GOD AND THE WORM

299 - GOD AND THE WORM

June 27, 1965

Pastor Henry F. Kulp

Romans 8: 30 - 34 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Last week we spent our time showing you that in Romans 8 the God-Head is for us--God the Holy Spirit, God the Father, God the Son, and of course, since all members of the Trinity are for us, no one dare be against us. What a wonderful position to be in, as a believer in Jesus Christ. If anything can cause you to say Hallelujah, this should.

1/ As I read this portion of Scripture, my mind automatically goes back to the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah 41: 11 - 14. Behold, all they that are incensed against thee, shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shall seek them, and shall not find them, even them that contend with thee: they that war with thee they shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. 13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. 14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

This verse tells us that God was for Israel, and of course, this was in a physical way. This is in an earthly way. And God said to Israel--Behold, all they that are incensed against thee, shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shall seek them, and shall not find them, even them that contend with thee:

God said to Israel, you will have enemies--you will have those who are incensed against thee, but what will happen to them? In the long run, they will be ashamed and confounded, they shall be as nothing, and those that strive with thee, they are sure to perish, and when you go to seek them, you will not find them. Certainly, Israel would have said physically here, as far as physical enemies are concerned. If God is with us (Israel), where are the folks who can be against us? They may have been against them, but they didn’t prevail.

2/ But then we come to vs. 14 and we have one of the delicate ironies of Scripture, and this verse brings out so clearly the nothingness of man, and the wonderful power of God on his behalf. Notice what God said to the nation--your enemies will not prevail against you, they will be as nothing, then He says, Fear not, thou worm, Jacob, I will help thee. My, what a partnership! God and the worm. How much Israel lost because they didn’t recognize what they really were. They were worms. When men form a partnership, one man puts up money, another man puts up experience or some other simple division of their various assets, but when we form a partnership with God, He demands that we do it on His terms. We put up weakness, and He puts up strength. We put up sin and He puts up grace, or righteousness. We cast in our nothingness, and He answers with His all-ness. God and the worm. God says, let not anyone dare attack that partnership, but how loath the children of Israel were to accept their own bankruptcy, to have His fullness.

3/ Actually, the same is true today. You will notice that in the New Testament, as we studied last Wednesday night, God said, and by God we mean Jesus Christ, that the Gentiles were dogs, and finally the Jews became serpents and a generation of vipers, and here He calls them worms. They haven’t anything--nothing to offer. The partnership that is formed between the nation Israel and God is strictly all God. 

Today we are in a position where we haven’t anything to offer God, but He brings everything to us, for notice in these verses what He has to say. If God, be for us, who can be against us? He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all--how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect. It is God Who justifieth. It is God--we are not doing a thing here. It is all on God’s side. Take your position before God as a worm and allow Him to do everything for you.

4/ You will notice in the beginning of vs. 31--What shall we then say to these things? This, of course, is a question, and it follows after all these wonderful truths that have been revealed. You will notice in the rest of the chapter Paul sets forth solid answers that must be given to those things by the believer in Jesus Christ. First of all, God is for us. Then in vs. 32 is the second, He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things. I do not believe we think enough of what it meant to God the Father to give His Son. Did you ever stop to think what a home is like when the one who is loved, the best in the home is taken away? I wonder what Heaven was like when the Lord Jesus Christ left and came down to this earth. He gave up everything He had and came down here to have nothing. 

I think you remember Calvin Coolidge who was president of our nation. While he was in office, his boy died. I think the boy was about 17. His son was in school and he was on the athletic field, and he had an accident. I think he stepped on a nail, or something, and blood poisoning set in and the doctors couldn’t save him. After that, Mr. Coolidge had no interest. He lost interest in practically everything, he did the work of his office as best he could, and I don’t think any president was more conscientious, but he lost interest, and when they asked him to run for the second term and he said, no. They asked him for his reason, and all he would say is, I do not choose to run. He wouldn’t say any more than that--he had lost all interest, and he told some folks in private that it was with the death of the boy, he lost interest in life. 

This is not true with God the Father, but I believe it must have been awful for the Father to give up His Son to come down to this earth. In the Gospel of John at least 40 times John quoted Jesus Christ as saying, “I did not come of Myself.” God the Father sent Him here, and He saw God the Son mistreated here on this earth, cast out, hated, finally killed. You will remember, all through HIs ministry, men tried to kill him.

5/ This is a picture of love.

6/ Just this past while back, I was thinking when love began in the Bible, when it was first mentioned in the Bible. You have heard of the law Theologians use called the law of first-mention. In other words, if you want to find the truth out about something, you go to the first time it is mentioned and you will find that it is usually in that same setting throughout the Bible. Love is first mentioned in Genesis 22: 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

And so, how is love mentioned, how is it used in this portion of Scripture? God said, take now thy son, thy only son whom thou lovest, and of course, offer him up. This is the beginning of love in the Bible, and what is it? It is the love of a father for his son. It is the love of a father for a son whom the father was to offer up for a sacrifice. Of course, this is a picture of Calvary, of the cross, a beautiful picture of Calvary. Abraham is the only one in the Bible who stands as a type of a father offering up his son. God said to Abraham, take your son, the son that you love, your only son. Abraham had another son, Ishmael, but God said I don’t recognize him. Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest and offer him up--that is the beginning of love in the Bible.

7/ I want you to recognize the nails that were hammered through the Savior’s hands, were driven through the Father’s heart. The spear that rent the Savior's side, left its mark in the Father’s bosom. The Father suffered both with and in the Son.

8/ (This should be with God and the Worm) As I was thinking of the nation Israel, I thought of another Scripture about God with them. Jeremiah 20: 11 There we read, The Lord is with me as with a mighty terrible one. The best translation I can find of that passage, is THE LORD IS WITH ME AS A MIGHTY GIANT, WHO IS AFRAID? And I believe that is the meaning behind this Scripture. It is a picture of a little boy who has been bullied by the larger boys in the neighborhood, and he is terribly afraid. He is afraid to go out of the house. He is afraid to go out and play because he is constantly being hammered by the other boys. Then one day his father comes to him, and says, Son, let’s go down to the corner store. And to go to the corner store with his father meant he had to go by the bullies who were always there. But now he is not the least bit afraid to go. He walks down the street with his father, and his hand is held in his father’s hand, and he is not the least bit afraid. The neighborhood bullies were there--he sees the boys who have hit him, but he is not afraid, because he has someone who can protect him, someone who is greater, stronger, and mightier than all the bullies in the neighborhood, and that is the picture here. Jeremiah said, the Lord is with me as a mighty giant, and if God is for me, who can be against me? There is no bully who can stand against this giant.

9/ I want you to notice the words, He that spared not His own Son. These are words that are very important for us to notice. Many do not seem to know that God is righteous and holy and that He must punish sin. They think they can live about as they please in this world, and somehow God will spare them and not send them to hell, but this verse shows the folly of all that. 

Have you ever noticed this phrase, spared not? In the Bible. Turn to II Peter 2: 4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgement; The fact that God spared not His angels that sinned tells us that He will not spare because of the excellency in any of His creatures. Angels greatly excel us in strength and beauty, but when they sinned judgement was immediately pronounced upon them, so don’t think because of excellency, because of beauty, because of strength, because you are in a favored position to God that you will be spared when you sin, for, you won’t. Sin brings damnation, and that’s all it can bring. One may be a great man of the world--a king, a President a Statesman, an industrialist, a scientist, but none of these things will cause God to spare in the day of judgment, for these great men are sinners, and sin must be judged.

10/ II Peter 2: 5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; We have the same expression--spared not--there it speaks of the sinners who lived before the flood of Noah’s day--how many perished in that flood, I cannot determine, but one thing is certain, a great number of souls lost their lives at that time. But now the important lesson for us to see is because there were many that did not cause the Lord to spare them. You might say--look at the great number who are not saved--that does not matter--numbers will not cause God to deter judgment upon sin.

11/ Then in the 6th vs. And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; He mentions the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Although Peter does not use the same expression--spare not--the thought is still the same. None of these great cities were spared excepting Lot and his two daughters. Sin swept them all away.

12/ Here in Romans 8: 32 we read the same thing--He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Sin is such a terrible thing that before a single sin could be forgiven, or a single sinner pardoned, and made righteous, Christ had to die on the cross to pay for that sin, and to die in the place of the sinner.

13/ But notice the rest of Romans 8: 32. But delivered Him up for us all. Now you notice the expression delivered Him up. That means there was a time when God gave the Lord Jesus Christ up--delivered Him over. Gave Him up to something. Notice, the verse doesn’t say God gave Him to us, but it says God delivered Him up for us. And I think if we try, we can find out what the Lord Jesus Christ was delivered up to, then we can understand this verse. There was a time when the Lord Jesus Christ was delivered up to suffering.

14/ Let us study the Garden of Gethsemane experience, I think we ought to read this story and understand it. I don’t care how many times you’ve read it--I think every time you read it you will find something you did not notice before. Luke 22: 53. When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness. 

Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane was facing something that made Him tremble, or we could say, that made Him shudder, that might be a better word, and He cried out, Father, isn’t there some other way? Must it be that I drink this cup?

Luke 22: 42 - 44. Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 44 and being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Then He went back to His disciples and He came back into the Garden and fell on His face--flat on His face--and He prayed again. But there was no answer from Heaven to that prayer. That is the point I want you to see. There was no answer from Heaven to that prayer. Three times He did this and He was so weakened that an angel came and strengthened Him. He didn’t have the strength to see it through physically. So, God sent an angel to strengthen Him, but there was no answer from Heaven. Then He comes out of the Garden and in Luke 22: 53 When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.

He met Judas and Judas had a company of soldiers with the Scribes and Pharisees and the priests, and they were armed with staves. They were armed to take Him. Jesus Christ said, When I was daily in the temple with you, you stretched forth no hand against Me, but this is your hour. Notice, these next five words--the power of darkness. That is where Jesus Christ was handed over to the power of darkness. From that moment, He had no word of help from Heaven. On the cross He said, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Remember, it wasn’t the men that took Him—it was the powers of darkness that took Him and held Him. 

Up to this time an angel had helped Him, but from this time on He has no help. No angel helped Him at Calvary, no angel helped Him when He was in the hands of His tormentors. They slapped His face, they spit upon Him. You have to be close to a man’s face to spit in his face, and they pulled the hair from His face while they were slapping Him. They blind-folded Him and bound Him.

15/ It would be just as if you were walking through a path in the woods, and there sprang out of the bush a mad man with a weapon in His hand coming toward you. You can imagine how you would be startled. That is exactly the picture you have here.

16/ Notice the wording of this verse. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? It doesn’t say, He shall freely give us all things--it says how can He help but give us all things. How is it possible if God has done this in giving His Son that He would withhold anything from us? It is impossible for Him to withhold anything from us, because He gave His Son for us--He gave us all that He had--He gave His all.

17/ Then notice the word, freely. It is a Greek word DOE--RAY--ON and it means without a cause, without a price. ...how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

John 15: 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

Ref: 06/27/1965/ 299 - GOD AND THE WORM / 3/29/2020