Lawrence Taylor Ministry

Guest (Male): Hello, and welcome to Teaching the Word with Dr. Lawrence Taylor. Each and every week, Dr. Taylor will be sharing a relevant message from the Scriptures designed to inform and instruct us in the ways of our God. Dr. Taylor has been the pastor of Kenilworth Baptist Church in the Midwood section of Brooklyn for the past 22 years. He brings a wealth of experience to each broadcast, having been a New York City public schools teacher and a theology professor. Stay tuned to the end of the broadcast to find out how to stream today's message. Now, here's Dr.

Taylor.

Dr. Lawrence Taylor: Welcome everyone to Teaching the Word with Dr. Lawrence Taylor. I'm so glad that you were able to join with us today. We are here every Sunday at 7 o'clock. I'd like to make an offer to you that if you feel that God has called you to a preaching or teaching ministry and you believe that the method of expository preaching is what God has called you to, we offer courses on this free of charge. All you have to do is go to my website that is lawrencetaylorministry.com or dot org and you'll get information and you'll see how to register.

By the way, while you're on the website, also hit contact and let us know what you think about our program. Today, we will examine Romans chapter 8 verses 31 to 32. This is the final section in this chapter. The main point in verses 31 to 39 is the security that the believer has in the face of both human and spiritual opposition. Verse 31 reads, quote, What what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? This is a rhetorical question. If God is on your side, it doesn't really matter who is against you.

Paul's list of adversaries include both human, governmental, and spiritual beings. Why should the Christian be confident in the face of constant opposition? The answer is because God is on his or her side. How do I know that God is on my side? The apostle gives irrefutable evidence for this confidence in verse 32. Quote, He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? The expression in verse 32, his own son, means that son who is peculiar to God only.

This implies that the one who meant more to God than anyone or anything in the universe and in heaven, he did not spare, but gave him over for us. The two actions ascribed to God in verse 32 is a negative and a positive. He who did not spare, but delivered him over. The Greek verb translated spare phidomai phidomai and I'll spell that. That's p h e i d o m a i means to refrain from. It is used a number of times in the New Testament. For example, it's used in Romans chapter 11 verse 21.

Quote, For God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. It's used in 2 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 2. Quote, I have previously said when present the second time, and though now absent, I say in advance to those who sin in the past and to all the rest as well that if I come again, I will not spare you. End of quote. In the second Corinthians passage, Paul issues a warning to the Corinthians about his third trip to Corinth. You know, he talks about that third trip in 2 Corinthians 12 14.

The nature of the visit is to punish the Corinthians for their defection and their establishment of allegiance to other teachers. He warns them that he will not refrain from severely punishing them for this desertion. So, we see that the word phidomai means in this case sparing with the negative, it means not to spare, not to refrain. But notice the other expression, delivered over. That Greek verb is paradidomi paradidomi p a r a d i d o m i. The word is used in Romans chapter 1 versus 24, 26, and 28. God gave them up. It means to hand over.

The same word is used with reference to Jesus being handed over by Pilate to the Roman executioners for crucifixion in Matthew 27 verse 26. Quote, Then he released Barabbas for them, but having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. So, we see what handed over means. It means to surrender, to give over. God handed over his son to be crucified by wicked and evil men. This shows you the extent of the love of God for us that that his only son, the one who is more precious to him than anything in heaven and in the entire universe, he handed over to be crucified for you and me.

Well, that's the point that Paul is making. And and note the last part of verse 32. How will he not also with him freely give us all things? Freely give is a single Greek verb charizomai charizomai c h a r i z o m a i and means to give as a gift. That's right. God gave his son as a gift. But I want you to know that if he gave his son as a gift, he will not spare any gift. That charizomai, the verb is derived from the noun charisma. It is Paul's most common word for spiritual gifts used in Romans 12 and 11 Corinthians.

Romans 8 32 implies that God supplies us with spiritual gifts in this Christian journey as a result of our allegiance to Jesus. These gifts are not limited to a particular list. In fact, Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8 verse 32 that spiritual gifts are innumerable. John Canick in his book Charismata, God's gifts for God's people, wrote, quote, But we must resist using 1 Corinthians 12 through 14 normatively in a limiting sense. What Canick meant was that do not look at the gifts that are listed there and in Romans chapter 12 and say that's all the gifts there are.

God's gifts are innumerable. So, God is willing to give his gifts to us as a result of our acceptance of Jesus. We will examine the book of 1 Corinthians, God willing, after we finish our study of Romans. However, let's move on. In verses 33 to 34, Paul uses legal language. Quote, Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. The word charge used here means to bring a legal complaint.

In ancient Greek literature, that word was used for a legal accusation. When the Christian fails in his or her walk, a legal complaint is made against him. Let's note who makes the legal complaint. In Revelation chapter 12 verse 10, it reads, Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ has come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down. He who accuses them before God day and night. Satan is the accuser. He is the one who brings the accusation.

He is described here in Revelation as bringing accusations against believers before the throne of God day and night. Actually, Job chapters 1 and 2 give us a good illustration of this tribunal procedure. Nevertheless, no matter what charge he brings against us, it comes to naught because God is our advocate because Jesus is our advocate. He is our attorney for the defense. That is why Paul wrote in verse 34, Who is the one who condemns? Well, Satan condemns, but he will fail in his accusatory activity. Christ's intercessory ministry cancels every charge brought against us. It does not mean that we are innocent of the charges.

That God does not give us a carte blanche encouraging us to sin whenever we want to. However, this is a beautiful picture, a portrait in giving us an image of a legal proceeding. Martin Luther, the reformer, tells a story that one day in prayer, as he was praying, the devil came to him. And the devil said, what did you just do, Luther? And Luther said, I confessed my sins. He said, well, you didn't confess them all. How about this sin that you committed at this particular hour and that particular hour and that particular hour? And Satan had all his facts right.

But Luther said to the devil, ah, but there's one thing that you left out. And the devil said, what is that? He says that the blood of Jesus cleanses me from all unrighteousness. And then he said the devil left him. We will be triumphant because the second highest seat in the tribunal, in that court, is occupied by our Savior. He is at the right hand of God, and he is the one who both died and rose for us. The one who bore our sins on the cross is now seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, interceding for you and me.

Now, the apostle, after demonstrating the magnitude of the love of Christ, describes the inseparability of the believer from Christ in verses 35 to 39. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Just as it is written, For your sake, we are being put to death all day long. We are considered sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things, we are overwhelmingly conquerors through him that loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor heights nor depths nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

Paul's final remarks are a symphonic ode wove together in poetic phrases. It is really an injustice to reduce this section to mere textual analysis. There are no hymnals that contain songs that are as lofty as this. Its lyrics elevate us to the heights of the portals of heaven. What adjectives can describe the sentiments expressed in these words? Majestic, royal, grandios, resplendent, superb, all fail in capturing the sentiment of Paul's heart and mind in this section. The apostle Paul became enraptured with the magnitude of God's grace. So, he felt compelled to burst out in a hymn of praise.

The bars of justice that demanded my condemnation have been silenced forever. The interposition of the blood of Jesus turned my plight around, and I am not only saved, but I am secure. The creator of the universe wants my judge has become my friend. The omnipotent Savior has pledged to see that this once wretched rebel, bound in iniquity and imprisoned in his own folly, is now a heaven-bound saint and will be triumphant. There are no forces in the universe that can alter my destiny. An army of demonic hosts may try to separate me from the love of Christ, but they will fail.

The tempter himself with all his crafty schemes may try to separate me from the love of Christ, but he will fail. The circumstances of my life may be adverse, but they cannot separate me from the love of Christ. Diseases, no matter what they may be, whether it's cancer, lupus, diabetes, bronchitis, pneumonia, coronavirus, and a host of other maladies may plague my body, but they cannot separate me from the love of Christ. Even if I'm drowned in a host of adverse situations, they cannot separate me from the love of Christ. Listen, even when my heart is heavy and I am laden with care, it cannot separate me from the love of Christ.

The cosmic forces of the universe, billions of galaxies with billions of suns, moons, and stars united in a matrix of interplanetary canopy cannot separate me from the love of Christ. Every principality, both in heaven and earth, joined together cannot separate me from the love of Christ. My loving Savior has fixed it so that I will be triumphant in the end because I cannot be separated from his indelible grace. His nail print hands are my guarantee that I will persevere. Stormy times are coming. They will come, but it's all right because I am sheltered in the bosom of Christ, the one who loved me even unto death.

God exalts a exhausted the last impulse of his inestimable love to the point where he not only saved me, but he says he will transport my soul to heaven into his loving arms, and nothing in the universe, not even I, can separate myself from the love of Christ. Every enemy will be vanquished who comes against me because they cannot separate me from the love of Christ. I'm reminded of the story of a family friend. This family friend, Sherry Hargrove Hargrove, was a close friend to my my first wife. And she had two sons. Sherry had a a a challenging life, but she raised two sons and she she even went to law school.

Well, but she was a woman of enormous faith. One day, one of her sons had an accident. He was playing in some a part of a tree fell on him, and the splinters were enlarged in his skull. He was taken to the emergency room. And they worked on him, and they operated on him. And they told his mother, this woman of enormous faith, that your son will never walk again. He will always be paralyzed. This woman of enormous faith took her son out of the hospital and said, no, that is not going to happen to my son.

I believe God. I believe God. And she took her son. She laid over him, and she prayed for him day and night. And not only was he healed, but he went to college, and he became an athlete, all because she knew that God was on her side and that God loved her and that nothing in the universe could separate her from the love of Christ. Brothers and sisters, I don't know what kind of challenges are in your life. I don't know what's around the corner. I don't know what you've already faced. But I do know this, that you cannot be separated from the love of God.

This hymn writer wrote, A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing. Nor fear with thy righteousness on my person and offering to bring. The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do. My Savior's obedience and blood hides all my transgressions from view. And in that last stanza, he wrote, My name from the palms of his hands eternity will not erase. Impressed on his heart, it remains in marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end shall endure. As sure as the earnest is given, more happy but not more secure.

The glorified spirits in heaven.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to today's program. This broadcast is an extension of the ministry of Dr. Lawrence Taylor and the Kenilworth Baptist Church. To stream today's message, please go to lawrencetaylorministry.com and click on Lawrence Taylor Ministry forward slash message. Please join us again next week at the same time for Teaching the Word with Dr. Lawrence Taylor.