Peace with God

Father, you know how easily we forget what you teach.

And you know, Father, how easily it is for us to depend upon our own self-righteousness and our own self-justification.

And Father, you know how much our self-righteousness and our self-justification causes us trouble and beats us up.

We ask, Father, that in your mercy you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, that you would expose to our hearts our addiction to our self-righteousness and self-justification.

And that you would, Father, hollow us out and humble us so that we would hunger for the justification that only you give, that only you bring.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son, and our Savior. Amen.

Amen. Please be seated.

There used to be a fellow that I'd see at least several times a week on Rideau Street.

And he had, he was quite muscular, a bit shorter than me, quite muscular.

He liked wearing in the warmer weather, even in quite cold weather, quite, you know, short T-shirts, tight T-shirts that showed off his arms and his chest and everything.

And he had lots of tattoos.

And he had two other things which, you know, I'll be honest with me, creeped me out a little bit.

One of them was some odd tattoos on his face, which I always find a bit odd.

And the other thing is he'd obviously had some bone, or some type of implants right up here in his head.

He had a shaved head, so he had two horns sewn on his head.

And so the combination of a shaved head with horns and tattoos on your face, it's a bit of an odd, it's, I never felt very, you know, comfortable with him.

On one hand, I'd pray for him, and, you know, maybe I could share the gospel with him one day.

But on the other hand, I was never disappointed that I didn't talk to him, if you know what I mean.

That's, you know, these are all things I say, and then I confess them in the part of the service later on.

But I don't, you know, I have no idea why he did those types of things.

And I have no idea whether he was involved in devilish worship or demons or anything like that.

But here's the thing, I, the longer I've been a Christian, the more I believe that every single one of us has some experience of the devil and some experience of demons.

And by that, I don't mean that, I mean, maybe it might very well be one of the people that we had as a ministry intern quite a few years ago now.

Before she had become a Christian, she was a witch.

And then she came to faith, and she was a ministry intern here at the church.

She'd been involved in Wicca.

And I don't know, maybe some of you have at one point in time been involved.

Maybe even today you're still involved with Wicca and spells.

And if that's the case, we're glad you're here.

But I think every single one of us, even if we don't have that type of experience of the devil, have an experience of the devil and the demons.

And we do in the sense that every single one of us struggles with despair at different times.

And every single one of us struggles with accusatory thoughts at different times.

And every single one of us struggles at some time or another with thoughts or experiences or feelings that are deeply shameful.

And we feel ashamed.

And we feel despair.

And we feel a real sense of accusation.

And if you say that you've never experienced those things, I don't believe you.

In fact, I don't think anybody here would believe you.

And every single one of us has those experiences.

In fact, many of you, maybe some of you this morning, as you're sitting here, in fact, have really been not even struggling with them.

Because you're not struggling with them.

But you can hardly even sit or stand.

Because there's so many accusatory thoughts or despairing thoughts that are flooding into your mind and your heart and your will.

And I think that if we have an experience of that, we have an experience of the devil.

Because that's what the devil does to us.

Whether we recognize him behind it or not.

And the scripture text that we're going to look at today is a very, very powerful text to those of us who struggle with shame,

who struggle with despair, and who struggle with accusatory thoughts.

So it would be a great help to me.

And it would be a great help to yourself if you have a Bible, if you open your Bible to Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

We're preaching through the book of Romans.

And today we're looking at Romans 5, verses 1 to 11.

Romans 5:1–11

And it's a very, very powerful text that speaks to those of us who struggle.

And we all struggle at some time or another with despair, with accusatory thoughts,

and just feelings of profound feelings of guilt and unworthiness.

It's a powerful, powerful text that speaks directly to those experiences.

And it begins like this.

Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

I'm reading from the English Standard Version.

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.

Actually, before we go any further, you know what we're going to do?

Andrew, could you put that up on the screen?

And we're going to read it all together.

Romans 5.

We're going to read it in a moment.

And in fact, just if you're wondering,

remember last week I asked you just to pray for me

because I'm having more problems preaching on the book of Romans

than any other book that I've ever preached on.

And it's such a deep book.

And every week, the more I study it, the more I just realize how deep and profound it is.

And I just feel so unworthy every Sunday

to try to even remotely unpack the depths and the riches of this book.

So please pray for me.

And I was going to come up with four points.

You know, some preachers preach three-point sermons.

John Stott knew a lot about preaching.

His sermons always had four points.

And I was going to do four points.

And then I realized that these, there's four.

Why on earth would I want you to remember my words

when you could remember the Bible?

And so we're just going to read this text.

We're going to read it several times today

because my four points are just the four basic phrases in these two verses.

And so could you all read this with me?

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.

It's a really, really funny verse because it has two beginnings.

Notice that, therefore and since.

You know, usually you'll just have therefore or since,

but it actually has two.

It's actually one of the simple ways that the text wants us to understand

that the very next thing that it says is very, very, very, very important.

Therefore, since.

And that the first thing that goes directly to our experience of accusation,

despair, profound feelings of guilt, and profound feelings of shame,

even if you've been a Christian for many, many years

and you still struggle with these things,

is that very first phrase.

Did you notice what it says?

It says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith.

That's the first thing.

In fact, in many ways, all I want to try to do this morning

is try to help you to understand that phrase

and the three consequences that the Bible tells us follow

as we're gripped with this understanding that,

therefore, since, we have been justified.

We have been justified by faith.

What justified means is that, you know,

if I told, I think I shared with you last week,

if I told you, you know, after the service,

everybody who came has a PhD,

that would just be completely and utterly absurd for me

to tell you that you all have PhDs

just because you came to a church service.

I could say that,

but I don't have the power or authority

to make that type of declaration for you.

It would be sort of like, you know,

some people, you know, say,

we just need a couple million dollars to buy a building,

and I say, you know, maybe you'll give us that money,

and some people will say,

well, I could give you a check,

I could write you a check,

but it's going to bounce.

Anybody can write a check,

but not everybody can write checks

that are going to bounce.

And what this simple phrase is telling us,

therefore, since we have been justified by faith,

it wants us,

it's just following what Paul has just said beforehand,

and it's trying to help us to understand

what Jesus accomplishes for us on the cross.

And it's trying to help us to understand

that because of what Jesus accomplishes for us

when he dies upon the cross,

that if we receive that with open hands,

then God himself makes an authoritative,

powerful declaration

that you are now right with him.

That what Paul has been trying to explain

in the parts of the Bible up until now

is that Jesus dying upon the cross

is God's provision for human beings

so that human beings can be right with him.

And when we put our faith in Jesus,

God speaks over even the worst person

that he says to you and me,

you are justified.

And what that means is that

I am declaring,

I have the authority,

and I have the power,

and I have the right

to make these declarations.

And because you have received

what Jesus did for you on the cross,

I declare that you are now right with me.

And that's what Paul wants to remind us

by saying,

therefore,

since we have been justified by faith.

But some of you might be saying,

George,

okay, that just sounds really, really, really nice.

But gosh, George,

if you could just,

you know,

if I could actually just have the courage

to talk to you really honestly,

if you just knew

how many times

I either don't come to church

or I can barely come to church

because I'm so filled

with accusatory thoughts,

if you just realized,

George,

if God realized

how hard it is for me

to sit in a church

when I'm just filled with shame,

if you realize, George,

how hard it was for me,

I'm not sure that sounds

all very nice, George,

but it doesn't really deal

anything at all

with these very,

very powerful experiences

of accusation and guilt

that I struggle with.

Like,

how,

that sounds really good,

but I don't know

if that can actually be true for me.

It's true when I'm feeling good,

but it's not true

a lot of the time.

Well,

you know,

it's really interesting

because what Paul does here,

the therefore sins,

he sort of is looking at the back,

but he anticipates

our objection like that

in the part that comes

just a little bit after this.

I don't know if you noticed it

or remembered it

when Andrea was reading.

If you look in your Bibles,

look what Paul says

in verses 6 and following.

He says,

for while we were still weak,

at the right time,

Christ died

for the ungodly.

For one will scarcely die

for a righteous person,

though perhaps

for a good person

one would dare

even to die.

But God

shows his love

for us

in that while

we were still

sinners,

Christ

died

for us.

What is this text saying?

This text,

you see,

the problem I have

when I'm getting

overwhelmed

with guilt

and when I'm getting

overwhelmed

with shame

and when I'm getting

overwhelmed

with accusatory thoughts

is I start to actually,

it's as if,

you know,

I said a couple of weeks ago

that the last idol

that dies

in a Christian's life

is the idol

of self-righteousness

and the idol

of self-justification.

And it's as if

I somehow believe

that God

looked at me

and when he looked

at me,

he said,

woe is George ever good.

Look at all the good

things George does.

You know,

look at those times

he's faithful to his wife.

Look at those times

he's good with his kids.

Look at those times.

Whoa,

he visited somebody.

Whoa.

And so,

I'm just going to do something

that's going to top up

George's goodness

because George's goodness

is this high

and I don't know,

I need him to be this high

to get to heaven

and so I'm just going to

top up George's goodness.

And that's sort of

what goes on

in our souls

and in our thoughts

when it,

but what this text

is saying

is that God

didn't look around

at the good church people.

and he didn't look around

and see all the successful people

and he didn't look around

and see all the people

who are really smart

and could remember

complicated theological systems

and remember Bible verses.

He looked down

and what did he see?

He saw weak people

and he saw ungodly people

and he saw sinful people

and he saw unrighteous people

and he didn't die

for the good people

who just needed something

to top up their goodness.

He died for weak people

like you and me,

for ungodly people

like you and me,

for sinful people

like you and me,

for unrighteous people

like you and me.

That's who he died for.

That's who he declares

right with himself

when we put our faith

and trust in Jesus.

Those people.

That's who he's referring to.

Not the success.

As I've been studying Romans,

I now increasingly understand

all that old hymnody

that talks about

how our righteous acts

are like filthy rags.

And until I started

to study Romans,

I didn't really,

it didn't really grip me

how deeply

my idolatry

and our idolatry

to self-righteousness

and self-justification

robs us from thinking

about who it was

that Christ died for.

And the wonderful thing

as I've shared before

about this word justified

justified

is that this word justified

means that right now

I know

when I put my faith

and trust in Jesus

what God's final word

is about me.

I don't know if Jesus

is going to come back

in five minutes.

I don't know if I'm going to die

in my drive home.

I don't know if I'm going to live

another 50 years.

Because I don't know the future.

But I don't know the future,

but I can know one thing

about the future.

that when I put my faith

and trust in Jesus,

God declares me.

He has the authority.

He has the power.

And He declares me

right with Himself

because I have put my faith

and trust in Him.

And so I can now, today,

know God's final word about me

that will be spoken

in the last day

at the final judgment.

And you can know

that word too.

And God's word

and His final judgment

trumps the judgment

made by teachers,

the judgment made

by governments,

the judgments made

about your social class

or your education

or your accomplishments.

It trumps the judgment

made by wives

and husbands

and fathers

and children

and relatives

and sports coaches.

God's judgment

trumps

every judgment

like that.

And that's what

God wants us to.

That's why it says,

therefore,

since

we have been justified

by faith.

In fact,

it even goes beyond this

and it even actually tries to,

Paul tries to,

to make us to understand

because he knows

how the devil can say,

yeah, yeah, yeah,

that's all right.

But what about those times

when you just said,

I know God told me to do this,

but I don't want to do this.

And you might even resent

that God has told you

certain things to do.

It might just make you

angry at God

and as soon as you say,

well,

what about justified by faith

and all that,

and then,

excuse me,

the devil brings

all these times

where we've actually

been an enmity to God

into our minds

and God anticipates that

in giving us an image

of what his son did

for us on the cross.

I like reading,

you know,

thriller types books

and some of the books

will talk about,

you know,

war and stuff like that

and I like reading novels

like that

and there's a very,

very common phrase

in a lot of those books.

Maybe somebody's coming

to go a very,

very difficult mission

or they have to protect

a very,

very different,

a very,

very difficult place

and one of the other soldiers,

one of the soldiers

asks another soldier,

are you willing to die

for this?

And the soldier will say,

I'm not going to do this

so I'll die for my country.

I'm doing this

so that the other guys

will die for their country.

That's why I'm trained.

I'm not trained

to die for my country.

I'm trained

to be so effective

at killing

that the enemy

will die

for their cause.

And that's just

how we understand

how it is in war.

But did you notice

not only in verses 6 to 8

that reminds us

that when God says,

therefore,

since we have been

justified by faith

and justified means

that we put our faith

and trust in Jesus

and what he's accomplished

for us on the cross

and then God

who has the authority

and the power

to make a declaration

declares us

to be right with himself,

he does it not only

for weak,

ungodly,

sinful people,

he does it for people

who were his enemies.

He does it for you and me.

Did you notice that?

Look at what it says

in verses 9 and 10.

Actually,

we'll go up to verse 8.

But God shows

his love for us

in that while

we were still sinners,

Christ died for us.

And then notice again,

it's just so reverses it,

but the double thing

to make sure we notice,

since therefore

we have blood,

justified by the fact

that he died,

he shed his blood for us.

It's a concrete image

to make us see that

we're not just talking

about some type

of imaginary story,

we're talking about

the fact that

if you went back

in a time machine,

you would see Jesus,

the blood coming

from his wounds

in his head,

from the thorns

that were on his brow,

and you would see

the blood dripping

from his hands

and his feet,

and you would see

the blood dripping

and pooling on the ground

from the whips

that he had on the back,

and you would see

that blood dripping,

and then you would see

that the blood

no longer drips

because he's dead.

There's that final

few moments,

but then the blood,

heart starts pumping,

he's died,

and it's a powerful,

a powerful,

grounded image

of death.

for those of you

who think in pictures,

and images are really important,

it's a text speaking

directly to you

to think of the blood,

and so in verse 9,

it says,

since therefore

we have now been justified

by his blood,

by his death,

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.

And here the Bible

is giving us this other image

of what it is that Jesus,

as he dies upon the cross,

and that what it is

that he accomplishes

for us on the cross.

And we've already seen

different images

that all of the anger

and the wrath

that we maybe would labor under,

an image to understand

what Jesus accomplishes

for us on the cross,

is that in the cross,

as Jesus dies for us,

he swallows all the wrath

and all the anger

that we could possibly fear

or think or imagine

or that could be claimed against us,

that he in his death

swallows that wrath against us.

And we've already seen

in the Bible

that on the cross,

that all of the things

that make us enslaved,

that the things

that we are slaved to

in terms of how other people

think about us,

our slavery to trying

to make ourselves righteous,

our slavery to making ourselves

think that we can justify ourselves,

our slavery to things

like debt or money

or sex

or having things be perfect

and all of the things

that we are slaved to,

that Jesus on his death

is the one

who swallows those things

and he is our great redeemer.

And we've seen the image

for those of us

who struggle with money

and we worry about

how we're going to pay those bills.

And the Bible has given us

this image

that imagine every single debt

that is ever possibly owed by you

that you could never pay,

that would completely

and utterly crush you,

that on the cross,

Jesus deals with

all of those debts for you.

And now we see

in this language

of reconciliation

the language of friendship.

We see the image

of two really, really good friends

sitting in Tim Hortons

or sitting in Starbucks

or sitting on somebody's porch,

maybe in the spring or the fall

and you're on the swing

and you're just talking

and you're just really, really close

and you're pouring your hearts out

and it's a beautiful day

and you're completely and utterly

just at one with this person

and you're both sharing your heart

and that's the image here.

That it's the image of,

it's the image of those of us

who worry about,

it's telling us that

there's been many times

in our lives

that we have to understand

that we have made,

that we are at enmity with God.

But God has never been

at enmity with you and me.

He sees our rage against Him

when He impinges upon our life

and His response was just,

I know you find me your enemy.

I know that in your heart of hearts

there are times

that you would like to speak

just like those soldiers do

in the movies and books

that are popular in your culture,

that you go into battle

not so that you will die

for your country

but so that God will die.

Somebody else will die.

And I know that's what

in your heart of hearts

you sometimes think and experience

and it was while you were thinking this

that I died upon the cross for you.

You might view me as your enemy,

He says to you and me,

but I do not view you as my enemy.

And I will die upon the cross

so that on the cross

we see God dealing with all

that has kept us at enmity from God.

It's all dealt with by Jesus

when He dies upon the cross.

And Paul is saying,

just think for a second,

if God knew

that we were at enmity with Him

and still Jesus died upon the cross for us

while we were enemies,

imagine how He'll treat us

now that Jesus has risen from the dead

and dealt with all of our enmity

against God.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith.

Could we all just say this whole Scripture text together?

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.

Some of you might say,

okay, George, that's...

I don't know if it's...

I don't know if I...

I don't know if I've really grasped that before.

That I don't have to worry about...

I don't have to worry about...

about the accusatory thoughts.

that those aren't coming from God

because all of the accusations

were dealt with by Jesus.

All of my sense of indebtedness and obligation

and being crushed by obligation

has been dealt with by Jesus.

All of the enmity and rage

I sometimes have felt that God

or other people, part of His creation,

has been dealt with by Jesus.

All of the anger has been dealt with.

All of the things that enslave me

and so make me feel with guilt

have been dealt with by Jesus and the cross.

And that God,

seeing all of that

and knowing all of that,

He sent Jesus to die for me

when I was weak and ungodly

and a sinner.

But I don't feel it.

I don't feel it.

That's a really powerful

and that's a very, very common thing.

And in fact,

if you look at that second thing,

the second point up there,

it wants to say that

because we have,

we've been justified by faith,

one of the three consequences

is that we have peace with God

through our Lord Jesus Christ,

but we don't feel it.

In fact,

here are some of our religious traditions.

The devil uses them to fool us.

Those of you who've been growing up

in reformed traditions,

the devil has used the doctrine of election

to cause great mischief

for those of you who've grown up

in reformed traditions.

Because you have this sense

that God will only,

you don't think you're part of the elect

because the fact of the matter is

is you find church boring.

Or on Sunday afternoons,

you'd rather not go off

and witness to the poor

or pack things for the poor.

What you'd really like to do

on Sunday morning

is sit down with a couple of beers

and a big bag of chips

and watch football all afternoon.

You don't feel like

you're part of the elect.

And a choice of going to a prayer meeting

on a Thursday night

or going out to have a beer

with your buddies.

In the bar,

you'd always choose beer

with your buddies.

And so therefore,

you're not part of the elect

because you don't feel like

you're part of the elect.

The devil has used that doctrine

in reformed churches

to cause great lack of confidence

and get you to focus

on all the wrong things.

I'm going to tell you

to forget about election.

Like, it's almost as if

it's one of those things

that you have to just

completely and utterly ignore.

Why?

Because the Bible doesn't say,

for those of you,

Jesus died upon the cross

for those who like to go to church

on Sunday mornings naturally

and those who naturally

like to pack shoeboxes

for the poor on the afternoons

and those who naturally

would much rather listen

to a Matt Chandler pod talk

than watch an NFL football game.

And I've only died.

No, he dies for the weak,

ungodly, unrighteous,

sinful people.

That's who he died for.

And it's not a matter

of trying to work up

some type of feeling of election

or some type of accomplishment

in your moral accomplishment

in your life

so you can think you're elect

that now he accepts you.

Forget about all of that.

It's all wrong.

wrong.

You put your faith

and trust in Jesus

as a weak, ungodly,

sinful person.

Maybe as a person

with next to no interest

in spiritual things,

but you put your faith

and trust in Jesus

and he deals

with everything on the cross.

He declares you right

with himself.

And some of us,

we're not from that doctrine.

And some of us are saying,

gosh, George,

I don't even know

what this doctrine of election is.

We're actually going to talk about it

in a couple of weeks in Romans.

But for many of us

who are from more Wesleyan

or Pentecostal churches,

we have a different problem.

And the devil has used

an emphasis upon emotion

or certain experiences

to make us think

that we aren't loved by him.

That, you know,

we just don't feel our salvation

or, you know,

we just don't feel

the joy of the Lord

and we just don't have

these experiences

like we used to.

And the devil uses this

to make us think,

oh, if you're really a Christian,

you'll have these regular,

profound experiences

of being convicted by sin

or you'll have these regular experiences

of being profoundly close to God

or you'll have this final triumph

over temptation and sin

because if you're a real Christian,

you will no longer

have a problem with pornography.

If you're a real Christian,

you will no longer

have these problems with debt.

If you're a real Christian,

you will no longer

have these problems

of lack of forgiveness

or of anger.

If you're a real Christian,

you have some type of breakthrough

on these types of things

connected with an emotion.

And I'm going to tell you

that the Bible is saying

to forget all of that.

Forget all of that.

It's a lie from the devil.

Therefore, we have been justified by faith.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,

we have peace with God

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And the Bible's description of peace

is something objective,

not something subjective.

I'll give you an example.

I have no fear of flying.

I know this is going to sound a bit crazy,

but I actually think,

you know when they're going through

all that thing up at the front

at the plane or the little thing

if you've flown lately

about what happens

in the event of an emergency?

Well, first of all,

if it was me,

I would just say

if there's going to be an emergency,

that's when you should actually pray.

Because, you know what,

you're about to meet your maker.

And I actually think

that dying in a plane crash

is actually a pretty good way to go.

That it would be pretty quick.

I know I'm weird,

but I think that if I'm going to die,

a plane crash is pretty good.

Or a plane accident,

you know, all of a sudden,

I don't know,

a bomb goes off,

you just die.

Like, you know,

one minute you're,

I don't know,

watching Ant-Man

on the screen,

and the next minute,

you're in the throne room of God.

I don't know.

I mean, it would be really hard

for my wife and kids,

but, you know,

it wouldn't be that bad for me.

But I know that some people

have a terrible, terrible,

terrible, terrible fear of flying.

And I've sometimes sat beside people

that you didn't realize

how long somebody

could have white knuckles

until you've sat beside some people.

But here's the thing.

My confidence in the plane

or another person's nervousness

of the plane

my peace

or the other person's peace

is actually completely

and utterly irrelevant

to whether or not

the plane crashes.

Isn't it?

Completely and utterly irrelevant.

What matters

is the competency

of the plane and the pilot.

And what is here

Paul has been talking about

is that you want to have

peace with God.

That's an objective thing.

Because of what Jesus

has done for you on the cross,

when you accept that in faith,

you realize that you have

to trust in Jesus

to make you right with himself.

God objectively accomplishes

something for you.

And he sure wishes

you had more times of peace

where you had trust

and confidence in it.

But whether you have

feelings of peace

or whether you don't

are irrelevant

to the reality of the situation.

In fact,

that's one of the interesting things

if you just sort of

jump down a little bit

to verses 3 and 4 and 5,

it helps you to understand

something about what he says there.

If you know down there,

because Paul in a moment

is going to talk about,

look, verse 3,

do you suppose,

oh man,

sorry, I should read

the right chapter,

that helps, yes.

Verse 3 over here,

and not only that,

but we rejoice

in our sufferings,

knowing that suffering

produces endurance,

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.

And I'm not going to really

talk very much today

about how it is

that the peace in all

deals with suffering.

We're going to talk about that

again in a couple of weeks

when we get into Romans 8,

a far more profound reflection

upon suffering in the gospel.

But you'll notice here

that what the Bible

is saying is that

there's two witnesses

that we can call out to

in terms of our feelings

that bear witness

to the fact that

we have been justified

by what Jesus has done

for us on the cross.

The first witness

is in a sense

an objective witness.

We should just look

at the cross

and think about it.

Jesus died in history.

He lived in history.

He died in history.

The tomb in history

was empty

and is empty.

And he rose again

from the dead.

And we can just think

about the fact

that on the cross

Jesus died

and paid for all

that keeps us from God

and he did it

while I was weak.

He did it while I was ungodly.

He did it while I was a sinner.

He did it while I was his enemy.

He did it while I was in debt.

And he did it for me.

And I can think about it.

And I can remember it.

That's one of the reasons

why it's so important

for Christians

to hear the gospel

time and time and time again.

But the other witness

is Jesus,

God doesn't just give us

an external,

objective witness,

but he does

and it's very precious.

He also pours out

the Holy Spirit

upon his children.

There's an inner witness

of the Holy Spirit

that we maybe

do not feel

all of the time.

Maybe we only feel

at some time.

But I'm going to tell you

brothers and sisters,

if you've given your life

to Jesus,

it is a good thing

to ask the Father

to pour out

his Holy Spirit

upon you.

It is a good thing

to ask him

to pour out

his Holy Spirit

upon you

that you might know

his love for you.

That you might dwell

and rest

in his love for you.

And so when it says here,

therefore,

since we have been

justified by faith,

we have peace with God

through our Lord Jesus Christ,

he's talking about

something objective.

The second thing,

I know my time

is starting to come

to an end,

but it's the next thing

that for me personally

has meant the most

to me this week.

Just for me personally

as I've reflected upon it.

It sounds,

it's a really,

it's the hardest part

to say,

but actually,

let's put it out,

can we all say

this whole verse together

and then I'll point out

to you which is the part

that's meant the most

to me this week.

Can we say it again?

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.

Personally,

what's really struck me

this week

is the third part.

we have also

obtained access

by faith

into this grace

in which we stand.

And it,

I have to confess

when I first saw it,

it didn't jump out at me.

But it's,

remember,

Paul is here telling us

three different consequences,

three things for us

to understand

about the benefits

of the fact

that we've been justified

by what God

has done for us

on the cross

in the person of Jesus.

and one of these

consequences

is that

as I stand here

before you now,

on one hand,

I stand before you

in the Ottawa Little Theatre,

but on the other hand,

objectively,

I stand in the throne room

of God

in his gracious presence.

And so does

the weakest Christian.

So does

the most guilt-ridden Christian.

The most ignorant Christian.

So does

the Christian

who has been

most beat up.

That when you put

your faith

and trust

in Jesus,

the image here

is,

and it's a very,

very powerful image,

because if you think

about it for a second,

how could I dwell

with the Queen?

I mean,

that would be impossible.

That could only happen

if somebody

who knew the Queen

and the Queen loved

was to say,

George,

come and meet the Queen.

And in fact,

say,

not only Queen Elizabeth,

George needs a place

to stay.

And he's my buddy.

He's my friend.

I like him.

You're going to like him too,

Queen Elizabeth.

Can he stay with you?

He's going to stay with me.

We're going to bunk together

in your house.

Eat at your table.

And we wouldn't expect

that we could do that

to the Queen

by ourselves,

but that's in a sense

what the Bible is saying

that Jesus does for us.

When we put our faith

and trust in him,

it's as if Jesus takes us

and puts his arm

around your shoulders

and ushers you

into the very presence

of God.

And until you see God

face to face,

you are always

in the throne room

of God.

I mean,

part of the thing

that really struck me

this week

is that really,

right now,

God is basically

only seen

through his created order.

Maybe at times

we have glimpses

of glory

and have glimpses

of his presence.

And 2 Corinthians

reminds us

that these are all

just the smallest,

slightest tastes

of an eventual glory

that will fill us,

that if we were

to experience it now

in our fallen bodies

would unmake us.

But this is

our Father's world.

The planet Earth

is always

in the throne room

of God.

I don't go anywhere

on this planet

without being

in the throne room

of God.

And that's how

I am to understand

how I live

in the world.

How,

if you're a civil servant,

how you serve

as a civil servant.

Sure,

on one hand,

you're in cubicle land,

but really,

you are in the throne

room of God

in his presence.

Can you just say

this verse with me

one final time?

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.

By the way,

I forgot to mention

that in the original language,

this idea of standing

is permanent residence,

permanent,

proper place.

Just this final benefit.

Do you know this?

That we rejoice

in hope

of the glory of God.

One of the things

that the Bible

wants us to have

is a certain hope.

A certain hope

that God's final word

has been spoken

about you.

A hope

that that final word

has been spoken

about you

and that even though

on one hand,

if you live long enough,

your body's just

going to get weak,

it will no longer

be strong.

We always,

as the Bible says,

hold this treasure

in jars of clay.

But the final word

about us

will be to enter

into God's glory.

And the final word

about us

that we can know today

is that God

is making us,

remaking us

in his image

so that ordinary

human beings

like us

can dwell

in his glory

and reflect his glory

throughout the entire

created order.

and the witness

of the Holy Spirit

in our lives

is to grant us

that type of

not presumptuous hope

but confident hope.

The reason that we

can take risks

of looking at

what's going on

in our lives,

the reason that we

can take risks

to go to faraway places

to share

the gospel,

the reason that we

can take risks

in our places of work

that we stand

for those things

that are right

and that are true

and that we bear witness

to Jesus,

the reason that we

can have all of

these types of stands

is that the more

that we have this sense

that God's final word

has already been

spoken about us,

that he's not

weighing our merits

but he's pardoned

our offenses

as the gospel grips us

more and more

and more.

It allows us

to take risks.

It allows us

to look at ourselves.

It allows us

to confront our shame

and confront

our guilt

and confront

our wrongdoing.

I'll just ask you

to stand for a moment.

Andrew,

could you put

the Romans 1 text

up please?

Every week,

if you're a guest,

you don't know this,

but every week

we've been saying

Romans 1,

16 to 17.

It's the text

at the beginning

of the book of Romans

that basically

summarizes the whole

message of the book

of Romans.

And actually,

why don't we just

say it together

and then I'll say

a final thing

before we pray.

For I am not ashamed

of the gospel,

for it is the power

of God for salvation

to all who believe.

For in the gospel,

the righteousness

of God is revealed

from faith to faith.

As it is written,

the righteous

shall live by faith.

See,

the text is telling us

that God acts

with power

to make us right

with himself.

and we enter

into this power

by faith.

And the Christian life

goes from faith

to faith,

from strength

to strength.

It's shared

from my faith

to you

so that you might

have faith.

That's how it's shared

and that's how

it's grown.

And so,

if you this morning

have never put

your faith and trust

in Jesus,

there is no better

time than today

to call out to him.

He died

for people

who don't like church.

He died

for people

who'd rather

make lots of money

than read the Bible.

He died

for people

who'd rather

spend time

in a bar

than in a church.

He died

for ordinary people

like you and me.

And for those of you

who've grown up

in church homes,

I just want to tell you

the final idol

to die

is self-righteousness

and self-justification.

And you've got to realize

that he didn't die

because you're good.

He died

knowing who you are

to the depths

of your spirit

and still he died

for you to make

you right with him

when you put your faith

and trust in him

and there's no better time

than today to do that.

Call out to him

and ask that that

text of scripture

be the story

of your life.

And for the rest of us,

we're going to just pray

that God would make us,

that he would grip us

with this teaching

of what Jesus accomplishes

for us on the cross.

Let's pray.

Father,

I ask that you would

pour out your Holy Spirit

upon those

who have not yet come

to a faith in Jesus.

Pour out your Holy Spirit

upon them.

Father,

silence the devil

and whatever he's saying

about how it's going

to wreck their lives

or screw up their lives.

Father,

pour out your Holy Spirit

upon them

to bring them

to a point of release

that they lay down

their weapons

and they lay down,

they just open their arms

and that they call out to you

that Jesus would be

their Savior.

Father,

I ask that your Holy Spirit

would fall upon those

in that struggle

and that wrestle right now.

Father,

for those of us

who have been kept far from you

because we think

we need an experience

or we think that we need

to prove that we're really

spiritual

and that we're elect,

Father,

we ask that you would

silence the evil one

in those things

and that you would help

people like that

turn their hearts

to Jesus

and put their arms out

and trust that you do

all that's needed

to make them right

with you.

And Father,

for all of us

who are here,

help us to be gripped

with the gospel.

Pour out your Holy Spirit

upon us

and make us disciples

of Jesus

gripped by the gospel

who are living

for your glory.

And this we ask

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.