In the sermon 'If God Is For Us' by Scott Brown, based on Romans 8:29-39, the speaker delves into the profound implications of God's love and the security it provides to believers. He emphasizes that the love of God means being kept and held by Him, drawing parallels to the protective nature of love in human relationships. The sermon outlines the 'golden chain of salvation' consisting of six key terms: foreknew, predestined, conformed, called, justified, and glorified, each illustrating a step in God's eternal plan for believers. Brown discusses the doctrine of divine predestination, asserting that God has predetermined the destiny of His people, and emphasizes the certainty and security of salvation. He addresses various adversities and assures that none can separate believers from God's love. The sermon concludes with an encouragement to rest in God's love while actively nurturing one's love for God through holy meditation and engagement with His Word.

Yes, please open your Bibles to Romans chapter 8 and find verse 29. Romans 8 verse 29. This is inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter than honey word of God. For whom he foreknew, these he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called.

Whom he called, these he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us who can be against us, He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 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. 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 your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who 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 created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

Let's pray. Lord, we pray that you would take these words and help us to understand them deep within our hearts and to dissect the understanding that we have of the love of God, that you would help us to understand how they speak to us in every part of our life. I pray you bless this congregation with understanding and the application of your word. Amen. Please be seated.

I've titled this sermon, if God is for us. Now, I was walking this morning and I was thinking about this question. What does it mean when you say that God loves you? What is love? Because in this passage is really the language of the love of God.

And we find that in the love of God. You have God himself as the one who holds his children. He keeps them. Love in this passage is that God keeps you, he holds you. Isaiah says he holds your hand.

David says he hems you in behind and before, he lays His hand upon you. And this is love, to be kept by God, to be kept by the love of God. And that's why what love looks like in a marriage is that you keep, you keep the one you love. But the words here, what shall we say to these things? What shall we say?

This takes us all the way back to the beginning of Romans. I think that the apostle is summing up everything that has been said so far in Romans 1 through 8. And remember in 1.16 the apostle says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also the Greek. And then he says, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And the apostle from That verse on has been explaining why he's not ashamed of the gospel.

And, you know, you know, fast forward up to Romans 828, which we dealt with last week. We saw that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. And now the apostle turns from verse 28 to verse 29 And he explains in very graphic terms, I don't know if there are 16 or 20 terms in this text that just describe the love of God. What does it mean that God loves you? And the apostle, he brings us what theologians have called the golden chain of salvation.

In verses 29 and 30, you have an outline in front of you that shows you this, we'll camp on that. And then, then he asks six questions to help us understand how God deals with his children. And then finally he concludes it all in verses 28 to the end of the chapter. Yes indeed, 38 and 39. But I do believe that the apostle is bringing forward all of what he has taught in the whole book of Romans and it's a very soaring section.

And He brings blow by blow explanations of what God has done for the believer. He's telling you what he's done for you. And of course it's called the golden chain of salvation. But another observation about this is that in this passage, you have, I'm just going to call it the arc of history from eternity past to eternity future and where you fit into it. That's what he's doing.

From beginning to end, from predestination to glorification, this is the story of the life of the believer. And it's consumed in this arc that begins in eternity past to eternity future. And of course, what does that mean? It means that He has his people in his hands. He always has had his people in his hands.

And he always will have his people in his hands. And if you're a Christian, I just hope you Let that sink in. These are some of the most encouraging words in scripture and they really speak of the security of the believer, what it means to be held by the love of God. You know that we sing that song, "'He will hold me fast, for my Savior loves me so. He will hold me fast.'" This is really sort of an an exposition using lots of words to explain it and Of course, he's saying you know, I chose you I justified I'm holding you and But also you find what theologians call the order of salvation, ordo salutis.

Have you ever heard that term, ordo salutis? Children, let me introduce you to a new term. Ordo salutis. Order of salvation. This chain of salvation.

How God saves his people. And these are, these are affirmations that the believer should take home in their hearts and hold onto them. And you have these six words in verses 29 and 30. Let's look at them. They are foreknew, predestined, conformed, called, justified, and glorified.

Those are the six words. And all of them, they explain God's will for the life of the believer. You know, the Apostle Paul, when he was writing to the Ephesian church, He said that he was explaining the kind intentions of his will. And that's what's here. This golden chain of salvation is descriptive of the love of God.

The first link in the chain, verse 29, for whom he foreknew. And the first thing we notice is the term for whom. So he's talking about specific people, for whom. And he's talking about the people that he was addressing in Romans 8 1 when he said for there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus so It's to those who no longer live under the condemnation of God, who and what about them, they do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. In other words, This is addressed to those for whom the power of sin has been broken.

Their lives have changed. The false gospel of foot today is that you can accept Jesus into your heart and your life doesn't change. That's false gospel. The true gospel is that you have been saved and you do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And you've set your mind on mortifying the flesh, putting to death the deeds of the body, this progressive walk of holiness.

So that's who he is addressing, these specific people who are in Christ whose life has changed. That's who he's talking about. He's not talking about the whole world. And it says, for whom he foreknew, foreknew. It is, this is very much like the term that we, English term that we use, and it comes from the Greek term prognosis, that he knew beforehand.

It's very different. Here's what it does not mean. It does not mean that he foresaw and then he acted. He foreknew and the next word sort of clarifies this, but God did not look down the corridor of history and He saw something good in you. He saw something, you know turning in your heart and He discovered He discovered that you're you were began becoming favorable to Him And he saw you moving in the right direction.

That's foresaw. It's not like that the Lord said, oh, I see John over there. He's becoming such a good person. No, no, no, no. That's not what this is.

This, and frankly, that idea communicates really a fatal misconception about God. It's particularly an attack against God because God is omniscient. He knows everything. There is nothing that God does not know. God does not discover what's going on in your heart.

God foreknows what was going to be in your heart. And so we dare not misrepresent the nature of God by saying that God saw something good in you, and then he acknowledged it, and then you accepted him. That's not what he is saying here. In Romans 11, we'll get to this later, verse two, it says, for God has not cast away his people for whom he foreknew. And you have this idea, and that is that it's all about what God was thinking.

There are two ways of thinking about salvation. Monarchism and synergism. Monarchism is that it is all of God. Synergism is that it both of man and God. And this is the doctrine of monogism.

You know, Charles Spurgeon preaches last sermon and there was a person who was there, an eyewitness, and he was, in his last sermon he was speaking of the insufficiency of man's works and man's will to save him. And then this man reported that he, that Spurgeon cried out, works, works, A man get to heaven by works, I would soon as think of climbing to the moon on a rope of sand. Because man, man cannot get to heaven by himself. It's a rope of sand. Man's will is a rope of sand.

But it is God who foreknows. And then second, the second word in these six words in this golden chain of salvation, predestined. He predestined. And The word is very clear. There's something that happened Regarding your destiny it was your destiny is predetermined You can You can think about how to create your destiny all you want, but it's God who's predetermined your destiny.

That's what predestination is. This is a predetermination to rescue a sinner, to love a sinner. We already read earlier Ephesians chapter 1. It's one of the classic descriptions of what we're, this one word here is described in Ephesians chapter one, where in verse four he says, "'Just as He chose us in Him "'before the foundation of the world, "'that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. And if that isn't enough, he continues in the next verse saying, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will and why did he do that to the praise of the glory of his grace?

God, God stands as the one to be praised. He's praised because he reaches out and saves sinners. He takes the unworthy. He doesn't take those whose hearts are good. He takes those whose hearts are bad And he changes their hearts.

He gives them a new heart a heart of flesh from a heart of stone This is this is divine Predestination And he does it to the praise of the glory of his grace And then he says it again in verse 11, in him we also obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. He works all things according to the counsel of his will. We talked about that last Sunday in detail. What's happening in your life has been predestined by God. God has given it to you for a particular purpose.

God is doing everything right in time in your life. His timing is perfect for all of your trials, for everything that's happening in your life. And we know that God has designed all of our trials for his glory. In Acts chapter 13 verse 48, we read that those who had been saved They had been appointed to eternal life They were appointed to eternal life and they believed in second Timothy chapter 1 Verse 9 it says that grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. Before time began.

So God didn't wake up one day and saw something good happening in your heart. He predestined that you would be saved. And God is a predestinating God. Now, this is the doctrine of divine predestination. It is not the doctrine of divine reaction.

And it's very clear what the apostle Paul is saying. That God is omniscient and he has ordained those who would be saved. He changed your heart. Maybe he's in the process of changing your heart now. What a blessing that is when God changes your heart.

Do you remember that there's another song we sing. Why was I made to hear your voice? Why was I made to hear your voice? Why was I made to hear your voice and enter? While there's room That's the idea so first he foreknew then he predestined and then third his purpose to be conformed to the image of his son.

He did this so that a sinner would become like Jesus Christ. And of course the real test of Christianity is that the person who professes faith is constantly being sanctified and conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. That's how you know if a person is a Christian and you become more like Christ. You become more holy. If you find people who progressively are becoming less separated to God, less holy, less like Christ, who's making a profession of faith, that person perhaps shouldn't be too presumptuous about their faith.

And there is a certainty about this. To be conformed. It is something that is going to work and it is an ongoing work. And we are promised that he who began a good work in you will complete it in the day of Jesus Christ. Now, in saying all that, no Christian has ever been satisfied with his conformity to Jesus Christ.

If you're unsatisfied with your conformity to Jesus Christ, it's probably the sign that you are a Christian, because you want to become more like Him. This is the path that you're on. It is progressively daily to become more like Him. That's your desire. And you know even the Apostle Paul was speaking to the church in Corinth.

It was a very worldly church And he says to them, to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. You know, we are so unworthy of the love of God. And we are, if we are true believers, we're never satisfied with our level of conformity. But God has promised to take us on. He predestined us so that we would be to the praise of the glory of his grace as time goes on.

So first he foreknew, then he predestined to be conformed, and then he called. This is the call of God. God calls and their rebellion is overcome. There is, This is the grace that is irresistible. The person whom God has predestined, when he is called, cannot resist the call.

Now he may resist it for a few years, but there will be a time when he will not be able to resist that call anymore. And you have the universal call that goes out to all people, And then you have the call that is given to those who will not resist it because God changes their hearts. And there's a great chapter about this in the Baptist Confession of 1689. And here's how this call is described in in this in this effectual call he is enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone and giving to them a heart of flesh, renewing their wills and by his mighty power, determining them to that which is good and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ, yet so as they come most freely being made willing by His grace. So you come willingly.

Your will is activated and you do come willingly. The reason you come willingly is because God gave you a will to come willingly. We have many people who think that they became Christians because they made a decision. And that is true, there was a decision that was made. In fact, I believe that I, when I was converted, I believed I made a decision.

This was so many years ago, decades and decades ago. But upon reading my Bible, I'm realizing it wasn't certainly first my decision. It was God moving on me. And He made me hear His voice. He changed my heart and he changed my will so Yes, you the you there is There is we do have a will but when it comes to salvation, it isn't free will.

It's the will of predestinating foreknowing will of God that changes your heart. You know, Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice. They hear, his sheep, all people don't hear, they can't hear the voice. And then fifth justified, the fifth link in the chain, those He also justified. Now, we've spent so much time in this church talking about justification by faith, having been in the book of Romans, so I won't elaborate on it, but justification by faith is a legal declaration that the criminal is not guilty.

It's a forensic act of God where God declares the sinner righteous. The sinner knows that he still has remaining sin, but God has declared him righteous. God looks upon his children as justified, having no condemnation that can be leveled at them. And then sixth, glorified. You will be glorified.

It's interesting, you notice this is in the past tense. And I think that what he is saying here is that this is a subtle fact, as if it has already happened. Someone has called this a prophetic future, a past tense with a present experience as if it was in the past. One commentator called it an heiress of anticipation. God sees everything from the end to the beginning.

In the same way in Ephesians chapter two, he says that you are seated in the heavenly places with Christ. It's as if this is your destiny. It's as if you already are. When you become a Christian, it is as if you already are possessing eternal life. It's that same idea.

So then after these six questions, then the apostle in verse 31, he says, what shall we say to these things? What shall we say? And then there are all these questions that are asked. I heard somebody say that in the book of Romans, the apostle Paul asks 47 questions. So there's several questions right here.

And all of them deal with the love of God. All of these describe the love with which God has for his children. What shall we say to these things? And the first question is what shall we say to these things? And I would just say that is reaching back to the beginning of the book of Romans.

What shall we say to all these things that the righteousness of God is revealed, that man, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, that all of your trials are meant for your good. What shall we say? And the second question is, If God is for us, who can be against us? Now notice Notice the language you have two entities God and who those two? You have if God is for us then who?

Can be against us you have these these two parties and the two parties are being compared. You have God and some person who doesn't have a name, his name is who. And the idea is that who is greater than God. That's the comparison. Now who is against you?

We know that the devil is against you. He is your adversary. That's one who. He is your enemy. You may have people who are against you.

And then you have God. You remember Joseph's brothers were against him, but God was not against him. Do you remember Jacob wrestled with God and God prevailed? But though your brothers and sisters and your acquaintances in this world might be against you. They have no hope because they're up against God.

You know, our enemies are good for us because they humble us. They actually do show us some of our flaws. They do. They expose some of our sins. And those are your best enemies do that.

And they cause you to cry out to God. And they also, they also drive you to the grace of God. Because you know this, what the apostle Paul said, by the grace of God I am what I am. I'm not what I want to be, but by the grace of God I am what I am. But what you find here is that God overrules your enemies.

And we should never forget what Jesus Christ said, all power is given to me in heaven and on earth So you have enemies and you have God you have who and you have God Day I love this in psalm 27 David says when When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. That's what he's saying. And the next question is, he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" And this is, God will hold back nothing to bring us safely to our eternal home. God will generously give all that we need. And he gave his son, he proves it by his son.

And he did not spare his own son. So do not think that you will be deprived of anything that you need. You'll have everything you need for your journey in God. You know, one of the hardships that we have is that we don't take the things of God often with us in our journey, which we should. But God did not spare his own son.

And the son of God took the wrath that we deserved. He was a substitute for our sins and he drank the cup of condemnation that we deserved And he's given us all things that we need pertaining to life and godliness. So God did not spare his own son. Will he not freely give us all things? He's proven that He's going to take care of you.

He already gave His only Son and there's no more proof necessary. And then the next question, who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. So here you have charges that are being brought against God's elect. The charges come from three directions, from Satan himself, he's the accuser of the brethren, they also come from people, they people also will make accusations against you, but Perhaps the hardest to deal with is when your own heart is accusing you falsely.

And again, Paul places two things side by side. The charges, the charges are brought and then there's God who justifies. And you see these comparisons throughout this section here. And again, Paul is asking who is greater, the accuser or God, the charges or God. And God will allow nothing to condemn us having been justified by faith.

When we were in Revelation chapter 12, the devil we saw was making accusations, bringing charges against all the elect. And the devil's always in the business of bringing charges to the elect. Do you remember Job? Job, a godly man, and the devil accused Job, the devil says to God, does Job fear God for nothing? And the devil wants to prove that Job just loves God because he's rich.

And unfortunately, the devil loses the bet because Job does love God from his heart, whether he has or whether he doesn't have. Who will bring a charge? We tried to make this very clear in Romans eight one. No one will ever be able to bring a charge against you before God that will stick because He's justified you. That does not mean that you won't sin.

That does not mean that you won't sin. That does not mean that you won't be culpable in various sins. But God justifies His children. God justifies sinners. God would likely chastise for sin, correct you for sin, for whom the Lord loves, He disciplines.

So God will discipline his children, but that's not a sign of lack of love. But he's dropped the charges, but he still disciplines his sons. And Paul, again, he puts these two things that can't be matched. You the the condemnation and the charge and you have God again You may have someone who falls into egregious sin, a believer, someone who you respected greatly and Either one thing or another is happening. Either God brings the sin to light to chastise and also to cause many, many to fear.

Or, and only God knows this, or God is revealing that there is a false faith. But on this side, we won't know that. But if a, If a person who has fallen into egregious sin and they are restored and they have all the signs of true repentance, and the Bible describes what true repentance is, is not crying and saying you're sorry. Not in the Bible. It runs so much deeper than that.

And so there can be restoration. At the same time, there are sins that can so discredit your character and cause you, among your family and others, not to be trusted the same way that you were before. But you can be forgiven and restored into the fellowship. But there are certain sins that change everything in your life. And so all of us should be really put on notice not to take the grace of God in vain and to root out all inlets of sin.

To look over your life, considering the greatness of the grace of God, but also that in God, in his grace, He may chastise you, he may discipline you for your sin. Particularly sins of immorality are like that, they change all of your relationships forever. And it isn't to say that God is unforgiving of egregious sin. That's not what this is saying. God does justify sinners.

And then the Next question, condemnation is overwhelmed by intercession. This is so wonderful. Verse 34, 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. Again, Paul's repeating the same pattern of comparison.

You have the one who condemns, which you have Christ who died, but he's making intercession. And again, he's doing the same. It's like, it's like putting a, you're having a race and you have a turtle and a gazelle. You just have two things that are so mismatched. You know, you, you, It's like putting a mouse and an elephant in a stomping match.

No, they're just mismatched They don't one is so much more powerful and greater than the other And then it says that first Christ died and then he is risen and he's at the right hand of God and finally he is interceding for us. This is the love of God. God does not stop interceding for us if we fall. He's constantly interceding and we'll learn more about that later. And then the sixth question, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

The love of Christ, shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword." And so he gives here, he gives seven circumstances and The love of God is greater than all these circumstances Tribulation it means pressure from the outside distress limitations hemmed in squeezed Pressed you are in distress But we've learned already in Romans five that distress drives us to God and it helps us. Distress is like a sheepdog that is hurting you to God. And then you have persecution, personal attacks, accusations, being expelled, famine, where you have lack of food, where then nakedness, you have emptiness and poverty, you have peril, where you're in time of danger and uncertainty and in dangerous situations that might even expose you to death, and then sword, and he uses this word for a dagger, the same, the dagger, the dagger that Peter used to lop off the ear of the servant of the high priest. All these things, and he's saying, the love of Christ is greater than all of those things. God will see you through all of those things.

Those were very dramatic categories. And then he acknowledges in verse 36, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. And then he summarizes all this in verses, verse 37 through 39. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

He's persuaded. He says, for I am persuaded that neither life nor death nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the love of God. What does the love of God look like. And here he lists 10 things, 10 various powers, death or life, angels or principalities or powers.

He's talking, I think he's talking about spiritual beings, demons, nor things present. Nothing political, nothing relational, No, nothing that's besetting me, not my empty pocket, nor things present can separate me from the love of God. Nor things to come, future threats. Most people have fears about what's around the corner. Fears about the future, by the way, almost never come to pass.

But not things to come. Nor height, nor depth. And I don't know if he's talking about one thing or another. Some say he's talking about high points and low points in your life. Others say no, He's talking about astrology and the astrologers in Rome who are telling you that your life is dependent on the astrological signs.

In other words, no height nor depth, nor any other created thing. Nothing in the creation will hold back the love of God and then he says it shall nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord. There's the love of God. You know Charles Wesley wrote this song, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, and he writes this, Jesus, Thou art all compassion, pure unbounded, love thou art. So God, this is the love of God.

Now I know, I'm guessing some of you are saying, but I want to love God more. Now you know that nothing can separate you from God's love toward you. But you can increase your love toward God. This is sanctification. And in order to do that, it's so critical that we understand how this works.

If you want to love God more, and the Bible makes this very clear in many places, you must stir up your love for God. And you stir up your love for God by embracing his word. You know, we live in a world right now where there's so many distractions. There's so many podcasts. There's so many Twitter feeds.

There's, there's so much confusion and we're so interested in what's going on in other people's lives that have nothing to do with us. And so we're inundated, and the result is that we're not stirring up our affections. Instead of stirring up our affections for God, we're swiping to know something about someone else. And often our love for God is not what we want it to be because we're not doing the things that we ought to with our time. And Jude, Jude said keep And Jude, Jude said keep yourselves in the love of God.

He said, but you beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. But I'm just here to say, we've just gone through an astounding section of God's love for us now there is our love for God and dedicating ourselves to stirring up our affections, to break up the fallow ground, to stop sowing among the thorns. Earlier in this week Trent sent me a quote from Thomas Watson. He says, the reason our affections are so cold to heavenly things is because we do not warm them at the fire of holy meditation. But we're meditating on so many other things.

As the musings of wonderful Objects makes the fire of lust burn and the musing on injuries makes the fire of revenge burn So meditating on the transcendent beauties of Christ would make our love to Christ flame forth. So all of this to say, Rest in the love of God, but don't rest in your love toward God. And be very careful what you spend your minutes upon. David said, oh how I love thy lot is my meditation all the day. And that should be our cry as well.

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 created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.