Class Action Benefits | Pastor Chris Kouba

Thank you, worship team.

What a great morning of worship that already was.

Um and if you didn't, if you didn't know, the Astros won.

I just want to throw that out there to you as well.

Big deal, no question about it.

Uh man, what a game.

It's good to know that uh I'm not gonna lose most of you if the game was gonna be played today uh at 12 o'clock is when it was supposed to be the case.

So I'm grateful that maybe you're here today as a result of that.

It's kind of a crazy deal.

Alex literally was in a basketball tournament in Cyprus when the game started.

Uh had a four-hour break in between games, watched another basketball game in Cyprus, was able to drive all the way back home and still be able to catch at least like three innings of the game, right?

It was a crazy, crazy long thing.

It's just awesome, though, to see uh the Astros winning.

So just uh FYI.

I don't wear this every time, but I I do when we win.

All right, so therefore, here we go.

Uh hey, real quick before we get going, just want to make a comment to you men about tonight.

Uh men, uh, we are having men's night, okay?

And so therefore, if you are men of any a man of any age, you're welcome to come this evening.

Uh starts at 5.30, and then the game starts at 7.30.

Uh, and we're gonna be hanging out in between then.

Bring your own meat.

We'll provide sides if you can register.

That will be a big help to us.

But let me just kind of walk you through our desire and goal for tonight, okay?

Think about this like pre-evangelism.

Our goal is that you always have spiritual conversations.

We, in fact, want to help you, equip you, and tell you how you can do that.

However, I know that most guys having a conversation of depth is usually something that requires a little bit more time and a little bit more work.

And so, therefore, what we are doing is showing the Cowboys versus Eagles a really, really big game, on the big LED wall, and knowing that could be a way for you to not only come, but for you to be able to invite someone who doesn't have a relationship with the Lord and doesn't have a relationship with the church.

And that they would be able to come and just hang out.

We have no agenda, we have no formal presentation, nothing like that.

Literally just standing around a fire, grilling stuff, hanging out, and then watching football.

That is the goal for this evening.

So I want to encourage you to be here for that, but to invite someone else.

And the goal would be is that after tonight, you can then have a conversation to say, hey, you know that church that I go to that you went to that football thing?

Hey, would you come with me back on a Sunday morning?

You already know where to go, you already know what to do, that type of thing, and it could be an easier invite.

If you don't think it works, let me just tell you I had a conversation with a guy a couple of weeks ago.

His very first time that he ever came to our church was from a men's event.

It's been coming ever since.

It just shows you the power of a simple invitation, and we're trying to create easy on-ramps for you to be able to get people involved.

So 5 30 tonight in this room.

Bring your own meat.

That'll be a lot of fun.

Turning your Bibles to Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

I want to take this opportunity to welcome all of the men at the Ramsey Unit and all of the women at the Plain State Correctional Facility.

We are very glad to be able to bring this message to you.

Uh be praying for us, church.

We uh we have a rumor there could be an opportunity for us to expand who we reach out to in the future with this ministry, our prison ministry.

Bill and Stephanie Everts lead that and have done an incredible job.

We're so grateful for them.

Uh, but be praying for us as we continue to see doors open up in this area.

Have any of you ever been a part of a class action lawsuit?

Class action lawsuit.

Uh, if you don't know what a class action lawsuit is, I want to give you the actual legal definition of it.

A class action lawsuit is a procedural device that permits one or more plaintiffs to file and prosecute a lawsuit on behalf of a larger group or class.

Essentially, you have one person who represents a bigger group.

So one person, whether they win, everybody in the group wins, or one person, if they lose, everybody in the group loses.

I got to be part of a class action lawsuit a few years ago.

I didn't necessarily know that I was a part of the class action lawsuit at the time.

I would have been way more interested in the case had I known that I was actually in the process of doing it.

But the way that I found out is because I got something sent to my house that said, Congratulations, you have won the class action lawsuit that has been filed on your behalf.

Again, I didn't know that I'd done that.

And so I read in a little bit more, and it says that because I was a cable subscriber for like five years back in the day, however long ago that it was, as a result of that, I have been awarded this settlement in the class action lawsuit, and right there in front of me was a check for$1.32.

It was awesome.

Okay?

I mean, that's not a lot of money, but I didn't think I was gonna get$1.32 when I opened that, right?

I thought it was just junk mail.

And so therefore, I got the benefit of that.

Are there any Snapchat users in the room?

Would you raise your hand?

Snapchat users in the room?

Raise your hands.

Come on.

It's evil, but just own it.

It is what it is, guys.

Own it.

Okay.

Few of you are.

All right.

And so, did you know you might want to pay attention to this because there is a class action lawsuit going on right now with Snapchat?

It's being presented by Adrian Cross and Mirabel Ocampo.

Apparently, every time you look at your phone and take a selfie using the Snapchat app, it is stealing biometric data from you without your consent.

That's right.

And some of you are like, oh my goodness, I've taken like 10 selfies in the last five minutes.

What is this?

Okay, yeah, yeah.

So let me just walk you through this, okay?

Here's what's being presented.

If Snapchat is found guilty, all social media users could collect up to$5,000 per violation.

Some of you are about to get rich, okay?

Because you take a lot of selfies on Snapchat, all right?

Let's call it what it is.

But that's what could be the case.

So you might want to follow along on this because again, the the the presentation, the plaintiff, there's one of them, but it's representing the entire whole.

This morning we're finishing up our series called All Rise.

We've been looking at the end of Romans chapter 3, Romans chapter 4, and today we're gonna look at Romans chapter 5.

Romans 3 · chapter mention Romans 4 · chapter mention Romans 5 · chapter mention

I want to invite you back into the divine courtroom, if you will.

What we've been looking at is some of the legal ramifications of sin and some of the legal benefits of justification.

Last week we talked about this whole idea of justification.

It's a word that means this, just as if I'd never sinned.

That literally, when Jesus Christ died on the cross for you, you may have heard of that, you may have known that, but you don't necessarily know what it actually means, how it translates into your life.

And so what we're seeing today is the bad news, recapsulate it again and see how we got into the bad situation that we are.

But what I want us to see is the good news of justification.

We're gonna look at the bad news of sin, and we're gonna look at the good news of justification.

Let's start off with the bad news of sin.

The bad news of sin.

It's very important for us to understand, and Romans 5 articulates this in really, really clear clarity at the end of chapter 5, about this whole doctrine of what is called theologians call original sin.

What this means is that in every crevice of who we are, everything about us, we are born into sin.

Not just that we are born into sin, but in addition to that, we also commit sin.

It's kind of the old discussion of nature versus nurture, right?

Like which one is it?

Uh my uh we've got a staff fantasy football league, and we were short of a player, so we invited my uh one of my boys to play fantasy football with us, and easily the worst decision that we've ever made ever, all right?

Because he is way more into it than I think that he should be.

Uh, and this past week, he and I went up against each other in fantasy football, all right?

Now, I don't know if you know much about fantasy football, but the way that it works is that basically after Monday night, there's really not a lot of changes that happen.

It's just here's what the projected scores are gonna be, and then you basically actually play the game and you see how it always plays out.

Sure enough, he was predicted to just destroy me uh in the projections online.

And so he is just letting me have it.

I mean, he's giving me an earful, nonstop, telling me all about how my his guys are gonna do so much better than my guys, and on and on and on.

And I mean, I'm just tired of hearing it, okay?

We go into that weekend, first round of games, his guys aren't performing nearly as good.

My guys start to perform a little bit better than expected, and so I do what any responsible loving father would do.

I give it right back to him the whole time, right?

I am letting him know how ridiculous the projections mean nothing.

It all matters what you do on the field, it makes no difference whatsoever.

And sure enough, that second round of games, I mean, he basically the let's just say the projections bore itself out, okay?

He just ran away with it.

And I mean, he destroyed me.

I mean, just absolutely killed me.

Was so bad that headed into the Sunday night game, which a lot of times we'll watch as a family, he had his best player that had still yet to play, that was set to just basically go off.

And sure enough, Devontae Adams, his player, goes off.

And so every single time Devontae Adams has a catch, or every time Devontae Adams has another touchdown, dead, and he reminds me how much more he's gonna beat me than he had already done so.

We've had situations like this in the past, and I will kind of go to Hillary and I'll be like, I don't know what the heck, why he's doing this, what's going on, and she gives me this look like, Are you serious?

Like, are you serious?

He is you, alright?

He learned this from you.

If you want to know what you look like, just look at him, alright?

He acts the way that you act, alright?

He does the things that you do.

Now, you've probably had situations if you're a parent where you've seen that, where you're have your kids do something, then you're like, that's your kid, that's your kid.

He got that from you, all right?

He didn't get that from me.

And so sure enough, I may, you know, that was your side of the family, that wasn't my side of the family.

I I don't know what what that's all about.

And you have these moments where you're wondering, oh, how do they get this way?

And today, here's what you also have is that everybody blames every bad decision they've ever made on their parents, right?

It's their parents' fault, okay?

Every reaction that they may have to a situation, well, that's my parents, they did this or whatever.

On behalf of all the parents that are out there.

I am gonna stand up and state for you.

Look, some of your kids, you're crazy on your own.

It had nothing to do with your parents, okay?

Like you just came out that way.

That's just, you've always been nuts, all right?

And your parents had nothing, they did the best that they could, they weren't perfect, but there's no way they made you that, okay?

I saw this meme, which I think accurately reflects the discussion, right?

Nature versus nurture.

Either way, it's your parents' fault, right?

It makes no difference which one it was.

Romans chapter 5, and what I want you to see is gonna say is this whether it's nature or whether it's nurture, your sin problem is both.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

It's that you learned bad behavior, you did bad behavior, but the Bible also tells us that we're in a class action lawsuit, if you will, and basically because of the deeds of Adam, all of us have been broken ever since.

Romans chapter 5, let's begin reading in verse 12.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

It says, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, that's Adam, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

A common argument that you will use these days whenever people want to try to explain away sin or they want to justify their actions going against what God clearly says is true, they will say this phrase, Well, well, I shouldn't be accountable to that because I was born that way.

You see this a lot of times in the whole concept of sexual identity.

That's a very common argument that is being used today, is you will say, Well, I was born this way.

I can't be held accountable for what God says about this because God clearly made me this way, and so therefore, this is why I do what I do.

Maybe you have a propensity towards addiction, and maybe you have a propensity toward alcohol or drugs, and you would say, I shouldn't be held accountable for doing this because it's it's generational.

This is how I was born, this is how I'm naturally wired to be.

And I would simply tell you this based upon the authority of God's word, you were born that way.

You were born broken.

Now I need you to hear this because it's not just true for those who may have sexual identity things that they're wrestling through.

It's for all of us in whatever way we choose to be sinful.

All of us have fallen short of the glory of God.

All of us, as a result of Adam, carry Adam's baggage.

All of us, because of what Adam has done, the world is fundamentally broken.

So therefore, the fact that you would be born and desire things that are contrary to God should not be a surprise to you.

However, what we can't do is explain them in a different way than what God says is actually true.

It's important that we know what this means because I know some of you maybe that the big crux of the issue is the fact that you actually don't believe in the doctrine of original sin.

You actually think that we're all really, really good, and that we just kind of had a few bad breaks, and that's why we are where we are.

And I would tell you, as a father, Hillary had four C-sections, and because of that, I got to hold our kids, probably the very first of anybody.

And I'm telling you, each time, if you're a parent, you know what this means.

Whenever you hold your child and you look at your child, it is very difficult for you to believe anything other than this perfect little angel has been given, and there's nothing and wrong with them in any way, shape, or form.

Here's the reality: the Bible says, in fact, they were born into a broken world, and they were born broken into that broken world.

The Bible says that our problem is so bad, it's not just that we do bad things, even the good things that we do are tainted with sin.

Isaiah chapter 64, verse 4.

Isaiah 64:4

Listen to what it says.

Excuse me, 64, verse 6.

It says, We've all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind, take us away.

Other translations say it like this our righteous deeds are like filthy rags.

This means even the good stuff is bad.

Even the good stuff is tainted with sin.

It's kind of like a white shirt.

If you've got a sparkling white shirt and you go and you put it in the wrong laundry pile and you wash it, and you wash the white shirt in the colored pile, and what happens as a result of that, that shirt is never ever the same white again.

You may do things to the shirt along the way that make it more white than maybe it was initially when it got out of the laundry.

However, please hear me, at the very nature, the core construction of that shirt has been forever and fundamentally changed.

That means for us, because of what Adam did, all of us now to this day have been herited in sin, and because of that, everything that we do, all of the systems of our world, all of the systems of government, all of the systems of our of our lives, all of the systems of our relationships, everything that we have is tainted with sin.

And all we're trying to do is the best that we can to make it look like it originally was made to be.

But the reality is this, it still has a resemblance and a bearing of a polluted garment.

Look at Romans chapter 5, verse 3.

Romans 5:3

We're gonna look at this in more detail in a minute, but for now it says not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings.

Folks, I need you to know the fact that you suffer is the is evidence of a broken world.

You want to know why you have traffic?

It's evidence of a broken world.

You want to know why you have desires to do things that you shouldn't do?

It's evidence of a broken world.

You want to know why when you see a sign that says, wet paint do not touch, you want to go over there and touch it?

It's evidence of a broken world.

You're broken.

You do the things that you shouldn't do.

We're gonna talk about this more in the coming weeks as we move forward in the book of Romans.

It talks about this war, this struggle that exists, but we must recognize the bad news and not try to explain away the bad news because when we explain away the bad news, we remove the righteousness of God, which has been given to us, to have its full power in our lives.

Whenever we admit how bad things are, then our stories cannot be.

Look at all that I've done and church helped.

Instead, our stories can be I am more messed up the more I go to church that I realize, and Jesus is the answer, and Jesus is the hero, and Jesus is the one who's provided all of these things.

You need to get to know Jesus.

He's the story, he's the point, he is the reason, he's the one who accomplished all of these things on the cross.

I've told you about the bad news of sin.

Let me tell you as well, though, about the good news of justification, the good news of justification.

We've been saying over and over again, you can't understand the depth of the good news until you understand the depth of the bad news.

Please hear me, it's really, really bad, but man, it is really, really, really good.

Look at what it says beginning in verse 15 of Romans 5.

But the free gift does not like the trespass.

For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many.

And the free gift does not like the result of that one man's sin.

For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

If because of one man's trespass death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

It may not seem fair to you when you consider the fact that because of Adam, way long before you were here, made a wrong choice in the garden, that now everything is broken and you've got to deal with the results of that.

But I would also tell you this: as unfair as that is, it is also equally and more so unfair that the fact that Jesus would die on a cross for your sins, and then you get all of his benefits, all of his righteousness, all of the things are added unto you.

Thank God, life is not fair.

Because if life was fair, you'd be on your own.

If life was fair, you would have to pay for your sins.

But because life isn't fair, we have the greatest gift of all, and that is because of Jesus, we get to have all of the class action benefits of his victory.

We get to receive not a check for$1.32 for something we didn't know.

We instead get to receive all of the massive benefits which took place long before we even knew we were involved in the lawsuit in the first place.

I want to give you five things from this passage to the beginning of Romans 5 that helps tell you, I want you to think about this as though you're a court recorder, courtroom recorder, getting ready to be blown away by the ramifications of your justification.

The first thing is this.

The first benefit, look at verse 1.

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

The first benefit of justification, you can confidently say this I have peace with God.

I have peace with God.

Before we were enemies of God, now we're at peace with God.

There is no more struggle.

Like this is amazing.

God isn't mad at you.

And you don't have to be mad at him.

There instead is Peace that can exist.

He has moved you from being an enemy of his, and he now, based upon nothing you've done, he now positions and places you to where now you can be called a friend of his.

The phrase peace of God is found in the Greek text in the present tense.

Here's what's amazing about that.

It's saying that you can experience present-day peace even though you have past day sins.

How cool is that?

Knowing that he's not gonna find something in your record and he's gonna be like, ah, you know, I'm gonna switch this up.

I you know what, I'm gonna put you in probation.

Instead, this is peace with God.

It's not a feeling that you go in and out of.

It's a fact that you get to experience.

Do you have peace with God?

Have you have you experienced this feeling, this, this knowledge, this certainty in your life of knowing that you now come before Him as a friend, not as an enemy.

Look at verse 2.

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.

The second thing you can say confidently is true of you.

Not only can you say, I have peace with God, number two, I have access to God.

I have access to God.

I'm a big Baylor fan.

We're struggling right now.

Uh, but I've got a good buddy of mine who is uh a bigwig and baylor.

He's got uh a donor and gives all this uh money to the school, and so as a result of that, he's always got great tickets and always got great stuff.

Uh and so it's kind of one of those things that if I get a call from him, uh it doesn't matter what I'm doing, the answer is yes, because I don't, it don't it doesn't happen very often, and and I know that when it is, it's gonna be good.

All right, it's gonna be a great experience.

A couple years ago I got that phone call, and sure enough, I drove up to Waco and got to go to the game.

Got to love being able to hang with him.

Uh and so he hands me the ticket, ticket looks normal, and then he hands me this wristband and he says, Hey, this is new.

Do not lose this wristband, whatever you do, and act like you've been there.

Okay.

I've never been there, and I'm gonna make sure to keep this thing close to my.

So I put this wristband on, we show our tickets, we go in, everybody else goes to the left.

He says, Nope, follow me, and we go over to the right.

We go over to the right to this uh elevator.

There was this guard at the elevator, and they asked to show your wristbands.

I showed them my wristbands because that's what he did.

And sure enough, we get on this elevator.

We go up the elevator, go up to the top.

As you get off, there is this massive buffet of food, is all as far as you can see.

He says, Go ahead and eat whatever you want.

I'll be over here in the corner.

And so, sure enough, I go and I eat whatever it is that I wanted that's there.

After I get through eating, he says, All right, you ready for the next round?

I said, The next round?

He said, Yeah, around the corner, we gotta go over here.

That's where the desserts are.

And so, therefore, we get up, we go to another area.

They asked to see the wristband.

I showed them the wrist bin.

We go into an area that's got every dessert you can possibly imagine.

And so, therefore, when you're in Rome, you act like you've been there before.

And so, therefore, what did I do?

I eat all the desserts, right?

I mean, I'm just eating it like I know what I'm doing, right?

I'm just watching what he's doing and just doing the going through it all.

And after we get through with that, he says, You ready for the next round?

The next, the next, the next round?

What do you mean?

We actually get up, we go back over there to the dessert area.

They actually cleared all of the previous stuff out and brought an entirely new set of desserts all in there.

And so, therefore, you know, I was full, but you know what I do?

When you're in Rome, you act like you've been there, and so you just eat again.

And so I ate a whole another round of desserts.

After that, they then at that point the regents are walking around, the mascots coming in, the president's kind of going around.

I mean, clearly it's an obviously a room I'm not used to being around, okay?

And so as a result of this, I'm just watching what's going on.

Then we go over to our seats.

As we make our way to our seats, you have to show the wristband, you're able to get in to this little private little area, and on the 50-yard line, I am watching the Baylor game right there.

It was an absolutely amazing experience in every single way.

Can I please tell you this?

Not one time in the midst of being there did I think, man, I'm a big deal.

I'm a huge deal.

You know what?

I deserve this.

Not one time, okay?

Not at not in any moment as I was walking through, did somebody stop me and say, Hey, how much did you pay for that wristband?

They didn't ask that.

They just looked to see if they had the wristband on.

At no moment in the midst of all of that did somebody stop me as they legitimately and rightfully could and say, Hey, how did you get that wristband?

Did you steal that wristband?

Because you do not look like you should be here with that wristband on.

Instead, the simple fact that I had the wristband gave me access to all of the benefits as though I was a full-pay customer, just like everybody else.

Please hear me.

Because of Jesus, you have a wristband to the Father.

And hear me.

You don't have to explain yourself.

Everybody knows you don't deserve it.

Everybody knows you shouldn't be there.

Everybody knows that you did nothing to earn it.

But instead, because of the incredible generosity of somebody else, you get all the benefits as though you paid for it.

Folks, I want you to know the access to the Father is something that is so amazing, the Bible says in verse 2, it gives you hope.

You know how powerful hope is?

We talked to a lady right after our first service who had just lost her son, 31 years old, to a heart issue, and they were planning his funeral.

What do you say to somebody like that?

But in the midst of that, we could talk about the hope of heaven, not as some way to make the conversation less awkward, but instead as the very thing she can hold on to.

Because it's real.

And because I have access to the Father, I know that even though I'm walking through challenges and difficulty and trials and struggles, that access leads to hope.

Look at what the Bible says in verse 3.

Let's keep reading.

It says not only that, but if we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us.

The third benefit of justification, you can say this confidently: I have purpose in suffering.

I have purpose in suffering.

The word sufferings also translates pressure.

Anybody feeling any pressure these days?

Anybody walking through financial inflation pressures in your life?

Any of you dealing with relational pressures?

As being born into sin, either because you have desires that are not of God or because you realize that you have generational baggage from your forefather Adam all the way until now?

Has that caused some pressures in your life?

Do you have things that are taking up a lot of mental space for you?

Please know Jesus didn't come to remove all of your suffering, but Jesus did come to use all of your suffering.

Theologian D.A.

Carson, he says this the staying power of our faith is neither demonstrated nor developed until it is attested by suffering.

Some of you are walking through some stuff.

Some of you have real temptations that are very serious.

Some of you have some mental illness that grips your soul.

Some of you have physical limitations that are beyond just getting older.

And these are all as a result of sin, but God, in his grace, uses those things in our lives to make us better.

Now, I don't know about you, I'm guessing you probably could identify with this, but but I would love it if God would just send me to like California, really good weather place, right?

And I'm gonna go there and I'm gonna have a three-day conference, and I will literally do around the clock preaching on suffering, and I will listen to every message that I possibly can, and I will read every Bible verse that is out there, and I will graduate in three days, coming back with a PhD in suffering.

The problem is the Bible says that's not how he does it.

Wouldn't you want it to be that way?

Instead, verse 3 says this the way that we experience suffering is through endurance.

The word endure means to bear under or to remain.

Suffering produces an endurance, which is a remaining or an abiding.

It isn't a remaining or an abiding in what, but a remaining or an abiding in who?

Suffering is the gas that fuels our walk with the Lord.

Psalm 23, verse 4 says, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Psalms 23:4

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Isaiah 41, 10 says, Fear not, for I am with you.

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

The bad news is you were born that way.

The good news is you don't have to stay that way.

And God will use suffering and trials and tests.

And then the endurance that you put in it, it will make your character proven.

The proven character is a word picture of silver or precious metal being refined and the dross and the impurities being removed.

This proven character will then lead to hope.

Listen to what Kent Hughes, the pastor, he says.

Just ask Abraham and he will direct your attention to the sacrifice on Mount Moriah.

Ask Jacob and he will point you to his stone pillow.

Ask Joseph and he will tell you about the dungeon.

Ask Moses and he will remind you of his trials with Pharaoh.

David will tell you his songs came in the night.

Ask Peter and he will point to his denials.

Ask John and he would tell you about an island called Patos.

God's blessings are poured out in bitter.

Even when it's bad because of Jesus.

Verse 6 For while we were still weak.

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, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The fourth thing that you can say confidently and with assurance is that I am loved by God.

Because of your justification that has been given to you, you can say, I am loved by God.

The argument is this human love at its best will motivate a person to give his or her life for a truly good person.

Jesus Christ, who was sent by God, died on a cross, not for good people, but instead for his enemies.

It says that while we were still sinners, that's when Christ looked at us and was like, Yeah, I'll get him.

It wasn't whenever we were lovable, but it's instead when we were the most unlovable.

Which is why we know the magnitude of his love for us is displayed because of the significance of the unworthiness that we have to receive it.

Which is why it can be said with confidence.

There is nothing that you can do to make God love you more.

There is nothing that you can do to make God love you less, because God's love for you is not based upon you.

God's love for you is based upon his sacrifice for you, and you receiving that as a gift that has been given to you.

Look at verse 9.

Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son.

Much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

The final benefit of justification is this I am eternally secure.

I am eternally secure.

There's a phrase that you might have heard that is so true.

It's the phrase, once saved, always saved.

The idea says this is that whenever God saves you, he will never allow you to slip out of the grip of his hand.

You see, the Bible tells us that whenever we give our lives to Jesus, when we have that moment, when we receive his grace and his mercy, at that moment in time, literally, we are justified.

It is just as if I'd never sinned.

And so when God looks at you, he doesn't see your blemishes, he doesn't see your past, he doesn't see all the things that you've done.

Instead, when God looks at you, what he sees is his perfection on your account.

Which means that we have the confidence of knowing that even though the nature of sin still exists inside of me, what is legally true of me will also hold true when I stand before God on the day of judgment and he says, Why should I let you into my heaven?

And my answer will not be because this is what I've done, and this is what I've not done, and this is all the things that I've done that you should be impressed with.

Instead, the answer will be because I'm with Jesus.

And because of all that he did, I get in.

Whenever I was growing up, one of the worst things that my mom could ever say to me, whenever I'd mouth off to her, whenever I'd do something I wasn't supposed to do, is she say, you just wait till your dad gets home.

It was the worst.

Because then you have to sit there and think about the fact that I gotta wait till dad gets home, and when dad gets home, I've got to tell him what it is that I did, and I've got to get punishment.

Deserved punishment.

I want you to know the Bible tells us that because of what Jesus did for you, if you are a believer in him, you do not have to fear that day of judgment.

You don't have to worry about what's gonna happen when dad gets home.

You know exactly what's gonna happen, is that at that moment the righteousness of Christ will be credited in full on your account.

And so, therefore, the day of judgment isn't a time of dread.

Instead, the day of judgment is a time when Jesus yet again can complete what he already started when you received his forgiveness on the cross.

Most important question that you'll ever answer is that question, what's gonna happen to you when you die?

When you stand before God and he says, Why should it let you in?

There's one of two answers.

One is a variation of a whole lot of different responses that can be summed up like this, just basically saying, Well, this is what I've done.

These are all the things that I have performed, these are all the ways in which I've added up.

And hopefully that it'll be enough.

The other option is for you to say, I'm with Jesus.

This is what he did, and I received his grace and his mercy.

I don't deserve to even have this conversation with you.

But because of Jesus, I'm with him.

I'm gonna follow in with him.

Would you bow your heads and would you close your eyes all across this room?

I'm gonna ask that no one be moving or shuffling around or please no one be leaving.

This is the most important time of our service.

Do you know Jesus?

Do you have a relationship with him?

Or do you know for certain that you would be getting in with his righteousness on your account?

Has there ever come a point in your life when you've confessed your sin and believed that Jesus died on a cross for you, that he rose from the dead?

There's no class you have to take to do this.

There's no magic words that you have to pray.

In fact, I'm not even going to lead you in a prayer today.

I want to ask if that's you today and you want to receive Jesus, that you just use your own words and express your desire to turn from your sin and to turn to Him.

To receive His gift of mercy in your life.

To be your Lord, to be your Savior.

Bible says, if you confess to me before man, I'll confess to you before my Father who is in heaven.

If you don't confess to me before man, I won't confess you before my father in heaven.

The idea is this your faith is not meant to be secretive to yourself, it's meant to be public.

It's one of the reasons why we have an invitation time where we believe in next steps at United City.

We believe that God has led people to make next steps, whether that's somebody that's watching us online coming forward to be baptized, or whether that's you giving your life to Jesus today.

Maybe for some of you, the next step is for you to join United City.

You feel like God may be leading you to come and not just be an attender, a taker, but instead a member, a giver.

God is leading you in that way.

Would you come and would you lead the way today?

I believe by your coming, you're gonna be an inspiration to others.

Some of you need to go and be baptized.

You've never been baptized as an expression of your faith in Jesus.

Maybe it was something that was just done to you.

You don't have anything to do with it.

Bible consistently teaches that baptism is an act of obedience after someone has given their lives to Jesus.

If that is you today, would you come forward?

Allow us the opportunity to schedule your baptism at a later date.

Maybe you need prayer today.

Maybe you're struggling.

You're struggling to apply the peace that you know that you have.

Maybe you today are struggling because you know you have that access, but for whatever reason you just haven't been approaching the throne of grace with confidence.

Let us pray with and for you today.

We're always available and willing and want to do that.

Father, I pray you take these moments we have left together and you would use them for your glory.

Father, you give people confidence and boldness to respond as they need to.

That they would take their next step today.

They would be obedient to what you've asked and you've called and led them to do.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

God really is our everlasting God.

He's so faithful in times of trial, in times of triumph.

He is here for you, he's here for me.

It's an amazing truth that we can cling to today, that God is with us.

You do not navigate this season of your life, no matter what you may be going through alone.

The Bible tells us that God is never too far away for us to reach out to him.

In fact, it tells us that we need to consistently reach out to him, knowing that he is our ever-present help in time of need.

He is fearfully and wonderfully made you and I, and we have the opportunity today to respond to his blessings, his grace, and his love for us in a unique and meaningful way.

So, today, if you heard that message about God being our everlasting God, and you would like to make Jesus the everlasting God of your life by placing your faith and trust in him, you can text the word you see next to the number 55498.

There is nothing that we would love to do as a staff more than to hear your story, hear about how Jesus is moving in your life, even how you navigate the season, your next step, maybe whatever God may be leading you to do in your future, whether that be baptism or joining the church, maybe jumping into our growth track process.

I just want to let you know we have been where you are.

And it is so, so important that you allow us the opportunity to link arms with you on your faith journey, coming alongside of you right where God has you, uh, to disciple you, equip you, and encourage you in your faith.

We're so, so thankful for how God is moving in your life.

We're so thankful that uh He has given you a purpose.

We're so thankful that that purpose is being made known more and more in your life.

If there's anything that we can do for you, we want you to reach out to us again.

You can text UC Next to 55498.

We're so thankful to bring you this service.

I pray that you have an awesome week.

As we look ahead to this next week, I want you to cling to the truth that God is our everlasting God in times of trial and times of triumph.

And as we look ahead to this next week, I just want to pray a blessing over you and your family this morning.

Lord Jesus, we're so thankful for you.

We're so thankful for who you've called us to be.

God, we're so thankful that you have met us exactly where we are at our greatest moment of need.

God, we're so thankful for the grace that you have extended to us even right now on this Sunday.

God, thank you for the word that Pastor Chris just gave us.

Thank you for your holy Bible.

God, I pray that your word would be written on our hearts and would be so close to our tongues that we speak it throughout our week.

God, whatever we may come in contact with, whatever we may be going through this week, I pray that you would meet us exactly where we are with grace and mercy.

Would we glorify you in all that we say and all that we do?

It's in Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

United City Church, I'm thankful for you.

We will see you next Sunday.

God bless.