Loved forever

Romans chapter 5, we're going to be reading from verse 1 through to 11.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.

And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Not only that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts

through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For while we were 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.

I want to begin this morning with a quotation from John Dixon,

whose name will be familiar to most of you,

but part of a bigger section I printed in the bulletin this week, or prepared for the bulletin.

So just listen up as I read it to you.

John Dixon says this,

Early in my Christian life, I was quite blown away by the thought of God's love.

But then things fell apart,

and suddenly I had to confront one of the biggest problems in my Christian life.

Did God love me after all?

Struggling to be committed to God, I had this dark cloud hanging over me.

It was horrible.

For months and months, I felt guilt and doubt,

more guilt, greater doubt, even more guilt.

I remember crying out to God a number of times,

Why don't you love me?

As I meet more and more Christians in my travels,

I'm realizing that my experience back then was quite common.

Many of God's people get caught in a trap where they lose sight of God's love for them in Christ.

Friends, I suspect this same dark cloud has settled on all of us here this morning,

at some time or other.

I definitely know it sits heavily on some believers listening in this morning.

And it's a black cloud.

Well, I want to tell you this morning that Paul's letters to the Christians at Rome

is crafted especially for you, if you're in that situation.

Because as Paul addresses their questions and struggles in the way he structures the letter,

he actually anticipated your questions and struggles and my questions and struggles.

So let's do some revision and see this.

Beck's already sort of done some revision for us this morning.

That's been helpful.

So we look at chapters 1 to 4.

Paul begins where all believers begin.

Chapter 1, verse 16.

Incredible excitement about God's powerful gospel.

God's powerful way to save sinners.

We've understood our desperate need for the gospel of Jesus because we recognize that our unrighteousness

or our failure to live in the light of what we knew about God meant we were under his wrath,

under his condemnation.

We were in big trouble.

Then we've delighted to discover that God has provided an alternative pathway to righteousness

through Jesus who has done for us that which we could never do for ourselves.

Dealt with our sin and made us acceptable to God.

Brought us back into relationship with God.

And all this simply by faith or by taking God at his word or taking God's promises at face value.

It's quite a remarkable story.

We've been there as Christians.

We've experienced it.

We've loved it.

But then the fears and doubts start.

We look at our failures on any given day, any given week, and we start to ask,

well, can I be sure that given my ongoing failures,

can I be sure that God just won't get tired of me?

Can I be sure that I just won't, as it were, wear out his love, exhausted?

Can I be sure he won't drop me in frustration?

Dare I think?

Can I be sure he won't drop me in anger?

And despair?

Can I be sure I will not crash and burn as I struggle on any given day to serve God and be the person I want to be in response to my heavenly father's grace and my life?

And that takes us into chapter 5 then.

And this is exactly, that dilemma is exactly what Paul addresses.

And he does that by listing one after the other.

I said last week, he piles them up one upon the other.

The benefits or guarantee or security of being justified, of being declared to be back in relationship with God.

Last Sunday, we started in chapter 5, we explored some immediate benefits.

We said last week that the gospel means a radical change in the way God views us.

In Jesus, we have a new standing.

So now the relationship is defined by peace.

No longer is there any hostility in it.

There's new intimacy and privilege.

God actually adopts us into his own family.

He gives us unrestricted access to himself.

And we have unrestricted access to the privileges and blessings of the Lord Jesus.

And we have a new orientation.

We're now bound for glory instead of bound for condemnation.

Bound for glory with the prospect of being with Jesus in heaven and being like Jesus.

Bound for glory with the Lord Jesus.

Bound for glory with the Lord Jesus.

Bound for glory with the Lord Jesus.

And it's in that context, so in verse 4 last week, that we can actually appreciate difficult and painful circumstances as they come to us.

Knowing they are what God uses to draw us closer to himself.

To make us more like himself.

And the process here becomes a cycle, a pattern that's self-affirming.

The more we see that happening, the more we experience these painful circumstances, the more we see ourselves developing that character, that Christ-like character that we so long for.

Which confirms that the hope of glory is real.

Little by little, we're moving towards it.

Because that's what God promised.

Well, this morning we continue to explore the gospel benefits listed in verses 5 to 11.

And these benefits, I think, address our deepest fears.

And they give gospel guarantee that in spite of daily struggle, in spite of constant failures,

we will make it home to heaven to experience glory or the fullness of our hope.

My friends, God will finish what he has started by bringing us into good relationship with himself.

He will bring us home to heaven and make us like him.

Now, what's the basis of that guarantee or certainty or security?

Well, in verses 5 to 8 we say that God has already proved his forever love for you.

Now, I mentioned last week that God actually adopts us into his family.

Well, I want to say a little bit more about that now.

Because parents who adopt a child then go to great lengths to help their adopted child be loved and secure in their new family relationship.

They consciously work hard at it.

They know the background of that child.

They want their adopted child to sense an inner commitment and deep affection which is unbreakable.

They want that child to know that never again will they be abandoned.

And they want to reinforce that inner conviction with outward practical demonstrations of their affection and commitment.

Well, that's exactly what God has done for you and me, his adopted children.

He actually proves or confirms and reinforces the reality of his unconditional, unchanging, unfading love.

He does it first by inner confirmation of the Holy Spirit.

Look at verse 5.

Hope never puts us to shame or will never disappoint us.

Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

That's a very powerful picture word there, isn't it?

God's love has been poured.

Great bucketfuls of God's love has just been poured in till we're filled to the brim.

That's the picture.

That's the picture.

That's the picture.

That's the picture.

God has put his spirit in us.

And one of his jobs, one of his Holy Spirit's jobs, is to pour a sense of God's love into our hearts.

Filling us to the brim, as I say, so that we're vividly and inwardly aware that God loves us.

That there's an unbreakable bond that is so totally committed to us as his saved children.

Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13 to 14.

Ephesians 1:13–14

You can go and check it out for yourself.

And Paul describes there that the Holy Spirit, the presence and changing activity within us,

as God's deposit and guarantee on his salvation contract.

So the deposit and guarantee is like a contract language.

Like you're buying a house that the purchase is secured when the deposit's paid and the contract's signed.

Well, the Holy Spirit is God's deposit and guarantee of his salvation contract or promise.

What promise?

That we will be loved forever.

And that all his blessings will come.

In other words, to use the word here, hope of glory.

In John chapter 6, 8 to 13, the apostle John uses a different description.

John 6 · chapter mention

He describes how God's spirit is constantly working in his saved people to create conviction of sin and truth.

And from this, says John, confidence of being in God's family and bound for glory.

Now that's a bit more strange to us, I think, because it's not really how we normally think of God convicting us and giving us assurance.

But here's how it works.

I want you to ask yourself, just go back in your mind, just quickly go back in your mind.

Why is it that you're now so very worried about your sin when you weren't worried about it before you become a Christian?

Why?

Answer.

Because God's spirit is working within you to make you like God.

And he does that by helping you see the things that God hates so that you also hate them, and I also hate them,

and helping you see the things that God loves and wants.

So that we also want those things.

See how character develops?

Proven character.

You're concerned, my friend, about your sin.

Hear this really, really careful, because I think we don't hear it.

Your concern about your sin is evidence that you have God's spirit already working in you, and evidence of God's forever love.

You see, we often rob ourselves of this benefit.

And it's a wonderful benefit that we rob ourselves of it, because we actually assume that when we experience God's spirit working within us,

it will be a warm, fuzzy feeling.

And peace will just be dreamy and hassle-free.

Living.

But that's not what the Bible tells us.

I mean, there will be times like that.

But given our sinfulness, it's not going to be predominantly that.

In fact, it may be anything but that.

The reality is that conviction of truth and sin is hard.

It's painful.

I don't like to on my sin.

I don't like to admit that I'm capable of that, even while I say this about the Lord Jesus.

So conviction of sin, by the Holy Spirit in my life, needs to be painful, because I'm a slow, reluctant learner.

It's painful to face.

It's harder to act on.

But it's nonetheless testimony to God's love, having been poured into your life in great back-upfuls,

that God pursues you so that you do see your sin, so that you do come to hate it,

and that you do want to do something about it and seek God's character in your life.

Or again, some might say more positively than Eeyore up here, does it?

Ask yourself, what of that time when suddenly a promise from God,

just when you're reading the Bible, suddenly a verse or a promise leaps out at you.

You've read it dozens of times, and yet you think, hang on a sec, I've never seen that before.

I've never registered that before.

I've never been able to apply it to myself in a way before.

Perhaps it showcases the Lord Jesus in a way you hadn't seen him before,

or showcases the love of the Father,

or showcases your own sin in a way you hadn't seen it before,

or does something that deepens your longing for heaven and affection for Christ.

Well, my friends, again, this is the hidden persuasion of God through the Holy Spirit,

which floods our hearts.

That's the picture.

It just sweeps over you like a flash flood.

Making us profoundly grateful for God's grace,

and giving us confidence in God's promises of glory to come,

even in hard times,

and in the midst of our failures.

Go back to verse 5 again.

Ask for verse 5.

Hope does not put us to shame.

God says,

I promise

you will

experience glory.

We will never be disappointed by God's promise,

because he has reinforced that promise by pouring,

putting the Holy Spirit within us,

to pour his love into our hearts on a daily basis.

As I said before,

great bucketfuls of God's love.

Just topping up,

because it leaks out in the way we think about life,

and experience life.

Always topped up,

never disappointing us.

Well,

the second way in which God operates

is by outward demonstration,

verses 6 to 8.

Now,

we all know the saying.

I've heard it many times from Alison in my marriage,

to my shame.

Don't just say you love me.

Show you love me.

So,

what does God's actions

demonstrate about the nature

and extent

of his love for his people?

Well,

verses 6 through to 8.

While we were still weak,

at the right time,

or the most judicious time,

Christ died for the ungodly.

one would scarcely die for a righteous person.

That's a person who had something going for them

that was really worthwhile dying for.

Though,

perhaps,

for a

reasonable person,

one would dare even to die.

But God shows his love for us in this,

that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us.

My friends,

in that sentence,

we're told that God's love

was all in.

born and expressed

an incredible cost to himself.

Even more amazing,

it was a totally unique love.

As the picture gives us here,

we are highly unlikely

to give up our life

for someone we thought

had lots going for them.

Let alone a down and out

living under some bridge

or some serial rapist

or murderer.

But God acts to love

and save those

who are totally

offensive to him.

Who have nothing at all

to commend themselves

to him.

Just look at these verses

and see how God viewed us

before he poured his love

onto us.

We were powerless.

It's a strange word

because at the same time,

we were aggressively committed.

We were powerless.

And yet we were aggressively

committed to treating God

with indifference

or veiled contempt.

That was at best.

And at worst,

just treating God

as an enemy.

Ignoring.

Rejecting.

Despising his authority.

Despising that

he described

and defined

and offered to us

as the good life.

In response,

verse 10,

God declared us

to be his enemies.

Those with whom

he would have nothing

to do

except hostility.

What sort of God

would love people

like you and me

who are so

unlovely,

so undeserving,

so horrible

in the way

that we treated him

before we were converted.

And all the while,

like Nemo,

being totally oblivious

to the predicament

we were in.

And we're told here

that knowing

all of this,

knowing the very worst

about us,

Jesus died

for the likes

of you and me.

That's a pretty

strong demonstration

of love.

Friends,

God has proved

the nature

and extent

of his love

for you

as Jesus

went to the cross.

And since

his commitment

to you

was made initially,

knowing the worst

about you,

then

he's not going

to change his mind

about you.

It's not as if

we get into

the relationship

a couple of years

and he thinks,

oh,

blimey,

Charlie,

if I'd known then

what I know now

about Calderwood,

I would never

have started

this relationship.

That's how

everybody else

reacts to me.

But not the Lord,

thankfully.

He knew the worst

about me

when he committed

to me.

He's not going

to change his mind.

Nothing draws

a loving response

from a wife

more than

when a husband

leads off

with a selfless,

constant,

costly,

unconditional love.

So my friends,

I say to you this morning,

if anything,

if anything

will find

your trust in God,

your desire for God,

your delight in God,

then surely

understanding

something of the

nature and extent

of God's love

will be it.

So the second

part of our

certainty

or guarantee

of getting

your glory

is that

if you're a Christian,

then God's

already done

the hard part.

The rest

is easy.

Picking up

verses 9 to 11.

If you see

a high jumper

clearing

the bar

at 2 metres,

then you've

got pretty

great confidence

that he'll be

able to clear

the bar

at 300 mils.

In other words,

having achieved

the much harder

task,

the easier

is just a matter

of course.

And that's

exactly what

Paul's argument

is in verses

9 to 11.

Since

God has

already

at great

cost

reconciled

his enemies,

then there

is no doubt

whatsoever

that he will

keep his

friends.

Since he has

reconciled his

enemies,

that he has

made his

enemies into

his friends,

then there is

no doubt

that he will

actually keep

those friends

as friends.

since he's

already done

the much

harder work

of dealing

with our

sin,

adopting us

into his

family with

unrestricted

privilege and

blessing,

how much

more will he

do the

easier part

of bringing

his renewed

people home to

glory?

him.

How do we

know that

for sure?

Well, go

back again to

Jesus.

It's all about

Jesus.

Because of

Christ's death,

Jesus died

for us.

Jesus paid

the penalty

for our

sins.

that, we've

already seen

in the

early chapters,

removed all

causes of

hostility on

God's part,

enabling him

to accept

me just

as if I'd

justified,

just as if

I'd never

ever sinned.

The benefit

of Christ's

death in

the past,

which you

and I

as Christians

currently

enjoy,

is also

the guarantee

that we

will make

it to

heaven.

So it's

Christ's

death, but

it's also

because of

Christ's

life,

verse 10.

For if

while we

were enemies

were reconciled

to God

by the

death of

his son,

much more

now that

we are

reconciled,

shall we

be saved

by his

life.

life?

The fact

that Christ

rose from

the dead

and is

now alive

in heaven

is proof

that his

death was

sufficient

to deal

with all

the sin

and penalty

due to,

sorry,

all the sin,

all the penalty

of the sin

due to his

people,

and evidence

that all

God's wrath

has been

dealt with

and soaked

up,

never more

to be seen

in the

relationship.

In other

words,

if soaking

up God's

anger

and paying

the penalty

for sin

was why

Jesus died,

then the

fact that he

was resurrected

or he came

back from

the dead

shows that

all that

wrath,

all that

sin has

been dealt

with,

and there's

no reason

therefore for

Jesus to

stay dead

as it were.

His

resurrection

is proof

that he

achieved

what he

intended

to achieve

in his

death,

that is,

the

reconciliation

of his

enemies,

turning his

enemies into

friends,

bringing them

into his

family,

his adopted

children.

But even

more,

his presence

before God

with the

marks of

death and

the cross

still in

his body

is actually

a visible

reminder

to God

that all

his people

that have

been bought

back,

and restored

to family

membership

and family

privilege.

Friends,

I hope

you can

say something

of the

assurance

that is

ours

as Christ

believing

people.

This is

just not

sentimental

optimism.

This is

fact,

this is

logic.

this is

the statement

of God

himself.

Any

problem we

have

with a

lack of

assurance

is usually

of our

own making,

not because

God has

done something

that is

uncertain.

And here's

what I think

the problem

is.

Too often

we focus

on the

death of

Christ,

Christ.

And that's

a good

thing to

focus on

because we

know that

on the

death of

Christ we

have entered

into good

relationship

with God.

But too

often also

we forget

about the

ongoing life

of Jesus,

his resurrection

life in

heaven,

which guarantees

that what

God started

back there

at the cross

will be

completed in

the future

in glory,

in heaven.

We need

to remind

ourselves that

since God

has done the

hardest thing

in changing

us from

enemies into

family members

through the

death of

Christ,

then the

easiest part

is it

where of

Jesus reminding

the Father

that all his

people have

been secured

and the job

of keeping us

to heaven

will also

happen.

So here's

the problem

in a nutshell.

we often

think separately

about our

being justified

and our

being glorified

or brought

to heaven

and made

like Jesus.

See, we

separate

what God

keeps together

inseparably.

Justification

ends in

glorification.

It's not

justification

then you're

left on your

own whether

you're good

or bad

or indifferent.

Justification

means glorification.

He will

never do

one without

the other

in your

life.

In fact,

if you're a

believer,

you can say

with confidence

that having

done one,

he will

do the

other.

peace,

peace,

adoption

into his

family,

the enjoyment

of all the

privileges that

are Jesus's,

the certainty

of being with

Jesus,

being like

Jesus,

and all

this

demonstrated

and constantly

reaffirmed

as God

pours his

love into

us on a

daily basis

by the

Holy Spirit

and

demonstrated

his love

for us

in Jesus.

All that

demonstrates

God's

unconditional

forever

committed

love for

us.

Friends,

it's a bit

of a cliche

but I tell

you,

it doesn't

get any

better than

that.

Join me

in prayer.

It really

doesn't get

any better

than that.

Lord,

we struggle

even to

articulate

it.

We struggle

even more

to make

sure we

keep on

experiencing

it.

We just

find it so

hard to

take you

at your

word.

We keep

separating

that which

you have

put together.

It's as if

we think

we've been

brought back

into good

relationship

with you

and then

you leave

us flailing

around in

our own

devices and

our own

resources.

But Lord,

help us to

see that what

you start,

you finish.

You've

justified us

and you

will glorify

us.

You've

called us to

yourself here

in this

world and

you will

call us

home to

yourself in

heaven.

Help us

to believe

that.

Help us

to delight

in you

because of

it.

Help us

to be

safe and

secure in

it.

in

Jesus'

name I

pray.

Amen.

Thank you

very much.