Do you know what all is included in the "price of the ticket" of your salvation? We all know that God sacrificed His Son for us. Today we'll see how there's nothing that He will withhold from His children!
Here are all of the ways that you can follow along with 5 Minutes With Pastor Lutzer:
- On our Podcast via iTunes and Google Play
- On our Facebook page
- On our YouTube channel
Transcript: Welcome to Five Minutes With Pastor Lutzer. I'm so glad that you joined us today as we continue our study of Children of an Awesome God.
Let's go back to 1898. Peter Deyneka left Russia to come to America. Now his family had saved for months in order to buy him a ticket on the ship, but they also gave him bags of dried bread so that he would have something to eat. According to his story, he would see the people eating in the dining room all of this wonderful food, and then he'd go back to his room and add some water to the dried bread. He said it was not until they came and they landed here in America that he discovered that three full meals were included in the price of the ticket.
You know, I think that we as Christians have no idea all that is included in the price of the ticket—namely, the ticket of salvation. The Apostle Paul—and now we're in Romans chapter eight, verse 31—he asks this question. He says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?"
Now in context, if you were with us last time, you know that he simply has already said that as far as God is concerned, our salvation is finished. We're already glorified, alright? And then he asks his question, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Well, your enemies can be against you. But if God is for you, they can't take on God. Satan can be against you. The COVID virus can be against you. All kinds of sicknesses can be against us, but if God is for us, who can be against us?
You say, "Well, Pastor Lutzer, how can God be for me? I look around"—and maybe you're going through a divorce. You're going through a very difficult time. You've lost your job. There's so many different challenges and setbacks. "What makes you think you can say that God is for me?" Well, Paul answers that actually in the next verse. He says, "He who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?" Paul says, proof of the fact that God is with us is that God handed over—that's what the Greek text actually means—God handed over His Son, and gave Him up for us all. And with Him, He gives us freely all things.
Paul is arguing from the greater to the lesser. What Paul is saying, is that if God gave us His Son, He's not gonna withhold anything else from us. That's why the Bible says that we shall inherit all things. There will be nothing that belongs to Jesus that we do not have. If someone were to give you a diamond, a very expensive diamond, of course, they'd give you the box in which it came. God gave us His precious Son. So included in that, the Bible says, are all things.
You know, DL Moody said this. Suppose that you had a servant who really hated you, but you were willing to sacrifice your son on behalf of that servant. Well, that servant's heart would certainly be changed and transformed, and hopefully the servant would begin to love you. And he used that as an example of the fact that when we were yet God's enemies, Christ died for us. And the Apostle Paul here in Romans eight is using the argument that if God gave us His Son, there's absolutely no way that He will withhold all the blessings that His Son has. If God be for us, who can be against us?
So perhaps you've heard me say this before, that in this life we see the drop. But in heaven, we will get the ocean. In this life, we get a flower. But my friend today, the garden is on its way. And in this life we get the hors d'oeuvres. But in the future, we get the banquet. And it's all included in the price of the ticket. May I quote these words again? "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?"
Thanks so much for joining us today, and please oin us again next time as we continue our study of Romans chapter eight. And as for today, you go with God.