[0:00] Well, this evening we're looking at Romans chapter 8. With the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, I'd like us to look at the whole chapter this evening. But if we just read again at verse 1, Romans chapter 8 and verse 1, where Paul writes, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
[0:27] There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Why should I become a Christian?
[0:43] How do I know that I'm a Christian? How can I be sure that I'm the genuine article? How can I have assurance of my salvation?
[0:54] Why is the Lord allowing this to happen in my life? You know, there are some of the questions which Paul addresses and answers in Romans chapter 8.
[1:07] Because there are times in our lives when we're concerned or even confused about our salvation. And there are also other times when we're overwhelmed by sin and even overcome by Satan.
[1:20] And these things, they cause us to have days of doubt and moments of mistrusting the Lord. But you know, Romans chapter 8, it sets before us our absolute assurance.
[1:33] Romans chapter 8 sets before us our absolute assurance. And Romans chapter 8, it's not only a familiar chapter to many of us here this evening. It's also a favorite chapter.
[1:45] Maybe it's your favorite chapter. But there's one person whose favorite chapter it is. It's Effie Harris' favorite chapter. I was visiting Effie the other day and also this afternoon and talking to her.
[1:58] And she said this was her favorite chapter. We read it together. And that's what encouraged me to preach on it this evening. Because Romans chapter 8 is a chapter which gives to us and guarantees to us our absolute assurance.
[2:14] Our absolute assurance. And Romans chapter 8, it's one of those chapters where you could probably preach a sermon on every single verse in this chapter. But this evening, I want us to consider the chapter as a whole.
[2:28] I want us to see the thread that's running through it. You could say it's a scarlet thread that's running through it. A thread that always brings us back to Jesus. And I want us to see from Romans chapter 8 that we have absolute assurance when it comes to salvation, sonship, supplication, and separation.
[2:48] We have absolute assurance when it comes to salvation, sonship, supplication, and separation. So we have absolute assurance in salvation.
[3:01] That's what Paul says in verses 1 and 2. He says, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
[3:17] Don't you just love that opening statement? Because it's bursting with biblical truth. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
[3:30] Those who are in Christ Jesus. My friend, our absolute assurance in salvation is that we're in Christ. We're in union with Jesus Christ.
[3:40] We're united to Jesus Christ by faith. And you know, Paul loves this concept of union with Christ because he's writing about it all the time.
[3:50] He writes about it in almost every letter. And he's telling the church that we are those who are with Christ. We are in Christ. We're in union with Christ.
[4:01] And Paul loves the concept of union with Christ because it emphasizes how precious and also how personal our salvation really is.
[4:12] Because, as you know, our union with Christ, it's a work of the Holy Spirit. Our union with Christ is a work of the Holy Spirit. That's what Paul says in verse 2.
[4:24] For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. So our absolute assurance in salvation is that we are united to Jesus Christ.
[4:37] And we are united to Jesus Christ, or we were united to Jesus Christ when we were effectually called by the Holy Spirit. And I know that for all of us, there were many times when we heard the gospel.
[4:53] Many times maybe where we sat in church and we heard the gospel and preachers, they compelled us and they called us to come to Christ for salvation. But it was only when the Holy Spirit began working in our heart and in our lives that our eyes were opened and our ears were opened and our heart was opened.
[5:12] And then we were effectually called in the gospel. Because in that moment, in that moment, the Holy Spirit, as we're told in the catechism, the Holy Spirit convinced us of our sin and misery.
[5:25] He enlightened our mind in the knowledge of Christ. He showed us that we are sinners in need of a Savior. And in that moment, He renewed our will.
[5:35] He persuaded us and He enabled us to embrace Jesus Christ as He's freely offered to us in the gospel. And you know, we use all these theological terms.
[5:46] We talk about effectual calling and we talk about union with Christ. But we also talk about regeneration. Regeneration is when we were effectually called, we were regenerated.
[5:59] We were awakened. We were made alive by the Holy Spirit. We were brought from death to life. And we were brought to life and we were resurrected from the dead.
[6:11] Because that's what regeneration is. It's been brought from death to life, from darkness to light, from the dungeon of sin to liberty and salvation.
[6:21] But it's when we were effectually called, when we were regenerated, when we were united to Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, it's through all that that we came to receive every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.
[6:40] And you know, all the blessings and all the benefits of heaven are ours tonight through our union with Christ.
[6:52] You know, this is the wonder of the Christian. Our citizenship is not here. Our citizenship is in heaven because all the blessings and benefits of heaven are ours tonight.
[7:08] We are in union with Christ. And Christ is in heaven. But you know, Paul here, he not only emphasizes what we have received because we are in Christ, he also emphasizes what we don't receive by being in Christ.
[7:25] He says in the opening verse, Which means that there was condemnation.
[7:37] There was condemnation for us when we were still in Adam. When we were in union with Adam. Because when we were in union with Adam, we were, well, part of Adam, where Adam had sinned.
[7:52] And we sinned in him and we fell with him. We fell in union with him in his first transgression. And through our union with Adam, all mankind fell into an estate of sin and misery.
[8:05] That's what our catechism teaches us. It's a wonderful document. Always go back to the catechism because it reminds us that all mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God.
[8:17] They are under his wrath and curse. They're so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself and to the pains of hell forever. But our absolute assurance tonight, my friend, is that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
[8:36] There's condemnation for those who are in Adam. But there's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Our absolute assurance, you know, my friend, is that we can claim and confess Jesus as our assurance.
[8:56] That's what he says in verse 2. The law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin.
[9:13] He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
[9:26] You know, our absolute assurance tonight is that we have done nothing for ourselves. We didn't save ourselves. And our salvation is in many ways nothing to do with us because our absolute assurance is that God has done it all and God is still doing it all.
[9:47] And he's doing it all in and through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. Because as we read, God the Father, he condemned Jesus Christ in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.
[10:06] No, God, as Paul says in Corinthians, God demonstrates his love towards us in that whilst we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And that's what Paul is talking about here.
[10:18] He's presenting to us Calvary's great transaction where he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him through our union with him.
[10:35] It's Calvary's great transaction and I hope we never forget it. The worst about me laid upon him. The best about him laid upon me. My disobedience reckoned to him.
[10:47] His obedience reckoned to me. My sin and shame transferred to Christ. His salvation and security transferred to me.
[10:59] My friend, Calvary's great transaction is our absolute assurance of salvation. It's our absolute assurance of salvation. And you know, with that, Paul continues in verses 5 to 8 and he seeks to answer some of these common questions and queries that we often have about our absolute assurance of salvation.
[11:21] Questions about, well, how do I know that I'm a Christian? How can I be sure that I'm the genuine article? How can I have assurance of my salvation? And what Paul says is that when the Holy Spirit is at work in your life, your drive and your desires change.
[11:43] When the Spirit is at work in your life, your drive and your desires change. Because he says, those who live according to the flesh, which is the flesh of Adam, their focus is always upon self.
[11:57] They're driven by selfish desires where they're willing and wanting to put self before the Savior. They might be the nicest people in the world and they often are.
[12:09] But they're always wanting to put self before the Savior. And that's what Paul says in verse 5, For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.
[12:21] But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
[12:33] So my friend, you can be sure that you're a Christian. You can know that you're a Christian. You can know that you're the genuine article. You can have assurance of salvation and that the Lord is at work in your heart and life by His Holy Spirit.
[12:48] And you can do so by simply looking back. Look back and you'll see that there was a time in your life when you lived for the flesh.
[13:00] You lived according to the flesh. You lived for self. You were driven by your own selfish desires. But now your desires have changed.
[13:13] Because instead of putting self first, you seek to put the Savior first. And you see yourself now as a miserable sinner and the Savior as a marvelous Savior.
[13:25] And you want Jesus to have the priority. You want Him to have the preeminence. You want Him to have all the praise in your life. And you know, in the past, in the past, you may have read the Bible and come to church out of a sense of duty.
[13:40] But now, you read the Bible, you come to church with a desire to learn and a desire to listen. And you know, I always find that the most amazing thing is that you can sit in church for years and never hear.
[13:57] And then all of a sudden, the Lord opens your hearing. I remember being like that. I sat under many a ministry, didn't hear a word.
[14:09] And yet, when the Lord opened my ears, I could hear. And that's how we know we have this absolute assurance. When we look back to what we once were in the flesh and what we now are in the Spirit, we have this desire to learn and this desire to listen.
[14:25] You know, my friend, our absolute assurance, it isn't about looking inward to self. It's always about looking upward to the Savior. You know, that's why John Newton, that's why he confessed.
[14:41] He said, I'm not what I ought to be. I'm not what I want to be. I'm not what I hope to be in another world. But still, I'm not what I once used to be.
[14:54] And by the grace of God, I am what I am. And John Newton was someone who knew the grace of God. He knew what God's grace was.
[15:04] He knew it was amazing grace. That's why he wrote that beautiful hymn, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found.
[15:18] Was blind, but now I see. Wonderful words that give to us our absolute assurance.
[15:29] And that's what Paul is giving to us here. So Romans 8, it asserts and affirms to us our absolute assurance in salvation. Then secondly, our absolute assurance as sons.
[15:41] Our absolute assurance as sons. Look at verse 12. He says, So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
[15:51] For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
[16:03] For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father.
[16:15] So Paul, he continues to give confirmation and clarity regarding our absolute assurance. And he does so by saying that through our union with Christ and by the encouragement and the enabling of the Holy Spirit, we are to put to death the deeds of the body.
[16:33] We're to put to death the deeds of the body. That's what he says in verse 13. But I always love the way the authorized version puts it. Where it talks about mortifying the deeds of the body.
[16:46] Mortify the deeds of the body. It was Peter's good friend and Puritan, John Owen, he wrote in his famous book The Mortification of Sin.
[16:59] John Owen asked, he said, Christian, do you mortify? Do you mortify the deeds of the body? Do you make it your daily work?
[17:10] Do you flee sin? Do you fight sin? Be always at it whilst you live, said Owen. Cease not a day from this work. And then the well-known phrase, be killing sin or sin will be killing you.
[17:26] Be killing sin or sin will be killing you. We're to mortify the deeds of the body. And you know, a confirmation of our absolute assurance is that we are conscious and we are convicted of our sin.
[17:45] An absolute assurance of our salvation is that we are conscious and we are convicted by our sin. It's not just that we know that we're sinners because there are many people in our community, they know that they're sinners but they do nothing about it.
[17:59] But a confirmation of our absolute assurance is that we are conscious. We have a conscience that's alive by the Spirit. We are conscious and convicted by our sin.
[18:12] We're aware of our sin. We're alert to our sin. We're alarmed by our sin. We think to ourselves, how can I be so sinful? And you know, that's why Paul confessed at the end of the previous chapter in chapter 7, he says, the good that I would, I do not.
[18:31] But the evil that I would not, that is what I keep on doing. The good that I would, I do not. But the evil that I would not, that I do. You know, Paul was aware of his sin.
[18:43] He was alert to his sin. He was alarmed by his sin. Which is why he says at the end of chapter 7, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?
[18:57] You know, Paul had a conscience, a God-given conscience where he was conscious and convicted by his sin, which was a confirmation of his absolute assurance.
[19:11] Maybe you think to yourself, how can I be a Christian if I'm so sinful? But maybe you should actually think to yourself, wow, I see my sin. That's a work of the Holy Spirit.
[19:23] I see how sinful I am. There was a day I didn't see my sin at all. I'm now conscious. I'm now convicted by my sin, which is a confirmation of my absolute assurance in Christ.
[19:40] Because, my friend, it's the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. That's what Paul is saying to us. It's the Holy Spirit who convicts us. It's the Holy Spirit who convinces us of our sin and of our misery.
[19:55] Even when we're disobedient, even when we're dishonoring the Lord by our sin, the fact that we're conscious of it, the fact that we're convicted of our sin, it should be a confirmation to us of our absolute assurance.
[20:13] And that's because as those who are in Christ, as those who are in union with Christ, we know what we have received. And we feel guilty when we sin against the Lord.
[20:24] We know that we have received full and free forgiveness of sin. We know that in Christ, we are free in Christ. And because we're free in Christ, we know that we're no longer slaves to sin.
[20:38] We're no longer slaves. We're now sons. And before, in many ways, as a slave sinning against their master, well, it didn't mean so much.
[20:49] But now as a son sinning against their father, sinning means even more to us now. It's more painful. We're no longer slaves to sin.
[21:01] We're now sons of God. We're no longer chained to sin. We're now children of God. And as Paul says, we're no longer under a spirit of fear because we've received a spirit of freedom.
[21:17] A spirit of freedom. And this is what I love. A spirit of family. Because as Christians, as those who are in Christ, we have received, as Paul says in verse 15, we have received that spirit of adoption.
[21:33] A spirit of adoption. We've been adopted and accepted into the family of God. We've been numbered and named as the children of God. You know, it was the reformer, John Calvin.
[21:46] I've said this to you, I'm sure, before. He gave this wonderful illustration of the family of God. God is our father. The church is our mother.
[21:57] Jesus Christ is our elder brother. And everyone who is in union with Christ is our brother and sister. So you look around yourself this evening.
[22:11] They are your brothers and sisters. And if you're not in union with Christ, well, you're not in the family. And why are you not in the family? Be in the family. Join the family.
[22:24] Because as a family, we can claim and confess with the Apostle John, behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God.
[22:39] and as those who have been adopted and accepted into the family of God, as those who have been numbered and named as the children of God, we have come to know our God as the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
[22:55] He's the Father of lights in whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He is our Father. That's what Isaiah prophesied and proclaimed, O Lord, Thou art our Father.
[23:07] We are the clay. Thou art Potter. We are the work of Thy hand. Dear my Christian friend, our absolute assurance is that when we're adopted and accepted into the family of God, when we're named and numbered as the children of God, we are taught to plead and to pray, Our Father, which art in heaven.
[23:32] And that's why Paul says that we have received the spirit of adoption where we can cry, Abba, Father. We have received that spirit of adoption where we can cry, Abba, Father.
[23:42] And you know, Paul's statement here, it's interesting. Now, boys and girls, are you listening? Because the word Abba is the Hebrew for Father. The word Abba is the Hebrew for Father.
[23:53] So what Paul literally says in verse 15, he says, when he says, he's literally saying there, we have received a spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Father, Father, Father.
[24:07] But when Paul originally wrote this letter, he wrote it in Greek, but he wrote the first word in Hebrew and the second word in Greek.
[24:19] So he wrote it as Abba, Pater, Father, Father in Hebrew, Father in Greek. And the reason Paul wrote Father, Father in both Hebrew and in Greek was to remind, especially the Romans at the time, the Roman church, but also every nation, it was to remind us that there is no one to whom God cannot be a father.
[24:46] There is no one to whom God cannot be a father. There's no one, whether a Hebrew speaking Jew or a Greek speaking Gentile, there's no one who can't be accepted and adopted into the family of God.
[25:00] There's no one who can't be named and numbered as the children of God. There's no one who can't claim and confess God as their father. There's no one who can't plead and pray our Father which art in heaven because that's the great, great call of the gospel.
[25:18] The call is to whosoever. Whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. And as Paul says, it's the spirit who bears witness that we are the children of God and of children heirs.
[25:38] Imagine that. You are an heir. You don't belong to the royal family or the Windsor family but my friend, being part of God's family, you are an heir and a joint heir with Christ.
[25:54] And my friend, that's our absolute assurance as children of God and that's why we can claim and confess with the hymn writer and say, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.
[26:07] Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine, heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his spirit, washed in his blood. And so Romans 8 reminds us of our absolute assurance in salvation, our absolute assurance as sons, and thirdly, our absolute assurance in supplication.
[26:28] Our absolute assurance in supplication. He says in verse 22, he says, we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now and not only the creation but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit.
[26:42] We groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he sees.
[26:54] But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
[27:10] And you know, Paul reminds us here in these verses that our absolute assurance gives us a longing to be set free from sin. Because since the fall of Adam, since Genesis chapter 3, the creation, we're told, has been groaning.
[27:24] It has been longing to be set free from sin. But not only the creation, as a Christian. I don't know about you, but sometimes as a Christian, you long to be set free from sin.
[27:40] And set free from the sickness that surrounds you, and the sufferings that you see, and the sorrows that we experience. And that's our assurance. Because the Christian longs to be in the place of peace and the place of promise.
[27:56] The Christian longs to be where, as John saw in the book of Revelation, he longs to be where God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. And death shall be no more.
[28:07] Neither shall there be any mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. My friend, our absolute assurance is that to live is certainly for Christ.
[28:21] But to die, that is gain. That is gain. But until then, says Paul, we must wait patiently.
[28:33] We must pray patiently. Because in all our emotions of helplessness and heartache, in all our encounters with grief and groaning, in all our experiences of sin and sickness and suffering and sadness and separation and sorrow, in all these things, Paul says, we must keep praying patiently.
[28:54] But our absolute assurance, and this is the section of Romans 8 that I really like, you know, when we're at our weakest and worn out, when we're burdened and broken inside, when we're overwhelmed and overcome, when we're exhausted and empty, when we're at our lowest and even lost for words, and prayer seems impossible and God seems inaccessible, and yet our absolute assurance is that through our union with Christ, by the work of the Holy Spirit, He intercedes on our behalf with groanings that cannot be uttered.
[29:32] In other words, we don't even need words. We don't even need words to pray, because it's through the supplication of the Spirit that we are encouraged and enabled to submit and surrender our lives to the will of God.
[29:49] And it's then, Romans 8, 28, when we're at our lowest and our weakest, absolutely empty, hitting rock bottom, and we're groaning before the Lord, it's then that we are taught that for those who love God, all things are working together for good to those who are the called according to His purpose.
[30:16] And this is why Paul, you know, that's when he then reminds us, he reassures us with that golden chain of salvation. And I know I'm going through this really quickly, and we should look at a sermon in every verse, but you know, the golden chain of salvation there in those verses, in verse 29 and 30, Paul reminds us that our absolute assurance is that whom God foreknew, He also predestined.
[30:45] And whom He predestined, He also called. He effectually called them. And those whom He called, He justified. And those whom He justified, He promises He will glorify.
[30:59] It's the golden chain of salvation. And the amazing thing about this chain, it's unbreakable. It's unbreakable. Which brings us to the climax, to the culmination, and to the conclusion of this chapter about our absolute assurance.
[31:19] So Romans 8, it gives to us, and it guarantees to us, our absolute assurance in salvation, sonship, supplication, and lastly, separation.
[31:32] Separation. Look at verse 31. 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 gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?
[31:47] Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
[32:00] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Paul brings this chapter about our absolute assurance.
[32:16] He brings it to its climax, and culmination, and its conclusion. And he does so by asking several rhetorical questions. And Paul asks each of these rhetorical questions in order to encourage us and to enable us to see that our absolute assurance is in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.
[32:38] And Paul's first rhetorical question is, what then shall we say about all these things? What shall we say about our absolute assurance in salvation?
[32:49] What shall we say about our absolute assurance as sons? What shall we say about our absolute assurance in supplication? And you know, you look at it and you think, well, there's nothing we really can say apart from it's amazing.
[33:03] It's all the amazing grace of God. And then Paul asks, well, if God is for us, who can be against us? And you're left saying, well, Paul, no one.
[33:17] No one. Nothing and no one can be against us. If God be for us, the world, the flesh, and the devil can't be against us. And they'll certainly try. But Paul says, he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
[33:34] And we're saying, Paul, he will. He will graciously give us all things. He will graciously give us an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away. It's reserved in heaven for us.
[33:47] Therefore, Paul asks another question. Who shall lay any charge against God's elect? No one. It is God who justifies. It's God who pronounces you righteous.
[34:00] It's God who presents you righteous before his glory with exceeding joy. Therefore, who is to condemn? No one. Why? Because it's Christ Jesus who died.
[34:12] Not you, him. The clean for the unclean. The righteous for the unrighteous. More than that, says Paul, he was raised, and he's at the right hand of God this evening, making intercession for us.
[34:28] Another question then. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Nothing. And no one. Shall tribulation?
[34:39] No. Distress? No. No. Persecution? No. Famine? No. Nakedness? No. Danger?
[34:50] No. Sword? No. No. And all these things, he says, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. And Paul says to us here, even though it's written in Psalm 44, even though it's written there in that psalm we were singing, where we're challenged and confronted by the reality and the finality of death all our lives, Paul says, I am persuaded.
[35:14] I am absolutely persuaded. This is my absolute assurance in life and in death that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, neither height, nor depth, nor any other creature is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
[35:41] My friend, this is our absolute assurance. It's our absolute assurance that in Christ there is no condemnation and no separation.
[35:55] No condemnation and no separation. It's a familiar chapter, but it's also F.E. Harris' favorite chapter.
[36:09] And it should be your favorite chapter too, because it gives us and guarantees us our absolute assurance.
[36:20] Our absolute assurance in salvation. Our absolute assurance as sons or children of God. Our absolute assurance with supplication.
[36:31] He hears us even in our groanings. And our absolute assurance of no separation. our absolute assurance.
[36:44] And you know, with an absolute assurance like this, you have to wonder why anyone would not want to be a Christian.
[36:57] Why would anyone not want to be a Christian? To know that in Christ, you have the gift and the guarantee of no condemnation and no separation.
[37:11] That, my friend, is our absolute assurance. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Now let us pray. O Lord, our gracious God, and Lord, a God who is gracious and who has gifted to us all these great and precious promises, that our absolute assurance is in Christ and in Christ alone, and help us, we pray this evening, to claim these promises and to confess them as ours.
[37:47] Lord, we give thanks to Thee for Thy goodness to us, that although in this world we have much tribulation, it is through much tribulation that we will enter the kingdom.
[37:58] And Lord, we pray this evening for Effie, as we mentioned, one who loves this chapter and one who clings and confesses this chapter. And Lord, we ask that she would know the peace of God that passes all understanding, that she would be assured that the Lord is with her, the Lord who promises never to leave her and never to forsake her.
[38:21] Lord, remember us as a congregation as we go into a new week, a new week that we do not know what a day nor an hour will bring. But Lord, we give thanks that we have this great assurance that for those who are in Christ, there is no condemnation and there is no separation.
[38:39] Lord, go before us and we pray. Lead us and guide us, we ask, for we ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. We're going to bring our service to our conclusion this evening by singing the words of Psalm 62.
[39:01] Psalm 62 is in the Scottish Psalter. Psalm 62 It's on page 294.
[39:12] We're singing from verse 5 down to the verse marked 8. Psalm 62. This is a psalm where David is giving us the confession of the Christian.
[39:27] And particularly in verse 6, he's expressing his absolute assurance in Jesus where he says, He only my salvation is and my strong rock is he.
[39:39] He only is my sure defense. I shall not move to be. So we'll sing Psalm 62 from verse 5 down to the verse marked 8. And we'll stand to sing if you're able to God's praise.
[39:52] Psalm 62 I shall wait though with patience upon thy throne alone on them depend to you Pse super oh Pseители upon co on He only is my surely head, I shall not do any.
[41:04] In God my glory, blessed death, I'm my salvation sure.
[41:24] In honor of the midst of my strength, my record holds secure.
[41:42] Give me a place for all the death, and I shall not do any.
[42:02] Be wonderful, beyond your heart, God is a renewed time.
[42:23] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forevermore. Amen. Have you got answers for me? Yes?
[42:42] What chapter will we be looking at this evening? Romans 8. Well, good. I'm glad you were listening to that. Whose favorite chapter is it? Effie's favorite chapter, so remember Effie. This is her favorite chapter.
[42:57] So pray for Effie. Question two. What is the Hebrew for Father? Abba. What's the Greek for Father? I'm only kidding. It's Pater, but I won't challenge you on that one.
[43:13] Hebrew for Father, well done. Abba. So we're able to cry Abba, Father. So God is our Father. We're able to pray at any time. And what is Romans 8 all about?
[43:26] Our Two A's. Absolute Absolute assurance.
[43:38] That's what we need, isn't it? Romans 8 is all about our absolute assurance. That in Jesus there is no condemnation and no separation.
[43:50] So well done. Thank you. Thank you.