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Voddie Baucham - Peace with God Through our Lord Jesus Christ · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Father, as we bow before you today, we acknowledge you
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  Speaker 1: as the triune God of the universe. You have revealed.
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  Speaker 2: Yourself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And
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  Speaker 2: even in our redemption, we are reminded of the Father
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  Speaker 2: who elects the Son who atones, and the Spirit who
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  Speaker 2: applies that salvation to the believer. And today we're reminded
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  Speaker 2: of the triune God in the passage before us. Help
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  Speaker 2: us to know the blessed hope that is ours because
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  Speaker 2: of the God in whom we trust. and because of
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  Speaker 2: our lives being in Your care. Father, we ask that
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  Speaker 2: as we gather together before Your Word, that we gather
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  Speaker 2: in the name of Your Son and the power of
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  Speaker 2: Your Spirit to give You praise and glory and honor.
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  Speaker 2: Receive it, we ask, for the sake of Your Son.
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  Speaker 1: Amen. in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. Amen.
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  Speaker 2: Well, as we come to Romans chapter 5, we enter.
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  Speaker 1: An awkward stage.
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  Speaker 2: As you know, we're not going to go all the
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  Speaker 2: way through Romans, but we're going to put a pin here,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: go back to Genesis, complete Genesis, and then come back
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  Speaker 2: to Romans again.
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  Speaker 1: And there's just no easy place to put a pin
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  Speaker 1: here in Romans.
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  Speaker 2: And the way we have it scheduled, we put a
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  Speaker 2: pin at the end of chapter 5. But chapter 5
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  Speaker 2: is actually the beginning of a new section. Chapters 5, 6, 7,
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  Speaker 2: and 8.
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  Speaker 1: Formed this sort of second movement, if you will, in
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  Speaker 1: the book of Romans.
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  Speaker 2: In these first four chapters, in this first movement, we've
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  Speaker 2: seen this picture of justification by faith. Now we see
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  Speaker 2: some of the blessings that are inherent to us as
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  Speaker 2: a result of this justification. Listen to the way that
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  Speaker 2: Tom Schreiner puts this verse. In his commentary on the
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  Speaker 2: book of Romans. He says, chapters 1 through 4 emphasize
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  Speaker 2: that God has fulfilled his saving promise through the death
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  Speaker 2: and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Those who put their faith
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  Speaker 2: in him are in the right before God. Now in
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  Speaker 2: chapters 5 through 8, Paul ties together righteousness by faith
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  Speaker 2: with future hope. The Old Testament scriptures emphasize repeatedly the
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  Speaker 2: future hope of Israel and the promises for future salvation.
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  Speaker 2: Paul argues in Romans 5-8 that those who are right
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  Speaker 2: with God are the inheritors of.
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  Speaker 1: The future promises made to Israel.
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  Speaker 2: Since these promises are theirs, the new people of God
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  Speaker 2: have an unshakable hope. They can look forward with confidence
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  Speaker 2: to a renewed creation in which they will fulfill.
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  Speaker 1: The role of ruling over the world.
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  Speaker 2: That Adam squandered when he sinned. So God has made promises,
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  Speaker 2: and those promises are real. If we are heirs of
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  Speaker 2: the promise, by faith, not by our lineage connecting us
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  Speaker 2: to Abraham, but by faith, and Abraham therefore being the
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  Speaker 2: father of the faithful, we are connected to those promises
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  Speaker 2: that God has made. We look forward with anxious anticipation
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  Speaker 2: to those promises being fulfilled. Now, that raises another question,
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  Speaker 2: and that question is, well, does that mean that God
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  Speaker 2: has forsaken His promise that He made to the nation
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  Speaker 2: of Israel? Well, without going too far into that, let
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  Speaker 2: me say that chapters 9, 10, and 11 of the
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  Speaker 2: book of Romans actually deal with that. And the purpose
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  Speaker 2: of chapters 9, 10, and 11 is to basically say,
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  Speaker 2: lest you think that God is one who goes about
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  Speaker 2: breaking His promises, therefore making Himself a God who cannot
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  Speaker 2: be trusted, Look here at the picture of what God
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  Speaker 2: has done, is doing, with the promise that He made
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  Speaker 2: to Israel. So, that question is answered in chapters 9
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  Speaker 2: and 10 and 11. But here, we're in the middle section,
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  Speaker 2: chapters 5 through 8, looking at the promises that accrue
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  Speaker 2: to us because we come to God through faith just
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  Speaker 2: as Abraham did and are thereby heirs to those promises.
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  Speaker 2: Eschatological promises those future promises as well as other promises
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  Speaker 2: that we shall see now in chapters 5 through 8
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  Speaker 2: Here's what Paul does in chapters 5 through 8 read
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  Speaker 2: like a good speech or a good essay and Those
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  Speaker 2: who have had to write speak or had to give
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  Speaker 2: speeches or write essays, you know, you know the pattern
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  Speaker 2: You know what?
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  Speaker 1: I'm about to say. What do we do?
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  Speaker 2: Tell them what you're going to tell them tell them
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  Speaker 2: and then Tell them what you told them, right? Tell
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  Speaker 2: them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and
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  Speaker 2: then tell them what you told them. Well, here in
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  Speaker 2: chapter 5, we begin with tell them what you're going
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  Speaker 2: to tell them. Then we will continue on with tell them,
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  Speaker 2: and then in chapter 8, we get tell them what
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  Speaker 2: you told them. You'll see that more as we go
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  Speaker 2: through this introductory paragraph this morning. We'll spend a little
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  Speaker 2: more time unfolding some of chapter 8 because we're going
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  Speaker 2: to take a break before we come back. So it'll
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  Speaker 2: still be fresh by the time we get to chapter
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  Speaker 2: 8 because there'll be several months between today and the
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  Speaker 2: time that we actually get to that chapter.
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  Speaker 1: But it's very important that we see the way this
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  Speaker 1: fits together.
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  Speaker 2: As Paul tells us what he's going to tell us
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  Speaker 2: here in this first paragraph, And then goes on to
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  Speaker 2: tell us. And then in chapter 8, in the culmination
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  Speaker 2: of this middle section, before getting into that section 9
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  Speaker 2: through 11, he reiterates and tells us what he has
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  Speaker 2: told us. With that in mind, let's begin in Romans
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  Speaker 2: chapter 5 and turn the corner. Now that we understand
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  Speaker 2: what it means to be justified by faith, let's look
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  Speaker 2: at the benefits that accrue to those who are justified
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  Speaker 2: by faith.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore... What's that therefore? Therefore. Chapters 1 through 4 is
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  Speaker 1: the therefore, that that therefore is therefore.
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  Speaker 2: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, he also
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  Speaker 2: identifies his audience here. This is very important as we
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  Speaker 2: go through this letter. Therefore, since we have been justified
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  Speaker 2: by faith. So, is Paul writing the book of Romans
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  Speaker 2: as though he were writing to convince non-believers to become believers?
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  Speaker 1: No, he's not.
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  Speaker 2: Paul is actually writing the book of Romans to the
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  Speaker 2: church in Rome, to believers who are Jews and Gentiles,
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  Speaker 2: at this time increasingly more Jew than Gentile, but he
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  Speaker 2: is writing it to believers. So, as we continue through this,
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  Speaker 2: it's very important that we understand that distinction. Therefore, since
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  Speaker 2: we have been justified by faith, we have peace with
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  Speaker 2: God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: Through Him.
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  Speaker 2: We have also obtained access by faith into this grace
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  Speaker 2: in which we stand. And we rejoice in hope of
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  Speaker 2: the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in
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  Speaker 2: our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character,
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  Speaker 2: and character produces hope. And hope does not put us
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  Speaker 2: to shame because God's love has been poured into our
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  Speaker 2: hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
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  Speaker 2: Notice the picture there of the Trinity. We start with
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  Speaker 2: the peace that we have with God the Father. Our
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  Speaker 2: access to the peace that we have with God the
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  Speaker 2: Father is through the blood that is shed.
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  Speaker 1: By God the Son.
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  Speaker 2: By the way, the way this works itself out in
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  Speaker 2: our lives is through the love of God shed abroad
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  Speaker 2: in our hearts by whom? God the Holy Spirit. So
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  Speaker 2: we see the Trinitarian work of God, not only in
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  Speaker 2: saving sinners, but we see the Trinitarian work of God
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  Speaker 2: and the benefits that accrue to those who are justified
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  Speaker 2: by faith. Several truths here. The first benefit that we
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  Speaker 2: see is hope. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith...
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  Speaker 2: Or peace, rather. I'm sorry, I said hope. I should
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  Speaker 2: have said peace. Justified by faith, we have peace with
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  Speaker 2: God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There's the first benefit. Therefore,
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  Speaker 2: since we have been justified by faith, we have peace
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  Speaker 2: with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Why is this
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  Speaker 2: so important? It's important for a number of reasons. Turn
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  Speaker 2: back with me, if you will, to chapter 1 and
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  Speaker 2: verse 7. After Paul introduces himself, he introduces another thing. says,
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  Speaker 2: to all those in Rome who are loved by God
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  Speaker 2: and called to be saints, grace to you and peace
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  Speaker 2: from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: Now come with me.
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  Speaker 2: To chapter 1 again and look at verse 18.
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  Speaker 1: There's something else.
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  Speaker 2: He introduces that idea of peace in his introduction of
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  Speaker 2: his letter to his audience.
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  Speaker 1: However, in order for them.
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  Speaker 2: To understand that peace, they have to understand another truth
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  Speaker 2: and another reality. That's introduced in verse 18. Go to
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  Speaker 2: verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel,
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  Speaker 2: for it is the power of God for salvation to
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  Speaker 2: everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also the Greek.
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  Speaker 2: For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from
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  Speaker 2: faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall
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  Speaker 2: live by faith. Verse 18. For the wrath of God
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  Speaker 2: is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
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  Speaker 2: men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. He goes
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  Speaker 2: on from verse 18 to demonstrate that this unrighteousness that
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  Speaker 2: suppresses the truth is present in both Jew and Greek.
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  Speaker 2: The Greek first says, In this first part, and then
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  Speaker 2: he gets in chapter 2 to the Jew. So now
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  Speaker 2: we stand under condemnation and the expectation of the wrath
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  Speaker 2: of God for all men, for all flesh. So for
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  Speaker 2: the Gentile who is out there without the law, his
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  Speaker 2: expectation is the wrath of God. For the Jew who
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  Speaker 2: has the law but does not keep the law, which
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  Speaker 2: is every Jew with the law, his expectation is the
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  Speaker 2: wrath of God. Therefore, Paul makes his argument, comes to
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  Speaker 2: the end of chapter 3, and then in chapter 4,
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  Speaker 2: that justification has to be by faith, that Abraham is
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  Speaker 2: our example of justification by faith. Abraham is justified by
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  Speaker 2: faith before he is circumcised and before there's.
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  Speaker 1: Ever a law. By the way... That's good news. Why?
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  Speaker 2: Chapter 5, verse 1. Therefore, since we have been justified
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  Speaker 2: by faith, before we're justified by faith, all of us
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  Speaker 2: have hope of one thing, and that is wrath. Every
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  Speaker 2: one of us, the wrath of God that is to come,
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  Speaker 2: whatever you're trusting in, If you're trusting in your own
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  Speaker 2: inherent goodness, what you can expect is the wrath of
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  Speaker 2: God that is to come. If you are trusting in
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  Speaker 2: your ability to keep the law before a holy God,
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  Speaker 2: your only expectation is the wrath of God that is
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  Speaker 2: to come. However, because we are justified by faith, we
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  Speaker 2: have access to something other than the wrath of God.
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  Speaker 2: We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 2: That last phrase is important. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 2: I have access to peace with God. By the way,
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  Speaker 2: this peace is both an eschatological peace in that ultimately
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  Speaker 2: I will be at peace with God, made at one
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  Speaker 2: with God, but also a temporal peace.
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  Speaker 1: In the right here and the right now. It is
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  Speaker 1: an objective peace and a subjective peace. It is real peace.
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  Speaker 1: Listen to this from Everett Harrison.
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  Speaker 2: The first of the blessings conveyed by justification is peace.
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  Speaker 1: We have encountered the word.
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  Speaker 2: In the salutation, chapter 1, verse 7, and in an
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  Speaker 2: eschatological setting, chapter 2, verse 10. Here, however, the milieu
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  Speaker 2: is the estrangement between God and man because of sin.
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  Speaker 2: I have peace with God in spite of my sin.
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  Speaker 2: I can't have it any other way other than through
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  Speaker 2: faith in Jesus Christ. That's the only way I have
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  Speaker 2: peace with God. Objective peace, subjective peace. Let me explain
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  Speaker 2: the difference between the two. Objectively, we know that we
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  Speaker 2: have peace because of that declaration. This is that time
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  Speaker 2: of year between May and September where, again, if you
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  Speaker 2: are an aware citizen, if you are one who continues
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  Speaker 2: to remember and does not forget, then you remember VE
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  Speaker 2: Day and VJ Day. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: Amen.
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  Speaker 2: Victory in Europe Day and Victory in Japan Day. To
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  Speaker 2: what does that refer? That refers to the supposed war
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  Speaker 2: to end all wars. That refers to the Second World War.
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  Speaker 2: This war in which we were all embroiled. There was
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  Speaker 2: victory in Europe, and then a few months later there
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  Speaker 2: is victory in Japan, and the war is over. Actually,
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  Speaker 2: we had the privilege of standing on the ship where
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  Speaker 2: the Japanese surrendered. It's there docked in Pearl Harbor. We
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  Speaker 2: stand on the ship and you can see the video
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  Speaker 2: and hear all the interesting facts about that day when
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  Speaker 2: they came aboard and signed this treaty. Well, at that point,
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  Speaker 2: when there is a signature on a treaty, you have
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  Speaker 2: objective peace. Objective peace means the war is over. However,
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  Speaker 2: there is a difference between objective peace and subjective peace.
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  Speaker 1: Objective peace, the war is over. However... Immediately.
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  Speaker 2: Upon having that objective peace, you don't immediately start sitting
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  Speaker 2: down to dinner and sort of laughing and smiling over
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  Speaker 2: what happened in the past.
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  Speaker 1: No, for a while, things still smart. Amen?
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  Speaker 2: But slowly but surely over time, what came both in
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  Speaker 2: Europe and in Japan was not just objective peace, which
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  Speaker 2: says we're no longer at war, but subjective peace, which
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  Speaker 2: says we can be partners and friends. See, as believers,
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  Speaker 2: on the one hand, we have objective peace with God,
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  Speaker 2: which means that there is this declaration of peace.
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  Speaker 1: But there is also the outworking of that.
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  Speaker 2: Objective peace in my life subjectively, wherein my relationship with
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  Speaker 2: God is one of peace. However, you and I both
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  Speaker 2: know that there are times when that subjective peace is interrupted.
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  Speaker 2: And I just don't feel like I'm at peace with God.
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  Speaker 1: Why? Well, a couple of reasons.
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  Speaker 2: One thing that causes us not to feel like we
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  Speaker 2: have peace with God is when we're continuing in sin.
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  Speaker 1: Amen?
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  Speaker 2: I have peace with God. Now, why do I need
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  Speaker 2: peace with God? Well, because God's wrath was against me.
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  Speaker 2: Why was God's wrath against me? God's wrath was against
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  Speaker 2: me because of sin. Okay, but Christ died for my sin.
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  Speaker 2: So now I have that objective peace with God. But
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  Speaker 2: wait a minute, what is this that you're walking in?
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's sin.
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  Speaker 2: Well, wait a minute, I thought that the wrath of
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  Speaker 2: God was against you because of that stuff. Well, it was,
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  Speaker 2: but Jesus died for it, so now I'm walking in
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  Speaker 2: it so that I can really enjoy the.
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  Speaker 1: Peace that... See how that doesn't work?
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  Speaker 2: See, as believers, when we sin, it interrupts that subjective peace.
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  Speaker 2: And we recognize that that ought not to be so.
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  Speaker 2: That is one of the great blessings that is ours
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  Speaker 2: as a result of coming to God and being justified
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  Speaker 2: by faith. We have this peace with God that is
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  Speaker 2: not just objective, but subjective, so that when we sin,
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  Speaker 2: it is interrupted.
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  Speaker 1: It bothers us.
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  Speaker 2: But there is another issue that will interrupt that subjective peace.
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  Speaker 2: And that's when we ignore that last phrase. I have
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  Speaker 2: peace with God.
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  Speaker 1: Through what? Through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 2: How do I interrupt that when I, as a believer,
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  Speaker 2: begin to define my peace with God through anything other
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  Speaker 2: than the finished work of Jesus Christ? I have peace
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  Speaker 2: with God. Jesus Christ bought for me that objective peace
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  Speaker 2: with God. However, that subjective peace with God is actually
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  Speaker 2: purchased by me as I now go forward and work
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  Speaker 2: to earn the subjective peace with God. I have objective
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  Speaker 2: peace with God because of the finished work of Christ.
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  Speaker 2: I have subjective peace with God because I'm better than
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  Speaker 2: you are. If that's your mentality, you have no peace.
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  Speaker 2: You have no peace.
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  Speaker 1: Why?
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  Speaker 2: Because in and of yourself, you cannot have peace with God.
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  Speaker 2: It is only through Jesus Christ that we have both
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  Speaker 2: the objective and the subjective peace with God.
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  Speaker 1: But wait a minute. Are you saying that I ought
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  Speaker 1: to continue in sin? Stop that.
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  Speaker 2: That's chapter 6. By the way, the answer is, may
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  Speaker 2: it never be. Meganoita in the Greek. No, absolutely not.
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  Speaker 2: Nothing could be further from the truth. We don't continue
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  Speaker 2: in sin. However, it is not the fact that we
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  Speaker 2: don't continue in sin that gives us peace with God.
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  Speaker 2: It is actually the objective peace with God through Jesus
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  Speaker 2: Christ and the subjective peace with God through Jesus Christ
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  Speaker 2: and the power of the Spirit of God dwelling within
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  Speaker 2: us that leads us to walk in righteousness as a
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  Speaker 2: result of our justification by faith, not as a means
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  Speaker 2: of our justification. I don't have peace with God when
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  Speaker 2: I'm trying to do in my flesh what can only
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  Speaker 2: be accomplished in the person and work of Jesus Christ
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  Speaker 2: there's no peace there there's no peace there and all
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  Speaker 2: I have is a continued cycle and it goes something
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  Speaker 2: like this I make a commitment to work harder. And
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  Speaker 2: I do better for a while. And then I don't.
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  Speaker 2: And then I feel guilty. And then I make another
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  Speaker 2: commitment to God to do better. And I do better
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  Speaker 2: for a while. And then I don't. And then I
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  Speaker 2: feel guilty. And then I make another commitment to God
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  Speaker 2: to do better. And I do better for a while.
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  Speaker 2: And then I don't. Stop me when you've heard this before.
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  Speaker 1: Amen.
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  Speaker 2: That's the life that is attempting to attain the subjective
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  Speaker 2: peace with God through human effort. Not recognizing that the
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  Speaker 2: peace that I have with God is in the person
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  Speaker 2: and work of Jesus Christ. That's the first benefit that
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  Speaker 2: accrues to the believer as a result of justification by faith.
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  Speaker 1: Here's the irony.
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  Speaker 2: The irony is Paul just said the reason that we
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: have access to peace with God is because we're no
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  Speaker 2: longer on the other side of the ledger where we're
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  Speaker 2: trying to keep the law, which can never work. And
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  Speaker 2: what many of us do is we say, amen, hallelujah,
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  Speaker 2: praise the Lord. Thank you for bringing me over here
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  Speaker 2: to this side of the ledger where I have peace
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  Speaker 2: with God. I'm so grateful that I have peace with God.
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  Speaker 1: Where are you going?
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  Speaker 2: Back to the other side of the ledger so that
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  Speaker 2: I can maintain it. You can't get there from here.
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  Speaker 2: Our peace with God, objective and subjective. It's through Christ.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: The person and work of Jesus Christ.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: And that alone.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: And again, I know we always love for the other
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: shoe to drop, you know. And the other shoe to
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: drop means, you know, that doesn't mean you can't live
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: any way you want to. And you have to live
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: like this, this, this, this. No, we're not talking about
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: that today. Just be uncomfortable. With the subjective peace of
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: God that is yours through Christ and Him alone. Not
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Christ and. Not Christ plus. But Christ and Him alone. Yes,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: but I want to do something.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: That's right. Kill that. Don't let it die. Don't watch
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: it die. Kill it. That thing in you that wants
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: to help God out. Destroy it before it destroys you.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: The peace that you have with God is won by Christ.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: He is our victor. He is our substitute. And He
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: is our peace. Him and Him alone. But there's another benefit.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: As though that's not enough. Verse 2. Through Him, we
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: have also obtained peace with God. Amen. Just stop right there, Paul. No.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: It's sort of like the TV sales guys. But wait,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: there's more.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Through Him, we have also obtained access by faith into
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: this grace in which we stand. So not only do
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: I have peace, but I have access. In the Greek,
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: the phrase there is, we've obtained an introduction.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: It's almost as though this is an expansion on that
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: subjective piece.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: Not only am I in right standing with God, but
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: I'm in right relationship with God.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: I have access. By this grace in which I stand,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: I have access.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: I come boldly, as the author of Hebrews says, before
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: the throne of grace.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: I have access to do that.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: How dare I enter boldly before the presence of Almighty
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: God with all of the baggage in my past?
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: How dare I? I won't tell you how dare I.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: I have access. That's how.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: Through Christ and His blood shed for me on the cross,
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: I have access. Peace with God and peace. Access to God.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: By grace. Through faith. He is my God. And I
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: am His child. Not only do I have this one
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: day somewhere way down in the future access to God.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: But I have right here, right now, all day, every day,
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: access to God. And I don't need another mediator for
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: that access to God. I have access to God by
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: virtue of my justification by faith. There is not another
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: mediator who stands between me and God. As though on
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: the one hand, Jesus provides for me this peace with God.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: And on the other hand, if I want access, I
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: need Jesus and another mediator. Be that Mary or a
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: priest or whomever. There is no other mediator. One mediator
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: between God and man. And that is the man Christ Jesus.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: I have access by Him. I have access by grace.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Is this access earned? Yes, but again, not by me.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Through the blood of His cross. Listen to this from
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: John Calvin.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: And by the word stand, he means that faith is
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: not a changeable persuasion only for one day, but that
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: it is immutable. and that it sinks deep into the
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: heart so that it endures through life, it is then
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: not he who by a sudden impulse is led to
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: believe that has faith and is to be reckoned among
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: the faithful, but he who constantly, and so to speak,
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: with a firm and fixed foot, abides in that station
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: appointed to him by God so as to cleave always
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: to Christ.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Amen. Who is my access? Christ is my access. Who
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: is my peace? Christ is my peace.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: And again, this is only true because of the work
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: that we've done, working all the way through chapter 1,
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: all the way through chapter 3, and then looking at
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: Abraham as our example in chapter 4 of justification by faith.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: I have peace, and I have access. God is my God.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: There's a final piece here, though. We also have hope.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Look at the next part of the passage.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Through him we have also obtained access by faith into
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: this grace in which we stand. As a result of that,
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: there are two things that happen. One, we rejoice in
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: hope of the glory of God. And secondly, more than that,
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: we rejoice in our sufferings. Now, remember I told you
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: that we were going to have to do a little
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: work in chapter 8 in order to get this. This is,
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: tell them what you're going to tell them. After this,
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: we move into tell them. And then in chapter 8,
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: we move into tell them what you told them. So
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: here's what we need to understand. There's a picture here
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: of exalting in hope of the glory of God. That
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: exaltation in hope of the glory of God is exalting
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: in the hope of the glory that is to come.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: It again is an eschatological hope. There is a glory
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: that will be ours. We have not yet attained it, however,
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: it is real. It's that picture of us being seated
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: with Christ in the heavenlies. That is the hope in
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: which we exalt. The other side of that coin, however,
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: is our sufferings. Now note what Paul is saying here.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: He's saying that the opposite of that hope that will
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: one day be attained by us is the suffering that
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: happens between now and then. So when he says suffering,
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: he doesn't just.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Mean a bad day here and there. He means the
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: totality of your life. All of it.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: Once you get a hold of what one day shall
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: be ours in fullness. How can you call the rest
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: of your life anything but suffering until that moment?
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Amen?
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: But listen to the picture that he paints here in
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: chapter 8. Go to chapter 8. And look beginning at
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: verse 16. This is, tell them what you told them.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: We exalt and hope the glory of God. Verse 17
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: of chapter 8, or 16 rather. The Spirit Himself bears
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and fellow
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: heirs with Christ. Provided we suffer with Him in order
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: that we may also be glorified with him. There's the picture,
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: glory and suffering. It goes on, verse 18. For I
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: consider that the sufferings of this present time are not
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: in us. There it is again, suffering versus glory. For
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility,
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: hope that the creation itself will be set free from
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: The glory of the children of God. There it is again.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: For we know that the whole creation has been groaning
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly. We wait eagerly for
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: is not hope. for who hopes for what he has seen.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: But if we hope for what we do not see,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: we wait for it with patience.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: That's telling what you told them. What do you mean
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: in Romans chapter 5, Paul? Read it in Romans chapter 8.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: That's what I mean. So let's unpack this in light
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: of what we see in Romans chapter 8. So first
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: we exult in hope of the glory of God. Now,
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: remember what happened in Romans chapter 1. Go with me
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: again to Romans chapter 1. And look at what man
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: did in his ignorance. We read verses 16 through 19.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: Start at verse 20. For his invisible attributes, namely his
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: since the creation of the world in the things that
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: have been made.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: So they are without excuse.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: For although they knew God, they did not honor Him
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: as God or give thanks to Him, but they became
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: futile in their thinking, and their foolish heart were darkened.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: and birds and animals and creeping things. So on the
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: other side of the ledger... apart from faith what were
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: the Gentiles guilty of exchanging the glory of God for
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: some other glory But now, in justification by faith, we
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: have peace with God, access to God, and we also now,
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: instead of exalting in our own glory, or the glory
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: of created things, we exalt in hope of the glory
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: of God.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: Because before I was trusting in myself and what I
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: could do. Now, I'm trusting in God. God the Father,
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: whose wrath has been assuaged by God the Son, and
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: God the Spirit, who appropriates that.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: In my life.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: So salvation from the beginning to the end is the
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: work of the triune God. So my ultimate hope is what?
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: In the glory of Almighty God.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: And not my own.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: But the minute I start to believe that my subjective
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: peace with God is based on my own works, what
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: am I doing? I'm setting up a situation where if
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: I follow it through to its logical conclusion... I'm going
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: to stand before God one day and share in His glory.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: May it never be. Votie, you stand before me today justified. Jesus,
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: I want to thank you for the part that you
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: did in Votie's justification. But Votie, we also need to
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: thank you for what you brought to the table.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: Because I'm telling you, you worked really hard and added.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: To the sacrifice that is perverse. But you know what?
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: I'm guilty of it every time I look to myself
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: for justification. Every time I look to myself for righteousness.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: Every time I look to me for hope. Every time
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: I look to me in comparison to others or whatever.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: Whatever.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: Every time I do that, in my mind, I'm setting
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: up that moment where I may share in the glory
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: of God. But when I understand that it is my
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: God who has saved me from beginning to end, and
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: that even the works that I do, we get into
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: that in chapter 6 and chapter 7 and in chapter
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: 8 specifically, but even the works that I do, I
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: recognize that it is Him who.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: Works in me, both to will and to work for
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: His good pleasure.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: So that when I accomplish something, my response is not,
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: look at how good I've done. But my accomplishments all
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: turn back to God in praise because it is God
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: who saves me and sanctifies me and will ultimately glorify me.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: So I exult completely and totally in the hope of
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: the glory of Almighty God, not my own.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: It's His.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: And in that I can boast. We know boasting is
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: wrong throughout the Scriptures. But listen to this, 2 Corinthians 10, 17.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. Galatians 6, 14.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: But far be it from me to boast except in
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: world has been crucified to me and I to the world.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: A repetition of that passage. But again, where is boasting?
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: My boasting is in the Lord. My boasting is in
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: what God has done. My boasting is in what God
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: has accomplished. My boasting is in God working out what
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: He began in me and seeing it through to completion,
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: not myself. So I boast in that. It is to come,
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: but it's not here yet. So what about in the meantime?
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: As a believer, do I only sit here and boast
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: about what is to come as though my current life
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: It is some sort of.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Mystery. Or my current life is some sort of non-reality.
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: No, not at all. Notice what he also says. Look
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: in chapter 5, again at verse 3. More than that,
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: we rejoice in our sufferings. Again, in chapter 8, he
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: spells this out. Suffering and glory. Those things going hand
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: to hand. By the way, Christ, when we talk about
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: his incarnation, what do we talk about? We talk about
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: his humiliation and his exaltation. And in a way, this
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: is sort of a microcosm of that. We boast not
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: only in our exaltation, but also in our humiliation. As
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: Christ experienced both humiliation and exaltation. So we boast even,
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: we exalt even in our sufferings. Now, mind you, here's
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: what this doesn't mean. Something bad happens and we go, woohoo!
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: I like that. That was awful. I love awful.
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: That's not what's meant here. It's not a sort of,
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: thank you, sir, may I have another approach to life.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: But he explains what he means. Knowing. Why do we
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: rejoice in our sufferings or exult in our sufferings?
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: Knowing that suffering produces endurance. And endurance produces character. And
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: character produces hope. And hope does not put to shame.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: We have many young people in this church who play piano.
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: Some who actually like it. They've endured and they've pressed beyond.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: But here's what happens. You start playing piano and you
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: begin to play the piano and you have to do
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: all these little finger exercises and you're playing these scales
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: and you're playing these.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: Notes and over and over and over again. An hour
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: every day. An hour every day.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: All of a sudden, what begins to happen? Well, that
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: suffering that you endure begins to produce endurance. Now it
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: doesn't hurt like it used to for me to do this.
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: But my suffering has produced something. Well, beyond that, what
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: begins to happen? Well, endurance produces a character, a proven character.
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: So now I am proficient. And what does that character produce?
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: It produces hope.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: Hope in what?
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: You know, there are other things that I can play
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: that are out there that I never thought that.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: I can play.
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: Why do I believe now that I can play them? Well,
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: because I started with the suffering. The suffering produced endurance.
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: The endurance produced character. And that character produced hope. As
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: a believer, this sanctification process is very similar. As a believer,
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: there is suffering that we endure. There are things that
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: we go through that are not pleasant in our lives.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: There are things that we go through that we don't
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: necessarily enjoy. Sometimes, as a believer, there are things that
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: we were accustomed to that are no longer available to us.
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: And it's difficult.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: You know, one of the things that makes me cringe
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: is sometimes people will stand up and they'll share their
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: testimony and they'll say something like this. Well, you know,
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: before I was a Christian, I was an alcoholic. And
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: then I got saved.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: And when I got saved, God immediately, just like that,
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: took away. the taste of alcohol from my mouth. I
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: never wanted it anymore. I never looked at it again.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: When I hear that testimony, I cringe. I cringe for
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: two reasons. One, because it's usually not true.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: That's usually revisionist history.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: It's usually not true when you hear that testimony. Has
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: it happened?
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: Yes, it's happened, but that's usually not true. Here's number two.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: That's not the normal way believers are sanctified.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: It's not. I was converted, and the next day, All
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: those sinful desires were gone. No, no, no. I was converted.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: And the next day, the war began. And I suffered.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: But by the grace of Almighty God, that produced endurance.
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: And by the grace of Almighty God, that produced a
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: proven character. And by the grace of Almighty God, that
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: eventually produced hope.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: Hope in what?
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: Hope in God, because He is actually sanctifying me, and
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: I'm seeing His sanctifying work work itself out in my life.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: Which is the other reason that I cringe when I
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: hear that testimony. If I come to Christ and all
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: of a sudden there's one particular area in my life where, bam,
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: the next day it's over, what is that going to
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: produce in me as it relates to the other areas
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: in my life where this process is more the reality?
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: Well, now something's wrong. What's wrong? Well, I'm struggling with lust. Okay, struggle. Well, no, see,
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: you don't understand. I used to be an alcoholic.
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: And on the day that I got saved, bam, that
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: was taken away from me. But this wasn't taken away
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: from me. Do you see my point? Well, I hate
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: to break it to you, but that bam, this was
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: taken away from me, not normal. Not the way the
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: process of sanctification works. Praise God for it. That by
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: His grace, by His mercy, in His providence, for whatever reason,
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: He removed that from you so that He could continue
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: you on down the path. But know this. That is
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: not the way the Christian life is lived out. You
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: don't get saved one day and sanctified the next.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: Amen. What happens is.
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: As a result of your justification by faith, you are
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: able to exalt even in your sufferings. Because they produce endurance.
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: And that endurance produces character. And that character produces hope.
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: By the way, it's not an empty hope. What kind
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: of hope is it? I'm glad you asked. And hope
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: does not put us to shame.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: Why? Because we hope real hard?
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: No. Because God's love has been poured into our hearts
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Folks,
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: my hope is not in hope just like my faith
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: was not in faith.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: What's my hope in?
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: In the active work of the third person of the
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: Trinity in my life as a follower of Christ who's
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: been justified by faith.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: I'm His. He's mine.
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: And the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: has shed abroad, has poured out, has overflowed the love
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: of God into my heart so that as I suffer
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: and it produces endurance, and as I endure and it
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: produces character, and as that character produces hope, my hope.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: Doesn't put me to shame.
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: Because of God.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: Not because I did the process better than others, but
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: because of God. Because of the third person of the Trinity.
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: Turn with me again to Romans chapter 8. Remember, tell
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: then tell them what you told them. We've seen in
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: Romans chapter 8 this interplay between glory and suffering.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: And this hope that is ours.
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: We've also seen the third person of the Trinity in
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: this interplay.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: Look with me if you will.
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: Now at verse 26 where we left off. Likewise the
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: know what to pray for as we ought. But the
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: And he who searches the hearts knows what is the
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: mind of the Spirit. Because the Spirit intercedes for the
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: saints according to the will of God. The Spirit intercedes
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: for the saints according to the will of God. I
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: don't even know what I need from God, but that's okay.
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: The Spirit of the living God abides in me and
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: intercedes for me.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: In accordance with the will of God.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: Verse 28, And we know that for those who love God,
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: all things work together for good, for those who are
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew,
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: He also predestined to be conformed to the image of
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He also called.
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: Those whom He called, He also justified. Those whom He justified,
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: He also glorified. From beginning to end, who's in charge
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: of the process?
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: God. God.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: Then there's that great question. So what is it that
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: can separate us from the love of God? What suffering
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: is there that I can suffer that is enough for
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: my suffering to separate me from God? Paul answers the
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: question in Romans chapter 8.
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: Nothing. Height. Depth. Things present? Things to come? What is it?
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: You name it and the answer is nothing. That's my hope.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: That's where my hope lies. My hope doesn't lie in
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: somehow not having to go through the process of sanctification.
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: That's not where my hope lies. And sometimes that's where
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: we get. What's wrong with you? Oh man, I'm just struggling.
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: And I'm sick and tired of struggling. Well, good for you.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: By the way, we're going to get there too in
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: Romans chapter 7. Amen.
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: I'm struggling and I'm sick and tired of struggling. Welcome
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: to the Christian life. Now when you worry is when
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: you're not struggling.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: Because here's what I know. When you stop struggling, it
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: will not be because you have reached perfection. When you
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: stop struggling, it will be because you've given in. And
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: you're no longer fighting that thing that you should fight
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: tooth and nail until fighting is over.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: And that peace is finalized when we're glorified. So in
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: the meantime, and in between time, you struggle. Amen. Amen.
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: But where is my hope? Suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: Character produces hope. Hope does not disappoint. Why?
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: Because of the Spirit of the living God who has
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: sealed us, who abides in us, who sheds abroad in
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: our hearts the love.
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: Of Almighty God, who will bring these things to pass.
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: That's why. You hope in the struggle in spite of
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: the struggle because you know the one who is victorious
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: in the end.
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: And He's God. So you endure. You endure today until
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: today becomes tomorrow. And then what do you do tomorrow?
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: You endure tomorrow until tomorrow becomes the next day. And
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: the next, and the next, and the next.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: But there will come a day when those who have
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: been foreknown and predestined and called and justified and sanctified
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: will ultimately be glorified. In the meantime and in between time,
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: don't forget what Paul says. Remember his words, verse 18.
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: are not worth comparing.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: With the glory that is to be revealed in us.
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: Now, that's different than hanging there, it's going to get better.
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: Amen? That is, hang in there, regardless of whether it
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: gets better or not. Hang in there.
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: It's going to get better. means that ultimately our hope
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: is for the here and the now. Hang in there,
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: whether it gets better or not, means ultimately our hope
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: is in Christ.
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: And He's interceding for us. And our glorification is yet
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: to come.
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: The sanctification process will continue for the rest of your life.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: Somebody said something. It was either last week or the
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: week before. And it just resonated with me. We're sitting
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: down at lunch.
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: And he said, you know, I'm sitting there and I'm
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: listening to chapter 4. And I'm listening to the messages
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: about Abraham. And God just gave me just overwhelming joy
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: in this little fact. Abraham was 100 years old. When
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: this was going on. 100 years old. Some of y'all
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: are still going, okay, and?
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: Here's the and. I stand here before you, 41 years old.
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: That means I have hope that should the Lord tarry
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: and I live 59 more years, I'll still be growing
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: and learning how to trust God.
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: That's just good. That's just good. Whomever you are, some
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: of you need to hear that because you're sitting here
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: and you're going, I've been walking with Christ for 20 years,
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: 30 years, however many years, and I'm still struggling. When
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: am I going to get it right? Have you read
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: your Bible? Have you forgotten? Have you forgotten? Don't ever forget.
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: This struggle lasts until you die. Amen.
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: Then it's over. Between now and then, we fight. And
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: our suffering produces endurance. And our endurance, proven character. And
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: proven character, hope.
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: Hope and hope? No, not hope and hope.
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: A hope that will not disappoint because our hope is
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: in the one who is the author and finisher of
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: our faith.
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: That's our hope. So what's so good about being a Christian?
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: Here it is. We have peace with God. We have
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: access to God. And we have hope.
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: None of these things exist apart from the person and
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: work of Jesus Christ Show me a person without Jesus
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: and I'll show you a person who doesn't have peace
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: with God Show me a person without Jesus and I'll
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: show you a person that doesn't have access Show me
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: a person without Jesus and I will show you a
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: person without hope The most positive thinking smiling, outlook on
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: life person that you've ever met in your life, if
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: that person is without Christ, they are without hope in
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: the world. These are the blessings, just the tip of
• 52:47
  Speaker 2: the iceberg of the blessings that accrue to us as
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: a direct result of our justification by faith. We have
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: access to peace with God. We have access to God Himself.
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: And we have hope.
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: And if you are here today and you find yourself
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: without these things, that's because you're without Christ in the world.
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: That's because you're trusting in the wrong thing.
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: So if you sit here today and you say, you
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: know what, I don't have peace with God. I just don't.
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: I can't find peace with God. The answer is you
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: need Christ. Come to Him in repentance and faith.
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: If you sit here today and you say, not only
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: do I not have peace with God, I don't even
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: have access to God. I wouldn't even know how to
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: approach God.
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: I believe when I open my mouth to God, my
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: words don't go past the ceiling. If you don't have access,
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: then you sit here without hope in the world, without Christ,
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: and you need Him.
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: Come to Him in repentance and faith. If you're here
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: and you don't have hope, or all you have is
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: hope and hope, then what you desperately need is Christ.
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: then do not leave
• 54:36
  Speaker 2: here today without doing business with God, because that is
• 54:39
  Speaker 2: woefully insufficient, and all you have hope of is the
• 54:44
  Speaker 2: wrath that is to come. Turn from that, and turn
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: to your only hope, which is the person and work
• 54:54
  Speaker 2: of Jesus Christ. He is your only access to peace
• 54:57
  Speaker 2: with God. He is your only access to God. And
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: He is your only source of hope in this world
• 55:05
  Speaker 2: and in the world that is to come. Why on
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: earth would you tarry? Let go of whatever it is
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: that is in your hand.
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: And say with the hymn writer, nothing in my hands
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: I bring. Only to the cross I cling.
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: And say again, my hope is built on nothing less
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ,
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: And unless and until that is you here today, you
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: are without Christ in the world. You are without hope
• 56:04
  Speaker 2: in the world. And I beseech you, come to Him
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: by faith. Turn from your sin. Turn toward Christ. Believe
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: on Him and Him alone.
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: For your salvation. Be made new. Be made whole. Does
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: that mean that tomorrow you're going to lose the taste
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: for whatever it is that you have a taste for?
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: Probably not. But whatever struggle ensues, I guarantee you, is
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: not worthy to be compared to the glory that is
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: to be revealed in us. Would you bow with me?
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: Listen to these words from James Edwards. It's one thing
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: to be a Christian with the wind at one's back.
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: How frequently the Christian life is depicted as a state
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: of insulation and ease, where believers are supposedly endowed with
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: some sort of executive clemency from the knots of life.
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: Increasingly in our day, Christian life is depicted in terms
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: of triumphalism and success. Paul, however, says that the believer
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: must learn to rejoice not only in the future hope
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: of glory, but also in our sufferings. As we bow,
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: I don't know what sufferings it is or there are
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: that you are enduring. But I know that you are.
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: And that as you endure those sufferings, There are two possibilities.
• 58:10
  Speaker 2: Possibility number one is that you cling to Christ as
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: your only hope. Possibility number two is that you cling
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: to something else and ultimately end up with no hope
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: at all. Would you today lay your sufferings at the
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: foot of the cross? Not in hopes that in doing so,
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: you will suffer no more. But in hopes that in
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: doing so, you will be reminded of where the power lay.
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: Not in you, but in Him. And when you've done so, endure. Endure. Father,
• 59:15
  Speaker 2: as we bow before You, we bow acknowledging that we
• 59:28
  Speaker 2: have come to trust in so many things inferior things
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: powerless things things including ourselves and our own abilities and
• 59:54
  Speaker 2: as a result we have in many instances forfeited the
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: very peace and access, and hope that we seek.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: Teach us today to trust you.
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 2: To trust the triune God that saves us, and sanctifies us,
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 2: and keeps us.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: All around this room, there are those who are Tired.
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 2: Who have grown weary. Who just plain feel like giving up.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 2: Thank you for calling us today again to endure. Knowing
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: that our hope is not in a lack of suffering
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: or struggles on this side of eternity. but instead in
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 2: the sufficiency.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: Of our God in the midst of those struggles. We
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: love you. It is our desire to serve you faithfully.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: And we thank you for the peace and the access
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 2: and the hope necessary to the task. May we depart
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 2: from here today trusting in Christ and Him alone for
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: all these things.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: And more. knowing that He is indeed our only peace,
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: our only access, and our only hope. It is indeed
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: in His name that we pray, ask, and believe all
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: these things. Amen.