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.