Scripture referenced 4 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Romans 1:16-17 the thesis of Romans: not ashamed of the gospel, righteousness revealed from faith to faith, the righteous shall live by faith
16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.
17 For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”
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Keep this verse
Romans 4:22-25
credited to Abraham as righteousness, written for our sake also, Christ delivered for our transgressions and raised for our justification
22 Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.”
23 Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone,
24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,
25 who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.
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Romans 5:1-11
the main passage: results of justification by faith, peace with God, exulting in tribulations, Christ dying for the ungodly
1 Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
2 through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;
4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope:
5 and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6 For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die.
8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.
10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.
11 Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
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Ephesians 2:8-9
saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves, the gift of God, not of works so no one may boast
8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, that no one would boast.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message picked up a thread from two weeks earlier, filling in the verses the slides had skipped before moving into Romans 5:1-11. The sermon traced what justification by faith actually produces in the life of a believer, working through the passage carefully and in order. Florin played and led worship throughout the service, and Pastor Steve preached.
What was said
Before getting into Romans 5, Pastor Steve went back to fill in Romans 4:22-25, the verses that had dropped off the slides two weeks prior. Those verses make the point that what was written about Abraham's faith being credited to him as righteousness was not written for Abraham's sake alone. It was written for ours, so that we could have confidence that the same crediting happens to those who believe in the One who raised Jesus from the dead. That is the ramp into everything that follows.
The word "therefore" that opens Romans 5 carries weight from a long way back. Pastor Steve walked the congregation back through the whole argument that Paul had been building: the universal guilt of humanity, whether Gentile or Jewish, and God's answer to that guilt through justification by faith. The "therefore" lands on that whole case and draws out its consequences for people who have already believed.
The first consequences are named in a short list. Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. We have been introduced to God's grace through Jesus, and we stand in that grace. We exalt in the hope of the glory of God. Pastor Steve pressed on what it means to stand in grace rather than to keep striving to earn it, and he pointed to Ephesians 2:8-9 alongside the Romans text. He noted that once people experience peace with God, they can start to feel like they deserve it, which is the very thing grace rules out.
Then comes the "not only this." Paul adds that believers also exalt in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. Pastor Steve pointed out that you cannot demonstrate perseverance without hard times, and that proven character is precisely what does not get faked during persecution. Hope, he said, does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. That mention of the Holy Spirit opens something new in Romans, preparing for the later chapters on spirit and flesh.
Romans 5:6-8 shifts the angle. While we were still helpless, still ungodly, still sinners, Christ died for us. Pastor Steve illustrated with the story of Secret Service Officer Les Kaufelt, who died protecting President Truman in 1950 during an assassination attempt at the Blair House. The point was Paul's own contrast: a person might dare to die for a good man, but God did not wait for us to become good. He demonstrated his love while we were still enemies.
The tenses in the passage matter. We have been justified, past tense. We shall be saved from the wrath of God, future tense. We were reconciled through the death of His Son, past tense. We shall be saved by His life, future tense. And right now, in the present, we have received reconciliation and can be exalting in God through Jesus Christ. Pastor Steve said that hope is available to be experienced now, whether in good times or in the middle of tribulations, because the Holy Spirit is within the believer as an uncommon grace that is not available to everyone everywhere regardless of what they believe.
The sermon closed by drawing a line between the person who has that still small voice of the Spirit and the person who does not. Common grace, Pastor Steve said, is available to everyone in the created world, but the new covenant reality that Jeremiah described, a heart of flesh with God's law written on it, belongs to those who have been justified by faith in the blood of Jesus. The exclusivity of that is hard to accept in the current climate, but the object of faith is what the whole passage turns on. Nothing else produces the peace, grace and hope that the passage describes.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor talked about what it means to have peace with God versus still feeling like you have to measure up or achieve something. What does that difference actually look like in everyday life for you?
- He said that standing in grace means you are already standing in it, not earning your way back into it after every mistake. How does that change the way you think about sin and your relationship with God?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 6,657 words
0:00
Speaker 2I'm so happy to be here, and I made it with all my heart. During the week, I freak out about the songs. How am I gonna sing? How am I gonna pronounce the words? But as soon as I come here and I'm telling you with all my heart, a peace comes into my heart.
0:20
And I remind myself, Florin, do not remember you are here to worship God. Amen? Amen. I would like for every one of us to have a great time in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen?
0:30
Will you please stand up? And I think this song is the best song to start with. Come. Now is the time to worship.
3:51
Speaker 1Amen. Oh, amen. My microphone just hit the floor. Would y'all have a seat? Now, bring you up to speed on what's going on on some announcements.
4:02
Not quite used to this setup. Awana, we are having today. Actually, it normally happens on Mondays at 06:00 but we're having kind of the end of the Awana season. Let me see. Grand Prix and the tent out there is for potluck.
4:22
After the second service today, so starting about twelve, 12:15, we will have potluck out there and that's primarily kind of the end of Awana gathering. We're not meeting in this room for Awana tomorrow night, are we? Okay, good. No. I thought we were not.
4:37
It's awesome though. So, the Grand Prix, we're gonna set up as soon as the second service is over. We'll move the chairs and arrange em slightly differently, put a racetrack right in the middle here. We'll have a Pinewood Derby car race, the Iwana Grand Prix. That's happening at just after we eat, okay?
4:52
So, that's it. Monday nights at First B is on. That goes year round. It goes throughout the summer too and so it's a good time for those people who are dealing with the housing crunch in Jackson Hole and don't have a place to sit down at a table. Send them on Monday nights to eat here, alright?
5:07
So, it's a good place. 06:00, meal music, and a message and that's on. Connect hour is between services so that'll happen somewhere in the neighborhood of 10:00 today starting off. I wanna mention this, Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center has had for the last, I don't know how many years, a long time though, they have done a benefit at the Bar J. How many of y'all know what the Bar J is?
5:30
Okay. So, the Bar J is not a bar. The Bar J is Chuck Wagon supper. All summer long, people come in thousands and thousands of visitors every summer but at the very beginning of the season, they start on Memorial Day weekend. The Tuesday after that is May 31.
5:48
May 31, Barjay's show will be to benefit the Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center. So, we actually are cancelling Monday night on the thirtieth and we're telling everybody to come on the thirty first out to the Bar J, alright? We'll leave signs and we'll leave the van here and shuttle people if we need to but May 31, tickets are $24 for adults, dollars 12 for kiddos, 12 and under, and Diane has those tickets. If you have any more questions, you can ask her. Baby bottle campaign also for Turning Point.
6:17
If you have a bottle out and you haven't brought it back yet, they're trying to get those to come back in. So, please bring that on back in. My sister's closet is happening next weekend at the same time as the church cleanup actually but the church cleanup starts a little earlier. My sister's closet, KC, McCooey is back in the back waving her hand, wearing a pink sweater. If you want to talk to her about that, that's the lady right there in the pink, okay?
6:43
Spring Cleanout Day. There is a flyer in the bulletin. Very good. Look at that. Check your check your bulletins.
6:50
So, first B, spring cleanup day is Saturday, May 21, 8AM to noon. Would you stand up, Todd? You want to holler an announcement about that? Alright. That's it is a good time to get together and be together and and we're going to divide up in small groups of two, three, four, whatever and go room to room and just kind of clean up in here.
7:17
If weather permitting, it'll be outside too. So, spring cleanup day next Saturday, May 21. Thank you, Todd for taking care of that. Todd's one of our elders. We still need volunteers for the Surf Shack Vacation Bible School.
7:31
That is June 20 through the twenty fourth, 9AM to twelve noon. So, you can register online at firstbjackson.org or you can see Krista or Dancy. Would you stand up, Dancy? So, they can see who you are, where you are. There you go.
7:44
Krista's in the back back there and thank you very much both of y'all. For any other announcements, anything else that's going on, they should be in your bulletin. So, check that out. I know I don't read them either but they print em for a reason, okay? So, I want for you to take it home with you, study it, and put it on your refrigerator so you know what's going on.
8:03
Check your bulletin. This this service just doesn't check that bulletin. Second service,
8:07
Speaker 2they love it.
8:07
Speaker 1Absolutely love it. They know what's going on. Would you stand up and greet one another? We'll bring you back together with a merry melody.
8:14
Speaker 2Let's worship God again. Glory to God. Glory to God forever.
9:11
Speaker 3Forever
11:07
Speaker 2Amen. I gotta tell you this morning, I really, really thought about you know what? In Romania, I used to break a lot of, strings. Never happened here, and it just happened this morning. Praise God.
11:17
Amen? I can say anything and you just laughed. Right? I remember no. This is real now.
11:26
I came to The United States in 2006, and I went to to watch a movie. It was a comedy one. And honestly, I didn't understand a lot, but people were laughing. I would just, you know? And my wife asked me, did you like the movie?
11:40
It was great. It was so funny. Yes. You have to laugh. Thank you.
14:14
Speaker 3Could stand again
14:30
Speaker 2He's our God.
14:37
Speaker 3Our God is greater our God
15:29
Speaker 2Amen. What a beautiful song, isn't it? I'm so blessed to be here, honestly. It's a it's a beauty it's a good place to be here. Can I share one thing?
15:40
Many, many years ago I'm not preaching. Many, many years ago, I used to come here a lot, around 11:00 in the night. And I was so thankful that the church, I don't know who was in charge at the time, but decided to leave the door twenty four twenty four hours. Oh, I would I would come in this beautiful place and sit there by the piano, and the piano became my best friend right over there. And I was just thankful to be here.
16:05
I was playing the piano for, like, five, ten minutes and then just staying silent for a little bit. And I the point is, it's so good to be in God's house. This is the place where of course, we can feel God everywhere outside the church. Definitely. But this is the place where we when we gather together and fill it and fill God's presence as a church.
16:24
Amen? And I'm thankful for that, honestly. How deep the father's love for us. How vast beyond our mess our measure. Oh, this is a beautiful song.
20:30
Amen. What a beautiful song.
20:33
Speaker 1If I could get the frontline team to come forward. Looks like the Macuis. Our own duty. God, I thank you for for this morning, for this body, for this little local fellowship, this little local capital small C version of the capital C that you've given. I thank you for the families that you've gathered.
21:05
I thank you for the single folks that you've gathered. I thank you for everybody and every family that's represented here this morning. God, would you take charge this morning? Would you speak as you've already been doing through the music and the humor? God, we ask that you would take these gifts that we give back right now and acknowledgement that you know what you're doing.
21:30
You've given them to us and we want to share back with others. Keep us ever mindful of others in need and God, I mean, both temporal and eternal need. So, lord, would you use this to advance your good gospel? In Jesus name, would you do your will with these gifts? Would you multiply it and see your work done?
21:51
Amen. So, now is the time for the children's church to begin. And so there they go. All those empty bicycles and all these little kids going out always is confusing to me. The bicycles don't even have seats on em.
22:08
It's time to go. That's that's time. They must stand up when they're riding those bicycles. There are seats up front too if some of y'all are in the back and you feel like you're disengaged back there and you wanna sit up front. Those kids just vacated some seats.
22:24
They're nice and warm right now. So, come on forward if you want to. So, we're up to Romans five one through 11 is the passage today. Kind of. We're up to Romans five one through 11.
22:38
We had a visiting missionary last week. If y'all are here, you remember he is very passionate. He is somewhat loud. He's a great great guy. I had a ball with him on Saturday night and on Sunday morning and then on Monday night, he spoke again and told more about the actual work that he's doing outside of evangelism.
22:55
He is a very strong evangelist. A lot of y'all got that. Some of y'all contacted me about it last week. He also he's doing an incredible work with agricultural stuff in Africa and we are supportive of him in his endeavors but I think that's going be an ongoing relationship. We're we're looking into that.
23:15
Steve known him forever and we just love him. So, anyway, Romans five one through 11 except first, I need to go back. So, two weeks ago, I was preaching and I had written up there that we're going to do Romans four sixteen through five one. That was my passage and I thought, okay, well, we can do this and I was going along and I don't know if y'all notice because I do this from time to time. I was standing there.
23:35
I crossed my arms. I looked at that screen and what I thought would be up there was not up there and then I looked at that screen and what I thought would be up there was not there. I shifted back and forth and I was missing something but I made the points anyway. I just didn't have scriptural support for me and I don't like doing that. I don't like making a point without having something up there to back me up.
23:54
So, I left out part of the passage about Abraham and how this all relates to the Romans and to us and it was kind of that segway of saying, okay, yeah, that's a story from several thousand years ago. What does that mean to me? And this is the passage that I skipped. I skipped completely. So this is it.
24:13
22 through 25 says this, so I'm gonna reap preach. No, I'm I'm gonna just tell you what it says and use it as a ramp for getting to what we're gonna say today. So therefore, it was also credited him that is Abraham. It was credited to him as righteousness because he believed God. It was about Abraham's faith, right?
24:32
It was credited to him as righteousness. Now, not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him. Paul is saying to the Romans and through the New Testament, he's saying to us, it was not just about that one man, Abraham. What was written about Abraham was written not just for his sake, that it was credited to him but for our sake also to whom it will be credited as those who believe in him who raised Jesus our lord from the dead. He who was delivered over because of our transgressions.
25:04
Substitutionary atonement. It's in there. It's everywhere. He was delivered over having lived a perfect life. He was delivered over because of our transgression and was raised because of our justification.
25:18
That's really really important to get to that point. I actually skipped from verse 21 straight to verse five one. Without saying this and a couple people came forward and says, does your Bible not have 22 through 25 in it? You just missed that. I said, no, the slides missed it but yeah.
25:34
So, using that as a ramp to get to this. Romans five one through 11. Now, it just said, he was raised because of our justification and this section is a section on justification or salvation by faith. How is it that God makes us right? How is it that he says, he makes us right?
25:54
Well, he says. He says, but he's got a he's got a specific way of doing that. Christ died because of our transgressions that is to rid us of the sin debt and he was raised because of our justification to save us. So, ramping up on that, we get to this. The results of justification by faith and I say that because it flatly list them to begin with.
26:17
We'll we'll talk about more than just that but I wanna walk you through this passage and therefore, and just like every other pastor in the world. You gotta see what the therefore is there for, right? Since we've been off for a week, I'm going to take you back through it. You could argue that the therefore is just on the paragraph before that and that's fine because that paragraph is sort of a summary. I'm gonna argue that therefore goes all the way back to the very beginning.
26:42
That therefore goes all the way back to the introduction and the fundamental thesis. Now, the introduction is Paul telling who he is, who they are, and what the letter is gonna be about in the thesis. I wanna concentrate on that thesis for a minute. Y'all heard this a bunch of times. You'll hear it a bunch more times before Romans is over.
27:00
Paul says to them and to us, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel. That's the good news. For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also the Greek. Remember the Roman church was a mixed church with those who had some Jewish background, Jewish flavor, and those who had a very hidden or pagan or outside of Jewish, Gentile flavor and I've said that that's somewhat akin to us having folks who've grown up in church their whole life and folks who are new believers or new newly interested seekers. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written but the righteous man shall live by faith and right there, he sets up a faith versus law.
27:48
Faith versus law is what the rest of that section is going to be about. And he has a lot of contrast in Romans. Faith versus law and we'll see another one later on in the sermon today. Faith versus law. From that point, he goes into the necessity of gospel, the universal need of salvation and he starts there then he goes to God's method.
28:11
Now, the condition of the unrighteous hidden world, one nineteen through 32. He says, all of y'all Gentiles, sinful. You stand guilty, condemn before God, and I'm sure that the Jewish part of the church was saying, get em Paul. Get em. That's right and then, he goes on for chapter and a half saying, the condition of the self righteous, in this case, Jewish world and he kinda blast them for their religiosity and legalism and thinking that that would save them.
28:42
And then he ties it all together in three nine through 20. The condition is all have sinned. We all stand as Florine says in the same bucket. We're put together in the same lump. Now, God's method of salvation is justification by faith and he shares that with us over a chapter in three twenty one through four twenty five.
29:01
Righteousness is obtained through faith to begin with and then, he gives us supporting evidence from the Old Testament and like I just tied it up 22, 25 supports it but then it says, no, really. It was written for us so you could have confidence in this message. Now, that's the pre sermon, the introduction. Think about this that it was written for your sake that the Old Testament has been written for your sake, that the New Testament is written for your sake. So, therefore, having been justified by faith, having been justified having been justified, think about that.
29:37
He's speaking to a group of Christians who have believed on Jesus and they're bickering back and forth and they're fighting a little bit but they're believers. Having been justified, God has made you right by faith. We and he's including himself with them. We have peace with God. That's how we do it because God does it.
29:56
He said how he would do it. He's talked about Jesus. He's talked about the gospel. Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and I left that hanging with you a couple weeks ago even though I skipped those verses. I said, think about what it's like to have peace with God and think about what it's like to not have peace with God.
30:16
Dwell on that for a minute. To feel like you've got to do something that you have not yet done. Whether it's in another religion that says you have to do all of these things or in the absence of religion in our society today where the thing that's most often frowned upon it seems is anything that smacks of religion. So, think about what it's like to not have peace with God. As believers, I mean, it's great.
30:44
Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He did the work and I know it and I trust and I believe it and I know that what it's like to experience peace. We have peace with God Through whom this is Jesus, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. The introduction to grace. Grace is unmerited favor.
31:12
It's something that you don't deserve. Love. The love of God. Although, you have risk, you have done things to warrant his retribution. You've done things to warrant his wrath.
31:26
We've been introduced to his grace through Jesus. That's heavy. There is not another game going that's based on grace. By faith into this grace in which we stand. We exalt in hope of the glory of God.
31:44
I I think that when you get faith and grace that close together, I always think of this verse, Ephesians, these verses, Ephesians two eight nine. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not as a result of work so that no one may boast. Amen. You have been saved Does that sound like having been justified? It's a past tense thing and so the tenses today make a big difference.
32:14
It's by grace though and he's reminding them of that for a reason because once we have it and once we experience peace with God, sometimes we start to feel like we deserve it. And we only want to give grace when it's not really grace. We want to give what people deserve. And if they at us, we wanna at them back. It is by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourself is the gift of God, not as a result of work so that no one may boast.
32:45
I want you to look at the we in here too in the hours. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have obtained an introduction by faith. We stand in that grace. We exalt in the hope of the glory of God.
33:02
Imagine what it's like to not do that. Think about that and let it set for a minute that you don't. You haven't had any of those things you don't hold on to any of those things. Having been justified by faith in Christ, we have peace with God. These are the results of justification, okay?
33:22
Having been justified by faith, we have been introduced to God's grace and we are standing in that grace. We had a discussion the other day about some of y'all and I I remember this. I remember, I gotta confess absolutely everything I always do every single time. If I don't do it, oh God's not gonna forgive me about it. I've gotta and that religiosity sneaks into everything but it's by grace and you stand in that grace.
33:47
Amen. If you understand that you stand in that grace, it makes it a whole lot easier to live life without being preoccupied with sin. Sin is a distraction. It gets you off of feeling peace with God and the grace of God. Now, it's wrong.
34:05
Don't get me wrong. It is wrong. Sin's wrong but it is a distraction that pulls you away from God. We have peace with God. We've been introduced to that grace which is not available anywhere else.
34:15
We stand in that grace and we exalt in hope. The hope of the glory of God. Amen. So, that's the results of justification by faith and verse three, but wait, there's more. Okay?
34:32
He says, and not only this, but so but wait, there's more. I think a Billy is it Billy Mays? The guy that used to be on the, yeah, infomercials. But wait, there's more. Not only this, that's exactly what that translates to.
34:46
And not only this, but we also exalt, and he said just above that, that we exalt in hope. We exalt in the hope of the glory of God and the hope in the Bible is always a certainty of something that will come to pass. It is something that, yes, you can put your faith in it because it is as good as in the bank. It's gonna happen. So, the glory of God will be revealed.
35:10
We sang this morning. One day, every tongue will confess, you are lord. One day, every knee will bow. Right now, there's we, there's us, and there's them but God has an open, open invitation for any of them to become an us. How they feel about us depends on how we deliver the message of the glory of God and the hope and the love and the peace and the grace.
35:37
Okay. Know only this and not only this but we also exalt in our tribulations knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance. Wait a second. He just said, exalt. That is to boast, to make large, to celebrate, to exalt, to glory in our tribulations, the hard times.
36:01
We also exalt in the hard times. Knowing that hard times bring about perseverance. You don't ever have a chance to prove any kind of perseverance if you don't have hard times, right? It's hard times, people. Are y'all feeling it?
36:13
Do you feel it at all? There's a lot of good there because we do have peace and we have grace and we have hope but there's a lot of hard times too. We exalt in the hope but it says, not only this, there's more. We exalt in the hard times. Knowing that hard times are what bring about perseverance and perseverance is what brings proven character and proven character brings hope.
36:36
So, the exulting in the hope here or exulting in the tribulations which lead to hope here, both are good And they tie directly together. Are you with me? Good. Exulting in tribulations. Why can you have a good time and praise God through your guitar strap not working and your strings breaking and one thing after another.
36:58
I mean, those are little hard times but if you're standing in front of 200 people and it starts happening to you, that's a hard time. You just keep on telling the stories. You keep a good attitude Perseverance brings proven character. Proven character brings hope. You know that persecution is always good for the church?
37:25
You know why persecution is always good for the church? Because you don't fake being a Christian during hard times. Proven character. The character of Christ comes through and that produces hope. Amen.
37:41
And hope doesn't disappoint. That's the next line. Now, why does hope not disappoint? Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's given to us. Now, in Romans, so far, we have gone foundational about the absolute sin of humanity and we've gone into the goodness of God.
38:03
His wrath and his righteousness. We've seen both and we were in the introduction, the spirit of holiness was mentioned once but there are people that don't know whether translated as the Holy Spirit or just a spirit that's different than other spirits. This one, there's no doubt about. This is the Holy Spirit. I think the other one is too but this is where he opens up something new.
38:27
So, we've been going through faith versus law and we're about to get into a section on practice which has a lot to do with spirit versus flesh. He didn't mention the flesh in this section that we're covering today but he he mentions that the love of God has been poured out within our hearts. Still we, still us and them, right? The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us, was given, divine passive. God gave it.
38:56
You didn't do anything to deserve it. Was given to us. Now, it's an us and them. It's set up here. The love of God has been poured out within us through the Holy Spirit.
39:11
The power of God has been given and this section, like I said, will deal with a lot of the power of God and how it is that we practice the Christian life. So, right here, I could just do an invitation and response and since he went way over last week, maybe I should. No. Invitation and response right here is, do you have peace with God? Think about it.
39:30
Do you have peace with God or do you think you're still trying to measure up to a standard or one day, I'm going to achieve something and I'm going to have peace with God. Have you been introduced to God's grace? Because if you've been introduced to God's grace and you've accepted it flat out, he's gonna give you a free gift and you've accepted it, then you have peace with God. Are you confident that you stand in that grace? Or are you like me worried about, Oh my goodness, I just did something I shouldn't.
39:59
Lord, forgive me for that. I forget more than I remember. Are you confident that you stand in that grace that Jesus died for sin? Past, present, and future. Having been justified This next section should cover some of that.
40:20
Do you exalt in the hope of the glory of God or even in your tribulations? Do you exalt in either one? Because we have good times and we have bad times but you can exalt or glory to God or boast in God during either time. Those are the questions of invitation and response for that sermon and tribulations producing hope. Should be remembered.
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So, that's one sermon but wait, there's more. There's a rest of the section. One through five introduces to us the Holy Spirit. I want you to think about that. The peace with God, the grace of God, you have within you, if you're a believer in Jesus, you have within you a power of God that is not available all over, all the time to everyone regardless of what they believe.
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What you believe matters. And when you believe that, God comes within you to dwell. Do you have that? You have an idea about that? That's really really important.
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Romans five six says, for while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now, the timing of God is impeccable. It's absolutely great but for the right time, I could go on about that but I want you to look at this, the we there. For while we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly and if you're not getting it, the ungodly is we there. The righteousness of God that was imputed to us was not always there for us.
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It's always there waiting for us to accept it but it was not always within us and we were at one time ungodly. Are there still ungodly people? That's laughable, right? For one will hardly die for a righteous man though perhaps for a good man, someone would dare even to die. Now, you can see Paul is starting an illustration here.
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Think about it for a minute. Do you all know who this guy is? Some of y'all might. The second service probably has a better chance at it. You know, it's a black and white photo.
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So, that guy worked right there. That is on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC. And this guy worked there with another guard outside. They were part of the United States Secret Service Uniform Division officer Leslie W Kaufelt or Les Kaufelt and he died from injuries that were sustained on 11/01/1950. Protecting this guy, Truman.
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I'm not getting into politics of whether he was a good man or not. The scripture says, perhaps for a good man, someone would dare to die. I know it was his job, but he put his life on the line every single day. And during Truman's presidency, I mean, he had a lot of opposition, obviously, all presidents do. But his opposition in this particular case was from a couple of Puerto Rican nationals, and they believed that the government was blah blah blah blah blah.
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You know, whatever Puerto Rican nationals in 1950 thought. They really felt like we were colonizing and really mistreating Puerto Rico. And so the way that they were gonna handle that, they heard that he was not sleeping at the White House because of the remodel going on. He was staying at the Blair House on Pennsylvania Avenue. So they moved the president into that house during the remodel, and they saw that as their opportunity.
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They went in, and it was the biggest gun battle that the Secret Service has ever been involved in. One of the guys came up and shot, started shooting, and another one shot this fellow and then he started to make his way into the house. And Les Kaufeldt actually died later in the in the hospital a couple of blocks away but he shot one of the guys and killed him and another one, there were two perpetrators. The other one, was injured, caught, and was tried and he was tried for trying to kill the president and he was found guilty and he was sentenced to death And after the trial, after the sentencing of death and he had that hanging over him, Truman said, no. I'm commuting his sentence to life in prison.
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And then later, Carter actually, Jimmy Carter in '72, let him go. Grace. He deserved death. According to the law of the land, he deserved death. Cough felt actually died protecting Truman.
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So, the verses say this, for one will hardly die for a righteous man. Any of y'all want to be a secret service agent? Not I said the pig. I'm not about to do that. Never mind.
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Maybe for Truman. For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Though perhaps, for a good man, someone would dare even to die. There are people who do and I understand that and I actually am really thankful. I love that.
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There are some of y'all who have been in the military and y'all are protecting other people with your lives. I I really really love that. That would have been really hard for me. Not the way I'm wired. But I'm thankful for it.
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And then we have but God. But God is not that way. He demonstrates his own love towards us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Amen. So, for us, looking at it like this, we have to see that he made the first step.
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He made the second step. He made the last step. He made all the steps. We just have to believe it. There are a lot of people who have not yet believed it but this verse applies to them too.
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God has demonstrated his love before them too. God has demonstrated his own love that Christ died and if they believe it, it's available. That grace, that peace with God, that hope is available. God demonstrates his own love toward us and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were yet sinners, consider that.
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Christ died for us. While we were still helpless, while we were still ungodly, he died for us. Are there still ungodly people? Yes. Much more than having been now justified by his blood.
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That's about us, Christians, the ones who believe. Much more than having now been justified by his blood. We shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. So, you see that how that's past tense and future tense? Past tense is we have been we have been justified and we shall be saved.
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It's a progressive thing y'all. We are progressing through being sanctified, being sanctified. God has justified us and we are saved but we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Jesus. Now, justified by his blood. I know that there are a lot of us today.
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There are lot of y'all today too who in this society, anything that smacks of exclusivity is really, really hard to take. It's really hard to accept the notion that Christianity is true and everything else is false and I know that that's hard to accept but according to the Bible, justified by his blood is what matters. In a discussion of justification by faith, it's important to note that the object of one's faith matters. It's not just faith for faith's sake. It's not just where you put your faith.
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It can be in anything. He says, the object matters. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That's it.
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That's the way to peace with God. That's the way to the hope of the glory of God. That's the way of grace. That's what he's offered. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, past tense, past tense, right?
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Through the death of his son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. So, noting the tenses there. For if we, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son in the past. Much more haven't been reconciled in the past. We shall be saved by his life in the future.
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You got that? That's hope of the glory of God right there in the future and not only this, we also exalt in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation. I love this because it's pointing to the now, the present, right now. You can experience this right now. We can be exalting in God now and actually, I'll I'm going to clean up the translation just a little bit.
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An even more precise translation of this one might be because it's a middle voice and not only this but we ourselves very personal, very close. We, ourselves, and then the progressive future. I mean, a progressive present tense are exalting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now in the present. We've received the reconciliation. In the present, it can be experienced right now.
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You can have hope either in the glory of God because you're having a great time or you can have hope in the glory of God because of the tribulations that you're walking through. And this is I think why? Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's given to us. Now, the Holy Spirit is gonna become a big part or God's spirit or God's power is going to be a big part of Romans six, seven, and eight. Really, really big name and eight and then we'll change over and have a couple of different contrast for the rest of the book.
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Consider that. Consider if you've been a Christian for a long long time that the Holy Spirit that is within you is an uncommon grace. God gives common grace and nature, he screams out all the time day and day. He pours forth the knowledge of him but if people choose to reject that and they choose to reject it and they choose to reject it, that common grace, that is nowhere near that still small voice in your heart. That's nowhere near having the new covenant that Jeremiah talks of where he softens it.
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Takes out the heart of stone. Gives you a heart of flesh. Writes his law of faith on your heart. Think about what it is to have the Holy Spirit and to be able to know that still small voice and recognize it. And then imagine what it would be like not to have that.
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There's no hope. There's no peace. There's no grace. Don't expect for people to offer you grace. I don't have an ending.
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That was the ending. Y'all wanna come on up? We're gonna sing blessed assurance and I think all of those tenses, the past tenses, and the future tenses point to this blessed assurance that we can and do have peace with God but it is in his way through the blood of Jesus Christ through belief. Would you stand with us and sing blessed assurance? I
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Speaker 2love this song very much. It would sound like this in my country.
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Speaker 3Praising my savior all the day long this is my soul this is my song
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Speaker 2Amen.
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Speaker 1Amen. If that's not your story and that's not your song, please come see me and let's talk about it. May Jesus Christ bless you with every spiritual blessing bring you to a more complete knowledge and understanding of him and may his Holy Spirit empower you to live it out. Amen. Amen.
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