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Good evening. It's a pleasure
to get together with the Lord's people on the Lord's Day, whether
it's in Summit, Mississippi, or here in Hattiesburg. It's
a pleasure every time to get to gather with the saints, to
get to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and to hear
the word. of the Lord preached. I would invite you to join me
in your copies of God's Word in the book of Romans, where
we'll be hearing God's Word from Romans chapter 5, verses 6 through
11. Romans 5, 6 through 11. Well, brothers and sisters, if
you're anything like me, and I hope that I'm not alone in
a room with this many people on this, if you're anything like
me, assurance of salvation is not something that you've always
had perfectly at all times. If you're like me and most brothers
and sisters in Christ, there has been seasons in your life,
whether due to sin or of no fault of your own, you've found yourself
questioning whether or not you were in the Lord, questioning
whether or not you were saved or a believer. Maybe you grew
up in a tradition similar to mine where you were encouraged
to, at maybe even a summer camp, that if you prayed a prayer or
raised your hand and wrote it in the front of your Bible, that
that's what you could turn to for confidence. If you're similar
to me in that way, you surely have found seasons where you
doubted that assurance, doubted that confidence. If you've ever
doubted it, if you've ever struggled with it, the positive benefit
of that is once you have it again, you know what a great and wonderful
gift it is. Assurance of your salvation is,
I believe, wholeheartedly one of the greatest gifts that Christ
has given to you as a believer. If you look at so many other
religions, or even what some may consider denominations, such
as Roman Catholics, or Mormons, or Muslims, you should understand
how unlike those faiths, how different than those faiths,
we stand as Christ's church, that we have been given assurance
of our eternal place with the Lord. As our confession states
in chapter 18, this is not something that is just a hoping for the
best. It's not a shot in the dark when we say that we are
confident that the Lord keeps us. The words of our confession
give us this encouragement that we may in this life be certainly
assured that we are in a state of grace, that we may rejoice
in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them
ashamed. And hear this tonight, brothers
and sisters. This certainty is not bare conjectural and probable
persuasion. It's not grounded on a fallible
hope, something that can be shaken or turned over. But it is grounded
on an infallible assurance of faith. We have been given assurance
of our salvation, not just our initial justification, but as
we'll see tonight in God's Word in the book of Romans, but of
our final glorification, of our final salvation with the Lord. We're going to see here in the
text at hand, Romans 5-11 this evening, not one, not two, but
Paul, in his wisdom and graciously so, gives us tonight three reasons
why we may have assurance of our final salvation. And I would
like to just note before we pray, before we actually read God's
Word tonight, that in each of these reasons, none of them have
anything to do with you or with me. Not an ounce of our assurance
of our final salvation rests on anything that you have done
or that you will do, but on Christ and on Christ alone. And so Romans
5, verses 6 through 11, I would remind you, brothers and sisters,
that this is God's holy, inspired, and errant, infallible word.
Hear it now. For while we were still weak,
At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will
scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a
good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love
for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us. Since therefore we have now been
justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him
from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more. Now that we are reconciled, shall
we be saved by his life. More than that. We also rejoice
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have
now received reconciliation. The grass withers and the flowers
fade, but the word of our Lord will stand forever. May God bless
the reading and the hearing of it tonight. Amen. Would you pray
with me? Almighty God, you are good. You
have given us indeed every blessing in the heavenly places. You've
given us grace, you've given us mercy, you've saved us and
called us your own. And on top of all of that, you
give us assurance. You enable us through your grace
and through your mercy, through what we're gonna see tonight
in your word, to not waver from day to day in worry and fear. to not have to go around navel-gazing
wondering if we're gonna be good enough tomorrow to stay in a
place of salvation or not. Father, you have given us an
unshakable hope, an unshakable assurance in Christ Jesus, and
for that we thank you. Father, we pray as we read your
word, as we hear it preached this evening, that you would
grant us as your people ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts
which would be softened and receptive to receive it as it is preached.
Father, we pray that through the preaching of your word tonight,
that your people would be edified, that your kingdom would be furthered,
and that more than anything, that glory would be brought to
the name of King Jesus. We pray this in his name, amen. And so this is the word that
the Lord holds out to you this evening, brothers and sisters,
that you can have assurance, if you are in Christ Jesus, that
you can have assurance of your final salvation for three reasons. First, because Christ died for
you while you were weak. Secondly, because Christ died
for you while you were ungodly. And third and finally, but certainly
not least, you can have assurance of your final salvation because
Christ died for you while you were an enemy. And so Paul tells
us tonight, beginning in verse six, that we should have assurance. We should have assurance of our
final salvation first because Christ has died for us while
we were weak. That's exactly what Paul tells
us in verse six. How might you, how might the
Christian be assured? Even in your weakness, even in
your struggles, even in your shortcomings, how might you have
assurance of your standing before a holy and righteous God? Well,
the way that the apostle puts forth is by reminding ourselves
of who it was that Christ died for in the first place. Christ
died for you, brother. Christ died for you, sister.
Not when you were strong, not when you were capable, but when
you were weak. We were helpless. We were without
strength. We were unable to save ourselves. Our condition could not have
been worse. Left to ourselves, we would have
remained in that desperate state. We would have stayed exactly
where we were and how we were. But Paul tells us that it was
exactly at that moment, he says, at the right time that Christ
died for you. Well, what makes it the right
time? What makes it the right time that Christ died for you?
What makes it the right time is exactly how desperate your
condition was, brother and sister. He died for you when you were
weak. Our desperate state is what makes
what our Savior did so perfectly time. Consider it. Consider this
tonight, that Christ did not wait for you to pick yourselves
up by your bootstraps, so to speak. He didn't wait for you
to pick yourselves up from the dirt and from the mire as if
that were even remotely a possibility. But he saved you when you were
weak, when you were completely incapable. This concept is not new to the
apostle or even new to the New Testament for that matter. If
you simply breeze your way through the Old Testament, you're going
to find account after account, story after story, passage after
passage, showing you that this is how the Lord has always operated. Consider Judges chapter six. Hopefully we're familiar with
the story of Gideon and his army. The Lord did not pick the best
and the brightest from His people, did He, to win that war. He didn't
pick out 300 men that would be like the Spartans. He reduced
Gideon's men to a measly 300. And of that men, of that 300,
he didn't even pick the best. Do you remember the story? He
told Gideon to choose the men who were so foolish, so thick-skulled,
we might say, that when they went to the water to drink, they
didn't even have the good sense to put it in something. They
would lap it like a dog. In Deuteronomy 32, the Lord told
Israel, as he did a number of times, that he would vindicate
his people only, quote, when he sees that their power is gone. The Lord did not wait for Israel
to be mighty and strong. The Lord waited to save them
exactly when their situation was most desperate. Why would
the Lord do this? Why does the Lord operate in
this way? It is because, brothers and sisters,
that God receives the most glory in this way, by magnifying his
saving power, by saving the undesirable weakling. God saved you, brother
and sister, at the most opportune time. That's when you were at
your weakest, when you were at your most incapable, so that
he and he alone would receive the most glory. This is why Paul
will tell us in Ephesians 2, as you go through that passage
which is so near and dear to many of our hearts, it is for
by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your
own doing. We're His workmanship in Christ
so that no one can boast. And so God has saved you, brother
and sister, when you were at your weakest. And consider what
has happened since then. Consider what has happened since
then. In Acts 1, verse 8, we're told that when God saved us,
that we received a powerful indwelling, the indwelling of God himself
in the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. And so why does
Paul begin tonight telling us that we should have assurance
of our final salvation? It is to consider this, that
if God has saved you when you were at your weakest, and now
through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit you have been made
strong, Why would you doubt? Why would you doubt? If Christ
died for you when you were at your weakest, how could he not
keep you in the end now that you have received the mighty
power of the indwelling Holy Spirit? And so Paul tells us,
you can have assurance of your final salvation because he died
for you when you were weak, but it doesn't stop there. Paul gives
us another reason. He tells us also, continuing
in verses six through eight, that Christ died for you when
you were ungodly. Look at what Paul tells us in
verse six. He tells us straight forward,
Christ died not for the holy, not for the righteous, not for
the blameless. Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died for the ungodly.
When the Lord died for you, when he went to Calvary for you, you
were not like him in any way. You were opposed to him and yet
he died for you. Paul continues into verse 7 explaining,
for one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps
for a good person one would dare even to die. Now I believe in
my personal opinion that this is one of those passages that
the Apostle Peter had in mind. If you've ever been reading Paul
and felt confused and came away with a headache saying, this
is a little bit complicated, know that you're in good company,
brothers and sisters. Did you know that Peter himself said
of Paul that some of his writings were hard to understand? That
comforts me. Hopefully it comforts you. And
I would like to think that this is maybe one of those passages.
What is Paul getting at here? He says, one will scarcely die
for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good one, one would
dare even to die. Isn't a good person and a righteous
person the same thing? I would think so. In the way
I would use language, I would use those terms interchangeably.
Well, it's a little bit different here. And we're not going to
get into a Greek lesson tonight. I'm going to save you that essentially
Paul is a good person, is a useful person, whereas a righteous person
is a morally upright man. But I don't think any of that
is the point that Paul was wanting us to arrive at. So many spend
too much time, I think, trying to explain what this means or
what it doesn't mean. I don't think that's the point.
Paul is saying that regardless Whether you could wrap your mind
around dying for a righteous man, maybe you might consider
laying your life down for a good man. Paul says what makes no
sense at all is that Christ, verse 8, God shows his love for
us, for you, brother and sister. And that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. Regardless of how you want to
understand good man or righteous man in Paul's writing, I don't
think is the point because you were neither. I was neither. We were neither. We were not
good. We were not useful in any way.
There was nothing that we had that we could give to the Lord
that we could bring to his service that he didn't already have.
We added no value that he himself did not already possess, and
we certainly were not righteous. Not only were we unable to save
ourselves, not only were we ungodly, but we fell short of God's standards.
We were neither morally good nor useful in any way, and yet
Paul tells us, this astounding fact, yet the Savior still died
for us. You had no merit, brother and
sister. Nothing you could offer, no service
you could render that He Himself could not provide. And yet Christ
died for you. His church. His elect bride. And what has happened since then?
In the time between Christ dying for you and you were ungodly
and weak, something has changed about your estate. If you were in Christ, you were
no longer ungodly. We love to talk about Presbyterian
Reformed Churches total depravity. It's a true doctrine, but sometimes
we forget that if Christ has saved you, brother, sister, you
are no longer totally depraved. You still have sin. That old
man still clings closely. Certainly it does. Sometimes
more than others. Yet in Christ we can now rejoice
with the Prophet Isaiah. When he writes in chapter 61
verse 10, he says, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul
shall exult in my God. Why? For he has clothed me with
the garments of salvation. He has covered me with a robe
of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with
a beautiful headdress and as a bride adorns herself with her
jewels. Brother and sister, as the Lord
clothes Adam and Eve in the garden in their nakedness and shame,
the Lord has clothed you. If you are in Christ, you are
now declared righteous. If you were in Christ, you have
now been given, as Isaiah says, this headdress. You have been
decked out like a bride on her wedding day. If Christ died for
you when you were neither useful to God nor morally upright, why
would you doubt? Why would you question that He
would keep you and hold you close in the end now that He has made
you righteous in Christ Jesus, blameless, godless, and pure
by the blood of His Son? Paul tells us we can have assurance
of our final salvation because Christ has died for you when
you were weak, Christ has died for you when you were ungodly,
and last but certainly not least, the icing on the cake here, Christ
died for you while you were an enemy. Look at what the Lord
tells us in his word in verses 9 through 11. Since, therefore, we have now
been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by
Him from the wrath of God. For if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more,
much more, Paul writes, now that we are reconciled, shall we be
saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have
now received reconciliation. It's as though Paul, almost as
he gives encouragement after encouragement, he's like if you
remember those Billy Mays commercials where he, but wait, there's more.
He died for you when you were weak. He died for you when you
were ungodly. But if there was any doubt still,
he died for you when you stood opposed. He saved you when you
were an enemy. You were an enemy. See, so far
with what Paul has given us, as good as it is, so far with
what Paul has given us, we could potentially come away with a
skewed picture of the situation at hand. Yes, we understand now
that we were weak. We understand even that we're
ungodly. But if Paul had left it at that,
I believe there would have been a potential for us to come away
as the victims in the story. See, the Apostle Paul has this
tremendous ability, this tremendous ability in so many of his letters
to almost expect the questions that might come up next. He does
it in passages such as Romans 9, and I believe he does it here.
See, we're not victims. We were not just weak. We were
not just stained. God's Word tells us that at one
time we were enemies. We were enemies to God and everything
he stood for. See, this is important, brothers
and sisters. There's a whole lot of folks today that would
have us walking away, have us believing that our main predicament
is that we're simply broken. That's it. That we're simply
broken. Some of these people would tell
you that it's not that you deserved God's wrath. That it's not that
you were under the fear of His wrath. No, it's merely they would
say that you were broken and that Christ came to put those
pieces back together. Some of these folks would say
that the cross wasn't about satisfying the demands of God's wrath. It
had nothing to do with what we call penal substitutionary atonement,
His wrath and justice on sin, but it was merely about bringing
healing to the broken. That's what we call a half-truth.
And as my mom always used to tell me, a half-truth is a whole
lie. Yes, we were broken and praise
be to God that Christ brings healing to the broken. But that
is not the end of the story. We were not just broken. We were
not victims. God's word tells us we were enemies. See, some groups would paint
a picture of us similar to the ducks in the Don Dish Liquid
commercial. Have any of y'all seen that, the Don Dish Liquid
commercial? It's been running on repeat for a number of years.
The first time I saw it was years ago, right after the BP oil spill.
But on Hulu the other day in one of the commercials, I saw
it again. If you're not familiar with the commercial, I'll paint
the scene for you. The camera opens, and there's
this adorable, precious duckling, something that anybody would
want to hold, have as a pet. It's cute, it's adorable, but it's
struggling. It's in the middle of oil and
muck and mire, and the poor thing is gasping for breath. And right
as it seems like your heart's going to be broken for this baby
duck, a gloved hand reaches down, pulls it up, and as the camera
angle shifts, you see the duck being washed clean by dish liquid,
Dawn, of course. You know obviously the commercial
works it makes you want to go out and buy some dawn right if
it can clean the duck Surely clean your plates But we don't
need to come away brothers and sisters thinking that this was
our situation Understand clearly we were not just helpless victims
We were not just dirty ducklings covered in the oil stains of
sin that needed to just be cleaned up and by the dondish liquid
of Christ's blood. That was not our situation. Paul tells us we were not just
weak. We were not just stained. We
were enemies of a holy, righteous, fearsome God. And Paul gives you this encouragement
tonight. If there's anyone here who is in Christ yet finds themselves
doubting their salvation, who finds themselves considering
their own weaknesses so much that they would begin to doubt
that Christ holds them close. Paul offers this encouragement
that it's right when we were in the middle of our cosmic treason
to the God King that Christ died for you. That's when Christ died for you.
That's when Christ saved you. Not when you were on his side.
Not when you were marching for the kingdom, but when you stood
opposed. And if that was not reason enough
for our thanksgiving, for our joy, for our confidence and praise,
Paul tells us, beginning in verse nine, that Christ's death has
accomplished not one but two things for you. It has justified
you, but it has also reconciled you. It has justified you, but
it has also reconciled you. Paul tells us, we have now been
justified by His blood. And this is great news. If this
is where the story ended, there would be reason for us to gather.
There would be reason for us to worship. Justification is
a beautiful word. See, what it means, brother and
sister, is not that you in yourself are perfect. It does not mean
that you in and of yourself have cleaned up your act enough that
you now look good before the Lord. Justification is legal
courtroom language. Paul is saying to us that in
the cosmic courtroom of God, that you have now, because of
what Christ has done, been legally declared righteous. Picture it
if you can. You stand in the courtroom with
everything standing against you. Every reason for you to be convicted
and tried and found guilty and what are the wages of sin but
death. And yet, because of what Christ has done for you, the
judge now hits his gavel and says, just, righteous, clear,
innocent. You, the sinner, have now been
acquitted of all charges and praise be to God. Praise the
Lord for this. But as great as justification
is, as good as it is, as awesome as it is. Reconciliation. so much better. While justification is a word
that maybe feels a little cold, like a courtroom, reconciliation
is warm, familial, personal. Reconciliation is so much more
than than a cold judicial declaration of an authority over a criminal.
To reconcile is literally to bring together two estranged
parties. Two that were separate, now brought
together. And specifically in this context,
consider, this is not talking about you and a friend who had
a squabble. This is talking about Christ
reconciling you. The weak one. The ungodly one.
The enemy. to a holy, righteous, blameless
creator. Understand. Do you understand,
brothers and sisters tonight, that this is not common? This
is not common language in the religious realm. Most religions
could not fathom an area where it would be appropriate to use
such close, familial, relational language between a deity and
man, between creator and creation, between the immortal and the
mortal. And this is one of the many areas where Christianity
stands unique. Not only has the judge of all
things judicially declared you as a believer, just, righteous
in Christ, but do you know Do you know that you have also been
restored fully? Not a little bit, not lacking.
You have been restored fully in your proximity and in your
relationship to your heavenly father. By Christ's death and
shed blood, Paul tells us we have been declared righteous.
And by his life, we will be saved from God's final wrath. Paul
now argues that because Christ died for you, when you were weak,
ungodly, and an enemy, and has then justified you and reconciled
you when that was your condition. If he has done all of that for
you when that was what you looked like, the Christians should now
have a certain hope concerning your final salvation. Paul reiterates
this by using what we would call a how much more argument. Paul is arguing that if Christ
has already justified you, if He's already reconciled you when
you were enemies, why would you doubt? Why would you have even
an ounce of hesitation in your confidence that the Lord holds
you close to glory? Why would you possibly think
that He wouldn't bring that salvation to completion now that you are
righteous and reconciled? Paul is using what's called a
light and heavy argument. To give an example of this, a
number of years ago, my wife and I had been, right after we
got married, we had been living in a comfortably sized for us
rental house in Clinton, Mississippi. Three bedroom, two bath, nothing
fancy, but for us, more than enough room. And as her parents
had warned us, when you move into a space, you have a tendency
to fill that space. And we filled it quickly. Even
without having children at that time, we filled the space quickly
with just stuff and things. Well, fast forward a year and
a half, and I got accepted into Reform Theological Seminary,
and so we wanted to move a little bit closer to campus, and so
we moved into the RTS apartments. which were not near as comfortable
as our rental house that we had been in. We went from some 1,300
square feet to I think like 700 square feet. And yet we had all
this stuff and all of these things. Well, thankfully, my father-in-law,
being the gracious and kind man that he is, he brought down his
trailer to help us move this stuff and these things into our
apartment. And in his wisdom, he looked at the biggest piece
of furniture we had, which is a couch I think we got from somewhere
like Big Lots, that was just absurdly large. I've never seen
a couch as big since then. I mean, I'm talking four and
a half feet deep. I'm not a short guy. I'm almost six foot, but
when I sat all the way back, my feet dangled like a little
kid. A big couch, if you're catching my drift. I mean, I'm talking
seven and a half feet long, four and a half feet deep. And yet,
when we tried to move it into this apartment, It wouldn't go. I mean, the only door that you
could get in was right at the front of a staircase. And so
thankfully, my father-in-law, in all of his wisdom, had the
idea that we should move this first. See, he reasoned that
if we could get the big thing out of the way, the rest of the
stuff would be easy. And sure enough, and embarrassed
a little bit to say this, an hour and a half later, Some sanctification
having taken place, some dented drywall and a broken finger.
We got the couch in. It was a hassle. It was a little
bit frustrating. I don't know who prayed for our
patients that day, but we got it in. But it turned out my father-in-law
was right, you see. After we moved in that couch,
man, I tell you, it felt like the rest of that trailer moved
in in a heartbeat. It was no problem. It was smooth
sailing after that. See, because we had done the
heavy work with the first couch, everything else was a guarantee
that it was gonna get in, you understand? This is what Paul
is trying to get across to you tonight. This is what Paul is
communicating to us about our salvation. Paul reasons that
if God has already done the heavy lifting, the heavy work of justifying,
that is taking you and me, a weak, dirty enemy, and making us righteous,
if God has already done that heavy lifting, how much more
should he be hoped in and trusted in to do the, by comparison,
light work of saving those whom he's already justified? Brother
and sister, if Christ has already moved the heavy load of your
sin by justifying you, the rest of your sanctification and glorification,
by comparison, is smooth sailing. It's a breeze. It's a guarantee,
even if it doesn't feel like that from day to day. What's
our response to this? That's always the big question.
Thankfully, Paul, being the preacher he was, answers that question
for us. What's our takeaway? Our takeaway is joy. Our takeaway
is worship. Paul tells us in verse 11 in
conclusion, that we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation. That's the response
to assurance, is it not? Does that not just make sense?
Having been given assurance, I don't know where you were when
you came here tonight. Maybe strong, maybe assured in your
salvation, maybe feeling pretty good about yourself. But maybe
that wasn't the case. Maybe, brother or sister, you
showed up tonight having had a rough week. Having had more
losses than wins. Having struggled, maybe even
today. Paul tells us, tells you, look
at what Christ has done. Have assurance in what Christ
will continue to do. Praise be to God. We worship, we praise,
we sing, we bring thanksgiving to God because this is no, as
our confession tells us, fleeting pleasure. This is no sudden happiness
that is soon lost. This joy, the response of the
believer to the greatness of all that God has done for you
in Christ Jesus, this is not marred by circumstance, regardless
of where you find yourself tonight. You who were weak, ungodly, and
enemies of God, you have now been justified, reconciled, and
saved by his final wrath. What can shake that kind of hope?
What can shake the hope that God has given? What can take
away the joy of the believer that we now have in Christ? The
answer is nothing. You can have assurance of your
final salvation, brother and sister, not because of anything
you've done, not because of anything you will do, but because Christ
died for you when you were weak, ungodly, and when you were an
enemy. Let's go to him now in praise and worship. Father, we
thank you for your word. We thank you for all that you've
done for us in Christ Jesus. That you looked down upon us. That you chose us before the
foundation of the world, before time began, not because of anything
we would bring, not because of how good we were, but because
of your grace and your grace alone. Father, we praise you
for Christ Jesus, and we pray that as we go throughout this
week ahead, Lord, that you would keep the believers here, that
you would keep these saints, these brothers and these sisters.
assured in what Christ has done and what Christ is doing and
in what Christ will continue to do for them until either you
call them home or you come down to us in glory. Father, we praise
you. We thank you for all that you've
done. We pray that all of this would resound to the glory of
Christ. We pray in his name. Amen.
Assurance
| Sermon ID | 62821133547957 |
| Duration | 35:33 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Romans 5:6-11 |
| Language | English |
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