Okay, we're in Romans chapter 5. This is Romans lecture number 11. Romans chapter 5. And this lecture is on the results of justification in Romans 5 verses 1 to 11. The results of justification. Now keep in mind that we're already in our outline. We've completed the introduction. We've also completed the, all men are condemned from Romans 1 verse 18 to Romans 3 verse 20. And now we're in the section on justification for the salvation, salvation through Christ. And we're on the portion of that that deals with justification that started in Romans 3 verse 20, carried through Romans 4, and goes through Romans 5, and then sanctification. is that aspect of salvation that will be dealt with in Romans 6 and 7 and then glorification will be dealt with in Romans chapter 8 and then we move on to God's dealings with Israel in Romans 9, 10, and 11 and the practical application in Romans 12 to the end of the book. So we're dealing with the aspect of salvation that is called justification. That moment when a believing sinner is declared righteous by God. Brief introduction, Paul declared that all men are condemned. He taught that salvation comes only through faith in Jesus. And he said that this gospel message is not something new. Even Abraham and David from the Old Testament, they were not saved by works, they were not saved by the law. Both Abraham and David trusted in God alone for salvation. Abraham believed the Lord and God credited to him his righteousness and Abraham threw himself at God's feet for mercy, knowing that his sins, adultery and murder, the law required a death penalty. There was no animal sacrifice to cover for those sins. And so now Paul looks at the results of justification. So he talks about in Romans 3, verses 21 to the end of that chapter, how we're justified, not by the works of the law, but through trusting in Jesus alone for salvation. Romans 4, he says that it's not something new. Abraham and David are two Old Testament examples of those who are saved by faith. And now in chapter 5, verses 1 to 11, he talks about the results of justification. Some of them, I'll just list the results right now and then we'll cover them one at a time. Peace with God, we receive peace with God. as a result of justification, we receive an introduction into our grace standing, we are able to boast in the hope of the glory of God, we are able to boast in our tribulations, and we receive the love of God in our hearts and we receive the security that only a believer can have and that once you are saved you will always remain saved through the power of God at work in your life and we are able to boast in God. And so these are the, I believe, seven different results of justification that Paul covers in the first 11 verses of Romans chapter 5. So let's take a look at Romans chapter 5, verse 1. The first result of justification that Paul lists is peace with God. Romans 5, verse 1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we have peace with God. The word for peace is Irenae, Irenae, and it means freedom from hostility. And so we receive peace with God, but of course only if we have been justified by faith, this peace with God comes only through Jesus Christ. All unbelievers, all non-believers live in a state of rebellion against God. It's like they declared war on God. War was actually declared in the Garden of Eden. And until you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you continue to exist in a state of rebellion against God. But once a person is justified, once a person is declared righteous by God, at the moment he first believes, at the moment he first trusts in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, then the person receives peace with God and the war is no longer at war with God. Now verse 2, the first part of verse 2 talks about the result of justification being our introduction into our grace standing. And the second part of verse 2 talks about the fact that we can then boast in the hope of the glory of God. So take a look at verse 2 of Romans chapter 5. Through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we exult in hope of the glory of God. our introduction into our grace standing. Paul says in Romans 6.14 that we're no longer under the law. And this is what he's speaking about here in Romans 5. Let's look at Romans 6.14. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. And so we are no longer under law. See, when you live under the law, you get what you earn. When you're living under the law that means you're trying to save yourself by the works of the law and you cannot do that. The law reveals God's holy standards and man in his sinfulness cannot keep God's holy standards so we cannot earn our salvation. So under the law we get what we earn which is basically the flames of hell. But now that a person is saved, we are introduced into our new grace standing. Now we are no longer under the law, but now we are under grace. The word for grace is charis. We get our word charity from it. And charis means unmerited favor. It's God's favor that we could not earn. We receive it as a gift. We accept this grace of God by faith. Pistos in the Greek It means a trust, a reliance, a dependence. It means that we trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. We do not trust in ourselves to save us. So we leave the realm of the law. We're no longer under the law as far as trying to save ourselves by our works. We're under condemnation. If you're under the law, you're under condemnation because none of us can keep God's holy principles. But now we're under grace where the law condemns, grace provides. We're now under grace and we're introduced to our new grace standing where God provides what we could not provide for ourselves and that is favor with God. In this verse, verse 2 of chapter 5, Paul says we insult in hope of the glory of God. Now, this is difficult to figure out exactly what he's getting at, but if we allow the scriptures to interpret scriptures and see how Paul uses the glory of God in his phraseology in the book of Romans, we get some glimpse about what the glory of God means. First off, the word exalt It basically means boast. We boast in the hope of the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 10.17, Paul says, But he who boasts, let him boast in the Lord. Ephesians 2.8.9, Paul says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, but of the gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast. So we boast in the Lord. So we know that this boasting has to do with God's work in our lives because Paul will never tell us to boast in our own abilities or our own strength. When we look at the glory of God, that phrase, you look at Romans 3.23 and Paul says, for all have sinned. and fall short of the glory of God. What Paul's talking about is the fact that we all fall short of God's perfection for our lives. Now God created, everything that God created, God created to bring glory to Him. His whole creation, the reason why He created anything was to glorify Him. Yet we fall short of the glory of God. We fall short of God's perfection for our lives we fall short, we do not fully glorify God in the way He intended us to glorify Him in His initial creation. But Romans 8.29 says, for whom He foreknew, so those God foreknew are believers, for whom He foreknew He also predestined or predetermined to become conformed to the image of His Son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now when you read verse 30 after that, it says, and whom he predestined, these he also called. And whom he called, these he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. So he's talking about glorification. When we become fully conformed to the image of God's Son, we will be glorified at that point. Also, when we are fully conformed to the image of God's Son, Jesus, obviously more than any other man, of course Jesus is fully God and fully man, more than any other man, Jesus glorified the Father. He came not to do his own will, but the will of Him who sent Him, John 6.38. He glorified the Father like no other man. When we are fully conformed to the image of God's Son and we are glorified, we will fully, for the first time in our existence, we will fully glorify God to the extent that God intended us to glorify Him. So, Romans 8, 29, and 30 is the direct antithesis of Romans 3.23. Romans 3.23, we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We fall short of fully glorifying God to the extent that God intended us to. But in Romans 8.29.30, God has predetermined that the work He begins in believers, He will complete that work He will perfect all believers, fully conform them to the image of his own son, so that for the first time in their lives, for the first time in our lives, we will fully glorify God to the extent that he intended. Philippians 1.6 Paul says, I am convinced of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. And so we will someday be all that God wants us to be and we will fully glorify God. And so we can boast in this hope. of the glory of God knowing that this hope will not be disappointed. God teaches promises and he promises to complete the work that he starts in all believers and so we can boast in the hope that someday we will fully glorify God to the extent we were created to do so through the work of God in our lives through salvation through Christ. So the fact that we can boast in the hope of the glory of God is the third result of justification that Paul lists. Now the fourth one is a little strange here, especially here in America where we've been spoiled rotten and we don't have to suffer and wonder where our next meal is coming from like people from all other nations on earth. But Paul says that one of the positive results of justification is that we can boast. in our tribulations in verses 3 and 4. Now you would think that if tribulations are going to come because you're saved, you would think that Paul would note that as a bummer, would note it as something we would not boast about. You know, who wants to boast about sufferings? But Paul says this is something we can take pride in, that we can suffer for Christ. It's an honor to suffer for Christ, and we grow through suffering for Christ. So boasting in our tribulations, another result of justification, verses 3 and 4 of Romans chapter 5. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance. And perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope. So verses 3 and 4 we can boast in our tribulations. He's saying basically the same thing that James said in James chapter 1, verses 2 to 4. James chapter 1, and verses 2 to 4, James says, 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, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. And so James says that we should be happy, we should consider it a joy, it should make us rejoice when we encounter various trials, knowing that these trials test our faith and prove our faith to be real. When we endure through trials, you know, sometimes you think that to endure a trial you've got to smile, fake a smile all the way through. Not so. You don't have to fake a smile all the way through your trials. But at the end of the darkness of that tunnel, when you come out on the other side, if somebody asks you, are you still trusting in Jesus alone for salvation? If your answer is yes, then you've come through that trial. And sometimes you don't look too hot. Job didn't look like a spiritual giant. But he came through that trial. But the trials test our faith and they prove our faith to be real when we endure those trials. God puts us in a situation that we could not endure the trial in our own strength, and so it shows that God is working through us, causing us to persevere and endure the trial. and then we become perfect and complete, lacking nothing. In other words, we become spiritually mature, not sinless perfection, but we reach a level of spiritual maturity. We become spiritual adults rather than babes in Christ. But Paul says that we can, as a result of justification, as a result of being saved, we can boast in our tribulations. He says that tribulation brings perseverance. Perseverance is the patient endurance of trials. We've all known that before Christ, when rough times would come, we would usually, you know, freak out or lose all control or go nuts or whatever we would do. And, you know, maybe some of us were pretty cool and handled trials like Clint Eastwood in the movies. But for the most part, we would come unglued. But a true believer who allows God to work through him will persevere and patiently endure the trials that come their way. You know, sometimes I'll run into financial difficulty and I'll feel like wondering, you know, why me? I've done so well, I've served the Lord this way, I've served the Lord that way. But I understand that the Lord, you know, Romans 8.28, 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. So God is using these trials to build perseverance in Phil Fernandez, to build perseverance in his people, in his believers, in those who trust in him. And perseverance brings proven character. spiritual maturity in other words. So tribulation brings perseverance and perseverance brings as its result proven character spiritual maturity and proven character brings hope which is the opposite of despair. Jesus Christ ultimately is our blessed hope. Titus 2.13, the second coming of Christ. No matter how bad things get, the fact is someday Jesus Christ is going to return to this earth and he's going to make all things new and he's going to straighten up that which is crooked and he's going to set things straight and he's going to punish those who have persecuted the church and he's going to reward those who have been faithful to him. And so a spiritually mature believer that has learned to patiently endure trials will not despair because he will always have hope. A hope that can never be quenched. A hope that will ultimately culminate in the second coming of Jesus Christ to the planet Earth. But God builds our character by allowing us to reach the end of our rope. allowing us to reach the end of our ropes until God is our only hope. See, in order for God to build my character, He has to put me into a situation that I cannot handle myself, to where I eventually throw up my hands and I say, hey, I give up, Lord. I cannot handle the situation on my own. You've stretched my character to the limit. I can't handle it. I can't do it. Now I need to just trust in You. And at that point, when we realize that we are not our own saviors, we cannot deliver ourselves from the trial that confronts us, God becomes our only hope. And so proven character, spiritual maturity built within trials brings hope. By the way, we often ask the Lord, you know, Lord, help us to grow. We want to grow. that type of thing but you can't grow without growing pains and so often we ask for spiritual growth thinking that we're going to live happily ever after and all of a sudden the trials come and a person who prays for patience is probably going to get turmoil in their life because that's the only way you can build patience and to build spiritual maturity takes trials it's much like weight lifting weightlifting weightlifters have a saying no pain no gain you can't get big your muscles can't get bigger stronger unless you put them through tremendous pain when you when you bodybuild or lift weights you're actually not building big muscles in the gym you're actually tearing your muscles apart in a well-designed fashion, and then when you eat food and rest, your muscles are rebuilding themselves bigger and stronger than they were before. And so in order to gain size and strength, you have to have pain. It's the same with the Christian walk. No trials, no growth, no pain, no gain. And so we Christians, as a result of justification, we can boast in our tribulations. The fifth result of justification that Paul mentions is that we receive the love of God, verses 5 to 8. Look at verses 5 to 8 of Romans 5. And hope does not disappoint. because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so we receive the love of God. Paul says that our open God, that's why I spelled doesn't wrong, our open God doesn't disappoint. In other words, God keeps his promises. God keeps his promises. If you open God, you will not be disappointed. For all those who open the Lord will not be disappointed. Let me just correct this one thing there. Okay, the love that's spoken about here, it's not some watered-down, mushy type of love. It's agape love. The word in the Greek is agape. It means unconditional love. Unconditional love. Sometimes agape love will drive a father to spank his child. Other times agape love will drive a father to hug his child. Agape love is not a mushy type of love. Sometimes love must be tough, as James Dobson, the Christian psychologist, has said many times. He has a book titled that. Agape, unconditional love, is the kind of love where you can love your enemies that way. It's unconditional. It's also, it is not an emotion. God does not command us to have emotions. You can wake up with, you know, having lousy emotions. The emotions just come and they go. God commands us to make a choice. So true love is a choice. It's a choice to unconditionally love others. In other words, it's a choice to love others even if they don't return that love. Even if they hate us, we choose to love them. But it's not a mushy love that says, well, this guy murdered somebody, so let's find him not guilty. It's not a mushy love. It's a love that seeks the greatest good for others. It seeks the greatest good for others. So if your friend's a non-believer and he's rejected Jesus, agape, unconditional love that seeks the greatest good for others, you're going to seek to see him saved. So you're going to want to share the gospel message with him. You're not going to say, well, I don't want to hurt his self-esteem. Because the greatest good for a person is not the person's self-esteem. The greatest good for a person is that they be humbled and recognize that their failures are the most important thing in life. They're sinners. They can't save themselves. And apart from God's grace, which can only be accepted through faith and Jesus alone for salvation. Apart from that, they're going to be lost and they're going to burn in hell forever. So a God-fearing unconditional love will seek the greatest good for others, not seek to build their self-esteem if the gospel message is going to devastate that self-esteem, but it will seek the greatest good for others. In other words, it will desire, just as God desires to see all men saved, it will cause us to desire to see all men saved. Our hope in God does not disappoint because God's love was poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Now in 1 Corinthians 6.19 Paul says, Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? It was in you whom you have from God and that you are not your own. So the Holy Spirit indwells all believers. Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, from the moment we first believe, the Holy Spirit indwells us. He seals us for the day of redemption from the moment that we first believe. So the Holy Spirit indwells all believers, and at the moment He indwells all believers, He fills us with God's love. And because of that, we have access to the Holy Spirit's power, But we also have access to the Holy Spirit's love. Now, Tony Kampala has said that God cannot simultaneously... God or man cannot simultaneously express love and power. Let me say this, Tony Campala is off the wall. Tony Campala is one of the lousiest theologians. He's a sociologist. He was trained by a bunch of atheists. It's probably why he thinks Marxism is a good form of government. It's probably why he thinks the answers to all our problems are in the Liberal Democratic Party. Tony Campala is out to watch. Tony Campala preached one good message that I'd heard and because of that, You've got so many Christians looking to him. He says St. Francis of Assisi is going to be the patron saint of the next century because Greenpeace is going to fall in love with this guy if they find out how much that he considered birds and animals are brothers and sisters. Let me tell Tony Campala something. We don't need, the Christian church doesn't need to kiss the feet of a bunch of new age pagans. We don't need to label a bunch of Greenpeace non-believers, try to find a saint that will stoop to their level. By the way, I'm not really so sure. I have to read up more on St. Francis of Assisi. I'm not so sure he was a saint anyway. The Catholic Church canonized him a saint, but he had the stigmata, the wounds of Christ. I see no justification of that in the scriptures. And from reading about the life of Padre Pio, another Catholic saint who had the stigmata, The guy was constantly tormented by demons and was promising to suffer himself for the sins of people to give him less time in purgatory. He had a God complex. So Tony Kampala was saying that God can't simultaneously express love and power at the same time. Plus, you know, the guy's a no-nuke. The guy's a pacifist. He's not being biblical, he just was trained by a bunch of politically left, politically liberal people, some of them communists. And he interprets the Bible from a left-wing type view. In actuality, the ultimate power in the universe is God. And God is love. And so Jesus has no problem displaying his love and his power simultaneously and so Tony Kampala acting like the two are mutually exclusive is just out to lunch but through the Holy Spirit who indwells all believers we have access to his power and we have access to his love by the way I think you can argue the ultimate power in the universe is true love but it's not the mushy love that the liberals talk about it's the true biblical concept of love I think Tony Kapala should spend a lot less time teaching, a lot less time worrying about building people's self-esteem and a lot more time reading his Bible and judging his political views by the scriptures. As you can tell, I don't recommend his writings for any other purpose other than to theologically critique them. But Acts chapter 1 verse 8 Jesus said to his disciples when he was about to ascend to heaven that you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth. You see when the Holy Spirit baptized the church they received his power. 1 Corinthians 4.20, Paul says, for the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power. And again, it's the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Now with the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the power that we have access to, His power is the power to transform lives. He can change us from sloppy sinners, and bring through us, produce through us the fruit of the Spirit. Look at the fruit that can be produced through the lives of believers through the indwelling Holy Spirit, Galatians 5, 22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. The love of God, which is the first fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5, 22 and 23, the agape, unconditional love of God, which seeks the greatest good for others, has been poured out within our hearts through the indwelling Holy Spirit, so that all believers have access to His power And that power can transform our lives and produce God's love, work God's love through us, channel it through us. We can become instruments of God's love and impact the world in which we live. But again that love is not always a mushy kind of liberal type love. that just builds the esteem of others. When you tell people that they're sinners, they can't save themselves, that's a big blow to their esteem. But I'd rather go to hell, I'd rather go to heaven with low self-esteem than go to hell with high self-esteem. Believe me, if I had to name somebody who has higher self-esteem than anybody else other than the triune God, it would probably be Lucifer. And so Lucifer with the highest self-esteem that it created, that a creature could possibly have, then the guy's going to get the lowest place in hell. So self-esteem and spiritual maturity are not in direct relationship to one another. But Matthew 5 verse 13, Jesus is talking to believers, he says, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. And the point here is that though the Holy Spirit It has poured the love of God within our hearts and it dwells all believers and we have access to His power. Believers can suppress His power. Now, I do not believe that we could totally stifle the light of the Holy Spirit in our lives. In other words, good work will produce, saving faith will produce good works, but at the same time, we can get in the way and suppress much of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. But in this passage, Romans 5, verses 5 to 8, Paul tells us the Holy Spirit poured God's love out within our hearts and that God demonstrated his love for us when Christ died for us. Now, when Christ died for us, we were helpless. It's much like the love of a mother for a little infant, for a little baby. The baby is so helpless. And that's the way we were. If we have this idea that we helped God save us, we're totally out to lunch. I do believe we had the freedom to accept or reject the free gift of salvation. But the fact of the matter is, the free gift of salvation was a gift won for us totally by the work of Christ. We were totally helpless when Christ died for us. There was no way we could help ourselves get saved. The apostles asked Jesus in Matthew 19, 25 and 26, how can man be saved? Jesus said, this is impossible with man, but all things are possible to God. When Christ died for us, we were helpless. We were also ungodly. This speaks about our character. Our character was opposed to God's character. God's character is totally good. Our character is totally messed up. We were ungodly when Christ died for us. We were not righteous when Christ died for us. In other words, righteousness speaks about our deeds. So our deeds were opposed to God's laws. We were not righteous. We were not good, Paul says, when Christ died for us. The difference between good or righteous... Righteous means fair, just. If God said thou shalt not, you don't do that. If God said thou shalt do this, you do that. That's being righteous. But being good means you go the extra mile for others, okay? So, if righteousness says thou shalt not, thou shalt not steal, you're being righteous to your neighbor, you don't steal from your neighbor. But being good means you would share what you have with your neighbor. It goes the extra yard. But not only were we not good when Christ died for us, we didn't go the extra mile for others, but we were not righteous. In fact, we were ungodly in our character and we were helpless. We could not save ourselves. And Paul says when Christ died for us, we were sinners. Again, we were disobedient to God's will. We were in rebellion against God. And so Paul points out in verses 5 to 8, Christ died for us, Christ died for his enemies. We were the enemies of Christ, we were the enemies of God, and Christ died for us. Now Paul said, you know, nobody will die for a righteous man, and okay, maybe there's some who will die for a good man, die for a guy who went out of his way, went the extra mile for you, but who's going to die for his enemies? Yet Christ died for his enemies. As sinners, it means we are in rebellion against God, and so here we were at war with God, we declared war on Him, Yet God became a man and died for his enemies. He loved us even though we hated him. You know, if you get some guys out there, some guys like Robert Schuller, a heretic, who teaches that... Robert Schuller teaches that we need to build our self-esteem. We need to realize how worthy we are. After all, we were worth Jesus dying for. Well, the fact of the matter is This passage right here and many other passages, verse 5 to 8, Jesus Christ did not get His money's worth. When He paid the price by dying on the cross for our sins, He did not get His money's worth. Jesus did not love us. God did not love us because we were so lovable. He loved us because of His ability to love that which is unlovable. And so we need to recognize that the ultimately worthy sacrifice was offered on behalf of the ultimately unworthy people that we are. Now once Christ saves you, He can do powerful and beautiful things through you. But even there, you have to get out of the way. Phil Fernandes needs to be less of Phil Fernandes and more of Jesus Christ. Allow Christ to live His life through me. as Paul spoke about in Galatians 2, and as John the Baptist said in John 3.30, he must increase, but I must decrease. The sixth result of justification is security. Those who are saved will be kept by the power of God. Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, does not lose any sheep. Verses 9 and 10 speak of security. Much more than having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 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. By the way, don't let that scare you there. Being saved Salvation has three aspects. Justification, the moment you're declared righteous when you first believe. Sanctification, the process of being set apart more and more for God's holy purposes. And glorification, the moment when you're totally perfected. So salvation can be used in any of those senses and here it's being used in a different sense. You've already been justified, saved in that sense, but you shall still be saved from the wrath of God in a future sense, i.e. perfected, glorified, that type of thing. Security results from Justification, verses 9 and 10 of Romans 5. We are justified now by Christ's blood. If you trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation, you are now justified. You are now saved. You are now declared righteous by Christ's blood. What Christ's blood means, by the way, There's some people that teach that for every drop of blood that Jesus spilled, it represented one person on earth. That's just ludicrous. If Jesus Christ bled on the cross, what would have been the Old Testament if they wounded a lamb and it bled, but it didn't die, and then they set it free? That's not an animal sacrifice. That's not a legitimate sacrifice. Whenever it says that we're justified by Christ's blood, it means that Christ spilled his blood to the point of death. In other words, the blood of Jesus is a poetic way of saying that Christ died on the cross for our sins. And so we're now justified by Christ's death on the cross for our sins. But then Paul says, if we are now justified, we shall be saved, future, we shall be saved from God's wrath. In other words, we're saved now, we'll be saved forever. We will not have to worry that God's eternal wrath, the flames of hell, is going to get us. If you are now saved, you shall be kept by God forever you shall be saved forever look at John chapter 3 verse 36 here the wrath of God is used in this sense God's eternal wrath the eternal flames of hell John chapter 3 or at least used in the sense of God's judgment hovering over a person He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides or remains on him. And so those who are saved, those who are now justified, shall not have to worry about God's eternal wrath. Again, this talks of the security of the believer, John chapter 6, verses 37 to 40. Jesus is speaking and he says, All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that of all that He has given me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. So this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I myself will raise them up on the last day." So Jesus Christ is a good shepherd who doesn't lose any of his sheep. Verse 47 he says of John 6, "...Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life." If you could lose eternal life, it wasn't eternal, it was only temporary. Eternal life means life that never ends, and so therefore, if you can have eternal life now, then you can know that you shall never perish. This is what Jesus says in John 10, 28. of a sheep, I give them eternal life, they shall never perish, and no one can snatch them out of my hand. He says it also in John 11, 25 and 26, that true believers shall never perish. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? There's many people who say they do believe that, but really don't because they teach you to lose your salvation. Christ says if you live and believe in him, You shall never die. And so it's really clear that if we are now saved, we shall be saved forever. We shall be saved from God's eternal wrath if we are now justified. Verse 10 of Romans 5 says that we are kept by Christ's life. What that's talking about is the life that Christ now lives, his resurrection life, at the right hand of the Father. Look at 1 John 2, verse 1. She was saved by Christ's death on the cross, but were kept by Christ's work at the right hand of the Father. 1 John 2, verse 1. My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin, and if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So if we do sin, It doesn't make us unsaved because we have a defense attorney or an advocate before the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous was at the Father's right hand. An even clearer passage is Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25. The writer of Hebrews says, Hence also He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them. So Jesus is able to save us forever Not because we do good works after we get saved, but because He always lives to intercede for us, to pray on our behalf and to keep us saved. So we are kept by Christ's resurrection life at the right hand of the Father. It took a perfect life to save us. In order for Christ to be a worthy sacrifice, He had to live a perfect life. It took a perfect life to save us. It will also take a perfect life to keep us saved, which is Christ's current resurrection life. We could not earn our salvation and we could not keep it either. Now if we look at verse 11 we see the sixth or the seventh and final result of justification that Paul speaks about. Romans 5 verse 11, and not only this but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ whom we have now received the reconciliation. We boast in God because of the work of Christ on Calvary, because we have now received the reconciliation. In other words, we now have peace with God through the work of Christ on the cross of Calvary. The war between us and God is now over. The war is over. Heaven awaits, and therefore we can boast in God. 2 Corinthians 10.17, Paul says, but he who boasts, let him boast in the Lord. Ephesians 2.8.9, Paul says that, For by grace you have been saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast. So, yes, believers boast, but we boast not in ourselves, but we boast in the God who saved us by His grace. In conclusion, salvation is by God's grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. And so believers in Jesus have now been justified. So believers in Jesus have peace with God, a great standing, the promise that will someday fully glorify God. We have hope in the midst of trials as we suffer for Christ. We have God's love in our hearts. We have security. We have a pride and a boasting in our God. And without these blessings, life has no meaning. outside of Jesus Christ and the blessings of justification. There is no hope for mankind.