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The eighth chapter of the book of Romans, the 31st verse, Paul writes and asks two questions in this verse. Romans 8, verse 31. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? I am so grateful for the opportunity to be with you this evening and willing throughout the weekend. I was telling a dear friend of mine in the ministry this morning we were texting. I was on a flight and uh letting know that I felt like I was coming home. And uh Sunday I'll feel like I'm heading home as well. And one of these days I really hope that I'll go home. But uh Snyder has meant a lot to me. I've told several of you this weekend already that uh my time with this church dates back to my mid-teen years. Uh first time I ever came, I really journeying in the past year. Y'all just meant a lot to me through the years, and I remember especially the great care and kindness that you showed me and Lydia and my grandmother during the time that I had an appointment here in around 2010 and 11. And that was a very sweet time for us, and we uh do not forget that at all. Uh Lydia said to tell you all hello that she loves you. Uh she would have loved to have been here also, but it's not really easy taking a family of six from Florida to West Texas. So uh and since we've been in singing, I have to report, I've gotten a couple texts. My six-year-old boy is playing baseball tonight, and he got a double and then a triple. So uh I was very happy to hear that news. But uh again, we're just so grateful. Thank you for the invitation. I'm thankful to God for his kind providence and bringing me safely here. Uh there's a little boy here that is very concerned about when we're gonna be done. Colt, I'm concerned about it too, because 415 was a long time ago, so don't worry, buddy. I'm not gonna keep you long tonight. Um Paul asked this question or two questions, and in fact, it's a series of questions he will ask, and they're all very important. Um in fact, as they go forward, he saves an extremely important question for verse 35, and he says, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? If it were possible, and it is not, but if it were possible for you and I to be separated from the love of Christ, we could be condemned, because a charge could be laid, because there is one who is against us. But because we cannot be separated from the love of Christ, there's no charge that can be successfully laid, and thus we cannot be condemned. But that does not mean when Paul asks this question when he says, If God be for us, who can be against us? That is not to intimate that there is none against us. There is a great power that works against us. In fact, there are three great powers that work against us. There is the power of Satan, there is the power of this dark world, and there is even the power of our own carnal nature. And all those three things work in conjunction together against us. Now, earlier in this verse, Paul says, We know that all things work together for good. Now, I've just told you of three things that do not work together for our good. They work together in an attempt to destroy us. But thankfully, as John said to us, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world, meaning greater is God who's in you than Satan who's in this world. So that tells me there are things that do not work together for our good, so that cannot be universal. When he says we know all things, he will qualify that. When he lets us know that God knowing us before the world began, that God predestinating us, him calling us, him justifying us, and the promise to glorify us, those things work together in conjunction by the power of God for your and my benefit. He says, What shall we then say to these things? What things that whom he did predestinate, then he called, and whom he called, then he justified, and whom he justified, then he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against it? I'd like to spend our time this evening on that little phrase for us. There's a lot of little words that are very simple words that have profound meaning. And sometimes we might want to dive into deep theology, and there's nothing wrong with that, because there's certainly deep theology in the Word of God, and it deserves our attention. But there's a lot of time in my experience, and I suspect the same for you, that I need to be reminded of very simple truths. I need to remember that God is for me. That God is for you. Just pause and think if that were not true. If God was not for you, where would you be? This phrase makes all the difference. That your God who made heaven and earth and all things therein, the maker of the stars, the sun and the moon, the one that made the expanse of our sky, the one that made the seas and divided the dry land, the one that made the fowls of the air, the beasts of the earth, and the creatures in the sea, the one that did all these things, and then at the end of that made man, and David would say in the Psalms, What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the Son of Man that thou visitest him? As David considered the great creative power of God and the majesty of what he had made, he just saw himself as so little and was astonished that the maker of heaven and earth would even pay any attention to him whatsoever. But God goes more than just paying us attention. This verse tells us and strengthens us and encourages us that our God that made everything is for us. Now, before he could really show himself fully for us, he had to become us and come and be with us. One of my favorite names that the Bible gives to the Lord Jesus Christ, and there are many ways in which Jesus is described, many names ascribed to him. My very favorite is found in Matthew chapter 1, when Joseph is told by the angel Gabriel that Mary is going to have a son, and you're going to call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And he goes on and lets him know that his name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted, God with us. Think about that for a moment. God is not only for us, but there was a moment in time that God, who is in eternity, rolled back the curtain and stepped into time. That God who is a creator and God who is the creator, excuse me, became part of his creation. The one who is the lawgiver became subject to his laws. The one who is holy and inhabited eternity for a time tabernacled with men. We find that it says in the Gospel of John, the word capital W was made flesh and dwelt among us. Never dwelt there means he pitched his tent. Now that means that he came for just a time. He was not to be here long. He never intended to stay long. His life was just as long as it needed to be. It says in Galatians 4, verse 4, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. God sent his son at the right time. Jesus lived the exact amount of time necessary. But when his hour was come, he showed that he was for us. In the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, we find that the disciples are on a ship and Jesus is in the hinder part of the ship asleep, and a great storm comes. According to Luke's account of that experience, it says that they were in jeopardy. That's Holy Ghost inspired. They were in jeopardy. They were in danger from their perspective. From the Lord's perspective, they were never in danger. Now, I know this about ships. I'm not a shipman. I'm not a big fan of ships. We do cruise some, but uh I try not to focus on the fact that we're out there with uh miles of water between where I am and the bottom of the ocean. I try to just keep that out of mind. Uh I know this about ships. Water belongs on the outside, not on the inside. And when the ship is full, like it was in their case, there's a problem. And it's a big problem. But the disciples asked the Lord a question, and it was an offensive question. Master, carest thou not that we perish. Have you ever been in that situation? Jesus, do you care? It's the fact that he was even here, that alone testified of his care. And I've been where they are, or where they were when they asked, Do you care? Because there's been times when I've been frustrated about the circumstances of my life, and I cry out in desperation and frustration and ask if he cares about me, and then I'm reminded again of this simple verse if God be for us. Again, but for him to be for us, he first had to be here with us. We find that the same writer that said who was he was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the only the glory is the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, as he writes his first epistle, John, he opens it in a beautiful way. He says, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word capital W of life. And he says, that which was from the beginning. That doesn't mean that Jesus at Genesis 1:1 had his beginning, when it says, that which was from the beginning, meaning the eternal God who was there at the beginning. That's who he's talking about, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's saying he is eternal. But he says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard. John's saying by the time John is writing his epistle, there were these individuals that had embraced a theology called Gnosticism. And part of Gnosticism said that God could not become human, that what they saw was it was a pseudo-human, if you will. And so John is combating that. He's saying, no, that's not at all who it was. That's not how it was. He's saying, the Son of God literally came as a man. God was with us. He says, I know that. He says, we heard. He says, we saw with our eyes. And then no, no, it's that third phrase which we have looked upon. Say, wait a minute, you just said you saw him. Now you said you look. That word look means something different. When he says, our eyes saw him, he says we looked upon him. That word look means to behold, that means to stop and to contemplate, to meditate. That means not only did we hear him, not only did we see him, but as we saw him, we spent a lot of time in deep contemplation about who he was, about who he is, and why he was here and what he's done. And then finally he says, and our hands have handled. We embraced him. We took, as you read in the Gospel of John, John will never say this about himself. He will call himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. But you'll find him there. There was an intimacy between John and Christ, and I don't know if the others had it or not, but there were times that John, now think about this, he's also called the son of thunder. Now think about this strong fisherman, a man's man, if you will, but he was so in love with the Savior that you would find him literally leaning on the breast of Christ. Talk about the tenderness of Jesus to allow one to lay his head upon his breast. John says, I've handled him. I heard him, I saw him, I contemplated who he was, and I was able to touch him. He was not an apparition, he was not a ghost, he was not a spirit, he was a man. He was here with us. And the reason he was here with us is because he is for us. Paul would say to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 10, he says, about Christ, he died for us. That whether we wake or we sleep, we shall be with him. We find in Galatians the third chapter, Paul says that Jesus was made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. Contemplate that for a moment. As John said, we looked upon him, we contemplated who he was. Jesus would say himself to Pharisees in the fifth uh chapter of the 39th verse of the fifth chapter of John's gospel, he says, Search the scriptures, for in them ye think you have eternal life, but they are they which testify of me. It's incumbent upon you and I for our spiritual well-being, for our strength in him, for my ability to get through this journey of life. And listen, uh, the world measures success far differently than the Lord does. It's not on my tombstone yet because my life isn't finished, but I have instructions in my will that if it's applicable when I'm done, there is a verse that Paul spoke to Timothy that's to be inscribed upon my grave. I don't know what greater thing to uh scribe for than for it to be said that I fought a good fight, I finished my course, and I kept the faith. If those three things can be said about me after I depart from this world, I will trust that that will be a successful life. It won't matter how much uh financial wealth I've accumulated. It won't matter even how good my children are. Now that will uh it'll bear in some, but the main thing will be will I be faithful to the end? Will I finish the course the Lord Jesus Christ gave to me? Will I do those things that he has called me to do? I hope that I will. But here, when search the scriptures, he says, for in them ye think you have eternal life, but they are they which testify of me. I try when I read the Word of God, I try to read through the Word of God on an annual basis through a Bible reading plan. I've done that for many years, but I try to do more reading than just that. I try to read through the Bible in a general reading and then a deeper reading through studying the Word of God. You know, when you get into the book of Exodus and you start reading about the instruction of building uh the tabernacle, when you start seeing all the descriptions of the curtains and uh all the descriptions of the furnishings and all of the uh outward uh skins and all these, uh the it can get a little tedious. When you get to Leviticus and you start reading about the various offerings that were supposed to be made and how they were to be made, and then when you get to the book of Numbers and you start reading about specifically which families were to do what, and so it can get a little hard. But listen, when you can look at that and you can see how those things point to the Lord Jesus Christ, listen, when Jesus said that in John chapter 5, he was speaking uh primarily about the writing of Moses, uh, those first five books of the Bible, uh not uh exclusively, but that was a big portion of what Jesus was speaking to, because he's speaking to Pharisees who they clung to Moses. And he says, when you search the scriptures, because you think in them you have eternal life, you need to understand they testify of me. So again, in Galatians 3, he says that Jesus became a curse for us. Why? Because you and I were under the curse that was introduced by the disobedience of one man. Whereas by one man's disobedience, sin entered into the world, goes on to let us know. And death from that sin passed upon all, for that all have sinned. We can all point to Adam, but Paul brings it squarely home to us. It's true he introduced it, but we've certainly built upon it, and we are guilty by nature, but also in our own right by the things that we have done. You and I, outside of the grace of God and being born of the Spirit of God, we are under the curse of the law. The law of sin and death. Uh, the God of heaven told Adam, he said, Of all the trees of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. Think about that. Here is man at his prime, man who is a natural man but perfect, a man who is pure, that has no sinfulness, no uh wavered thoughts, a man who is wholly dedicated to serving the God who has made him, who's placed in a paradise, given all things, and he says, Of all the trees of the garden thou mayest freely eat. He says, But of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou mayest not eat of it, for in that day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. If you've got a good reference Bible in the center column, it'll say, In dying thou shalt die, meaning you will bring a perpetual state of death for you and all that will come after you. You and I, when we were conceived, according to Psalms, we were conceived in iniquity. The Bible says that we come forth from the womb speaking lies. People like to think about children being so innocent. Listen, I never thought about that uh with any of our four when they come forth. Uh people always say babies when they're born are beautiful. I didn't think they were. Uh when I was there in the room, I was just honest. I didn't think they were. Uh but after a few moments, you know, after the stress of birth, they they looked better. But I also never was under the delusion that my children were innocent. I knew better. Listen, we've had four of them, and I'm thankful for them. They're very good children, they're very well behaved. I thank the Lord for the nature that I see in each one of them, uh, the personality of each one of them. But I would watch those children when they were infants that had just been fed, just been changed, had everything they need, and yet they would just all of a sudden uh let out a scream, and you know what they were doing? They were lying. They were trying to convince their mother or me that there was something wrong when there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. They were full, they were uh taken care of, everything they needed had been provided. They come forth from the womb speaking lies, and then just give them a little time when they can literally speak, and it does, you don't have to teach them to lie, we had to teach them to tell the truth. Um I live under the curse that was handed down to us from our Father Adam, but that we continue in by our own will. But the Lord Jesus Christ, who is here with us, because he is for us, according to what Paul says in Galatians 3, he was made a curse for us. Think about what that entails. Paul would describe it in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21, when he says about Jesus, he that knew no sin was made to be sin for us. Again, there's that little phrase again. He that knew no sin, that means he, that word know there means he had no cognition of it in a sense of. Experience. Now he knew what sin was because he was the moral lawgiver that spoke to Adam in the day thou eatest of her of thou shalt surely die. But he had never done sin. He had never, he knew no sin. That's what he did not know sin. John says, in him is no sin. Peter says, who did no sin? So all of that describes by Peter, Paul, and John. He didn't know sin. He did no sin. That means he never committed it, and in him is no sin. There was no capability of sinning. That's called the impeccability of Christ. That means he's God. He was incapable of sinning. God sent one into this world to be the sin bearer who would never himself commit sin and know it in that way, but would be willing to be made sin for us. That means he bore it, but he did not commit it. Even as he was made to be sin for us, he was never sullied by sin. It never tarnished his nature. When Adam ate of the fruit that he was commanded not to, in the moment he did so, his eyes were opened and he knew good and evil. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he was made to be sin for us, that doesn't mean that in that moment or in those moments he was bearing our sin, that he knew sin by experience. No, he bore it upon his broad shoulders of strength. Again, Paul says, He that knew no sin was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God through him. So he says, again, there in Galatians, he was made to be a curse for us. For as it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. Paul would tell us in the Hebrew letter in the 12th chapter that he endured the cross, despising the shame. Why? For the joy that was set before him. He went through that experience because he was here with us. And so he went through the experience of the cross. He endured it, despising it, because there was a joy that was set before him, and that joy was that you and I will be with him. So God, Emmanuel, who is God with us, came to be with us because he was for us, so that the day will come that you and I will be with him. That's the ultimate reason for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is so that when he comes back the last day, we'll be where he is. That's what he said in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John, did you not? He says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Then he lets us know. He says, if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. I love that. He says, I will come again. I'm looking forward to that day. But until that, we find that in Hebrews chapter 9, Paul lets us know that the Lord Jesus Christ is right now in heaven making intercession for us. So not only was he here with us, but as Paul says there in Romans 8, that God is for us. If God be for us, who can be against us? We have the Lord Jesus Christ who died for us, who was made to be a curse for us, who went through the horrific experience of the cross out of his great love for us. And the day's coming that he will come back for us, but in the meantime, he's in heaven making intercession for us. And now, as Paul says, if God be for us, which the scriptures abundantly prove that he is, if God be for us, who can be against us? If God has made all things, and that's all things without exception, even Satan himself, and listen, there's things, obviously, that I do not understand. There's more that I don't understand than I do. Now, listen, I have a core understanding about core things that matter the most, and that is who God is and what he's done, and I trust you do as well. But there's a lot of things that I don't comprehend that I don't understand. I don't know why the Lord made the devil. I don't know why the Lord allowed certain things to be. I don't know. And whether I know in heaven or not, it doesn't matter, but there are certain things that I just don't understand. But I do know this: there is nothing outside the sovereign authority of our God who sits in the heavens. Psalm 115, verse 3 says, Our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. And it has pleased him to be for us. And even when the great power of Satan and the power of this world and the power of our carnal nature works against us to try to destroy us, thank God we have one in heaven making intercession for us. We have one that we can always know is on our side. One who is always there to strengthen us, one who is always there to encourage, to uplift, to give us the things that we stand in need of. But it is incumbent upon us to recall these things to mind, to keep in memory how much he loves us. The fact that he was willing to leave the glories, the peace, the presence of his Father in heaven to be here for a while for us. That should always keep us in mind that he cares. And if he cares, that means there is no power upon this earth that shall ever successfully come against us. And all that's based upon the reality that God before this world began, he foreknew you. That means he loved you before he made this world. And he determined before this world was made where you will go when either Jesus comes back or you need to breathe your last breath. And he made sure that was all made certain through the calling of the Holy Spirit and regeneration. The justifying work of the Lord Jesus Christ when he shed his blood at the cross, and will be ultimately seen at the second coming when these bodies are raised and made in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we will know with all certainty and no doubt whatsoever that the Lord who came to be with us is certainly for us. May God bless you tonight as our prayer.