Therefore: The Results of Justification by Faith
May 15, 2016 · Romans
Scripture referenced 5 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 cited as the fundamental thesis of Romans, 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
Abraham's faith credited as righteousness, Jesus 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 preached, results of justification by faith
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
quoted to illustrate grace through faith, not 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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1 John 1:9
cited to reassure that confessed sin, remembered or not, is forgiven and removed
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Blake preached on Romans 5:1-11, walking through what Paul calls the results of justification by faith. He covered how everything from Romans 1 through the end of chapter 4 feeds into the word "therefore" that opens verse 1, and how that word carries the weight of the whole letter up to that point.
What was said
Before moving into chapter 5, Pastor Blake walked back through the ground Romans has already covered. Paul established a universal condition, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, covering both the openly irreligious and the self-righteous religious. He then showed God's method of dealing with that condition: justification by faith, not by the law. Abraham's story, which closes chapter 4, was written not for Abraham's sake alone but for ours, because the same faith that was credited to him as righteousness is credited to those who believe in the One who raised Jesus from the dead.
The "therefore" of Romans 5:1 gathers all of that up and leads into four results of justification named in just the first two verses. Those who have been justified by faith have peace with God, have been introduced to grace, stand in that grace, and exalt in hope of the glory of God. Pastor Blake pressed on each one, noting that having peace with God is not something a believer earns or maintains by effort. It is a settled condition that rests on what Christ has done, not on what the believer keeps doing.
Grace, Pastor Blake said, is the only arrangement in any religion where a good and benevolent God moves toward people who have done nothing to deserve it. Every other system has the person working toward God. The fact that believers stand in that grace, not just receive it once, means that past, present, and future sin does not pull the ground out from under them. He pointed to 1 John 1:9 and the surety of ongoing forgiveness, remembered or not, as the basis for confidence in that standing.
Paul then adds a fifth result that seems to run against the others: believers also exalt in tribulations. Pastor Blake treated this as its own logical chain. Tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. That means both the good seasons of the Christian life and the hard ones arrive at the same destination. Nobody fakes being a Christian when things are genuinely difficult, and persecution has historically been what proves and purifies the church.
The reason hope does not disappoint, Paul says, is that the love of God has been poured out within believers' hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to them. Pastor Blake noted that this is the first substantial mention of the Holy Spirit in the letter, and that it arrives at exactly the right moment. Everything before this point in Romans has been about faith as it stands against law. From here forward, the letter moves into spirit versus flesh, and the Holy Spirit's presence in the believer is the foundation for how Christian life is actually lived out.
Pastor Blake closed the passage with verses 6 through 11 and the repeated phrase "while we were still." While we were helpless, while we were ungodly, while we were sinners, while we were enemies, Christ died and God reconciled. He used the story of Secret Service officer Les Cofelt, who was shot and killed on November 1, 1950 defending President Truman at the Blair House, as an illustration of Paul's point that it is rare for anyone to die even for a good person. God's love goes further than that. Christ died not for the good or the righteous but for enemies, and that act of reconciliation in the past is the ground on which believers are assured of salvation going forward.
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 Blake walked through the condition of both the 'hidden world' and the 'self-righteous Jewish world' in Romans, saying all have sinned and fall short. How does it sit with you to be placed in the same bucket as everyone else, regardless of how long you have been in church?
- Pastor Blake said that peace with God is not something you earn by doing more or being in church more often. Where in your own life do you find yourself slipping back into thinking that your standing with God depends on what you do?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 8,311 words
0:00
Speaker 1How are you? Good. Good? It's good. We're seeing more and more folks coming back.
0:05
It's good to see you and summer is upon us. That rainy beginning does it every year. Whether you remembered or not, it does it every year. Would you stand and sing with us? We're going to come on up, Scott and we're going to sing We've a Story to Tell to the Nations.
0:22
This was at the seminary where I went. This is the the pomp and circumstance. Instead of pomp and circumstance, we always walked in singing this song. Would you join us? Hymn number four forty six.
0:44
Speaker 2We've a story to tell to the nations that shall turn their hearts to the right a story of truth and mercy a story of peace and light a story of peace and light for the darkness shall turn to dawning and the dawning to noonday bright and Christ's great kingdom shall come on earth the kingdom of love and light we've a song to be sung to the nation that shall lift their hearts to the Lord a song that shall conquer evil and shatter the spear and sword and shatter the spear and sword for the darkness shall turn to dawning and the dawning to noonday bright and Christ's great kingdom shall come on earth the kingdom of love and light we've a message to give to the nation that the Lord who reigneth above has sent us his son to save us and show us that God is love and show us that God is love for the darkness shall turn to dawning and the dawning to dawning and the dawning to noonday bright and Christ's great kingdom shall come on earth the kingdom of love and light Amen.
3:32
Speaker 1How about tell me the story of Jesus? I think it's the same story that we were just talking about. Hymn number two ninety five. Two ninety five. Tell me the story of Jesus.
3:47
Speaker 2Tell me the story of Jesus right on my heart every word tell me the story most precious sweetest that ever was heard tell how the angels and glorious tell me the story of Jesus right on his heart every word tell me the story most precious sweetest that ever was heard feasting along in the desert tell of the days that are past how for our sins he was tempted yet was triumphant at last tell of the years of his labor tell of the sorrow he bore he was despised and afflicted homeless rejected and poor tell me the story of Jesus right on his heart every word tell me the story most precious sweetest that ever was heard stay when they weep while I whisper love paid the ransom for me tell of the cross where they nailed him writhing in anguish and pain tell of the grave where they laid him tell how he liveth again love in that story so tender clearer than ever I see tell me the story of Jesus right on my heart every word tell me the story most precious sweetest that ever was heard
6:31
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Have a few announcements this morning. The first one is Awana's season has come to an end. So, the Monday starting at six.
6:41
We're not going to be having Awana in this room tomorrow night. It's first night that we have not had it. So, I'll skip on what we are having. Today, right here under the tent in the side yard, we are having a church. Oh, sorry.
6:55
We moved it. There are a whole bunch of people pointing that way. Okay. So, there is, we're going to have down here dinner on the grounds, we'll call it. It was a potluck and we have the church has plenty of pulled pork down the hall.
7:09
So, please join us afterwards. So, twelve to about three. Once we all get out of this service and down the hall and start eating, we're going to set up for the Awana Grand Prix which is happening right here in the sanctuary. We're going to set up our our racetrack right in the middle aisle here and arrange the chairs a little differently so that we can watch the races together. The kids who have come in and they've studied scripture and they've memorized scripture and for the past few weeks, they've been building these little Pinewood Derby cars.
7:36
So, come cheer em on and please, everybody that's in here is invited. Please do come. Plan on making this your experience this afternoon instead of the work or wherever else you normally go. Come on and just stay with us and eat here and then we'll have the Iwana Grand Prix. Monday nights, however, are still on.
7:52
They are on year round. We do Monday nights with a few exceptions here and there. We switch things off a little bit but we have Monday nights going. Carl is still in. Nehemiah, Carl and Renzi this week are actually on a youth mission trip at Camp Bethel.
8:07
So, they're not in right now but should be in this afternoon and he will be preaching out of Nehemiah. Monday night's supposed to be meal music and a message at six. The connect hour is still happening between services. Y'all know that and this is one of those occurrences where Monday night, May 30, we are skipping Monday night and we're telling everybody who normally comes to Monday night instead, come to the Bar J, May 31. So, that's the Tuesday following Memorial Day.
8:34
They start Memorial Day weekend. You have what? Two days of practice already in?
8:37
Speaker 2That's right.
8:37
Speaker 1That's right. Alright. So, come see the beginning show because it morphs over the course of a summer. It morphs a little bit but Scott and Barjay Wranglers have been very gracious to allow turning point for years now, a long time. How how long?
8:51
Several. Eighteen? Something like that. About eighteen years, something like that. So, they will be doing their normal show but tickets are $24 for adults, 12 for kiddos, 12 and under.
9:03
Diane has those tickets here in the church office and if you call her, they could probably arrange how how you do that and it's the normal showtime, 05:30, gates open. 07:00 is dinner and then the show is thereafter but they also will have like silent auction and all that sort of stuff. So, please come and support Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center and if you have one of their baby bottle campaign, he's got it superimposed. That's a subliminal message to come to the Bar J on May 31 and if you're out of town, the Bar J is not a bar. It's a chuck wagon supper, fun for the whole family but the baby bottle campaign, we have had baby bottles out for some time now and if you have those full, please bring em back and turn em back in.
9:49
We're trying to call all those baby bottles back. Alright. My sister's closet is a a clothing exchange swap. I don't understand it completely but Casey McCooey does and it is happening May 21. So, that is next Saturday.
10:05
It's happening down the hall. She's going be set up in the fellowship hall and it's a time for all of you. You can bring people with you and they have a suggested donation which goes to ministry but it's really a kind of a clothing swap that's really good. Tanya, do you want say anything more about it?
10:28
Speaker 2Small All
10:33
Speaker 1of that stuff. Yep. And it's a $10 donation at the door and come on in and then just kind of partake. Alright. None.
10:41
Or none. Okay. Very good. It's also on the same day as the first B Spring cleanup. That is Saturday, May 21, which is next Saturday from eight to noon and they are planning on.
10:54
We are planning on having small groups of people kind of two, three, four at a time wandering about and we have a list of things that we'd like to see happen, get cleaned. If the weather permitting, there might be some stuff outside too. Most of it will be inside the church building those. So, spring cleanup next Saturday, May 21, 8AM to noon. The fellowship of that is always better than just kind of hanging out at a party where you're standing around.
11:19
Come on and join in. That would be really good. We still need volunteers for June the twentieth to twenty fourth Vacation Bible School. We're doing the Surf Shack. It's the theme this year.
11:32
You can register kids online or you can see Krista, Carl's wife, Krista, Krista Klemmer, or Dancey Tolleson about registering kids or signing up to volunteer. For everything else, please read your bulletins and get all that information. There's a lot more going on but that's as much as I want to share this morning. So, if you would stand up and greet one another, we'll bring you back together with a song.
11:56
Speaker 2Six forty four in your hymnal. If you want to join along in the hymnal, the words are on the screen. Great song for worship. Let's gather our hearts together. The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you.
12:22
I want to know you more. I want to know you more. The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you the greatest thing in all my life is loving you the greatest thing in all my life is loving you I want to love you more. I want to love you more. The greatest thing in all my life is loving you the greatest thing in all my life is serving you the greatest thing in all my life is serving you I want to serve you more I want to serve you more the greatest thing in all my life is serving you Amen.
14:00
Speaker 1To know him is to love him and to love him is to serve him. Amen. I don't think I've ever noticed that before in that song. When I look into your holiness, hymn number six forty nine. Please
14:16
Speaker 2Good worship songs. Bringing our hearts together. Amen? When I look into your holiness when I gaze into your loveliness when all things that surround become shadows in the light of you when I find the joy of reaching your heart when my will becomes enthralled in your love when all things that surround become shadows in the light of you I worship you I worship you the reason I live is to worship you I worship you I worship you the reason I live is to worship you let's sing it again
15:38
Speaker 1let's Let's sing sing it it again. Again
15:39
Speaker 2When I look into your holiness, when I gaze into your loveliness, when all things that surround become shadows in the light of you. When I found the joy of reaching your heart, when my will becomes enthralled in your love, when all things that surround become shadows in the light of you I worship you I worship you the reason I live is to worship you I worship you I worship you the reason I live is to worship
16:55
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I'll invite the frontline team to come forward. Would you pray with me? God, thank you for for every soul in attendance here this morning, lord and every family that they represent, every every neighborhood, every place, lord.
17:16
I look around and I see lots of people from lots of little dots on the map. And I think of how as transcendent as you are, you also act imminently in time and space and you do it through your people in their places and in the places that you'll send them. So, lord, we ask that you would take this offering, this acknowledgement that you're good and loving and that all that we have comes from you. We acknowledge you and give it back and ask you that you would advance your kingdom, advance your good gospel, and take it to places where it's never been before on the other sides of the earth, lord but also, would you use it right here to bolster the ministry that this church and other churches in town are doing. So, God, we just pray your blessing and ask for your multiplication that this would do your will and your way.
18:09
Amen. So, in our study of Romans, we are up to Romans five and this is a this is one of those places where even in the simplest outline, it kind of changes right here at Romans five one. Now, five one points back to a lot of other stuff. It was funny. Last week, we had missionary spoke, right?
18:30
It's a week before was the last time y'all heard from me on Romans. I heard a lot about the missionary this week and I heard varying things but he spoke for a long time. He spoke very loud and very very quickly but you know what? He spoke God's word and it was wonderful and then, on Monday night, he came in and he told more of the like practical, earthly, temporal, agricultural things that he was doing and helping to do on the team in Africa and it was fantastic. We've got feel like I got a friend for life, fast friend, and friend for life and we are prayerful and praying that God will expand that relationship a little bit and we're thinking even about taking a few few people next year to go over Tanzania to that agricultural training center.
19:14
So, anyway, I had a ball with Ted Rabino. He even spoke at one of the schools in town and talked about beekeeping and it was just a really really good time. I had a I had a a kind of a Sunday off, you know, sitting in, sitting out there looking this way on a Sunday is a different thing for me. Usually, if I'm not up here, it's because I'm gone but I I really enjoyed him. So, Romans five one through 11.
19:35
First of all, I had a little confession to make in the first service in the 09:00 passage. I just left out part of the passage completely. I left out verses 22 through 25 and it was all about how that story of Abraham and him believing God relates to us. So, in the 09:00 service, I skipped it. I ran back into my office and put it back in for this service.
19:56
So, I wanna use this sort of as a ramp for what I'm saying today. This is the end of chapter four. Paul has discussed Abraham's story and this is the hymn here to begin with is Abraham. Therefore, it was also credited to him as righteousness. His believing God was credited to him as righteousness.
20:16
Now, not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him but for our sake also, those 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. Jesus was delivered over. He was numbered among the transgressors. Substitutionary atonement is in the Bible all over it.
20:40
He was numbered with the transgressors because of our transgressions and he was raised because of our justification or our salvation. We just use that as a ramp to get to this because five one starts off with a therefore and then it goes into the results of justification by faith. So, this therefore, right there, all preachers say this all the time. I know it but when you see it therefore in scripture, always find out what it's there for, what it's going back to, it's always calling back. It might be calling back to the sentence before it, the clause before it, the paragraph before it.
21:17
In this case, I think it's calling back to everything, absolutely everything he said in the letter up to this point. It's a transition point in the letter that he's pointing out. So, that therefore, goes all the way back to the introduction which is the first 15 verses that tells who he is, Paul, and who they are, the church at Rome, the ones he longs to visit but he's never been there before and it hints at, it hints at the divide between them among the Jewish flavored Christians and the Gentile flavored Christians. The introduction and then the fundamental thesis of Romans, the whole thing can be summed up in those two verses. What he's trying to say is, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
22:00
That's the good news of Jesus Christ. For it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, for in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith just as it is written but the righteous man shall live by faith. So, that's the fundamental thesis of the whole book and it introduces the concept of faith versus law. Faith versus law is a strong contrast in the first couple of books. If you look at it, the necessity of the gospel is where he starts off.
22:35
The universal need of salvation. So, universal meaning, not just one group but everybody and then he gets to God's method of salvation. If you walk through it, this is what the therefore is there for, okay? We're going to walk through it. It's been two weeks since y'all heard me talk about this.
22:49
So, you're going to listen to the, you can listen to a little recap, right? Condition of the unrighteous hidden world is what he immediately goes into after he speaks about the gospel in one sixteen seventeen. The condition of the unrighteous hidden world and just when the Jewish flavor Christians were starting to say, get em Paul. Yeah, tell em about it. He says, for the next chapter and a half, the condition of the self righteous Jewish world.
23:14
Now, I've been equating the self righteous Jewish world or maybe just the Jewish flavor Christians as to modern day Christians who've been in church their whole life and I've been saying the hidden world is kind of equated roughly along the lines of those folks who come to Christ later in life. So, either way, universal need of salvation. He covers it very well that the condition of all is all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So, he gets everybody as Florine says in the same bucket. We're all in the same bucket and it's not a good bucket to be in.
23:45
We're all all have sinned. Then, he goes into God's method of salvation. It is justification by faith and not by the law and he covers that that righteousness is obtained through faith for 10 verses and three and then he gives supporting evidence for the whole chapter of chapter four. The supporting evidence ends up where I just said and that story was not written just for him. It was credited to Abraham as righteousness because he believed God but not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him but for our sake also.
24:20
Today, to the Romans and to us, Abraham's story said he had a choice. God spoke and said, Abraham, leave the land which you know, go to a place I'll show you and Abraham did. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. He says, it was counted that it was not just for him but for us 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, he was our substitute. If you believe it, he was your substitute and he was raised because of our justification.
24:56
So, here we are at Romans five one. Therefore, having been justified by faith, having been justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, the having been justified, notice the tents there, English teachers. I'm seeing English teachers with a little smile.
25:15
Having been justified is really really important. It puts that firmly in the past, okay? Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. So, this sets up in us and them here. Having been justified by faith, we.
25:37
So, those that he's speaking to, he's including himself in the group and he's including everyone who has been justified by faith in the group. So, he's writing to Christians. Anybody who believes in Jesus is in the we camp right here. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There's one way.
25:57
It's exclusive and I know how hard that is to hear in our day but that is what it says. If the Bible is to be your God, that is what it says and it says it uniformly throughout. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom that's Jesus, through whom, through Jesus also, we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace. In which we stand. Now, we're talking about the results of justification today and the reason we're talking about is because there are four of em in these first couple of verses.
26:35
Through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand and we exalt in hope of the glory of God. When I see grace and faith that close together, it always reminds me of this verse. So, the by faith into grace, it reminds me of Ephesians two eight nine and it comes up a lot in church. It comes up a lot in my my thought process. For by grace, you have been saved through faith.
27:05
So, it is the gift of God not as a result of works so that no one may boast. It's not because of anything that you've done to deserve it. Grace wouldn't be grace if it were payment. He just covered that in the last sermon that we went over. If you give somebody what they are due, it's not grace, just payment.
27:26
For by grace, you have been saved through faith. Amen. That you have been saved is just like the having been justified, okay? It puts that firmly in the past. You have been saved through faith by God's grace.
27:40
It's not yours. Because of any achievement, just by simply believing the gospel. Now, I want you to look at this too. In these first couple of verses, we have we popping up all over the place. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have been introduced by faith into grace and we stand in that grace and we exalt in hope of the glory of God.
28:07
Now, he's writing to Christians and so they are hearing from him and he's saying this over and over. I want you to look at the results that he's covered. Just in those two verses. Having been justified by faith in Christ and that means you're saved. Having been saved by faith in Christ, we have peace with God.
28:27
Consider what it means to have peace with God. Think about that for you, Christian today, to be here and think, I because he's made the way and because I believe it, I am at peace with God. Now, sometimes Christians, we struggle and we feel like, oh, I gotta do this. I gotta do that. If only I was in church more often, if only I did this, I gotta be, I gotta do, I gotta No, you have peace with God.
28:53
If you believe in the provision that he's made for you, you have peace with God. And that's not on your doing. We've been introduced to grace. I just mentioned this a minute ago. If it's just payment for what you deserve, it's not grace.
29:13
It's just payment for what you deserve and since we're all in the same bucket and that bucket is we've all fallen short, what we would get is death, hell, and the grave. If we were getting paid what we deserved. So, we've been introduced to grace. You know, this is the only game in town that has grace. There are no other religions that are based upon a benevolent and good, gracious God, giving.
29:42
Grace. Where you do not deserve it. Unmerited favor through no action of your own. And we stand in that grace. That's the result of justification is your past sin, present sin, future sin.
30:00
Sounds dangerous to start even mentioning it but you, if you are at peace with God for believing in the provision he's made for you, and you have been introduced to his grace and you've accepted it, you stand in his grace I used to struggle with, I've gotta, I've gotta ask for forgiveness. I gotta ask for forgiveness for every little thing and then I thought about, oh my goodness, there were ten years before I got baptized that I don't even know what I did during that time and I've probably forgotten most of it and I'm probably going to spend some time somewhere. That's where purgatory comes from by the way but anyway, I'm going to probably have to pay for that one day because I forgot about it. No. No.
30:43
First John one nine. If you are confessing, God is faithful and just to be forgiving. Amen. And removing all unrighteousness. Remembered, unremembered, conscious or unconscious, sin.
30:58
As much as you consciously can, I want you to keep in mind that you stand in the grace of God? Paul was reminding them. We've been introduced to grace but once you've accepted that, oh my goodness. To think that I stand in grace. And when you're doing that, you exalt in hope, not just hope but hope of the glory of God.
31:22
We exalt or we boast in, we glory, and we celebrate hope. We have an incorruptible hope, Peter says. It is a forward looking. We exalt in the hope of the glory of God because is everything just as it should be on Earth right now? No.
31:39
Why do we pray on earth as it is in heaven, lord? If that's the case, it's not the way that it should be. But we exalt in the hope of the glory of God. So, those are the results of justification and we're going to go on from there but wait, there's more. Paul actually says this.
31:57
That's a good translation of and not only this but also, he's saying, but wait, there's more. Y'all remember Billy Mays, the guy that was on on television that was always hawking stuff and he would like, gives you Ginsu knives but then he gives you sham shammies and stuff like that too but wait, there's more. So, as if those four things were not enough, He says, not only this but we also exalt in our tribulations. Wait a second now. I understand peace with God.
32:29
I understand grace has to be grace. I understand that I stand in grace, that it's not by my conscious actions all the time trying to lift myself up on my bootstraps. It's trusting my higher power. It's trusting my God. We exalt in hope of the glory of God but not only this, there's more.
32:54
We also exalt in tribulations. Knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance. The exalt there and the exalt there, we exalt in the hope of the glory of God and we exalt in tribulations. I think that that's cool especially looking at this next verse, sorry, because of this. We exalt in our tribulations knowing that tribulation bring about perseverance and perseverance brings about proven character.
33:25
And proven character brings about hope. So, up here, we're exalting in hope and here, we're exalting in tribulations which eventually leads to hope. Does that make sense to you? Either way, it's a different route. Do you have good times in the Christian life?
33:43
Do you have good times? Yes. Yeah. Do you have bad times? Yes.
33:47
Yeah. Both of them end up in hope. Both of them end up in hope. You know, persecution is always good for the church. It's a hard one to hear but it's always good.
34:00
You know why? Nobody fakes being a Christian when times are hard. Tribulation is what brings about perseverance. You don't ever get an opportunity to persevere if everything sunshine and rainbows all the time. Right?
34:23
Perseverance produces proven character. That's why persecution is good for the church. It proves the character and the Christ like character keep on keeps on going and is obedient and humble even unto death for those martyrs. Even the death of a cross for Jesus. Proven character is what brings about hope because there is a resurrection Sunday after Good Friday.
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So, here we go. Exulting in tribulations. This is why you can't exalt in tribulations according to Paul because they bring perseverance, perseverance brings proven character. You'll know what you're made of, refined by fire. And proven character comes up hope.
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And hope does not disappoint. He follows it up with that. Hope in the Bible is not just, I hope something will happen with no basis. Hope in the Bible is a certainty. It's a certainty.
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This will come to pass. Hope does not disappoint. That's why Peter can say it's an incorruptible hope. Nothing can take away from it. That's why Paul so often does that but why is it that hope doesn't disappoint?
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Well, he answers that. Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to us. Amen. Because the love of God has been poured out without within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. That was given points to the point I've made for the past several sermons.
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It's the a divine passive. God is the one who is giving. We are the ones who are receiving. Still through no real righteous act on our own. It's just believing that he will do what he says he will do.
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Within our hearts, through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Now, in the first introduction of Romans one four, the verse one four, it mentions more than four fifteen. It mentions the Holy Spirit in passing. It calls it the spirit of holiness. It doesn't say Holy Spirit.
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It says spirit of holiness which is a little different than most. So, the first time Holy Spirit is mentioned. Is right here and it makes perfect sense because he has been given us the foundational condition of man whether legalist or licensed, whether Jewish or pagan. He's been given us the condition. All have sinned and fall short currently are falling short of the glory of God.
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And now, we're at a place where he's going to start talking about practical Christian living. All of that other foundational stuff about our sin and the goodness of God together. Now, he's going to get into a section that talks about how we live out what has come to pass in our lives. And the Holy Spirit, this is the time where it's mentioned in six, seven, and eight. He'll be mentioned over and over.
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So, up to this point, we've been talking about faith as it opposes law. Faith versus law and from this point, right here, onward, we'll be talking about spirit versus flesh. In this section today that we're covering, he doesn't mention flesh but he mentions the Holy Spirit right here. I'll come back to it at the end probably because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Did you notice all the tenses in there?
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Who was given to us? That's a past tense. It's a divine passive. God is doing the giving. We're doing the receiving and it's in the past tense because of what we believe.
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The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Now, I've asked you to think about what it means to have peace with God and I've asked you to think about what grace really means in your own life. You didn't deserve it but you got it anyway and I've asked you to think about hope of the glory of God. Now, for just a few minutes, I want you to think about what it's like to not be at peace with God. Because for The Us that we've been talking about, for The Us's, there's a them and the them is everybody who has not yet believed that.
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They don't have peace with God. Can you imagine the struggle? Every other religion, that's me, Blake, sorry. The every other religion is working their way towards God. He's not making any steps toward them.
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Think about what it's like not to have peace with God. That's where we all start out Think about what it's like if it all depended on you and grace was not involved at all. You had never been introduced to the concept of grace. In fact, that's a hard one and sometimes I say, you just have to believe it and people go, no, there's gotta be something else. I gotta do something else.
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Nope. It's free. Free. Gotta be something else. Nope.
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It's not. So, introduced to grace is one thing but when you get past the point of that and you actually really start to understand that you stand in God's grace. Man, his peace becomes very very real at that point and hope becomes very very real because you still recognize that there are tribulations and there are hard times and there are things that you're tempted by or addicted to or whatever. But the power of God, the dunamis power, Holy Spirit is given to those who believe. Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
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Now, right there, it's fifteen till. I could do an invitation and response and since he went so long last week, I might should but I'm not going to, alright? Invitation and response is this and I just ask you simply those four questions. Do you have peace with God? Or are you struggling?
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Are you, do you feel like you're at war with a higher power that continually you're losing? Do you have peace with God? Because he's offered it. Have you been introduced to God's grace? Unmerited favor that you don't deserve it but he gives it anyway.
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Are you confident that you stand in God's grace? And do you exalt or celebrate the hope of the glory of God and I'm talking about heaven right there. I'm talking about a more and more progressively more and more righteous lifestyle too but really looking forward even to the ultimate end of complete glorification. Do you hope in the glory of God or do you even have exaltation and celebration during the tribulations? Are you able to laugh it off?
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This morning, Florine was playing along. He's up here and for y'all, you might not know this but when you stand in front of 200 something people and you're the guy that's supposed to lead worship and the first song, the first strum, you break a string. Might not sound like a tribulation to you but for him, he was like going, this used to happen all the time in my living room. It hasn't happened in front of 200 people in a long, long time and so but he he started telling stories and jokes while he was changing it out. Somebody brought him another guitar but during that time, he's kind of in the hot seat a little bit.
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That's a small example but for him, it's very real. For me, it's very very real. When this thing doesn't work, when that thing doesn't work, I I start sweating. But can you just kind of be pleasant and laugh through it? Does the character of Christ come out when you're squeezed?
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Or does whatever is in you come out when you're squeezed? When squeeze an orange, you get orange juice. When you squeeze a Christian, you ought to get Christ. Tribulations, the hope. They lead to hope.
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It's the hard way around but it still leads to hope and the character is proven that way. Okay. So, I could just end the sermon right there but wait, there's more. Paul goes on in this paragraph. He has a few more verses and here they are.
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Now, he's introduced to us the Holy Spirit because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to us. That's five ramping up to six. For while we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now, look at this. This is a we.
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While we were still helpless and we were ungodly and if you don't think that means that, that's what it means. Ungodly points back to the we and he's talking to everybody. I'm talking to everybody right here. While we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. That's a past tense action.
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God made the step. It's the only step that could be taken and he made it. While we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Are there still ungodly people? Oh, yeah.
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We live in a world full of em. We live in a community full of em. While we ungodly, still were. Christ died for us. Think about that.
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That's why I ask you to imagine what it would be like to not have the peace of God and not have the grace of God. Are there still ungodly people? Yes, there are. For one will hardly die for a righteous man though perhaps for the good man, someone would dare even to die. Do you all know who this guy is?
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I thought you y'all have a better chance in this service than you would in the other service I thought. This is a guy that picture was taken around 1950 or so. He worked in this building or outside of this building mainly. That is the Blair House is what it's called. It's on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC.
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And that guy is Leslie Kaulfeldt is his name. He worked outside of the Blair House during the president's the during this time, the president was moved out of the White House because they're remodeling and he's moved into the Blair House. And this fellow was the guard at the gate outside. He worked for the United States Secret Service in the uniform division. He's Les or Leslie Kaufeldt, and he died from injuries that were sustained on 11/01/1950.
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What happened that day was two Puerto Rican nationalists, They were two guys that believed very, very strongly in the cause of independence for Puerto Rico, and they felt like that The US had been unfairly colonizing and taking advantage of Puerto Rico. And so they believed this so strongly that they decided they were gonna kill president Truman. And when they decided that, they thought they would go to check out the Blair House on Pennsylvania Avenue because they found out he was sleeping there and working there rather than in the White House. So they took off and when they would have normally, it looks like probably done a little bit more reconnaissance. They came in and came in guns blazing and immediately started shooting the guards.
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They shot another guard, hit him in the hip, and they shot Les Kofelt also and then tried to gain access into the Blair House, which is acting as the White House at the time. And Truman was asleep upstairs and on the 2nd Floor. And when they started to go in, Les, although having been shot three times in his torso and through the coat one time too, he was able from the ground to return fire and killed one of the guys going in to kill the president. So, he died in the line of duty. Now, I'm a pacifist.
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I could not do that job. I would not do that job. I could I couldn't do it. I'm not making any judgments. I'm glad he did it.
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I'm glad that he was there. I'm glad for those of you who served in the military, I couldn't do it though but Les Cofelt died later in the hospital after having, you know, put his life on the line for somebody else, for that guy right there, Truman. So, scripture says, for one will hardly die for a righteous man. Though perhaps for a good man, someone would dare even to die. I would not have and in the first service this morning, I do, I wouldn't dare stand up for anybody right now because they're the president.
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Not because of that president but you know what I'm saying. I wouldn't stand up for. I wouldn't put my life on the line or any of the candidates for that matter. I just wouldn't do that because of my family. And because I'm a pacifist, I don't I can't do that but I'm glad that people do.
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For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Though perhaps for the good man, someone would dare even to die. But God, I love it when it says, but God. But God demonstrates his own love and it's his own love says it's different from the way we love. God demonstrates his own love towards us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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He made steps towards us when we were making no steps toward him but God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were yet sinners, for us, while we were still helpless, ungodly. Are there still ungodly people? This is why I'm asking you to consider peace with God, grace of God, hope, and the glory of God because there are tons of people out there who this fact is not real for them. They don't have any idea why it is that Jesus died and they continue to live the life a sinful life, an ungodly life.
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They continue to live it. There still are ungodly people. You can't blame a dog for barking. You ever heard that one? Can't blame a dog for barking.
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If they don't know Jesus and they don't know his spirit, they're not going to act like it. There are still ungodly people and we still have some ungodly residue. Much more than having been now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. That's a forward looking future tense there. It's saying, we shall be saved.
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We don't have that to worry about. Now, for them, do they have that to worry about? Yes, they do. Having now been justified by his blood. I mentioned at the beginning, some of this sounds exclusive and in our society, it's really hard.
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When anything sounds exclusive, it sounds intolerant. Unless it's true people and this is true. If you go by what the word of God says, this is true. Justified by his blood. I want you to consider that.
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We've been talking about in this whole passage, this whole discussion has been about justification by faith but I want you to know it's not just faith in faith. It's faith in something. The object of one's faith matters. The object of faith that saves is the blood of Jesus. Amen.
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That's it. There's not another example given. There's not an alternative method justified by his blood. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
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Did you think of that in Swahili? I thought I I thought of it in Swahili too. I know one song in Swahili and it's this, what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
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Look at the tenses there. For if while we were enemies, continuous long time in the past, right? We were enemies. We were reconciled to God through the death of his son. Much more haven't been reconciled.
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We shall be saved by his life. In the past, we were enemies and we were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having been reconciled in the past, we shall be saved by his life in the future. I love when the tenses are so obvious like that. The next and last verse that I'm going cover is this one and not only this but wait, there's more. He says it again and not only this but we also exalt in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
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So, an even more precise translation of that might be this. This is the R McD version without any y'alls in there but and not only this but we ourselves. We ourselves, it's a middle voice. We ourselves emphasizes it. Our exalting in a continual way.
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We are exalting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ who sits at the right hand of the father and intercedes for us. Who sanctifies us? As we will allow it through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now makes it more obvious. This is in the present. We can have peace with God through the grace of God.
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We can stand in that grace and we can hope whether it be through his glory and a good time or in tribulation because tribulation, perseverance, proven character, ends up at hope. Amen. Now, I want to come back to the Holy Spirit. This is the major difference. If you are a believer, God has given you the Holy Spirit.
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Jeremiah in the Old Testament speaks about that new covenant when the time would come that God would remove the heart of stone and would replace it with a heart of flesh and that he would write his law, the law of faith. He would write it on that heart. This is this is the still small voice of God. If you don't have peace with God, you've never experienced the grace of God, you have never experienced what it's like to have the still small voice of God in your life speaking truth. Speaking as to what you should believe, what you should reject, what you should do, what you should not do.
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I would say listening to the Holy Spirit is the exercise that most attunes your life to the voice of God. Your higher power does communicate and this is the way that he does it through his spirit. So, consider this week as you get the nudge from God that not everybody gets that nudge. And it's hard. You can't blame a dog for barking but you can continue to love em and the grace, the peace of God which you experience and the grace of God which you give to others is where they're going to see God.
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I think that's the end. I said in the first service, I don't have an ending. That was the ending. So, Judy, if you'll come on back up, if you do not have that peace, you've not experienced that grace, please, please, please, call me. We sang, this is my story, this is my song, praising my savior all day long.
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If that's not your story and that's not your song, please come see me this week. Alright, take my life, lead me, lord. Scott, would you come on back up? Hymn number six sixty four. Would you stand with us as we sing?
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Speaker 2Take my life lead me lord take my life lead me lord make my life useful to thee take my life lead me lord take my life lead me lord make my life useful to thee. Take my life, teach me, lord, take my life, teach me, lord, make my life useful to thee take my life teach me lord take my life teach me lord make my life useful to thee here I send me lord here am I send me lord make my life useful to thee here am I send me lord here am I send me lord make my life useful to thee
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Speaker 1Amen. Now, may Jesus Christ, that one who lived that perfect life through his spirit show you that path. May you be able to glory in the the hope or exalt in the hope of the glory of God and may you also be able to exalt in your tribulations with perseverance which will prove your character and end up at that same place of hope. In Jesus name, amen.
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