GO5PEL | LIFE (February 12 2017) - Mike Armstrong

Hey, if you have a Bible with you today, a copy of God's word, if you would please turn in it uh to Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

And uh as you're turning there, I got something to show you here.

How many of y'all know what this bad boy is right here?

Anyone?

Anyone know what it's called?

Someone say it loud.

Thank you, good sir.

Appreciate that.

This is uh the legendary uh GT Snow Racer.

All right, now this was like the ultimate, okay, the ultimate sledding weapon of choice uh when I was a kid uh growing up.

I mean, you even see here, this is my kid's version.

And you can see it's got like the the Canadian, like this couldn't scream Canada anymore.

Right?

This is a skate lace, right, to pull this up and down the hill.

And uh this was like, this was the most amazing thing ever when I was like, I don't know, eight, ten years old.

And um I remember like if you had one of those, those, you know, those flimsy, like crazy carpets that you would go down the hill, or the the plastic saucer, and it may or may not have had handles on it.

I remember if you had one of those, we were like, oh, that's real cute, right?

Because nothing, nothing touched the GC snow racer, right?

Nothing came anywhere near it.

I mean, it was amazing because I mean, obviously, you could steer it, right?

So you could like weave through tree lines and stuff like that.

Um, you could, of course, you would jump it.

We built, we always built all these crazy jumps.

I remember like we we were little, you'd so never be allowed to do this now.

We would like jump over these little creeks and stuff in the ravine uh back behind my house.

And uh, I mean, you could fishtail it and do all kinds of that kind of stuff.

You'd you'd always rip the brakes off, right?

This has this is a good throwback because it's the the brakes have been ripped off completely.

Because we're like, who needs brakes?

We want it to be more racy than all of that.

And I remember at Christmas time, as a little kid, this was like the greatest gift that you could be given.

Right?

It was the greatest gift that you could receive.

And John, I'm gonna give this to you now, and you can get rid of this for us, because at some point it'll just become flat out distracting because all the guys are gonna want to use it.

But I remember um that it was like the most amazing thing you could get.

And I texted my brother, who again he's in his 30s like me, uh, just last night, and I said, Hey man, what was like the greatest Christmas present that we ever got as kids?

And he was like, Well, GT Snow Racer, obviously.

Right?

Like it was nothing, again, nothing came close to that uh when we were uh growing up.

It was the best thing you could get.

Now I mentioned all of this because we're back into our gospel series.

Right?

We're back into this, and uh, it's the gospel, of course, in five words.

And so you'll remember five weeks ago or so, uh, we looked at the very first word, which was God.

The very first word was God, and that is the idea that the good news of Jesus Christ has to begin with the fact that God is real.

God exists, and he created us.

He created everything, but he created you and I, he created humanity as like the apple of his eye, as like the cherry on top of all of his creation.

He created you and I to be in a relationship with him, a life-giving relationship with him, okay?

Where he is the object of our affection, where nothing else has captured our heart other than him.

Of course, we know, because we looked at it second week, uh, that sin came in and blew all that apart, didn't it?

It came in and it wrecked everything and it and it made it so that we we wanted to be God, right?

And we replaced God with all kinds of other idols and all kinds of other things.

And and that sin separated us from God and got us to the point where there was nothing that we could do to fix the problem, right?

A rather severe and large problem.

And so, week three, we looked at the word substitution.

And God, of course, knew that we were helpless, we were hopeless, we were lost, and so what did he do?

He decided, because I love my children, those whom I have created, not because of any goodness in them, our sin has completely gotten rid of all of the goodness in us, but because I love you, I'm gonna make a way so that you can know me.

So that chasm that exists now between God and humanity can be bridged.

We looked at Jesus Christ and how he went to the cross.

We just talked about this in communion, but he went to that and he he suffered all of God's wrath and God's punishment that was aimed at us, and he took it on himself.

He was, he substituted himself.

And then in week four we looked at the word believe.

Looked at the word believe.

And the idea being that we need to transfer all of our trust, okay, from ourselves to try and make ourselves acceptable in God's sight, to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

We need to believe in him, believe that what he did when he died for us was enough to bridge the gap between us and God uh forever.

And so we looked at that.

Well, today we're gonna be finishing things off.

We're gonna be landing the plane, if it will, if you will, uh, on this series by talking about the word life.

The idea being uh that the moment that we get saved, when we get saved, God gives us life, and he gives us true life, and he gives it to us abundantly.

Okay, remember when I was a kid, getting a GT was like the best thing that you could get for Christmas.

It was the greatest thing ever.

Well, we're gonna see today from God's word that as Christ's followers, God gives us nothing but his best.

Nothing but his best.

He doesn't hold back anything from us.

He's not a stingy God.

He's not just like, well, maybe a little bit for you and a little bit for you.

No, he gives us amazing, incredible, wondrous things that we're gonna unpack here from this uh section of Scripture.

And really it's nothing short of astounding when you start to look at it and you start to add it all up and you realize these are not things that God will maybe give us someday.

It's things that God has given us the moment that you get saved.

And we need to realize it and we need to cling to those things and hold fast to them.

These are all the benefits of life in Christ, the things that he just lavishes on us by by his grace.

Simply because he is love and because he loves us.

So we're gonna jump into this uh here, but before that, uh we're gonna pray.

So I would encourage you, come before the Lord with me.

We're gonna cry out to him.

Lord, we do uh recognize, because the gospel just tells us so clearly that we need you.

God, we need you.

Lord, every single moment we need you.

There is not one second, one no period of time where we have been okay on our own, Lord.

And so, God, I pray today that as we unpack the gospel and look at the amazing benefits of life in Christ, the amazing things that you give us, the things that we get, Lord, I pray that you would stir up in our hearts here today.

Lord, I pray that we would realize how awesome you are, that we would grow with a deeper love and appreciation and passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lord, I pray that we would never just kick it to the curb.

I pray that we would never, ever, Lord, grow aboard of it.

Lord, I pray that as a church, the gospel is the main thing.

I would pray that we would always keep the main thing, the main thing here at Harvest Bible Chapel.

So, Lord, speak to us now, we pray.

Through your word.

Lord, do a work here.

Show us your glory, Lord, we pray.

In Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, well, we're gonna be looking at uh Romans chapter eight uh here today, uh, in our time together in God's Word.

We're gonna be looking at all of that now.

Um, if you are at all familiar uh with the book of Romans or that chapter specifically, chapter eight, you might be thinking, seriously?

All of chapter eight in one message?

Like it's it's pretty thick, right?

It is it is rich stuff here.

And uh, yeah, we're gonna do that.

And and uh, but the reason you might ask a question like that is because I don't know if you know the you know the great Welsh preacher, uh Dr.

Martin Lloyd Jones.

He actually took 82 sermons, okay, to preach through this chapter alone.

And we're gonna do it in one.

I mean, just think about that.

A year and a half's worth of sermons just in this one chapter.

And so, I mean, that's how rich it is.

Very much uh you could do all of that.

Now, many theologians, okay, they consider Romans, the book of Romans, the letter of Romans, to be the most important letter ever written.

Ever.

Okay, and what they mean by that is they would call it that because it is it is, again, it lays out the gospel for us in such detail, with such precision, going into the nitty-gritty of exactly who Christ is and what he has done for us.

So if you're ever getting bored of the gospel, God forbid that that would ever happen to us, but it does, as we get our minds away from it.

I would encourage you, spend some time in Romans.

And your mind will just be blown as you read through that, and you will be humbled as you see the love of God for you and what he has done.

So they consider Romans, okay, to be like the most important letter ever, and many of those same theologians would consider chapter 8 to be the pinnacle of Romans.

Alright, so we are in some important territory today as the church, and we're gonna go through this, and I am uh really looking forward uh to this with you.

It's massively important that we understand this chapter and uh realize what life in Christ is all about, all of the things that we get.

So, what we're gonna do is we're actually gonna look at this chapter kind of from a 30,000-foot level.

Alright, so a lot of the times what we do is we unpack it in detail and unpack every word and the meaning, and and all of that is good.

I think generally speaking, that's what you want to do.

But sometimes it's helpful to just kind of take a step back and get a good idea of what's the whole picture here.

And so that's what we're gonna do.

And look at, we're gonna look at seven things today.

Seven things that we get uh from God.

Um, things that the Apostle Paul says life in Christ is.

Right, so you ready for this?

Okay, we're gonna really need you to lock in here.

Okay, it's time to strap in.

We've got a lot of verses to go through.

We're gonna do a lot of reading, and I would encourage you to open up God's word.

It's so important uh that we do that.

It's not really about what I say, it's not about what I think at all.

It matters what God's word says.

You've heard me say that before.

So so key, so key that you have a Bible in front of you, and we're gonna go back and forth.

Uh, here we go.

Life in Christ means I get nothing but God's best.

Okay, what's the first thing?

First thing is approval.

I get approval free from judgment.

Okay, again, here we go.

Verse one, you ready?

Okay, it says, Therefore, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do.

By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Alright, a lot there, but what I really want you to focus on here is that word condemnation.

Okay, condemnation.

It also uses the word condemned.

You'll see those two words used in verse 1 and verse 3.

And uh, and here's what he has to say about it.

Okay, basically he's saying that if you are a Christ follower, if you have believed in the name of Jesus Christ, not just a mental knowledge, but you have transferred your trust to him, leaning into what he has done to save you, if you have believed in him, you're a Christ follower, there is now zero condemnation towards you from God in any way whatsoever.

Whatsoever.

Now, I mean, if we had even the slightest clue of that, right?

If we if we grasp that in even the smallest way, I feel like we would just be constantly walking around like fist pumping, right?

Like this is this is incredible, right?

This is amazing.

You know, that I think that's what we would do.

But I think we struggle with this, don't we?

We really do.

Because no condemnation, you realize what that means?

You realize how extreme that is?

It means that there is now there is now no more judgment coming your way.

He's never gonna release his full wrath on you.

He's never gonna pour out his anger on you, he's never going to disapprove of you ever again, ever.

Ever.

Why?

Why?

Well, it says because we have been set free in Christ.

We have set free in him.

Because he stepped in, Jesus stepped in and fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law.

And he did that for you.

He did that because you couldn't.

And now God the Father, when Christ went to the cross, God the Father sees what Jesus did and says, I am satisfied.

And when you get saved, he transfers Christ's record to your account.

He looks at you as though you did what Jesus did on the cross.

Jesus took the condemnation, he took the judgment, he took the wrath and God's anger, he took all of the blame on himself, did it once and for all, done, doesn't need to happen again at all.

Why?

So because of what verse 2 says, so that you could go free.

So that you could go free.

And what this is saying here is that once you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, you will only ever have his approval from here on out.

Right?

What an awesome reality.

What an awesome truth for us.

And his approval.

Do you understand this?

His approval is never gonna fade.

He's never gonna pull that back based on something you do or don't do.

Because it wasn't, your salvation didn't depend on you.

It depended on Christ.

He's never gonna pull that back.

You know, it's never gonna slip, nothing.

The only thing that's been condemned is your sin.

David, you're not, you're not at all.

You only have God's approval.

That's it.

A hundred percent of it.

Not 99, not 78, 100.

And you've got that for the rest of eternity.

Now, why is it so important that you and I learn to understand that?

Why is it so important that you and I grasp that incredible truth?

Why?

Well, it's because we're all huge approval junkies, aren't we?

Huge approval junkies.

I mean, how many of us, probably all of us, grew up clamoring for the affections and approval of our fathers?

Right?

And and I mean, teenage girls who don't have that from their dads, what do they do?

They look for approval in boys.

Boys do the same thing, they look for it in girls.

We crave the admiration of the popular crowd.

And before you think that's just a lame junior high thing, that's adults too.

Right?

How many times have we been like, man, why doesn't that person talk to me at church?

You know, why doesn't that person at work seem to like me?

And we try to gain their approval.

We try to go after that.

Or our spouse, or our boss at work.

You know, we're slaves to, you know, constantly checking our social media feeds, like every five seconds to see how many likes and mentions and retweets and favorites and comments that we have.

Why?

Because we we crave approval.

I mean, it just shows how how insecure we are when it comes to the issue of approval.

Okay, what does the gospel tell us?

The gospel tells us that we've got God's approval.

We have his.

And one of the benefits of life in Christ is that we have that.

So listen, commit to reminding yourself, reminding yourself that you know, whenever you crave someone else's approval and you feel that kind of that darkness or that heaviness inside of you, that that emptiness because I don't have that, or the next time that your emotions try and lead you and make you feel like God doesn't care for you uh anymore, or any time that you try and gain God's approval through your obedience and through your behavior, and you're jumping up and down like a little kid waving, God, approve of me, approve of me.

Understand, you already have it.

You already have it.

It is yours.

Remind yourself of that.

You are free from judgment.

No condemnation.

It doesn't mean a little bit sometimes, it means none.

Ever.

Right?

An amazing, one of the best things that we get.

I mean, I don't know about you, but that alone is like worth the price of admission today.

Right?

Like if that's all we ever got in Christ, I'd be like, that's that's good.

I'm good with that.

Right?

But we got like six more.

Let's keep going.

Okay?

Life in Christ means I get nothing but God's best.

Nothing but God's best.

Second thing, what do we get?

A purpose.

We get purpose, a radically new approach, a new approach to all of life, how we view the world and how we go after it.

All right, verse five.

Follow along.

It says, For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh.

But those who live according to the spirit set their minds on things of the spirit.

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.

Indeed, it cannot.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Okay, so what we see here is that one of the benefits of life in Christ, the life that the Lord lavishes on us, is that our entire approach, our entire purpose in all of life, receives a complete makeover.

It totally changes.

Okay, so it says there, when we lived in the flesh, okay, it's talking primarily there about pre-Christ or those who were unsaved.

When we lived in the flesh, what did we set our minds on?

Things of the flesh.

Of course we were.

Of course that's what we would do.

So our mindset before we got saved, and before Christ regenerated us and gave us a new heart that loves him, we were just going after the things of self.

I just want to go after whatever pleases me.

I want to make sure that I'm at the center of my universe.

Whatever the world values, that's what I value.

And that's what I'm going to pursue.

My purpose is to accumulate those things and go after all of that.

But once we have the Spirit of God in us, all of that purpose, all of that mindset, all of that approach, it changes as a result.

And now we become focused on what the Lord wants.

And have you ever seen this happen to somebody at the moment that they get saved or when the Lord really punches through in their life?

It's like the scales fall off their eyes, right?

And they're like, oh my goodness, like I have been, I've been wasting my life.

I've been going after something that will never satisfy me.

Something that will never fill the void that I feel.

And you see them make that transition.

I was going that way after the flesh.

Now I'm going after the spirit.

Not because, well, I guess I better.

That's what Christians do, right?

No, I want to.

My mind is set on the things of the Spirit.

It's a completely radically new approach.

And it's amazing when you see that happen in people.

And I think it's one of the greatest things about baptisms.

Right?

When you hear somebody's testimony in the tank, what are we doing?

We're talking about, you know, what was your life like before Jesus?

And you get a little snapshot into just this very thing.

I was after the deeds of the flesh.

That's what I care about.

Then they explain the moment that Christ came in and saved them.

And from there, that that point on, my life changed.

What was your life like after Christ?

Well, let me tell you, it was amazing.

Now I want to live for Him.

And, you know, I'm still a bit of a mess inside for sure.

I'm still figuring it out.

I'm still learning.

I stumble along the way.

But my overall goal in life and purpose has completely changed.

By the way, you better believe I'm going to take that as an opportunity to have a little plug for our next baptism service.

Right?

Shameless plug.

Don't care.

Okay, it's happening March 5th.

March 5th, Sunday at Valley View, 6 30 p.m.

And here's the other thing.

It's actually our two-year anniversary as a church.

Okay, so this is a great thing.

It's an amazing thing.

Honestly, take out your phone right now.

I don't even care.

Mark it down in your calendar.

You're coming.

Invite your friends, invite your family.

We're going to celebrate what the Lord has done.

We've already got a few people signed up and ready to go.

We're talking to.

And there are a few of you here in this room, I know you need to just get it done.

You need to come get baptized.

So come talk to me.

All right, shameless plug.

Over.

Alright?

But you've seen this, right?

In people's life as they change.

They go from, what do they go from?

They go from things like lazy, right?

And I don't know, I just want to lay around all the time and I just want to, you know, waste my weekends doing nothing.

And I work so hard, and so the weekends, I'm they go from that to like I'm I'm focused now and I'm determined to serve the Lord.

They go from that, they go from I'm just trying to hoard and accumulate wealth for myself and building these silos to just sock away cash and saving for retirement.

And that's the only focus of my life to like this almost reckless generosity.

And I want to care for people and I want to see that that the Lord uses my my maybe my ability to make money to bless the kingdom of God.

And you see this happen.

You see people going from rocky marriages on the brink of divorce and struggling to, you know, husbands radically, selflessly serving their wives as Christ loved the church.

You see this happen as our purpose in life changes.

It's this radically new approach.

This is what God gives you the moment that you get saved.

It's what we receive.

It's life in Christ.

What else do we get?

We get power.

That's the third thing.

Okay, the ability to put my sin to death.

The ability to put my sin to death, to have victory over that.

Verse 9, take a peek.

It says, You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

If in fact the spirit dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, love that.

He who Who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

But if by the Spirit you put to what?

Death the deeds of the body, you will live.

So what is this telling us?

This is telling us that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead.

Okay, do you ever stop and think about that?

That's some serious power.

Okay, it doesn't say that that spirit raised Jesus from a nap.

Right?

I don't know about you, but I can have some pretty powerful naps.

I'm thinking like Sunday afternoon.

Okay?

Hope to get into a deep one maybe.

Okay, but that's not what this is saying.

This is saying he rose him from the dead.

He was in the grave three days, buried, gone, done.

The spirit of Christ who raised Jesus from the dead is the same spirit that, what does it say?

Dwells in you.

That same spirit dwells inside of you.

And so even though your body is dead because of sin, right?

We're all as good as dead.

We're all dying.

We're all breaking down.

Some of us might say amen to that.

The older that you get, the more that you feel it.

Okay, but this is telling us that you can actually put to death the deeds of the body if you do it by the Spirit.

If you do it in the strength that Christ provides.

The great word there?

Power.

If you do it in his power.

Listen, listen, I'm sure a lot of us here have grown up in the church and you've read or heard sermons on this very passage, on this very topic, this idea, like a million times.

You're like, yeah, I know I've got it.

I've heard it.

I've read it like a hundred times myself.

You know, and you need to realize, though, that there is a massive, massive difference between like knowing this verse in our heads and then and then leaning into the promise of this verse when we really need it.

You understand that there's a difference there?

Meaning that when when temptation and when sin are chipping away at your resolve to live a holy life, okay, and you and you don't remind yourself of the truth of these verses, that you have real power that exists within you, what can happen is that you can get discouraged.

Right?

And you can even get to the point of despair as you believe that, you know what, I I don't know that if I'm if I'm ever gonna be able to overcome this sin that keeps nipping at my heels.

You ever felt that before?

Have you?

You felt like, man, like this, it's the same thing again?

Right?

Again, look, didn't I didn't I get over this when I was like 21?

You know, really I have to come back and confess this to the Lord again.

Why can't I get maybe maybe I'm never gonna change?

Right?

And be honest, if you're a Christ follower and you've been for any length of time, you've wrestled with those thoughts, haven't you?

I know I'm not the only guy.

Right?

You've struggled with it and you've gotten to the point of like extreme disappointment and lack of belief in what we're talking about here today.

Okay, but this is this verse, what is it telling us?

It's telling us that you have Jesus rising from the dead power available to you.

It's at your disposal that will help uh at your disposal, that'll help you in your fight against sin.

It's there.

You need to remember that.

And I think a verse that also really encourages me whenever I'm feeling kind of down about that and struggling with you know this body of death as Paul talks about uh in Romans chapter 7.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

I like to remember Galatians 6 9.

You remember what it says?

It says, Don't grow weary of doing good.

Do not grow weary of doing good.

For at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Now, do we reap that harvest on our own in our own strength?

Absolutely not.

We do it by the power of Christ within us.

That's how we do it.

Listen, if you're leaning into your own strength and your own determination and your own resolve to just, you know, grit your teeth and bear it and plow through this next wave of sin.

And I'm gonna get all this.

Let me tell you, you are you're living a life of futility.

You're living a life of frustration.

Because here's the reality you cannot overcome your sin.

You can't do it.

Christ inside you, that's another story entirely.

Right?

He can do it.

That is the power that we are tapping into.

That is the power that Christ gives you.

That is part of the life that we receive, this supernatural power to put our sin to death.

To put it to death.

What else do we get?

Trucking along.

Number four, belonging.

Belonging.

Okay, I'm his child now.

You realize that's you?

Verse 14.

Okay, for all who are led by the Spirit of God are what?

Sons of God.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear.

Okay, but you have received the spirit of, I love this, adoption as sons.

Okay, by whom we cry, Abba Father.

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are, there it is again, children of God.

And if children, then heirs.

That's really cool.

Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided that we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Alright, so much like we, you know, crave approval, and we do, we also, we also desire belonging.

Do we not all want to belong to something?

We want to belong to something bigger than us.

We want to belong to someone.

And Andrew's just telling me over the last couple of weeks of how great of a start they've been able to have at the women's book study.

And I know there are a number of you uh here today uh who have been going to that.

And she said, one of the just the coolest things was to see women starting to connect.

Right?

And you see them, you see these connections being made.

And I even heard one story, I don't even know who it was, but like two women who found out they lived on the same street.

Right?

They didn't even know each other before.

And you see, like, there's this there's this sense of relief, there's this sense of joy.

We're like, I belong here.

And that's one of the most amazing things about the church, is it not?

You know, we have we have the opportunity to belong to something.

Something amazing, the best thing ever, and that's the church.

And you have have the ability to be able to put together uh an incredible relationship and form some of your most, uh, your deepest friendships.

All of that can be made here.

And I it's cool, it's amazing to see just all of that happening as the buzzing around happens kind of before and after the service and all of that, you know, and as we even even something as simple as, hey, turn and turn and get to know somebody, shake someone's hand, you know, that that always like drags out longer than I ever think it's gonna take.

You know, because you guys are like connecting with each other, and and I love it.

There's a sense of belonging uh that's happening here.

And verse 15, okay, what does it do?

It pictures our salvation as adoption.

I love that.

God adopts us as his sons.

Okay, so what that means is that he has brought us now into his family when we get saved.

That's what he has done.

And which means that we have all of the benefits of sonship.

Okay, so you remember back in uh these times when uh back in Bible times, uh it was all about being like the firstborn son, especially, right?

Because they had uh all of the honor, all of the inheritance from the father went to the son.

And so that's what that's the picture here that he is saying.

He's saying, when you put your faith in Christ, you now receive honor, you receive blessing, you are an heir now, and you get all of that.

The privileges, everything that comes along with all of that, that position of honor.

And beyond all of that, it says that he gives us the spirit of adoption.

The spirit of adoption, meaning that he gives us this sense that we know we're his children.

We're not like, well, I kind of hope I am.

No, like we we know that.

We we sense that that connection there.

And the words Abba, father, it's this picture of intimacy between us and God.

He's not this like angry God or this distant God who's, you know, keeps us at arm's length.

No, he he draws us in.

And you know, do you picture a dad who's just like a loving embrace with their with their son and and with their with his daughter?

Right?

There's a lack of fear in all of that.

There's a there's a safety because we know that we belong to him.

That's what you've got.

We're his.

So do you realize that because you're a follower of Jesus Christ, if you are in fact, you're his.

And you're in.

Right?

You're in.

And you you can't possibly receive a higher position than the one that God has given you because no such position exists.

Right?

You can't like, well, I hope to, you know, ascend the ladder to being more loved by God, or you know, you tend to have this kind of sense that you're the runt of the litter, but all other creatures, every other Christian is like more in than you are, or more approved, or appreciated, or loved than you are.

That's just not the way it works.

You've been given the highest seed of honor from the get-go.

You haven't done anything yet.

You belong.

You see, or you're starting to get a picture how God gives you nothing but his best.

Nothing but his best.

I mean, learn to find joy in that.

Let your soul just be ministered to by that.

Let that impact you whenever you're feeling down, whenever you're feeling alone, when the temptation for you is to isolate yourself, which we so often do and want.

Right, you belong to God.

You belong to him, he loves you.

It's what you get in Christ.

And the good stuff just keeps coming.

I get hope.

Right?

I get hope.

The best is yet to come.

Praise the Lord for this.

Okay, verse 18.

Hey, so I uh for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are what?

Not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Hey, for creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption, and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together.

You ever feel like that?

Groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

For in this hope we were saved.

Now, hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes in what he sees.

But if we hope, uh for if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Now, what I love, love about Romans chapter 8, and you could say that this is true about the entire Bible, it's that it never pulls any punches.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Right?

It tells us very straight up that life is flat out gonna be difficult.

It's gonna be hard.

You know, uh among all of the awesome things, quote unquote, that Christ gives us as his followers, it never just kind of minimizes pain.

It never minimizes the reality of trials and difficulties and suffering.

It never does that ever in Scripture.

It never tells us that life is gonna be easy.

You know that?

You realize that?

I mean, yeah, we get his approval, we get purpose, we get power over sin, we get belonging.

I mean, these are incredible blessings, right?

I hope we've you've kind of got uh got a sense of that as we go, as we've gone through it.

They're gifts of God's grace, but I mean, woven through this entire chapter, again, all through Scripture, is the reality that sin is still gonna be a part of everyday life.

Okay, the moment that you get justified, positionally, you are saved.

You are declared righteous.

That's how Christ interacts with you.

That's how Christ looks at you.

He looks at you as though you are pure and holy.

Christ's righteousness is transferred to you.

That's how he sees you.

Positionally, you're justified.

Practically speaking, sanctification still needs to take place, doesn't it?

And we're working out the becoming more holy part in day-to-day life.

That's a process that's gonna happen from the second you get saved to the second you die.

And so we're grappling with sin and we're struggling with all of this.

And, you know, we it says the word suffer there, we suffer in various ways for the sake of our faith.

Verse 18.

It says that we we groan inwardly.

I love that.

That's a great picture.

You know, as we as we deal with it says, the bondage to the corruption of this world, and and we wait eagerly, right, eagerly for full adoption, it says, and the redemption once and for all for our bodies.

Now, that word adoption there at this point, it's used a little bit differently than how we were looking at it before.

And this is kind of a sense of the now and the not yet.

On one hand, we are fully adopted, and we have all the blessings of sonship, like we talked about.

You have the position of honor, we are heirs with Christ, but on the other hand, we need to understand that we will also receive that or realize that more fully in glory.

Right?

The best is yet to come.

And that's what this is telling us here.

It says in verse 18 again that the suffering and and the filth and the problems and the disappointment that we're all swimming with and swimming in as we go through life and we deal with the brokenness of this world, all of it, it's all as bad as that is, it's not even worth comparing to the dump truck load of glory that God is like backing up and waiting to dump out on you in heaven.

Right?

Think about that.

Think about it.

Your darkest day, your cruddiest week, the worst thing that you have ever gone through.

And listen, I know some of your stories, and it is bleak.

It is hard, it is heartbreaking, it is so, so disappointing.

You don't even want to get out of bed.

You struggled with despair, you struggled with depression.

Just try to understand here that as bad as that gets, it doesn't compare to how good the glory is that's waiting for you.

And so what do we need to do?

We need to remind ourselves of that constantly, don't we?

We need to have that eternal perspective and realize, you know what?

I am flat out not created for this life.

I'm created for the next.

And the Lord has it all figured out, he has it all planned, and I've got to wait, and I've got to wait for it with patience.

He's preparing a place of glory far uh beyond anything, anything that you and I can imagine.

And you know what?

It's fun to imagine.

And you know what?

I can think about a lot of good things that I hope is gonna be there in glory.

He's like, it's it's way more.

It's way more.

Just you keep trying.

I love it.

Keep trying.

Glory's gonna be better.

Better than all of that.

The best is yet to come.

Aren't you so thankful that we have hope?

You know, and and and and those of you who have struggled with despair, let's say, and and things have been bleak and your mindset has been, you know, into the ditch, and life has been brutal, you know what it's like when the Lord like re-energizes you with that sense of hope.

And that, hey, I I am making all things new.

Continue.

You're gonna continue to groan inwardly.

You're gonna do that.

But understand that I am coming for you.

Right?

And the best is yet to come.

Right?

You get it.

Amazing that we have that hope.

What a gift.

What a gift that we have.

If we didn't have that, life would be so much worse.

So if that's you and you're struggling with that individually or personally today, just keep pressing.

Keep getting your eyes on the Lord.

Lean into this promise that the hope that it's coming, the blessing that is coming, uh, will be yours.

Okay, what else do we get?

Sixth thing.

Security.

Security.

We can rest.

How amazing is it to rest?

You feel like, man, I just need rest.

I've been go, go, go, go, go.

We need rest, don't we?

We can rest knowing that God is at work.

God is at work in my life.

Okay, verse 26, what does it say?

It says, likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

Praise Him for that.

Right?

For if we do not know what to pray as we ought, or we do not know what to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes with us with groanings too deep for words.

And he who searches hearts and uh knows what the mind, what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

And we know, love that, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that we, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, and those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified.

It should be no little comfort to us to know that the Lord is at work in our life.

Right, whether we can see it or whether we can't.

I mean, there's so many days we don't sense that.

We don't, we don't necessarily feel it.

But I love how it says that even when we don't know how to pray, right?

You gotten to those points where like life is bleak and it's hard.

I don't even I don't even know the words to say here.

I don't even know, but you're like deep down you sense it, and you're like, I need to pray, but I don't even know the words.

What does it say?

It says, even though we don't know what to pray, the spirit intercedes for us.

How great is that?

It is a picture of communication between the Spirit and God the Father, meaning that the Spirit brings our deepest groanings that we can't put into words.

He brings that to the Father on our behalf.

Awesome, awesome.

Means that he's at work in ways that we can't even sense, we can't even verbalize or put together the words to describe it.

He's at work in ways that we can't even realize.

I mean, there should be just like such a deep security in that.

Not to go to the point of laziness, I don't have to do anything.

I guess the Lord's gonna intercede, and I guess I'll just sit here groaning.

No, that's not the direction we want to go.

We want to be filled with appreciation and joy and gratitude for what Christ has done.

There's also security and rest in knowing that in Christ all things work together for good.

All things work together for good.

So even in the bad days, the ugly days, the you know, the downright failures, the stuff that you go through, the Lord wants to use all of it for his purposes.

Isn't that a great thing?

Isn't that an awesome thing?

I mean, I am I am so grateful that the Lord uses that for our growth, for for our humility.

We need to be humbled.

We're so deeply proud.

And he allows the hard things that we go to to bring us to the end of ourselves, realize, you know what, you are God, I am not.

And that is that that is an awesome thing.

I am personally just so grateful that I can look back on my life and on all the failures and all of the seemingly unrecoverable mistakes.

That's how they felt at the time, to realize that God is using them and has used them for good.

And I'm sure you have the same kind of stories.

Have you seen the Lord at work in your life?

I mean, only the Lord can do that.

Only He has the power and the ability to be able to use our failures for good.

And then what does he say?

Verse 29.

He says, Those whom he foreknew, okay, important word, he also predestined, another important word, to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that we might be for the firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified.

And so what's Paul talking about here?

He's getting into some thick, thick weeds here, isn't he?

So let's join him in that, shall we?

Right?

And so what he's doing here is he's he's laying out the sequence of salvation.

He's like, this is the process, this is the timeline, this is how it works.

Now, those words, I kind of highlighted them, I stressed them, for new, predestined, called.

Okay, they they all speak to what many find um uncomfortable, okay, but the Bible, you understand this?

The Bible never apologizes for.

He never apologizes for that.

That that that God has has set us apart before the foundation of the world and chosen those whom he would save.

He calls the church.

The scriptures use the word elect.

Right?

He he knows, he is chosen who will know him, and then he calls those to himself.

His choice, not ours.

Now.

Okay?

I sense just the discomfort in the room over that, right?

And people ask questions.

Well, hold on a second.

You know, I see that.

And what about, you know, don't I have a say in the matter?

Right?

Like, what like don't don't I have a choice?

I mean, I I I feel like I have a will.

Do I have the ability or the power to reject God if I want to?

Can I can I say no to him?

Can I accept him?

You know, what about what about the role that I play in this?

What about the fact that I am responsible for my sin?

Right, what about these things?

Well, hey, listen.

These are admittedly challenging things to work through.

They really are.

They are challenging, and theologians for centuries have been wrestling and at times flat out arguing and separating over these types of things.

And you've got entire denominations that have gone to one side or gone to the other.

Right?

And you've got that, and people fight and battle, and you've heard it wrestled with before.

Here's one thing I do know.

Listen, this is so important.

Take this away if you're gonna take anything away from this point.

If it's in the Bible, it's true.

It's true.

So listen, don't sweep challenging doctrines like predestination, you know, God's elect, He calls us.

Don't sweep those under the rug just because it's uncomfortable.

You know, and and don't.

Just don't do it.

Don't don't do that because you like, you prefer to feel like you're the one in control.

You feel like you're the one who's making all the decisions and calling all the shots in your life.

Listen, the reality is that God is sovereign over all of it.

He's sovereign all over all everything, every single thing.

And rather, here's what I would encourage you to do: learn to live in the tension of these things.

Right?

Learn to live in the tension.

That God is, again, sovereign over every single thing.

He's either in control of everything or he's in control of very little, right?

He's either in control of it or he's not.

So he's in control of everything, including the salvation process, who comes to him and who doesn't.

And yet at the same time, listen, at the same time, we're called to make a decision to follow Jesus Christ.

Right?

For example, it was two weeks ago.

What did we talk about?

What was our word?

Believe.

Right?

And I'm up here challenging you, urging you to make a choice.

Right?

Put your faith in Jesus Christ.

Don't let another day go by.

Stand up if you want to put your faith in Christ right now.

Do it.

Don't waste any time.

Make a decision.

Believe.

Right?

Do that.

And I and I and I push that.

Choose him today.

Understand that the scriptures say, choose this day whom you will serve.

But it also says, you did not choose me, but I chose you.

Right?

Live in the tension of it.

Understand that they're both true.

They don't make sense to our finite, limited minds and understanding, but to an unlimited God, it is very much a reality and very simple in his mind, and he understands all of it.

I can encourage you with this.

Okay.

Okay, the doctrine of predestination and God's elect and all of that should make you feel ultra secure.

Right?

Ultra secure.

Why?

Because you know that your salvation rests in God's hands.

He accomplished it.

And what he accomplishes, listen, he cannot, I can make up a word here if I want, right?

He cannot unaccomplish.

I don't know if that's a real word.

What he accomplishes, he will not unaccomplish.

Right?

He has got it in his hands.

I mean, it's amazing to think that security is one of the things that we get.

We can wrestle.

We don't have to wrestle with, well, what if I have a bad day tomorrow and I lose my salvation?

Right?

You can't because your salvation is not dependent on you.

And listen, newsflash, you will have a bad day tomorrow.

Praise the Lord that he's holding on to you and he's got you in the grip of his hand.

Salvation was accomplished by him.

Okay, allow that to bring you to a sense of rest.

Know that he's working all of this out for you and in you.

He's got it in his hands.

Right?

You can rest knowing that it all rests with him.

Okay, last thing.

Alright, you feel like you're running a marathon?

I do.

Like we've just been cruising through this, alright?

Life in Christ means I get nothing but God's best.

I get approval, I get purpose, I get power, I get belonging, I get hope, I get security.

Last thing, what do we get?

Confidence.

Confidence.

I am loved, and ultimately I'm untouchable.

I'm untouchable.

Okay, listen carefully to this.

Verse 31.

This is the home stretch, okay?

What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, then who can be against us?

Who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us.

How will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Who can bring any charge against God's elect?

It is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, shall the stress or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long, we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Right?

Some of the greatest words in the entire Bible.

You're starting to see why Romans 8 rules, right?

It's the greatest.

I mean, doesn't that just fill you with this overwhelming, overflowing sense of confidence?

Life in Christ means that listen, you sitting here today, you're untouchable.

Right?

Nothing's ripping or yanking that salvation out of your hands.

Everything that Satan can do to you ultimately can't do anything of any eternal consequence.

He can't do anything.

He is a toothless lion, as I've heard some say.

You're untouchable.

It says that you're a conqueror through him.

You're not a conqueror because you're awesome.

You're a conqueror because Christ is awesome.

It says no one can condemn you.

There's that word again.

No one, nothing, can separate us from the love of God.

That includes you.

You can't separate yourself from the love of God once you truly know him.

Trials and tribulations can't.

War and famine won't.

Angels and rulers can't.

Things today, things tomorrow can't.

Nothing in all creation, including death itself, can touch your relationship with God.

Because he has justified you by his grace.

He has declared you clean and holy and righteous through Christ's work on the cross.

You are loved by him totally, completely, thoroughly, fully, which means you are untouchable.

You're untouchable.

You're not going anywhere.

Listen, allow yourself to swell with confidence, to swell with joy.

It's like, oh yeah, this is who I am.

I'm a conqueror now.

Nothing's separating me.

You know, allow it.

Again, that confidence not to be in yourself, this self-esteem nonsense that is, you know, all through culture and seeped its way into the church.

That's a joke.

It's confidence in the Lord.

You will fail yourself every time.

Confidence in him.

Confidence in him, in the power of God Almighty.

That's what it's about.

Okay, so you don't have to be ashamed of your past anymore.

Some of you are carrying like deep regrets.

Deep regrets, deep shame, and you're the one continuing to bring it up over and over and Lord.

And Satan is doing that as well.

And he wants to remind you and remind you and remind you of all the things that you have done.

All you have to say when you're thinking that is saved, forgiven, conqueror, through Christ, untouchable.

That means in your mind, for sure.

That means in your heart.

You have no need to doubt your future.

You have no need to fear anything ever.

Ultimately, God has you in his hands, and everything that life throws at you, you can handle in his strength.

I mean, you have got it.

You've got it all, man.

He gives you nothing but his best.

And listen, that's why we go through a series like this.

That's why we unpack the gospel.

That's why we like to say we keep the main thing, the main thing.

And we come back to this continually every single week here in our sermons.

It's because the gospel reminds us of life.

It reminds us of the true life that God has given us, the true life that is yours now, not in ten years, not just when you go to glory with him.

It is yours now.

And whenever you're tempted, again, to think that you don't have very much and that you've gotten a raw deal, the gospel will remind you and shape your heart and shape your mind and shape your thinking and shape your very motives for life and show you that Christ is awesome and everything is by his grace, and we should just worship and and thank him and praise his holy name forever.

That is why we go through the gospel.

That's why the gospel is awesome.

It is the message of life.

And listen, if you have not received Jesus yet, do it now.

Do it now.

What else do we have to say?

You can't save yourself.

You can't make yourself good.

Jesus did it for you.

Would you lean into that?

If you've got questions about it, talk to somebody.

Talk to the person that you came with.

Come talk to somebody.

Someone would love to pray with you and answer those questions.

Please do it today.

The gospel is amazing.

It's astounding.

Nothing compares.

Don't grow aboard of it.

Don't think it's for little kids.

It's for all of us continually.

And listen, so what's our response as we go forward from here?

It's worship.

So worship team, John, wherever you're at, get up here, right?

We are worshiping the Lord.

We are going to do this right now.

Get on your feet.

I'm gonna pray.

We're gonna worship.

And let me challenge you, let me encourage you, let me give you a little kick in the pants if you need it.

We're not standing here with our hands in our pockets, blah, blah, blah.

Someone's entertaining me through music right now.

We are here to worship the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and show our appreciation and gratitude to Him.

We are worshiping with hearts abandoned, full out, gratitude, thankful to Christ.