Let us pause to pray before the reading of God's word. Lord God in heaven, by the same spirit with which you authored the word, by that same spirit, by your Holy Spirit now, we pray, illumine our hearts by the word. Give life, Lord, to our deadness. Lord, give light to our darkness. And we pray, Lord, that you would give energy to our listlessness, our laziness. Lord, so transform our hearts and our minds and our very lives by your life-giving word. Help us to understand, Lord, in ways which transform us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. The sermon tonight made on the basis of Romans chapter two, also in celebration of the Protestant Reformation, where the truths of the gospel, that salvation by grace alone through faith alone, in Christ alone were rediscovered once again. These truths are found throughout the book of Romans as gems, as diamonds are found in a mine. That's the way Luther found them. We're reading just a section of Romans, of course, tonight. A half a chapter where many of these truths are found. Let us begin in the second chapter of Romans at verse 12. Where the Bible says, for all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. on that day when according to my gospel God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know His will and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the law, and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, A teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, dishonor God by breaking the law. For as it is written, the name of God is blaspheme among the Gentiles because of you. For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law. But if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man, but from God. The Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Days, listed in your bulletin. namely the 23rd and the 32nd, we will be referring to during the sermon and reading the question and answers responsibly during the sermon at two points. So you can keep maybe it open to the first one. These Lord's Days are found on pages 30 and 44 in the back of your hymnal. Our blessed assurance in belonging to Christ Jesus Beloved of God in our Lord Jesus Christ, the epistle of Paul to the Romans explains very emphatically that all men belong to one of two camps. Either we are numbered among those who are already condemned or we belong to Christ. Those are the two groups, the two camps of all men. And the young man, Martin Luther, felt his condemnation very keenly. And though his parents had sent him off to college in order to become a lawyer, so he would have a good profession, a good salary, and become a great success, the more Martin Luther learned, the more he studied, the more keenly he felt convicted of his guilt before the thrice holy God. And the more he felt, the more things he tried. And of course, the first thing he did was He quit his studies to become a lawyer and he became a monk. The more things he tried to express his sorrow for sin and prove to God how repentant he was, the more guilty he felt. He deprived himself of food. He deprived himself of sleep. He deprived himself of blankets and clothing. He abused his body to purify his soul and still he felt no comfort. Condemnation still. Until he read the book of Romans and there found countless gems of saving truth that focus his faith on Jesus' righteousness and not his own. And there he found that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. In the book of Romans, the very first chapter he read, Now there is the theme of the book. The righteous shall live by faith. Remember that from faith, righteousness is from faith, for faith, for a life of faith, an active faith, a living faith. Here Martin Luther finally finds comfort. The blessed assurance of belonging to Christ Jesus. As Paul continues to outline how hopeless our condition is without Christ, Paul points out that God's judgment is always according to truth. The truth of the circumstances in your case. Were you born with a Bible or not? Were you born in a Christian home or not? Did you go to a Christian school or not? What about the church? What about the community? God's judgment of you in the end will be according to truth. And will always be based on justice. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. And also who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. Jews will be judged as Jews on the basis of what they know and Gentiles will be judged as Gentiles on the basis of what they know. But the great equalizer is this. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There's the first camp. And If you're going to be justified, all those who are justified are justified by God's grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Romans 3, 23 and 24. And so Paul in his epistle has this objective to remove false comfort, to get rid of fake comfort and false assurance. like self-righteousness. For it is not the hearers who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. So you think you are a doer of God's law? Then the Holy Spirit has this light to shine upon the darkness of your deeds. For by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 3, verse 20. You see how Paul burst that balloon? Paul also seeks to remove any false assurance based on religious affiliation. So you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know His will and approve of all that is excellent because you are instructed in His law? In other words, so you think that you're God's gift to the world because you've got all the answers and you ought to be acknowledged as some kind of great teacher of all the rules, but what does the teacher do with all his rules? Is he breaking them? While he preaches, do not steal, is he stealing? You say you must not commit adultery. What's really going on in your private life? You see who you boast in the law. You see what you're doing? You actually dishonor God by breaking his law. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you and your lifestyle. You see how Paul is chipping it all away. All the veneer. And Paul knows exactly what he's talking about because this had been his problem. before being confronted by the risen Christ on the Damascus Road. This is the problem of every religious person who is trusting in their own brand of religion for their salvation. And the sin committed by religious people makes many other people cynical about religion. Paul has this important reminder aimed at formal rights and external appearance. He says, attacking one of the number one things they took pride in, he says, look, a surgical procedure like circumcision does not make anyone a sincere believer in God or in the Messiah, in the Savior God has promised to send. And a mere outward profession of faith is no guarantee of inward possession of that faith, a faith that actually saves your soul. Only the man who possesses a Holy Spirit inspired faith will receive the praise of God himself. And so in such a fashion, Paul is led by the Holy Spirit to remove any source of false comfort, every source of fake assurance that there might be in our life. And so doing, Paul is paving the way for the blessed assurance we have in belonging to Christ Jesus. There are three ways by which any believer may know that he is truly saved in the words of our catechism that you are right with God. What are these three ways? The Word of God declares it. The witness of the Holy Spirit confirms it. And the works of the risen Christ performed in the true believer prove it. These are the proofs that you are saved. First of all, the Word of God declares it. Recall what Paul and Silas said to the Philippian jailer. Remember what they said? When they're sitting in the dungeon of this jail in Philippi, and then the jailhouse is shaken by an earthquake, and the jailer thinks that all the prisoners have escaped, and he comes And he says finally, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they tell him, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. And the same way Paul writes to the church in Rome when he says, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for who? For all who believe. This is the message of salvation to God's elect. The word is near you. It is in your mouth. It is in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. You see, the word of God declares it. This is objective proof. What does that mean? It means it comes from outside you. God has said it. And God keeps His promise. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, for to this end we toil and strive because we have our hopes set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. God may save you from many things, but when He saves you from your sin, that's an especially. Especially of those who trust Him to save them for all eternity. We know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Jesus Christ in order to be justified by faith in Him. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For God so loved the world, that whosoever believes in Him, He loved the world that He gave His own Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, You see, there's group one again. They're condemned already. He didn't have to send His Son into the world to do that. That's already the case. But God sent His Son into the world in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned. The Word of God says, this is the objective proof of your salvation. Christian, the authority of the Word of God declares it. That if you believe in Jesus, you are saved. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise, the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath. So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. What are those two unchangeable things? God's name and God's word. I have exalted above all things my name and my word, God says. By two impossible things for which it is impossible, two unchangeable things by which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and a steadfast anchor for our soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, Hebrews chapter 6. And this is the first way, beloved, the first way that a believer, that every believer knows that he is saved. The Word of God declares it. You and I should believe what God has said because He's God and because He said it. Thy record I believe, thy word to me. Thy love I now receive, full, changeless, free. Love from the sinless Son, love to the sinful one. Thy love to me. Thy love to me. Let us take up our catechisms and turn to page 30 and there find Lord's Day 23. Lord's Day 23. Where it asks, what good does it do you to believe all this? Let us answer together, in Christ I am right with God and heir to life everlasting. And how are you right with God? Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments, and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ as if I had never sinned, nor been a sinner. As if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. Is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart. Why do you say that by faith alone you are right with God? It is not because of any value my faith has that God is pleased with me. Only Christ's satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness make me right with God. And I can receive this righteousness and make it mine in no other way. than by faith alone. Believing in Jesus, believing what God has said, the Word of God declares it. This faith is God's own enabling work in us by His Holy Spirit, which brings us to the second way that you and I gain the blessed assurance that we belong to Christ You see the witness of the Holy Spirit confirms it. This is the second proof of your salvation, the second source of your blessed assurance in Christ, the inner whispering of the Holy Spirit. Remember, the first proof was objective. It came from outside you, from God himself. But the second proof is subjective, which means it is experienced within you. The Bible says the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. Again, the book of Romans, the eighth chapter at verse 16 and following. The Bible says, now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. First Corinthians, the second chapter. The Bible says, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you are bought with a price. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 at verse 19. The Bible says, for all the promises of God find their yes in him, in Christ Jesus. That is why it is through him we enter, we utter our own amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us and who has also put his seal upon us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. Second Corinthians, the first chapter. The Bible says, now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Freedom from sin, freedom from condemnation, freedom to serve God. And we all with unveiled faces beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Second Corinthians, the third chapter. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us. How? Because He, that is God, has given us of His Spirit, the Bible says. And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, He in God, and so we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. 1 John, the fourth chapter. You see how thorough this second proof is taught throughout the Scriptures. Throughout the New Testament in particular, this second proof, the witness of the Holy Spirit confirms in you that you are saved. We understand then that whenever the Word of God is read with our eyes, whenever it is preached, or taught by our mouths, whenever it is heard in our ears, there is another voice speaking within. Sometimes it is a still, small voice calling your name. At other times, it thunders the truth like the sound of many waters, the Bible says. Sometimes it restrains us. Sometimes it nudges us forward. Sometimes the Holy Spirit gives us a good shove. Sometimes the Spirit woos us with a tender voice of love, and other times it warns us with well-known threatenings. This is the voice of the Holy Spirit confirming that the Word of God is true. This is the Holy Spirit whose personal work in you applies all God's truth to your own heart and life. personally performing the engrafting of your heart into the true vine himself. This is the second proof of the blessed assurance we have in belonging to Jesus. But I must warn you tonight that if you read the Bible and listen to preaching and hear the Holy Scriptures with your ears, but it is in one ear and out the other, with no internal voice applying the truth of God to you, if there is no conviction of sin, no conversion of heart, no comfort or consolation in the saving work of Jesus, then, quite frankly, then you have a serious reason to question whether you are saved or whether this blessed assurance belongs to you at all. You see, because then the inner witness isn't there. And then what do you do? Then you should pray for the Holy Spirit for you have God's own promise. Then you're back to number one. You have God's promise in his word that he will not withhold the Holy Spirit from any individual who sincerely asks him for the Holy Spirit. Beloved it is by this indwelling Holy Spirit That we know that the Son of God has come and given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true in His Son Christ Jesus. He is the true God and eternal life. Now it's easy to miss. But did you catch it? And we know why? We know so that we may know. That's what an inner witness is like. God gives us the knowledge that we know. And I know the world ridicules such things. Say, how do you know you're saved and I'm not? And the Christian says, I know that I know. The Bible tells me so and the Holy Spirit assures me. It says, Abba, Father in my heart. And so I know that I know. Sometimes we feel like we've got some kind of superiority complex because we claim to know what we know. But beloved, this is the blessed assurance that we know what we know. The Bible tells us and the Holy Spirit confirms it in our hearts. Which brings us to the final way we know, the third way. And that involves our whole lifestyle. The works of the risen Christ performed through us prove that we are saved. It is our life of gratitude, this new life of the risen Christ, the power, the perfections of the living Christ applied to our practical life. Let us turn to Lord's Day 32, page 40. page 44, actually in the back of your hymnals you'll find Lord's Day 32. And this Lord's Day also speaks about being assured of our faith by its fruits. An amazing Lord's Day. We have been delivered from our misery by God's grace alone through Christ and not because we have earned it. Why then must we still do good? Let us answer together. To be sure, Christ has redeemed us by His blood, but we do good because Christ, by His Spirit, is also renewing us to be like Himself, so that in all our living we may show that we are thankful to God for all He has done for us, and so that He may be praised through us. And we do good so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits, and so that by our godly living our neighbors may be won over to Christ. Can those be saved who do not turn to God from their ungrateful and impenitent ways? By no means. Scripture tells us that no unchaste person, no idolater, adulterer, thief, no covetous person, no drunkard, slanderer, robber, or the like is going to inherit the kingdom of God. And we do good so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits. This is a blessed assurance. And this is God's design. This is indeed the blessed assurance that God intended that we should experience in our belonging to Jesus Christ. This is the golden strand of holiness and sanctification that runs all through Scripture. You will find it always in connection to the red strand, to the red ribbon of blood atonement for the washing away of sins. Now sad to say, it has to be said That there are always some who pride themselves on being very orthodox. And this is what Paul is doing. He knows about this. There are always those who pride themselves on being very orthodox in doctrine. And on every issue, they will scurry to the most conservative corner they can find. But all the while, they remain unregenerate, unrepentant, worldly minded, and actually worldly in their living. such persons along with ourselves would all do well to listen to what the Bible says the Bible says God saved us and called us to a holy life not because of our own works but because of God's own purpose and grace which he has given us in Christ Jesus before the ages began you see this was God's plan all along that we would be a new creation and live a holy life in this present world. The Bible says, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, not in the possession of lust or in the passion of lust like the Gentiles do, who do not know God. And as he who calls you is holy, you also be holy in your conduct. Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. We read in 1 Peter, the first chapter. This is the truth of God revealed from the beginning in the lives of those who were raised to new life in God. So the Bible tells us that Enoch, remember what the Bible said about Enoch? Enoch walked with God. The Bible says Noah was found righteous in his generation. David, in spite of his sins, his grave sins, and his sinful nature, was a man after God's own heart, the Bible says. Job was a man blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. You remember the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. The Bible says they were both righteous before God walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. Paul himself testifies, but by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is within me. You and I are seeing a trend here. The justified are sanctified. Indeed, I count everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, not having a righteousness of my own, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and depends on faith. Sounding a lot like Romans, isn't it? But it's Philippians, the third chapter. A righteousness that comes from faith Remember the faith from faith for faith. It's a righteousness we get from faith. Why? So that we can live a life of faith. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection life living in me. Beloved, none of these people were justified in themselves. None of them were justified by who they were and what they did. The ground of their justification is Christ alone. This is the amazing discovery Luther found. But a faith with justifies is never alone. It is in Christ alone, but a faith which truly justifies is never alone. No, it is always accompanied. It is followed by the fullness of the power of the eternal and risen Christ to sanctify those whom he justifies in his blood. What a blessed assurance this is. That we too belong to Jesus Christ. For God has done what the law weakened by the sinful flesh could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. Romans 8. The Bible says whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him and by this we know that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us. But whoever does what is true comes into the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in himself? No. That it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. that is in God's power, in the power of the risen Christ in us, John 3.21. By the grace of God, Martin Luther discovered that some things are more important than a good profession, a great salary, and worldly success. And those things are being possessed by the Savior. Salvation from sin and sanctified living by the risen Christ. Let us learn to say with Paul again in this season of reformation, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. What a blessed assurance. all those who belong to Christ in joy. The Word of God declares it, the witness of the Holy Spirit confirming it, and the works of the risen Christ proving it day by day. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God in heaven, this is what all of us need. This is what every person who feels that they are in the camp of the condemned need. We need the blessed assurance that we belong to Jesus. And we praise you, O God, that your word declares that we do, if we have believed in Christ. that all who believe in him shall not perish. We thank you for declaring it over and over and over again. Help us to believe your word. And Lord, what shall we say of the inner witness of the Holy Spirit? What a warmth this is within our hearts. What a glory as heaven comes down and glory fills our souls by the person of the Holy Spirit himself. We thank you for whispering to us that we are your children. We thank you that your Holy Spirit whispers that in Jesus we have every right to say Abba to you. For you are our Father and we are your adopted children and fellow heirs with Jesus. Lord, we pray that the works of the risen Christ may also be seen in us and that these works may become more and more They may be multiplied and purified by the Spirit and the power of the risen Christ in us. This our prayer for Jesus' sake. And to your name's glory, O God.