaven, one

of which is making intercession for us.

He's constantly available. You know, it's, it's hard to

fathom. Somebody asked me this the other

day, said Frank. How is it that all these people

are in the world and everybody prays to God all at different

times during the day? How can God be for every one of

them at the same time? I have no idea.

I'm not God. How can Jesus make intercession

for us as our advocate on the right hand of God and be readily

available? Every time we go to Him in

prayer and ask for forgiveness, He pleads for our forgiveness.

How does He do it for all of us at the same time?

No idea. This mind can't wrap wrap around

that. And you know what?

Here's my favorite thing. I don't care, I don't care.

I just know He's greater than me.

I know He's greater than I am, and I know that He's my

advocate. I know He's my high priest.

I know He is interceding for me. And that's all I need to know

and for you and for all of God's people.

So when we go to God in prayer, He's going to make intercession

for us when we sin first, John 1:00 and 9:00, if we confess our

sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to

cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Now remember again, what is an advocate?

An advocate is 1 called alongside to help defend or

intercede, acting as a legal counselor or helper.

Jesus Christ is described as our advocate with the Father

pleading our case for forgiveness.

First John chapter 2 and verse 1.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

So now let's look at that verse first John chapter 2 and verse

1 John 2 · chapter mention

one. My little children, these things

I write to you so that you may not sin.

And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus

Christ the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for

our sins. Notice, please, the word

advocate and the word propitiation sum up the

mediatorial work of Jesus. He is our mediator.

Now there's only one. How do I know that?

First Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5 and 6.

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

For there is one God and one mediator between God and man,

the man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for

all to be testified in due time. Let a side note here.

OK, we have many intercessors. We have one mediator.

We know that the Holy Spirit is an intercessor.

We know that Jesus Christ is an intercessor.

We also know that each one of us are also intercessors.

Every time you go to God and you pray for someone, we've prayed

for you, dear brother, we've prayed for you.

We've prayed for many members of this congregation.

We pray for people all the time. Do you not understand?

When we do that, we all become an intercessor for that person,

pleading the case to God on their behalf.

Many, many intercessors, one mediator.

What distinguishes Jesus as a mediator than other intercessors

is even though He's also an intercessor, He is one.

That is our propitiation. He's done that too.

He's our advocate and He is also one in heaven.

That is our fighting for us as our advocate and our

propitiation. And nobody else could do that.

Now remember the difference between then a mediator and an

intercessor. A mediator negotiates on behalf

of both parties who are at variance with one another,

whereas an intercessor pleads on behalf of only one side in a

difference. So I said we have many

intercessors, 1 mediator. So that being the case, having

multiple intercessors does not interfere or do away with the

work of 1 mediator. OK, so let's go further.

A mediator is an arbitrator. You know you can go to court and

sometimes they say instead of going to court you can go to

mediation. It's an arbitrator.

A go between settling the matter in advance, right?

A go between 1 commentator said it this way.

He is a peacemaker between two parties at odds or enmity with

each other. For one to stand as a mediator

between God and men and plead the case for reconciliation,

though, he must have the nature and understanding of both.

Therefore Jesus bearing the identity of God, Hebrews 1/3,

and the true image or nature of man Hebrews 2 and Hebrews 4, was

in himself both God and man, and thus the only one qualified as a

mediator for all men. So here's the question then.

If the Holy Spirit is an intercessor verse 26, and Jesus

is an intercessor also verse 34, what's the difference?

It's really simple 2 statements. I'll put them on the screen.

Statement #1 The Holy Spirit intercedes for struggling

believers when we are unable to form the words, when we pray,

but we can only groan or sigh by taking those unutterable

groanings to the Father who understands the mind of the

Spirit. In other words, I groan the Holy

Spirit. The Holy Spirit intercedes to

the Father. We studied that in great detail.

That is the intercessory work of the Holy Spirit.

OK #2 Jesus, however, intercedes for us as our advocate and High

Priest, defending us and interceding for us as our legal

counselor or helper to plead our case for forgiveness.

So in other words, the Holy Spirit intercedes when we don't

know what to pray for, and Jesus intercedes for forgiveness when

we do. First John chapter 1 and verse

1 John 1 · chapter mention

9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us

our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

You know why we're forgiven? Because Jesus intercedes as our

advocate. Pretty good stuff in it.

The Holy Spirit intercedes when we don't know what to pray for.

We're so distraught. We're at the end of our rope.

You've been there. You know what that means?

You know what that's like, you know how you feel, but you don't

know. Should I pray for this or pray

for that? I don't know what the outcome I

should be praying for, so I'm going to just pray.

And I don't know what to say, but I have the feelings and the

groanings and the signs inside. It's my human spirit groaning.

The Holy Spirit intercedes. I need some help.

He intercedes when I don't know what to pray for.

On the other hand, when I do know what to pray for and I ask

God to forgive me, I know exactly what to pray for when I

mess up. Guess who jumps in?

Here comes Jesus at the right hand of God.

As busy as he may be, He's right there pleading our case back to

first John chapter 2. OK, now this phrase.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

We have an advocate with the Father.

Jesus Christ, the righteous, propitiates for our sins.

This is the most amazing thing I can think of because God has

provided a means where fellowship between US and God

does not have to be broken. He gave us a plan.

He gave us help where our relationship with God and our

fellowship with God can remain unbroken.

It's Jesus as our advocate. There's something interesting

though, about the word advocate. And I said I was going to get

back to this about that Greek word.

Thought it was interesting. I want to share it with you.

The word advocate comes from the same Greek word that's

translated comforter in the new in the old King James and helper

in the new King James as found in John chapter 14 and verse 16.

John 14 · chapter mention

I'm going to say this in advance, the context of John

1415 and 16 where Jesus is going to use this word and we're going

to put up three more scriptures after this one.

Well, when I put the first one, it'd be three more.

So 4 scriptures are going up where Jesus used that word.

He was talking to his apostles, and he was talking about in a

miraculous sense, they were going to get something pretty

good. When Jesus would depart, when he

would ascend to his Father, he'd now be in heaven, and he needed

walking Bibles. It was the apostles, and they

were promised something amazing. It's the same Greek word where

we get the English word advocate in this passage.

It's the same word that's translated comforter or helper

in John 14 and 616. Here's the four verses.

Jesus says, I will pray the Father, and he will give you

another helper, that he may abide with you forever.

Who's the helper? Here's another passage, John

1426. But the helper, the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all

things and bring to remembrance all things that I said to you.

Passage #3 John 1526. But when the Helper comes,

that's the Holy Spirit, whom I will send to you from the

Father. The Spirit of truth proceeds

from the Father. He will testify of me.

Finally, one more passage. They didn't understand why Jesus

had to go. And I can just imagine Jesus is

starting to foretell them. I'm going to leave, I'm going to

go away. And they didn't want him to go

away. Can you imagine?

But Jesus said this nevertheless, I tell you the

truth, it is to your advantage. The King James says it is

expedient that I go. It's to your advantage that I go

away. For if I do not go away, the

Helper, new King James Comforter, O King James, it's

the Holy Spirit will not come to you.

But if I depart, I will send him the Holy Spirit to you.

OK stay with me on this. That same Greek word for

advocate and helper is the word paracletos.

It's one of the titles of the Holy Spirit.

It literally means one who is called to another side to aid to

aid him. Jesus is 1 helper advocate and

the Holy Spirit is another helper.

John 14 and 16 in context that was sent to the apostles to

guide them miraculously after Jesus ascended to the Father.

That is the context, but in addition to the additional or

the specific context of John 1415 and 16.

In both cases the helper is for the advantage and encouragement

of Christians. Christ with the Father as our

advocate, the Holy Spirit with Christians, according to

Kaufman. Let me just notice with you,

who's on our side, who's got your back?

Who's who is aiding you? The Christian has one helper who

sits at the right hand of God, Hebrews one and three.

That's Jesus and another helper that indwells his heart.

That's the Holy Spirit. Galatians 4 and verse 6.

I don't know if that that ought to deal with something too

shouldn't. Now with regards to the word

advocate in verse John 2, what does an advocate actually do?

One scholar said it this way. It's one who undertakes and

champions our 'cause it is an amazing blessing when somebody

champions your cause. So many times in life there's a

cause and somebody decides, you know what?

I'm going to champion the 'cause I'm going to take up the fight.

When it comes to your spiritual life, the one that is

championing your cause is Jesus as your advocate.

Now there's more. In other words, in this sense,

John pictures Jesus as our lawyer pleading our case, one

who must defend us from sin. Why?

Because sin is presented under various figures in the

Scriptures. It's presented as moral impurity

and must be cleansed. It is presented as a debt that

must be paid. And it's presented as a disease

that must be cured according to the contending for the faith

commentary. Now remember, why is that

significant? Because sin separates.

Sin separates our relationship with God.

But notice the beauty here. OK, got news for you.

You're going to sin. Everybody is going to sin.

Nobody's perfect, only Jesus. So because of all these things

that it has to be cured and it has to be paid and all that, the

child of God must face God with his sin, with repentance and

confession. I've quoted it twice already,

first John one and nine. OK, but notice his yet he is not

alone. Jesus faces God with the same

sinning child of God before the bar of justice.

What a court saying we have here.

The judge is our father, the lawyer is our brother, and the

only plea is guilty as charged. Our attorney advises us that we

plead guilty and throw ourselves on the mercy of the court

contending for the faith commentary.

Now in verse 2 John says, and when you do that, our court

appointed attorney has already paid the fine.

That's appreciation. Wow.

Which means in a theological context, it refers to turning

away divine wrath, specifically through the atoning sacrifice of

Jesus, satisfying justice and allowing reconciliation.

Now, I don't know about you, but that to me seems like a pretty

incredible relationship. Here's my question, everybody,

please tune in tight. How do you know if you have the

proper relationship with God? How do we actually know if we

have a proper relationship with God?

Because what have we noticed so far?

We know that Jesus will not condemn those that God

justifies. Those that God justifies are

God's elect. Those that are God's elect are

those that are obedient Christians.

My question is, in all this beautiful promise here of Jesus

being our lawyer, our propitiation, paying our fine,

that's a tremendous relationship.

He's got our back. He's in the trenches with us.

He ain't leaving our side. He's fighting for us if we have

that relationship. So here's my question.

How do you know if you have one? All we got to do it ain't coming

from Frank the very next verse. Now by this we know that we know

him if we keep his commandments. You know this word know right

here means have a relationship with.

How do I know if I have a relationship with God if I'm

listening to God, if I'm obeying God?

I didn't say that John did. I know that I have a

relationship with him. If I keep His commandments, then

John says he who says I know him and does not keep his

commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is

perfected in him. I want to just make a statement

about that one little phrase. If I obey His word, then the

love of God is perfected or made evident or made complete in my

life. Now I'm going to say something

about a relationship. Everybody in this room has

relationships. If you're married, you have a

marital relationship. If you have a friend, you have

relationships with your friend. If you have a job, probably have

some relationships in your job. I'm telling you, when

relationships become one sided, it no longer is a relationship.

Everybody gets that if in a relationship of friendship or

marriage, if one is doing all the giving, the other is doing

all the taking, that marital relationship is hurting.

That's not a proper relationship.

And while everybody in the world agrees with that concept, we all

get that. So many times people, from a

religious standpoint, want the relationship to be 1 sided.

In other words, I want all the benefits of God and Jesus

Christ. I just want to do whatever I

want to do, but this phrase right here, if I keep his word

and I obey his word, then the love of God is perfected in Him.

This, by the way, is the relationship.

The love of God is God's love for me, and it's also my love

for God. For example, when I keep His

word, I'm demonstrating or perfecting my love for God in

the demonstration of following Him.

That's number one. Number two, God's love for me is

perfected or made manifest or made complete by giving me

salvation when I obey Him. Why does God love everybody?

Yes, John 316 For God so loved the world that he gave his only

begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not

perish, but have everlasting life.

OK, when somebody comes to Jesus and obeys God's word, then God's

love is completed by giving him salvation because of the blood

of Christ. Tells me what I got to do.

By this we know that we are in Him.

He who says He abides in Him ought himself also to walk, just

as He walked. You know, Jesus even said that

the test of knowing Him is obeying Him.

Jesus said in Luke 66 and 46, Why do you call me Lord, Lord,

and do not the things that I say?

In other words, why are you calling me your Lord?

Why are you saying you have a relationship with me as your

Lord, but you don't do what I say?

So it's about that's the test. The test of knowing Him is

obeying him. Now how am I going to know what

God wants for my life? It's really quite simple.

There's only one source and I got to tell you something.

I said this a couple weeks ago. I'm going to say it again.

If it's redundant, it's OK. I'm excited.

I'm telling you, I have seen from every different background

people that are changing what's driving them religiously,

changing from an emotion based religion and pursuing a Bible

based religious practice. In other words, people are

getting back to the word. People are studying the Word.

I know all kinds of people having Bible studies.

They're getting back to the word.

People are wanting to know what God wants in the words that are

found in the Bible. The other day my my dear friend

and sister Misty, she said you know what the Bible stands for?

BIBLEI said no, what? Misty, what is that?

Basic instructions before leaving Earth.

I said ma'am, that'll preach, I'll take it.

Basic instructions before leaving earth.

How simple that is. If you want to know what God

wants for your life, it's found in the word of God.

There's got to be a source. There's got to be something to

guide you. The psalmist David said it this

way. Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path. There's got to be a source.

So all that being said, if I'm going to have that kind of a

relationship with the Lord, I have to follow what the Lord

said, as simple as that. OK, got it.

But when I do have that relationship, when I do have

that relationship with God, one of the great results of that

blessing, it brings us to our last verse today in Romans

Romans 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8. It's the very next verse.

And it's this. Who shall separate us from the

love of Christ? OK, I said in first John that

phrase, love of God means God's love for us and our love for

God. This right here is exclusive to

1 aspect of love. When it says the love of Christ,

it actually means it's as the as one commentator put it, the love

of Christ is almost certainly a subjective genitive.

By the way, that's just grammar. It's a subjective genitive,

referring to the abiding love that Christ has for his people.

It's what Jesus has for us. It'd be the same thing as this,

by the way, if I say don't ever underestimate a mother, a

mother's love, that would be subjective, meaning a mother's

love for her children. Same phraseology, same grammar.

If it was talking about people loving the mother, it would be

objective. That would be different.

So as a mother, a mother's love is her love for her children.

The love of Christ is Christ's love for us.

Lord said it this way, the love of Christ is his love for us and

not our love for Him. We get it.

OK, So since nothing in the world can separate us from the

love that Christ has for us, Whiteside said this.

No one would think that the harsh things that we suffer for

Him would separate His love from us, whereas it might appear

reasonable that the sufferings we undergo in serving Christ

might cause our love to grow cold and even vanish.

But if a man loves Christ as he should, none of the things

mentioned will destroy that love.

Only the conditions of our own heart can cause us to cease

loving Him. And I got to tell you something.

I did. I just thought of it just now,

years ago. Your Father sitting right there

and I was preaching the sermon and I said, if God said no,

would you still love him and breath?

Rumen says yes out loud. Yes, sometimes our love grows

cold. Because we don't get what we

think we should get, or because we have to undergo something

difficult, or because we pray to God and God just happened to

say, no, we think, where was he? Come on now, that's not the

point. The point is, no matter what

happens to you in your life, and regardless of whether the answer

is no, God doesn't stop loving you and neither does Jesus.

When the evils come upon God's, people don't conclude that it's

God or Jesus no longer loving them.

What evils are we talking about? Let's look at the passage.

How about tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness,

peril, or even sword? That's a pretty good list right

there. Let's talk about what they are.

Tribulation. By the way, I don't know what's

going on in your life. I got to tell you something.

We all have some stuff, but it's nothing that we can't handle.

It really isn't. It really isn't compared to what

people have actually undergone in other places and other times

of life. We got it pretty easy, but we

are going to have some stuff in context of what they were going

through. The apostle Paul says this

tribulation, it's a feeling of pressure, while distress is the

inner anxiety that comes from being pinned up in a very narrow

place while not knowing quite where to turn.

Now everybody falls into that category once in a while.

What about this persecution? It's the pursuit or hounding by

enemies, sometimes including bodily harm.

I don't know what that's like. That doesn't happen to me in my

life. Famine follows when you are

fleeing from pillar to post in an effort to escape your

pursuers. I also don't know what that's

like in my life. Nakedness is the lack of proper

clothing when one's property is confiscated or when he has to

flee, leaving his possessions behind.

And praise God, I don't even know what that's like.

Peril speaks of the dangers 1 is in when finally caught by the

persecutors, and sword denotes the death that finally happens

to the pursuit. What I'm getting at is all these

extreme things Paul is saying. Don't ever think that even any

of those things will separate you from the love of Christ.

Not going to happen. It's good stuff.

So what's the point, Frank? Here's the point.

If God is for us and He justifies us because we are His

elect, obedient Christians, and Jesus is our advocate at the

right hand of God, and He's pleading our case when we sin

and the Holy Spirit dwells within us and intercedes for us.

When we can only groan or sigh, when we're in distress and don't

know what to pray for. If all those unbelievable

blessings are true, who shall separate us from the love that

guards us? In conclusion today, remember

those five blessings as we go through life.

And I want to say something really quickly because I'm going

to, I'm wrapping up my remarks, but I want to say something

really quickly about, I don't want to diminish because I said

we don't really know what it's like to suffer.

Like people have really suffered in the past.

If you're going through something difficult or hard or

painful, I'm not I'm not, I'm not diminishing that.

My heart goes out to you. We all do.

What I'm saying is it doesn't matter whatever degree of thing

you might be going through in your life, that's difficult.

It's the same for all of us, either severe or not as severe.

I also know that there's no temptation taken except at what

is common to man. I also know that what you're

going through, somebody else has gone through worse.

I do know that for a fact. What I'm getting at is,

regardless of what any of those things are, we got hope.

We've got hope because of Jesus. We got the intercessory work of

the Holy Spirit. We know that all things are

going to work together for our eternal and spiritual good.

We know that we are not alone. We got God Almighty on our side.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

We know that Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of God,

fighting for our case, interceding for us, for our

forgiveness. He's in there with us every step

of the way. And because of all these

unbelievable blessings to sustain us, that will bring us

to my final lesson of the series when it's my turn again.

Because of all that, we are more than conquerors through Him who

loved us. Now let me just say in closing

today, don't ever quit or give up, regardless of how difficult

life might be. Use the difficult things that

you go through in your life to make you better in your service

to God. I tell you a story and I'm done.

Long time ago there was a boy who was a sophomore in high

school. His dream was to play

basketball. He worked hard, he trained hard.

He wanted to make the varsity team in high school as a

sophomore. He went, he worked hard.

He showed up, he went to the tryouts.

He gave it his best shot. He got cut, he said later on in

his life when he reflected, he said that was a defining moment.

It was failure. It was actually an act of

failure. I failed.

So he had to make a choice. Do I just give up and do

something else, give up on my dreams?

Or do I work harder and use it as a catalyst to get better, to

succeed later? He worked for a whole year,

tried out his junior year, made the team, had a very successful

2 year varsity basketball career.

High school. He was good enough, too, to be

looked at by the colleges. And he went on to the next

level, went on to college, had a successful college career, and

yeah, he went on to the NBA. When his career was over, they

interviewed him. You know what he said?

When I look back on my career as a basketball player in the NBA,

he said, you know what I remember?

He said I missed 9000 shots in my career.

He said I lost 300 games in my career.

He said 26 times I was given the ball and entrusted to take the

final shot to win the game and I missed.

Oh by the way, he also went on to win six world titles, 5 MVPS

and considered arguably the greatest player that ever

played. His name is Michael Jordan.

This is what he said. I failed over and over and over

again in my life, and that is precisely why I succeed.

From a spiritual perspective, it's even more important because

you're going to have struggles, you're going to have failures,

but you're not alone. Got all that?

Remember, as one man said one time, the computer died.

The computer's off on something. Well, I'll just read it.

Success is not final. Failure is not fatal.

It's the courage to continue the counts.

So when you get knocked down, as you, as my kids hurt all their

life, look up. Get up and don't ever give up.

We got this. We got this.

Are you here today? You're not a Christian.

Steps to become one or very simple.

Come believing in Jesus, repent of your sins, confess his name

is the Son of God, be baptized in water for the remission of

sins. Maybe you've taken those steps

of obedience. Maybe you're just not what you

should be for the Lord. Then repent of those things,

confess those things and we'll pray with you and for you, and

God will forgive and restore. Be one of either class.

Come forward while we stand, while we see.