Congratulations, the eighth chapter of St Paul's Epistle
to the Romans, and the first words of
verse 31.
What shall we then say to these things?
This has been announced as a sermon in
the Puritan style.
I just wonder what you're expecting.
Are you expecting me to go on, I
wonder, for two hours?
We may say straight away that the Puritans
sometimes did preach too long.
John Howe, one of the very greatest of
them, once on a fast day, preached for
three hours solid.
And a lady in the congregation was asked
afterwards how she liked it.
Well, the first hour and a half had
been taken up in putting the text in
its context.
And her comment was that he spent so
long laying the table that I quite lost
my appetite for the meal.
There was also recorded of another Puritan that
on occasion, as a guest preacher at a
special service, he preached for two hours.
Then he had the grace to stop and
apologize for going on so long.
And say, well, he said, well really I
must stop now.
And the congregation, we are told, cried out,
for God's sake, sir, go on, go on.
And Thomas Fuller, recording that, commented, wonder not
if hungry people crave more meat.
The principle is that you don't give more
than people can take.
But it's good to be ready to give
as much as people can take.
There's two sides to this.
Again, I wonder if you're expecting me to
give you a whole multitude of points.
Richard Baxter once got the 64th place.
But don't worry, I shan't get within sight
of that target.
We may frankly admit that Puritan sermons were
often too complex, suffered from too many subdivisions,
and sometimes obscured their own argument thereby.
We don't want to imitate them in that.
What does it mean then to preach in
the Puritan style?
I'll tell you what I take it to
mean.
It means to preach in a way that's
expository.
The Puritans thought to be expositors first and
last, opening texts.
That was their phrase for it.
Bringing out the treasures hidden in the various
texts of the Word of God.
Preaching in the Puritan style is preaching that's
doctrinal.
The Puritans believed that texts teach truths, and
that the preacher's business is to find those
truths and display them so that people may
learn them.
And again, preaching in the Puritan style is
preaching that's contemporary.
There never were preachers more directly contemporary than
the Puritans.
One of them said this, It's a cheap
zeal that declaimeth against the errors of yesterday.
And it would be a cheap zeal on
my part, wouldn't it, if I simply ate
the Puritan preacher when God has set me
to preach the Word to you in 1967.
Then again, preaching in the Puritan style is
preaching that's applicatory.
The Puritans thought to get inside their hearers.
They thought to use the Word of God
in order to search their hearts.
They believed that one reason why God had
given us His truth was so that we
might know ourselves as we are in His
presence, as He knows us.
And they thought to apply the Word in
such a way that their congregations would know
themselves.
And also in such a way that their
congregations would feel the healing power of truth
of those particular places of need and trouble,
the sore places, the bruised places, in their
own consciousness and their own hearts.
Applicatory preaching, we need it today.
This is one of the things that the
Puritans can teach us.
And finally I'd say this, that preaching in
the Puritan style is preaching that, if I
might try to reclaim an abused phrase, preaching
that is honest to God.
Much preaching today, I believe, is not honest
to God.
It's not honest to God in its nature.
It doesn't declare God's whole counsel.
It fast peddles God's holiness and God's severity.
That's abusing the Word of God.
Much preaching today, I believe, is equally failing
to be honest to God in its manner.
It's sentimental and cheapening holy things.
Or it's brilliant and thereby calling attention to
the preacher rather than to the Lord.
The Puritans lead us out of these paths
into honest preaching.
The preaching of those who have sought to
hear the Word of God and now stand
before congregations to declare what they've heard.
Richard Baxter had a phrase for it.
I want to be, he said, a plain
and pressing downright preacher.
I believe we need such preachers today.
This, to be sure, is what I mean
by preaching in the Puritan style.
You can see that it's only by the
grace of God that anyone ever succeeds in
preaching in the Puritan style.
And if a man ever does, he ought
to be very thankful.
May God enable me to preach in the
Puritan style tonight.
Look at this text.
What shall we then say to these things?
Says the Apostle.
He's asking a question.
He's asking for a reaction.
We're used to this, of course.
This is an age in which people are
very interested in their fellow men's reactions.
And whole radio and television programs are built
up simply out of interviews in which people
are quizzed about their reactions to this and
that.
But Paul is not asking for reactions to
events of the day, a politician's speech, the
passing of a law, a particular cultural trend
or an issue about which people are talking.
Paul's not thinking of anything like that.
What he's asking for a reaction to is
his doctrine, his theology.
Oh, there are many people today who shake
their heads when they're asked to react to
Paul's theology.
They say, Paul, let's face it.
He's a very difficult and a very dull
writer.
And we take leave to doubt whether when
you've understood him you've really got to the
heart of Christianity.
Or they say the heart of Christianity is
in the Gospels rather than the epistles.
We can afford to give Paul a miss.
That's what they say.
Can we?
I judge that reaction to be simply disastrous.
What shall we then say to these things,
says the Apostle?
He's inviting us to react to the things
that he's been telling us, the specific things
that he's been telling us in this 8th
chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.
Why did he write that chapter?
He wrote it because he'd just written the
7th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.
And in that 7th chapter, in the second
half of the chapter particularly, he'd explained at
length what it is that the law of
God, the holy law of God tells the
Christian about himself.
What it told Paul about himself.
That he's still a sinner.
That he's still got an awful long way
to go.
That still despite his desire to be perfect,
he's a thousand miles off perfection.
It tells him he remains a miserable sinner.
He aspires to please the Lord who has
redeemed him and saved him.
Sometimes he thinks he's getting on well.
But then comes the law and the law
talks to him about himself and shows him
all his failures, all his shortcomings, how very,
very far short he falls.
And it's depressing knowledge.
As Paul wrote it down in the second
half of that 7th chapter, it depressed him
to write it.
You remember how at the end of the
chapter he cried out, O wretched man that
I am!
Who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?
Well he had an answer to that question.
He had a hope of deliverance.
But the very fact that he was prompted
to write the question into the letter shows
how strongly, how acutely, how distressingly it made
him feel just to put it down.
What the Lord told Paul about himself and
he knew that if his readers were spiritual
Christians what he had written would have a
depressing effect upon them too.
So he follows the 7th chapter of Romans
by the 8th chapter.
And the logic connecting the two chapters is
pastoral logic.
When a preacher of the gospel has told
people, Christian people, things calculated to depress them
then the next thing for him to do
is to remind them of the things that
the gospel tells them about themselves in order
to restore the balance.
And that is what Paul is doing in
the 8th chapter of the letter.
He has told them what the law has
to tell them about themselves now this is
what the gospel tells them about themselves as
he recaps the whole exposition of divine grace
that he has been following through from chapter
3 through chapter 6 he tells them this
for their comfort for their encouragement to restore
the equilibrium to set them on an even
keel again.
For you see the Christian isn't simply addressed
by the law of God now nor even
primarily addressed by the law of God fundamental
to his living are the things which the
gospel tells them about himself the good news
of the mercies of God.
Let's be clear on it.
The Christian lives both in Romans 7 and
in Romans 8 he doesn't escape out of
the one into the other he lives in
both together and you are not indeed in
Romans 8 not truly unless you are conscious
of being in Romans 7 because Romans 8
is the answer to the questions that Romans
7 raises.
The Puritans were clear on this it would
help some of us if we were clear
on it too.
I don't like the word Calvinist Calvin wouldn't
have liked it either he would have said
you've no business to be following me follow
him but sometimes I'm accused of being a
Calvinist and as men use the word I
can't deny it so all that I want
to say about myself is what Calvin wanted
to say about himself namely that I seek
to follow where the Lord Jesus and his
apostles would lead me but if this kind
of question is put to me I answer
it like this I say well you use
the word I don't know what you mean
by it but may I tell you what
I mean by a Calvinist and if I'm
allowed to do that I say what I
mean by a Calvinist is this a man
who lives in the 8th chapter of the
Romans man whose home is there you could
define a Puritan the same way too other
Christians wander around from place to place the
Puritans lived in the truths of Romans 8
what are the things that Paul has been
saying in this chapter that he's summoning us
to react to he's been speaking of the
four gifts of God through the gospel first
the gift of righteousness you remember how the
chapter opens there is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus for
God has bestowed on us the gift of
righteousness now we are right with him now
we are accepted with him because Jesus Christ
has died for us and our sins are
put away there is no condemnation no fear
therefore nothing to be alarmed at the gift
of righteousness the gift of a right relationship
with God through Jesus Christ and then he
went on secondly to speak of the gift
of the spirit the spirit who dwelleth in
us as he said in the ninth verse
of the chapter the spirit who shall quicken
our mortal bodies as he said in the
eleventh verse the spirit who helpeth our infirmities
teaching us to pray as he said in
the twenty sixth verse the gift of the
spirit the earnest of our inheritance the first
installment a foretaste of glory the great enabler
given to us by God to indwell us
and be with us and uphold us through
this world to our heavenly home and then
he went on thirdly to speak of the
gift of sonship the gift of adoption once
you were without God, without Christ, without hope
says Paul but now you've received the spirit
of adoption because you've received the status and
the privilege of adoption the spirit's given you
to confirm it and to testify to it
in your heart the spirit dares witness with
our spirit that we are the children of
God he said in the sixteenth verse you're
adopted into God's family you're made God's heir
what a wonderful thing that the holy God
of heaven is now your father and despite
all your sin he smiles on you as
his child the gift of sonship a wonderful
thing and then he spoke of the gift
of security he spoke in verse twenty eight
of the purpose of God according to which
men are being called and in verses twenty
nine to thirty he described what their purpose
is whom God did foreknow from eternity he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of his son that he, the Lord
Jesus might be the firstborn among many brethren
and whom he did predestinate then he also
called and whom he called then he also
justified and whom he justified then he also
glorified the gift of security whom he justified
then he also glorified the tense seemed wrong
why you say here is Paul using the
past tense when our glorification is yet future
but the answer to that is that you
haven't grasped Paul's point Paul deliberately uses the
past tense in order to make the point
that in the plan and purpose of God
the thing is as good as done settled
established whom he justified then he also glorified
it's certain it's fixed it's definite it's promised
that's the gift of security these are the
things that Paul has been talking about what
tremendous blessings they are righteousness the spirit adoption
safety and now Paul summons us to react
to these things and from this fact from
I mean the fact that he does summon
us to react to them we learn two
things first we learn the nature of Christianity
what is Christianity it isn't simply a matter
of seeking to imitate the Lord Jesus it
isn't simply a matter of seeking to live
out the sermon on the mount it certainly
isn't a matter of vague spiritual quiet feeling
it's a matter of reacting to God's text
it's a matter of reacting to gospel truth
it's a matter of knowing about these things
and reacting and responding to these things this
is why we say that you cannot have
living Christianity without doctrine these four truths, these
four doctrines are the essential truths to which
Paul summons us to react being a Christian
is a matter of reacting to the good
news of these things the Puritans knew it
that's why they were so strong in teaching
doctrine gospel doctrine their concern was to teach
truth and make truth known that men might
savingly respond to it and react to it
in a way that would bring them eternal
life that's the very nature of Christianity and
an undogmatic preaching of a Jesus who's never
explained will not issue in a very high
quality of Christianity these truths are needed to
explain him Christianity is response to the gospel
according to Paul and the second truth we
learn as Paul summons us to react to
these things is the secret of Christian living
again, this is something that the Puritans knew
call it the Puritan secret if you like
men without Christ take their tone the whole
temper of their life and their conduct from
circumstances around them Christians don't that's the secret
of Christian living this is the essential difference
between the Christian and all other men we
know how men out of Christ are they're
restless they're dissatisfied they're depressed just underneath all
that restless activity they're depressed aren't they?
why?
because deep down at the heart of them
they've got a sense of impotence they can't
handle themselves very often they certainly can't handle
life around them they feel they're in the
grip of forces that are too strong for
them they become faithless just can't cope as
we say in England I don't know if
you say it here life too much for
them they've got no hope what can they
look forward to?
getting old losing their power going into what
we call declining years yes I know we
cover it up with nice names like senior
citizens and so forth but as a man
searches his heart and looks on to the
days when he'll be old if he's just
a worldling and has got nothing to live
for save the pleasures of every day it's
a depressing prospect no wonder then that he
feels well while things are good I'll take
as much as I can he feels guilt
men in our day have thought that they
could get rid of the reality the sense
of guilt by denying God and men have
denied God and they'll tell you they're atheists
but they still have to queue up at
the psychiatrist's consulting rooms because they've got a
nagging unfocused sense of guilt guilt that they
can't get rid of and the psychiatrists by
their own confession and they write this down
in their books non-christian psychiatrists men with
no christian axe to grind record this when
they meet with this general unfocused sense of
guilt setting all the colour out of life
bringing gloom, bringing depression there's not much that
they can do about it this is part
of the tragedy of modern men you know
if only he were humble enough to admit
that his sense of guilt was a token
that he'd sinned against God and if he
would humble himself before the God against whom
he'd sinned then he could get rid of
his sense of guilt he could have his
sin forgiven but if he won't acknowledge God
he can never get rid of that knowledge
of guilt at all neither in this world
nor in the world to come and there's
modern men and he's isolated and he's lonely
and he feels unloved and he's craving for
affection and he's unstable and he's miserable this
is why men drink this is why they
get surly and snap your head off when
you talk to them this is why they
chase after money and possessions and a big
bank balance and pleasure and so forth this
is why they crack up well, this is
not of course new truth to you nor
is it new truth to the world this
essentially is a situation that hasn't changed since
St. Paul's day and, now this I want
to underline these are pressures which are and
always have been just the same for the
Christian as for the man without Christ here
was Paul and he was getting old and
he was living a life of outward insecurity
and when he thought back to things like
the execution of Stephen and the days when
he persecuted the church he felt guilt and
the Puritans too had to face some of
these pressures they were isolated men, they were
ridiculed men they were often imprisoned for their
faith and the hardships that some of them
had to endure when they came across the
Atlantic and colonized New England are nobody's business
and yet Paul and those Puritans of old
didn't react to these crushing pressures of circumstances
in the way that the worldling does and
the tone and the temper of their life
didn't come from these pressures and they weren't
depressed what was the tone, the temper, the
mood of their life why it was a
mood of joy humble joy fallen joy but
yet real joy why was that you say
why simply because they had faced these things
the things which Paul sets forth in Romans
8 and day by day they were reacting
to these things and these things were setting
the whole tone of their lives often feelings
were against them what did they do they
set themselves to argue themselves out of these
feelings of depression and gloom by fixing their
mind on these things the wellspring of joy
and so they lived a life which the
apostle describes in an amazing phrase in the
37th verse of this chapter he says in
all these things all these outward pressures and
hardships and difficulties in all these things we
are not simply conquerors but more than conquerors
through him that loved us this is what
happens when people begin to react in a
positive way to these things of which Paul
has been speaking in the 8th chapter of
the Romans note that Paul says what shall
we then say to these things that we
is inclusive it's Paul and all true Christians
all true believers with Paul he is speaking
as representative of all the saints does that
include us who are the we for whom
Paul is speaking we can answer that question
very simply the we of this verse is
the people, the company of those who have
followed Paul through the reality that he has
been explaining and displaying in his arguments in
the epistle to the Romans up to this
point those who followed Paul through the recognition
of God's anger against their sins those who
have acknowledged God's grace in the cross of
Christ those who have repented those who have
turned from sin those who have trusted those
who have cast all their hopes on the
Saviour those who thereby have entered into peace
and who, being justified by faith have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and
those who, as it says in the 6th
chapter of the epistle have become, and consciously
become servants of righteousness and whose one business
in life now is to please their Lord
and be holy all along the line servants
of righteousness and those therefore who are seeking
to do what Paul summoned his readers to
do earlier in this 8th chapter to mortify
sin to set themselves to fight sin that
sin that dwells in them and so far
as they can to kill it to put
it to death and have to put it
to death and drain the life out of
it by the power of the Spirit of
God penitent believers servants of righteousness fighting sin
each day of their lives that's the we
for whom Paul is speaking those who with
Paul have been willing to go into hard
places for the Lord Jesus that's the we
for whom he is speaking are you among
that we?
the Puritans knew that this kind of question
could never be asked too often the Puritans
knew something of the self-deception of the
human heart how easy it is to suppose
that you're in that is that you're in
the kingdom and in Christ just because you're
in the fellowship of earnest Christian people a
lively church you like singing the hymns you
come to the services you join in the
prayers you must be in you feel and
there's the deceitfulness of the human heart taking
over it doesn't follow at all that you're
in just because you belong to an evangelical
Christian church and go through the motions and
sing the hymns and all the rest of
it you're only in if you've repented and
believed you're only in or at least you're
only entitled to believe that you're in if
you're consciously living as a servant of righteousness
and setting yourself against sin in every form
in which it presents itself every temptation that
comes every seduction that the devil brings to
you every evil thought that rises up within
you and would lead you astray from the
way of the Lord before we go any
further let's search our own hearts I say
again are you among the we for whom
Paul's speaking here for he's going to show
us what is the Christian man's reaction to
these things and if you're not a Christian
man you can't follow him any further so
may the Lord search our hearts and make
us real with him but what's the reaction
which Paul himself expresses and the reaction which
Paul expresses not simply on behalf of himself
but on behalf of all those who are
truly in Christ real believers well we haven't
time to say very much about it we
could only just glance through the passage and
give the headings really but I want us
just to glance through it and see how
Paul argues the thing through to the end
of the chapter he says four things four
things which express his reaction and every true
believer's reaction to what should we say to
these things what follows from them what's the
inference what's the consequence well first this if
these things are true no opposition can triumph
over us Paul's ministering to the man who's
tempted to be afraid the man who finds
that his Christian service is leading him into
ways that are so discouraging and so depressing
and pressures which are so great and so
seemingly intolerable that he's beginning to panic Christian
though he is no no no says Paul
look at the facts of the gospel and
realize what follows these things are true and
therefore no opposition can triumph over us what
shall we then say to these things if
God be for us who is against us
now I'm following the revised version and all
the modern translations when I render the last
words that way not who can be against
us as the King James puts it but
who is against us it's the better translation
and it gets us nearer the heart of
Paul's thought you see he's not saying that
if God is for us there can't be
any opposition that would be stupid that would
be false he's going to contradict it in
a very few verses time there's a great
deal of opposition if you become a Christian
you walk into a war men are against
you sin is against you the devil is
against you and you have to face perplexities
and an intensity of opposition that you never
knew in any situation whatever before you became
a Christian but says Paul God is for
us in the light of that he says
I invite you to do a calculation God
is for us now consider who is against
us now ask yourself which is the stronger
side do you remember the time when Elisha's
servant got into a panic it's recorded for
us in the 6th chapter of 2nd Kings
he woke up one morning and the city
was surrounded with the armies of the Syrians
and they were after Elijah and Elisha's servant
was absolutely not absolutely at his wit's end
didn't know where to turn alas my master
he said how shall we do Elisha wasn't
in a panic Elisha answered him we are
told as the 2nd Kings 6.16 fear
not he said for they that be with
us are more than they that be with
them and Elisha prayed and said O Lord
I pray thee open his eyes that he
may see and the Lord opened the young
man's eyes and he saw on the hill
the mountain was full of horses and chariots
of fire round about Elisha if only we
could wake up to God's facts then we
shouldn't be frightened of the opposition anymore angelic
hosts come to protect the Lord's servant that's
what Elisha's servant that's what Elisha's servant saw
when his eyes were opened and the almighty
God for us in all his might and
his majesty that's what the apostle sees here
and he says and if God is for
us well who is against us do you
suppose that there's any doubt as to which
is the victory side all individual battles may
be lost temporarily for the moment but there's
no doubt as to who will triumph in
the end Satan will fight and fight hard
but there's no doubt whatever who is the
conqueror in battle with Satan God is for
us therefore no opposition can triumph over us
one with God is a majority that's what
Paul's saying here's a word for men who
as so many of the Puritans were are
seeking to foretell a ministry in churches where
the gospel is not known nor loved but
rather rejected and where men resent the preaching
of Christ here's a word for the lonely
layman seeking to bear a faithful witness for
Christ in a church that doesn't care for
the gospel and where it's never preached no
opposition can triumph over us you feel the
opposition my friend yes I know you do
and often it's very depressing and discouraging indeed
remember that the Lord's on your side remember
to react constantly daily to the great facts
of Romans 8 Paul goes on the second
thing he says is this no blessing he
says can be withheld from us that too
follows from the fact that these things are
as they are that's verse 32 he that
spared not his own sons this pull but
delivered him up for us all how shall
he not with him also freely give us
all things man was made to want the
best nothing to be ashamed of in that
that's just to be that's just what it
means to be human if you don't want
the best you're something less than human but
the question which the Bible teaches us to
ask is what is the real best Paul
is speaking in this verse the people who
still are tempted to discouragement tempted to alarm
they fear that the opposition and the pressure
of the opposition and the fight in which
they find themselves engaged as Christians will somehow
mean that they lose life's best it will
be a hard road and what will there
be at the end of it well Paul
is here answering that doubt for himself and
for all those in whose name he speaks
he answers it by asking a question what
can stop God what can stop God giving
us every good thing that he has to
give that's Paul's question look he says our
God has already given for us the greatest
thing that he had to give Jesus his
own son dying on a cross for our
sin he spared not his own son but
delivered him up to Calvary for us could
there be any gift more costly to the
father than that could there be any gift
more precious either to him or to us
than that well if God has already given
us the greatest gift how can we doubt
that he'll go on to give us all
the rest he'll give us all things not
necessarily all the things that in our folly
we want but all the things that he
knows is to be for our good and
our good means that purpose that he has
for us that good purpose for which all
things work together for good and that means
ultimately that God will bring us to himself
and bring us into fellowship with himself in
a way with which no bliss that we
know on this earth can compare you remember
how it's put at the end of the
73rd psalm thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel and afterward receive me to glory whom
have I in heaven but thee and there's
none upon earth that I desire beside thee
my flesh and my heart faileth but God
is the strength of my heart and my
portion forever how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things abundant blessings
in this life and himself in all his
fullness as our final goal man was made
to enjoy God forever says the shorter catechism
and so you shall says the apostle he
that spared not his own son but delivered
him up for us all will with him
also freely give us all things all blessings
leading to himself and his own fellowship his
own smile, his own joy at the end
of the road and the third thing Paul
says is this if the Romans eight facts
are true then no accusation can succeed against
us that's verse 33 who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect it's God
that justifies who is he that condemneth it's
Christ who died yea who's risen again who's
even at the right hand of God who
also makes intercession for us no accusation can
succeed against us if he stands there in
the Father's presence guaranteeing our eternal welcome guaranteeing
our eternal peace by his blood, by his
intercession you see there are two kinds of
consciences there's the conscience that is not conscious
of sin when it should be and I
think too many of us frankly have consciences
of that sort but there's also the type
of conscience that the apostle Paul had quite
certainly the conscience that is not doesn't always
find it easy to be as conscious of
pardon as it should be and which has
to argue itself back into assurance when the
sense of guilt comes when Satan begins to
stand up in the conscience of the accuser
of one and to bring one's sins to
one's remembrance and to remind one what a
rotter one has been Paul is here arguing
out of that state of mind back into
the assurance of pardon who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect it can't
be done says the apostle this is part
of the glory of the message it can't
be done top lady rock of ages top
lady once put this into verse in what
seems to me to be a wonderful hymn
the soul arguing with itself over this very
issue listen from whence this fear and unbelief
hath not the father put to grief his
spotless son for me and will the righteous
judge of men condemn me for that load
of sin which Lord was charged on thee
if thou my pardon hath secured and freely
in my room endured the whole of wrath
divine payment God will not twice demand first
from my bleeding short his hand and then
again from mine return my soul unto thy
rest the sorrows of thy great high priest
have bought thy liberty trust in his efficacious
blood nor fear thy banishment from God for
Jesus died for thee no accusation can succeed
against those for whom Jesus died and finally
Paul says this nothing can separate us from
Christ's love that's the thought of verses 35
through 39 who shall separate us from the
love of Christ I am persuaded that neither
death nor life nor anything in God's whole
creation shall be able to separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord oh says someone times are
so trying and I make such a mess
of the situation when I'm tested and I'm
such a poor disciple may not the Lord
lose patience with me may I not by
my stumbling and my fumbling kill his love
for me no says the apostle you can't
Christ's love for you was freely given and
Christ's love freely continues and he'll keep you
and nothing can separate you from his love
nothing can pluck you out of his hands
let top lady put it for us again
the work that his mercy began the arm
of his strength will complete his promises yea
and amen and never was forfeited yet and
I to the end shall endure as sure
as the earnest is given more happy but
not more secure the glorified spirits in heaven
yes one day I shall be happier than
I am now but I shall never be
safer than I am now for with Christ
holding me in the bonds of his covenant
love I am as safe as ever I
can be what shall we say to these
things that no opposition can triumph over us
that no blessing can be withheld from us
that no accusation can succeed against us that
nothing can separate us from the love of
Christ the Puritans called this consolation strong
consolation isn't it just strong consolation for the
hard pressed saints of God and you know
this is what Puritanism was all about seeking
to build a church and a community made
up of individuals who lived in Romans 8
and who knew these things in their own
hearts and were living lives of triumph and
holiness because they knew these things in their
own hearts that's Puritanism that's the real thing
don't be misled by the caricatures that was
the heartbeat of it that's what this next
three days of conference is all about too
and this let me say to you brethren
of mine in the ministry is what our
ministry is all about this is the ultimate
objective of our preaching of the gospel and
our pastoral care are we clear on it
have we got it in view all the
time to lead men and women out of
darkness into the light of Romans 8 assurance
Romans 8 triumph Romans 8 holiness for this
ultimately is what the Bible is all about
God has given us this book this book
of promises this book of grace precisely to
lead us into this experience is that what
he's using it to do in your life
in my life isn't this something from which
many of us have slipped isn't it something
from which many of us have drifted yes
I know we are doing many things right
things for our Lord but are we homing
on Romans 8 are we homing on this
strong consolation and this radiant holiness based on
reaction daily reaction to the great facts of
covenant mercy and divine salvation I think that
some of us are falling short of it
that's why I think that this Puritan conference
of ours is needed and under God may
do some of us a great deal of
good a tract published in 1646 entitled The
Character of an Old English Puritan contained finally
this description of him he was a man
who stood four square unshakable unmovable so that
they who in the midst of many opinions
have lost the view of true religion may
return to him and there find it I
believe that to be a true testimony and
my prayer for our conference in these next
three days is that under God the Puritans
may help us to find our way into
these realities so that our Christian lives may
be deep and strong and radiant and pure
and we may grow up from our pygmy
state into the measure of a full grown
man the stature of the fullness of Christ
may this be our portion God grant it
so Amen