Well, good morning again to everyone and welcome to Christ Church of Tucson. I want to encourage you to take your Bibles and open them up to the Book of Romans. Book of Romans chapter 8, where we are studying verses 28 through 34. We'll read those verses to begin with this morning. So if you want to turn there again with me. Romans chapter 8, verse 28. Follow along with me as I read verses 28 through verse 34. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom He predestined, He also called And these whom He called, He also justified. And these whom He justified, He also glorified. What shall we say to these things, if God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Jesus Christ is he who died, just rather who was raised. Who's at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. We are looking at the sixth assurance that the believers have, the character and the work of God. Assurance number six, the character and the work of God. Let's pray. Our great, eternal, almighty, all-knowing God, what a privilege it is for us to come and to open your word. We thank you, Father, that within the pages of Scripture, we have absolute truth. We thank you, Lord, that you have ordained that we would have these words for us to study this morning. We pray, Father, that our faith would continue to grow in the assurance of that what we read is truth. and that you would take the truth that we read, and the truth that we study, and the truth that we hear, and you would conform our very minds, our very hearts according to this truth. Father, I ask you this morning, use this truth in every single individual sitting here this morning. In the very youngest of child that is sitting here this morning, Father, use this truth, Lord. Burn it deep within their mind. Cause them to understand the truthfulness of what we are to study this morning. Lord, even within the oldest sitting here this morning, who've heard this truth again and again, give them a renewed understanding of what is taught in these verses. And Father, for those who are struggling in life, help them to understand that you are nearby, that you're intimately acquainted with every struggle they are going through. and that you will accomplish what concerns them. Lord, may you use these truths that cause them to trust you more, and may they have an unworldly trust, an unearthly trust in you, Father, we pray, a trust that is wholly different than anything else man could ever have. We pray this in your Son's most holy name, amen. These are some of the most encouraging verses within the Bible. They're found in one of the most encouraging chapters in the Bible, which is found in one of the most encouraging books of the Bible. Here we are in Romans chapter 8 of Romans, in Romans chapter 8 verse 28 through 34. Last week, we began to focus on the very first five words of verse 28 again, and we know that God, and we know that God Christianity is an experiential religion, but it is an experience that is not based upon one's ever-changing emotions. It is experiential in the manner where the experience is based upon hardcore reasoning of never-changing absolute truth. Christianity is an experiential religion. It is experiential. It is not dry and boring. It is experiential, but it's not an experience that's built on our ever-changing emotions. It is an experience that is built upon hardcore reasoning. Reasoning out the truth. Reasoning out never-changing absolute truth. In the pages of Scripture, we have never-changing, absolute truth. And when we come to Scripture, We use hardcore reasoning. We reason out everything that we're going through in life. We reason out all the shifting and the changing in life, all the struggles and the difficulties in life, all that's confusing in life. We reason that out through the never-changing absolute truth of God's word, and that will create within the Christian an experience that does not change with every other change in life. We started out with hardcore facts about the person and the character of God. Let me just briefly review those again. We're talking here about God, Paul says, and we know that God, there is no greater study that we can study than the study of God. What comes to your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. There is no greater reality in all of realities than the reality of God. You cannot know anything rightly apart from rightly knowing God. The most important thing for you in your Christian life is to grow in the knowledge of who God is. You cannot love God until you know that God loves you. And you cannot know the love of God until you know the person of God. There is no greater study than the study of God. Last week we learned that God is a self-existent God. He's an eternal God. He's an immutable God. We talked about the simplicity of God, which really just means that God is indivisible. You can't divide him up into parts. He is one complete whole. His holiness is eternal. His righteousness is eternal and is holy. His love is eternal and holy and righteous and just. His wrath is a loving wrath. His wrath is a just wrath. All of his attributes work together in the simplicity of who God is. We studied that God is spirit. God is spirit, and when you think about God being spirit, that should cause us to fix our eyes on God, because we are to fix our eyes on that which we cannot see. That's what we're to fix our eyes on as Christians in this world, that which we cannot see. And one of the greatest realities that we cannot see is the reality of God. Fix your eyes on God. And when I fix my eyes on God, I like to go back to those four previous attributes, the self-existence of God, the eternality of God, the immutability of God, the simplicity of God. God is the eternal, unchangeable, self-existent God of simplicity. God has always existed in the total summation of all who he is from before time. It is impossible for God to have a beginning. It is impossible for God to increase or to decrease in any of his attributes. God has eternally self-existed in the totality of the summation of all of his attributes. That's the picture of God that I have in my mind. He's eternally existed. He does not change in the totality of the summation of all of His attributes. That's who He was before time. He's never changed. He's never increased. He's never decreased. He's always been that God. I know it is wrong for us to build idols of God, but I like that picture that God I like to picture that God sitting on top of Mount Lemmon if I were to see Mount Everest I would picture that God sitting on the top of Mount Everest when I look at the skies I picture that God filling the skies filling everything self-existent Immutable never changing the total summation of all who he is after all we are and have a faith that gives substance to the things that we hope for If I don't picture this God in my mind, how can He have substance? This is the God that I serve. This is the God that loves me. This is the God that is intimately involved in every detail of my life. And I have to come to where I know that God exists by faith. By faith. My faith has to be strong enough. has to be pure enough to see this God, to know this God, to believe this God, to know that he is more real than anything else I can see. And we're gonna talk about how God uses our faith to preserve us until we receive our inheritance in heaven, which is being preserved for us in heaven. And we're gonna talk about how God uses our trial to persevere that faith, to purify that faith. But let's go on. God is holy. That means he's transcendently separated from everything that exists. He's transcendently separate from everything that exists. In many ways, God is beyond comprehension. Yet he's a revelatory God. He created us in his image that we might receive an understanding of who he is as much as is humanly possible. Will I ever know and exhaust the knowledge of God? No. In all eternity, I will never know, I will never exhaust all that there is to know about God, because He is holy. He's totally transcendently different than anything that I could ever imagine. But I will continue to grow and grow in the knowledge of God, even though I will never exhaust that knowledge. He is sovereign. Sovereignty is different than power. Hitler had power. Did he not have power to try to take over the world? He had all kinds of power, but he did not have sovereignty. Sovereignty is right. Hitler did not have right. The ayatollahs do not have right. Putin does not have right. He's got power, but he doesn't have right. God has power and he has right. He's sovereign. He has the right to do whatever his holy righteousness deems is right to do. He has the right to work everything according to his justice. He is sovereign. He has the absolute right over your life. And as Christian, He doesn't have the absolute right over your life just as your creator only. He has the absolute right over every human being on this face of this earth. He's the creator of all of them. He has the absolute right over every single human being, over every plant, over every molecule. God has the right over it all, but Christian. He has redeemed you. He has the right as your Redeemer. And He is a God of love. And everything that He is going to do with His sovereignty in His life is going to be done from His love. He is good. He is truthful. He is wise. He is righteous. He is just. He is love. He is wrathful. God is gracious and merciful. We didn't get into these two attributes of God much last week, but let's just talk about them briefly this morning. The grace of God and the mercy of God. The mercy of God is that which relieves us from what we deserve, and the grace of God is receiving that which we do not deserve. In some ways, the definition of the mercy of God, relieving us from what we do not, from what we deserve, is right. We deserve punishment. We deserve hell for our sins. And the mercy of God, He relieves that suffering of hell. He relieves that suffering from us, but the mercy of God goes beyond that. The mercy of God is what you call upon when you're praying for a friend who has unbearable back pain. The mercy of God relieves affliction. So yes, the mercy of God is what God uses to relieve us from the torments of hell, but the mercy of God is also what God uses to relieve you from your afflictions. It's so important that we know how to pray to God and pray rightly. Now, if you don't understand the mercy of God, it's not like he's not gonna use his mercy to help you. But for your own personal benefit, know that when you have physical suffering, you're calling upon the mercy of God. Many of us have seen the email that Erica Martinez had us send out. She sent me a text message last night that her father, who was an over-road truck driver, was in an accident. I don't know whether it was with the truck driver, I don't know the particulars of the accident, but he had a very bad arm. His arm's being operated on. Something's happened to his arm. We don't know what, but something's happened to his arm. And he's also an unbeliever. So here's how I pray. God, in your mercy, heal that arm. In your grace, reveal to him the plan of salvation. Grant him faith. Grace is giving us what we don't deserve. Grace is giving us something that we don't have. We pray that God would grant the grace to grow in our faith. We pray that God would grant the grace to those who are lost in their sins, grant them the grace, grant them repentance, grant them the grace to understand their need for salvation, grant them the grace of regeneration. Those are the differences between God's grace and His mercy. But this is the complexity and yet the simplicity of God. All these attributes work in together. And again, friends, God has always been always been the total summation of all of these things. Before time, He's self-existent. He's always been. And His purposes and plans have been set in place since before time. Everything before time. We are such a blip on the screen of time. God sees it all. And for the Redeemer, for those who are redeemed of their sins, He determined that we would become children of God. And He has a plan that is absolutely perfect. This is the God that we know. And now this morning, we're gonna start looking at this God being the God that causes. He causes things to happen. He's causing things in your life. Look there at the next phrase in verse 28. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good. to those who love God and those who are called according to his purpose. The word causes from which we get working together is the same word from which we get synergism. Synergism is the working together of various components to produce an effect that neither component could accomplish on its own. God is doing something with the events and situations in our life that by themselves could never accomplish. The goal of the believer's life is to become like Christ in such a manner that Christ is the most preeminent one. The events and situations in life alone cannot cause this to happen. God must be involved. God has chosen to use all the events and the situations in the believer's life to cause that believer to become more like Christ. God is doing something in your life that could not be done any other way. Let's remember what we read in Job chapter 5 verse 7. For man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward. You're going to have trouble in life. It's going to come. Trouble is going to come in life. But apart from God, that trouble can't be used for your good. God's taking that trouble. God's taking those tribulations. God's taking those trials. God's taking those spiritual failures. God's even taking all those good things. He's taking all of them and He's working them all together for your good. These things are going to come and go regardless. But if God's involved, we know that God will use them for our good. In our sin-fallen world, our problem is we expect God to stop it all. We want God to stop all the bad. We want him to take it all away. Yet only God can take all the troubles of life and use them for our good. He knows. His omniscience, His self-existent omniscience, the total summation of all of His attributes, He's known from before time. This huge, monumentous God and His knowledge and His power and His wisdom and His love. He knows that you need that trial in your life. I don't get it. I don't understand it. Especially when we're talking about trials that people are going through with their children and their grandchildren. It's one thing for me to endure something, it's something totally different to watch my children endure it. To watch my grandchildren endure it. This takes real faith. But I have to come to the point where I come back to what I know to be true. I know this to be true. God knows. God cares. God is all wise. God is purposeful. God is in charge. And I trust God. You have to rehearse that in your mind. You have to meditate on it. Right, Ed? You've got to ruminate on it. You've got to think about it. Ruminate on it. You have to be thinking about God in your day. You have to seek your eyes, fix your eyes on things you cannot see and not just the things that you can see. Now there are four responses that I've thought of that the way we respond to the troubles in the world. Four responses to the troubles in the world. I added these to the notes this morning. There's the defeatist response. No one's in charge. Life is tough. Suck it up. Get used to it. Anyone telling you different is selling you a bag of goods. That's one way that people respond to the struggles in the world. That's just the way life is. Suck it up. Tough it out. You just got to get through it. That's the defeatist response. Then there's the foolish response. A super altruistic view that all works out in the end. The world wants to believe it'll all work out in the end apart from any involvement in God. This is just foolishness for the foolish have said in their heart there is no God. That's the foolish response. It's all just gonna work out. Some kind of karma is gonna bring it all together. It'll all work out. You don't even think about God. God's not even there. You don't even have a belief in God. The fool has said in his heart that there is no God. That's the foolish response, that just somehow it's all going to come together. And then there's the arrogant response. This is the way a lot of Christians respond to the troubles of the world. The world wants to believe that it will all work out in the end because God is good, and everyone's good on his mind. Of course, those who think like this define good as temporal goodness of this life. They are not thinking about the eternal goodness of becoming more like Christ. Plus, people in this camp think God is much more like a celestial Santa Claus who exists to fulfill every wish and every desire. Many Christians are like that. Well, God's just going to work this out. He's in charge. He's going to work it all out for my good. And they're not even thinking that maybe the trial is good and that maybe the trial won't go away. Sometimes they don't go away. Sometimes people deal with the trials all their lives and they never go away. There's no promise that the trials will go away. But the arrogant response is to think that God exists for me. He exists for my goodness. And then there's the exclusive response. And that is the only right response to these verses. That's the only right response to trials in this life, the exclusive response that God is working everything together for the good of those who are called according to his purpose. You see, the exclusive response is the response of those who belong to an exclusive select group of people. How do we know that these verses belong to an exclusive select group of people? Look at verse 29 and 30 with me. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And these whom he justified, he also glorified. There's the exclusive response. There's the response of those who understand that because God foreknew them, they were predestined. And because God predestined them, they were called. And because God called them, they were justified. And because God justified them, Paul sees them as already being glorified. The only way that you can respond to these verses correctly is if you belong to that exclusive group of people, to that group of people that are truly children of God, to that group of people that God in eternity passed, that God in all of his wisdom before anything ever began, already had determined that he would have a special love on certain individuals and that he would call them and he would justify them and he would glorify them and he would cause them to become more like his son by using everything in their lives to cause them to become more like son. We're gonna look at this more yet in the weeks to come, but understand there is an exclusive response that only, only the believer can have, only the child of God can respond appropriately to these verses. God causes all things to work together for the good. This means he causes all his attributes to work together for the good. God's righteousness is a holy righteousness. The standards of right and wrong he established are unlike any other standards. His law is holy and righteous and just. God is holy and righteous justice. He has determined that punishment for one violation of His righteous law to be a non-ending conscious torment in the lake of fire, where God's unmitigated, holy, righteous, and just wrath will be forever poured out on the lawbreaker and poured out upon the lawbreaker of His righteous law. God is a holy and righteous God. He determines what is right and wrong. He determines the justice for breaking His holy law. God has determined that one offense against his law, that one breaking of his law, that one sin deserves justice, means an unmitigated punishment of the wrath of God in the lake of fire forever. That is holy justice. That is God's righteous justice. That is God's righteous wrath. Yet God is a God of love. God is a God of love. He desires to deliver the guilty from his just wrath. Sin deserves, sin deserves. It's justice. We want justice. Justice is punishment in the lake of fire for one sin. One sin deserves punishment, eternal, conscious torment in the lake of fire. That is justice. That is the wrath of God. That is holiness. That is pure. That is right. That is righteousness. But God is a God of love. He wants to forgive the guilty sinner. He wants to deliver the guilty sinner from his wrath. God is a God of mercy. He desires to show mercy rather than justice. Yet justice must be met. He can't just show mercy. He can't just forgive without justice being met. Justice must be met. So he works all of his attributes together for the good. of those who love God and those who are called according to His purpose. How does that work together? He comes up with the plan of redemption, the plan of salvation. Sin must be punished. It must be punished by a sinless one. The punishment must fall upon a sinless one. A sinner can't take my punishment, he has to deal with his own punishment. I need someone to die for me who is perfect. I need someone to die for me who is of such a character that he can endure an eternal weight of the wrath of God, because I deserve an eternal weight of the wrath of God. There's only one being that can do that, and that is the Son of God. God caused all things to work together by causing His Son, by bringing together the plan of redemption, and by bringing together the plan that His Son would become man and go to the cross and bear my sins, carry my sins, and endure the wrath that my sins justly deserve so that God now can be just and the justifier of the one who believes in Jesus Christ. Mercy met justice. Love met wrath. They all work together. They all work together in the simplicity of God. He caused His attributes to work together for my good and my salvation. When we want to talk about God causing things to work together for our good, that's where we must begin, Christian. You must begin right there. If that's all that God did, that would be far more than we ever deserved. He worked his attributes together in such a way that we guilty sinners could be declared not guilty. He worked his attributes together in such a way that we receive forgiveness of sins. He worked his attributes together in such a way that we are clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ and that we can stand in the presence of God. Talk about working things together for my good. The eternal God took his attributes and worked them together for my good. God also causes all the pleasant things in life to work together for our Christ-likeness. This is what I've been thinking about for the last couple of weeks, and I think this is an area where we struggle. God causes all the pleasant things in life to work together for our Christ-likeness. He causes our health, our food, our clothing, our housing, our families, our pleasures, our happiness. How often do we view these good things as that which are conforming us into the image of Christ? Do we often look at them that way when we receive all these blessings? All the many blessings that you receive in life, your health, your clothing, your families, your children, your pleasures, your fishing trips, your road trips, all the many, many blessings in life. Do you look at those things and see, wow, how can these blessings help me become more like Christ? I don't think we think of it that way. but I believe that we would begin to see all the good things that God is doing in our lives and seeing them as causing me to become more like Christ, I think we'd begin to be more grateful to God. I think we would take Him for granted less. We would live for Him. We would trust Him. We would be more at one with Him. We would experience Him. And I just have a feeling that if I was able to take all the good things in life, how is this gonna make me look more like Christ, that I would be better able to take the bad things in life? and see how God is using them to work together for my good and have me become more like Christ. Because I have this mentality. Everything is meant to cause me to become more like Christ. My wife was given to me to cause me to become more like Christ. My children were given to me to cause me to become more like Christ. My grandchildren were given to me to cause me to become more like Christ. I enjoy watching David on the ranch. I enjoy how Heather teaches in the school system. I enjoy my son Micah and his managing of the bank. I enjoy whatever Christy does, and she does things in computers, and I can never figure it out. I enjoy all these things. How are all these things being used to cause me to become more like Christ, to focus more on being like Christ? We need to be habitually living out the good things in life with the goal of becoming more like Christ if we hope to live through the bad things in life with the goal of becoming more like Christ. So let's talk about some of those bad things. God causes pain and evil to work together for our Christlikeness. He causes pain and evil to work together for our Christlikeness. Psalm 119, verse 67. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now I keep your word. I was afflicted, I was straying, and then you brought affliction into my life, Lord, and now I'm following your word. It was good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn your statutes. Psalm 119, verse 71. Psalm 119, verse 75. I know, O Lord, that your judgments are righteous and that in faithfulness you've afflicted me. Oh, to have the attitude of the psalmist to be able to see that God's afflictions cause us to turn to him and cause us to look to his word more. Let's look at these passages I have here in 1 Peter 1, verse 3. 1 Peter 1, verse 3, blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. You see how he's causing all things to work together for the good. He caused us to be born again. We didn't choose to be born again. We didn't decide to be born again. God caused us to be born again. He caused us to be born again to a living hope. through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. We have this living hope of this inheritance that's reserved for us in heaven. Our inheritance is being protected by God in heaven. And he caused us to be born again that we might have this hope. We go on here in verse five, who are protected, that's us. Child of God, that's you. You are being protected. Not only is your inheritance being protected, but you are being protected, who are being protected by the power of God. Here we have it, the omnipotent power of God, that eternal, holy, righteous, omnipotent power of God that never changes, never increases, never decreases. He's protecting you with His power. How in His power is He protecting us? Look at the next phrase, through faith, through faith. God in his omnipotence, the almighty powerful God who speaks creation into being, who causes us to be born again is using our faith, yours and my faith. He's using our faith to protect us. I'm not sure I'd have gone along with God's wisdom on that one. Pick something else, God. My faith is way too weak. But God knows, doesn't He? He knows. He's wise. He knows that the best way for us to be protected is by our faith. Yes, He knows our faith is weak. He knows your faith is weak. He knows you struggle. He knew Peter's faith would be weak, and He prayed for him. He knows your faith is weak. Look what He continues to say here. By the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, that salvation there is not justification, that salvation there is ultimate glorification. That's what he's talking about there. Ultimate glorification. He's not talking about justification, that's already happened. Ultimate glorification. We are being protected by our faith. Almighty, powerful God is using your faith to protect you until you receive your ultimate glorification. In this we greatly rejoice." I agree with that, Peter. I greatly rejoice that God is protecting me. Even though now for a little while, I greatly rejoice. Even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, I keep on rejoicing. Even though I'm being distressed by various trials. Even now for a little while. They may last the rest of your life. But in light of eternity, it's just a little while. It's just a blip. Get your eyes fixed on eternity. Get your eyes fixed on eternal God. Fix your eyes on Him and understand your life is just a blip. It's just a blip on the screen preparing you for eternity. Even though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been distressed by various trials. Why? So that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Your faith is weak, it's full of impurities, it needs to be purified. And God uses the trials of this life to purify your faith so that you'll have a strong enough faith to hold fast to your confession of hope in Jesus Christ. God is causing it all to work together for your good. It comes down to one simple truth, reasoning through the hardcore facts. Reason through it. Ask yourself, do you believe it? You see, these may just be words to you, but you've got to ask yourself, do I really believe it? Am I going to commit my life to this truth regardless of what I'm going through? Am I going to stop looking at the problem? and start looking at the solution. This is the only solution. You have no other hope. I'm telling you right now, you have no other hope. Jesus Christ has the words of eternal life. Turn your mind to Jesus Christ. Take every thought captive. to the obedience of Jesus Christ. Every thought that would cause you to want to turn away from this, take that thought captive to what does God's word teach. We're getting right down to the nitty gritty here. Do we truly believe that this is God's word? Do we really truly believe that this eternal self-existent God is revealing to me his secret thoughts in these pages right now? Do I really truly believe this truth? Let's look to James chapter one, verse two. James chapter one, verse two. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. A better translation for the word perfect there is mature, All the trials, the various different trials we're going through is meant to cause us to become more and more mature. I remember when we taught this in the men's Bible study. When you're in the thick of it, it's kind of hard to quote all this and to think of all this when the burden all of a sudden hits you. But my encouragement was just say, God, I believe you. I know what you're doing. You're doing it. I believe you. I trust you. I trust you. In the midst of trials, just say, I trust you. I trust you, God. Do you trust him? Do you trust him that he's using everything for your maturity? Job learned it. We read in Job chapter 4, 42, verse 5. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore, I retract and repent in dust and ashes. Job went through the trials that he was going through because God said he was the most righteous man on the face of the earth. But he had a lot to learn about God yet. And God used all those trials, all those difficulties, all that loss of wealth and all that loss of possessions, that loss of all of his children, his health, the miserable state that he was living in. God took him through all of that to reveal more of himself to him, that his faith would become stronger. Job is a perfect example of one who saw God working in his life as he went through difficulties and trials. God causes all things, all things to work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. All things includes your temptations. All things includes your sin. God causes our temptations and our sin to work together for our Christ-likeness. There's a difference between using something for good and the inherent goodness of the thing used. Certainly there is no inherent goodness in sin. Sin is inherently evil. But God can still use that which is inherently evil for his good purposes. God can even use your sin for his good purposes. Look with me again in Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five, verse 20. The law came in so that the transgression would increase, and where sin increased, grace abound all the more." Now, when we studied that passage, we realized that when it says, the law came so that the transgression would increase, it's not like we would sin more, but our understanding of the transgression would increase. The more we understand our sin, The more and more we comprehend the sinfulness of our sin, what happens? Grace superabounds. The more and more you realize you're a sinner, the more and more you understand the wretchedness of your sin, the more and more you understand the helpless nature that you have to fight against your sin and of yourself, the more and the more you realize the grace of God. Every time we sin, we get a greater picture of the grace of God. Look at chapter 6 verse 1. What shall we say? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? Paul is not here denying the reality. that the more we sin, the more we experience the grace, he is refuting the idea that one should use this truth as an excuse to sin. Now, the idea that the more I sin, the more I understand grace is not to be used as an excuse. Well, then I guess I'm gonna sin more and more and more. No, it's just a reality. This is the truth. For the Christian, for the one who's truly a child of God, every time they sin, they grow in their understanding of the grace of God. Sin in one's life can prevent carnal confidence. When we go through a period of life where we never sin, where we don't recognize our sin, we begin to think that we're confident in our flesh, we're confident in ourselves. Sin in one's life can prevent carnal confidence by causing us to think we do not need God to live a righteous life. The more we sin, the more we realize, I need God to live a righteous life. Sin in our lives can cause us to understand that we cannot do this on our own. Sin in our lives has a tendency to humble us. When you struggle with sin, it has a tendency to humble you. and help you to realize just how much you need God. It keeps you from having carnal confidence. When we sin and follow the teaching of 1 John 1, verse 9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, we become reacquainted with God's forgiveness, his long-suffering, his grace, and his love. What are we to do when we sin? 1 John 1, 9 is written to Christians. So John understands Christians are going to sin. What do you do when you sin? When you sin, you confess your sins and He is faithful and righteous to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He is faithful. He will do it every single time. Every time you confess your sin, He is faithful. He will forgive you your sin and you are reacquainted with the faithfulness of God. He is righteous to forgive you your sin. If he's righteous to forgive you your sin, then that means it's unrighteous for God not to forgive you of your sin. It's unrighteous for God to not forgive you of your sin. God cannot be unrighteous. He cannot be unrighteous. If you are truly a believer and you truly confess your sins, God will always forgive you your sins because He is righteous. You can count on it. He's an eternal, immutable God. He will forgive you your sins. Now you're growing in your understanding of your confidence you can have in God. the dependability of God, the mercy of God, the long-suffering of God. Do you sin over and over and over again? Yeah, you sin over and over and over again, but God in His long-suffering continues to forgive you. You're learning more and more about the love of God, the forgiveness of God, the mercy of God, the faithfulness of God, the righteousness of God, the work of Christ on the cross. All that is made possible because we understand the forgiveness of our sins. Having sinned and have been forgiven of what sin, we become spiritually aware and astute to the subtleness of sin. In this way, we combat spiritual lethargy. God will use our sin to combat our spiritual lethargy. We become lethargic. in our spiritual walk. We don't study the scriptures like we should study the scriptures. We don't read, we don't pray, we don't spend time with other Christians, we become lethargic, we become focused on the world, and then in comes sin. And we repent of that sin and it brings us back to spiritual astuteness. The parable of the prodigal son shows us that God is always ready to forgive and restore and forget. The psalmist teaches us that as far as the east is from the west, he has removed our transgressions from us. No matter how often we sin, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us in a manner where our sin is removed as far as the east is from the west, and this brings us joy and comfort and happiness in life. God even causes your sin. to work together for your good to where you become more like Christ. If you really truly are a believer in Jesus Christ and you experience the forgiveness of that sin again, it causes you to want to be more like Christ. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, I quote him as saying, to fall into sin, to be a backslider is always bad, yet I venture to assert that even falling into sin or backsliding because of our relationship to God can work for our ultimate good and help produce our glorification. The glorification that the doctor speaks of here is being transformed from glory to glory into those who are becoming more like Christ. It's what we read about in 1 Peter 2, verse 9. But we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Why? So that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. We are a chosen race. We are a royal priesthood. We are a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, called us out of sin, called us out of a life of sin into His marvelous light. And every time we experience the forgiveness of our sins, we are made more aware of having been called out of that darkness and into his marvelous light and we can proclaim the excellencies of him who eternally will forgive me of my sin because he's eternally faithful. God has left us in this world to be salt and light We are left in this world to proclaim the excellency of God who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. To accomplish this great calling, we must remain vigilant and astute. There's no room for spiritual lethargy. We must be constantly on our knees and demonstrate our total dependence upon God. There's no room for independent mavericks in God's army. God uses our trials and our temptations and our spiritual failures to create spiritual vigilance and astuteness within us. He uses our trials and our temptations and our failures to create within us a humble attitude of total reliance upon God. God uses our trials and our temptations and our spiritual failures to reveal to us that we are living too close to the world. We need to realign our focus of all things that we can see off of the things we can see and get our focus back on the things that we cannot see. Our bond with the world must be broken and the trial and the temptations and the spiritual failures are used by God to break these bonds. He reminds us that we are sojourners in the world. For those whom God loves, he disciplines and he scourges every son whom he receives. One last category I want us to consider this morning is God causes your besetting sin. to work out for your becoming more like Christ. I know some struggle with besetting sins. We probably more of a struggle with besetting sins than we realize. Sometimes we don't understand what besetting sins really are. Our irritability, our anger, our temper, our gossip, our slander, our jealousy, our greed. We just can't stop being angry. We just can't stop talking about other people. We just can't stop being bitter. We just can't stop being jealous. Those two are besetting sins. So often, besetting sins seems to be restricted to just those of a sexual nature. But regardless, if you have a besetting sin this morning, I would like you to consider these three verses. First of all, 1 John 4, verse 19. We love because He first loved us. The only reason I love God is because He loved me. That's the only reason. If God had not demonstrated His love to me, if He had not revealed His love to me, if He had not revealed His love to me on the cross, I would never love Him. The more He reveals His love to me, the more I love God. 1 John 5, verse 3, for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. How do I demonstrate my love for God? I keep His commandments. I try to live a righteous and pure life. I follow His laws. The more He loves me, the more I know of His love of me, the more I love Him, and the more I love Him, the more obedient I am. Now let's go back to 1 John 1, verse 9. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What I have learned about those who have besetting sins is they really struggle experiencing the forgiveness of their sin again and again and again. What happens if you can't really sense the forgiveness of God's sin, of your sin? If you can't sense his forgiveness of your sin, what happens? You're losing sight of his love. You're not understanding his love. You need to understand that no matter how often you sin, and we're gonna go next week and we're gonna look at different matters of what the love of God looks like, and if you can check off these things, you don't have to ask the question, well, what if I'm not a Christian? Because those with besetting sins will always go to that. Well, what if I'm not a Christian? What if I'm not a Christian? We're gonna ask the questions. We're gonna ask questions like, do you love the things of God? Do you love what God loves? Do you hate what God hates? Do you hunger for righteousness? Do you long for the return of Christ? Do you find yourself desiring less of this world? If you answer yes to those things, well, then you love God. You are a child of God. So throw that one out. Don't listen to that lie of the evil one. And don't listen to the lie of the evil one who would tell you that you've sinned too much and God can't forgive you. Don't listen to that. Listen to the truth of God's Word. God's Word says, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Take that sin and remove it as far from us as the East is from the West from you. That's what God will do every single time you sin. Understand the depths of the love of God for you. Understand the depths of the goodness of God for you. let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart from you. Don't allow Satan to bring into your mind that I've sinned too much, I've committed this sin too much, God just can't forgive me anymore. If you let that come into your mind, you're short-circuiting what God wants to use to give you the power to overcome that sin. The power to overcome that sin is to learn more and more and more about the love of God for you. The more you know about the love of God for you, the more you will love Him and the more you will find the inner spiritual strength to overcome that besetting sin. Come back to this verse. God causes all things to work together for His good. He will take that besetting sin and He will cause it to work together for your good. How will He do that? He will forgive you again and again and again to the point where your understanding of His love is becoming so great and so grand that the thoughts of the sin are just being pushed out by your love for God as you understand His love for you. This is how God's Word works to help us become more like Christ. God's Word. Is there anything more precious? And yet, will not the enemy said, Has God really said it? Will he not constantly cause you to question the word of God? When you question the truthfulness of God, you're falling prey to the enemy's major weapon to get you to doubt the word of God. Let's pray. Great God Almighty, there are not words in the human language enough to express our awe and our wonder of you. We are the most blessed. We are the most blessed creatures of all creation. Truly, no one has it better than we do. I pray, Father, that everyone here this morning that is a child of God will walk out of here regardless of their struggles and calmly, quietly say in their heart, no one's got it better than me. No one's got it better than me. Help us become like Christ, Lord. We pray in your holy name, amen.