[0:00] Good morning, everyone. Am I soft-spoken enough? Oh, there we go. That was kind of loud even for me. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1, if you knew or are visiting, welcome. We are in the midst of a, Lord willing, not a 20-year series on the book of Romans, but at the rate we're going, we're doing okay to meet that goal. That's what I say.
[0:31] Overshoot, right? What is it? Under promise, over deliver, something. Chris knows all those COO type stuff. But anyway, we are in this book of Romans. Today's passage, let's take a look at it, is Romans 1, 17 to 18. We're going to be spending the next couple of weeks on these verses because these verses are crucial for us understanding the rest of the book of Romans. It was kind of funny. It was kind of working through my head how best to describe the book of Romans. And Paul kind of begins this book with this good news. He tells you this good news, which we are going to read in a moment. And then he tells you some really bad news because it's almost you start reading the good news. You know, that's kind of really good news. I like it. Do I really need it? Then Paul really unloads in the rest of chapter 1 all the way till chapter 3. Yeah, it's really good news because you guys are in a bad situation. And then from the rest of Romans chapter 3 to Romans 11, it's the good news. And it's the good news. And it's the good news. And it's the good news. And it's the good news.
[1:49] It's life-changing. The fact of the matter is, Romans has been at the forefront of many Christian revivals. And as we know, if you are a Protestant, it is at the forefront of the Reformation. It is why we have the Protestant Church, because it was an understanding of this text. And it is my pleasure to dive into these themes for you. But before I go any further on the subject of God-powered salvation, let me pray. Dear Father, your word is good. Good seems such like a small word to use in describing your word, which is of such immense wisdom and life-changing power. I don't know if there's words that I could use to describe how great and magnificent it truly is.
[2:45] Your word reflects your love towards us that you desired us to know your will. You desired us to know your truth. And not only your will and your truth, you desired for us to know you. Father, we are heading into the season that speaks of the greatest revelation that you could have ever given to us. God came in human flesh. What God does that? There are no other gods.
[3:21] God came in human flesh. And just how you act is beyond our human comprehension. But if on this day, may you grant me an ability to express these eternal truths which speak to us and matter to us right here, right now. Father, I ask that you'd give us ears to understand, that you'd give us hearts to truly know, and lives that truly echo what we understand and what we know.
[4:02] May we not just be readers of your words, but doer of your words. May it have significant impact in our lives and ways that we cannot imagine. On these verses, the church turned.
[4:18] Perhaps for someone here today, their life will turn as well. We ask these things in your gracious name we pray. Amen. Please look at verse 16.
[4:32] Paul says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel. If you know anything about the apostle Paul, his life is the gospel. He has been called by God for this specific duty to give the gospel.
[4:48] Now, gospel in its root word just means good news. So his role is just not to go around the world telling people good news, like it's going to be 30 degrees out tomorrow and sunny.
[5:01] That's not the kind of thing he wants to declare, but he's got God's good news. In fact, it's God's message that he has for him. Note that term, For I am not ashamed.
[5:16] We can easily take away the negative, and it means, I glory in this gospel. I glory in God's message. Then he proceeds to tell us why.
[5:29] Why does he glory in this message that God's gospel has? He says, For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
[5:48] Verse 17, For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteousness shall live by faith.
[6:03] What's interesting, when Paul tells the Romans that he cannot wait to see them, if you know it at verse 11, he says, For I long to see you. Remember, he hasn't met, he hasn't been there, but he's met many of them on the missionary journeys.
[6:16] And verse 15 tells us, So I am eager to preach the gospel, God's gospel, to you, also who are in Rome. Note he doesn't say, I cannot wait to meet you to tell you how you can save yourselves.
[6:33] He doesn't say, Hey, listen up. God's given me some new laws, like those laws that God gave Moses. There weren't enough. There was only like 600 in some of them.
[6:45] We're going to round it up to 700. Right? Then you're going to feel really good about yourselves, about these extra laws. No, he doesn't say that. He doesn't say that, Hey, I got a new philosophy, a new way of life, a new way to think about how we fit into this world.
[7:03] And I'm so eager to share that with you. He doesn't. Now remember, this gospel of God, if you go back to chapter 1, or verse 1 and 2, he says, There's nothing new here that I'm telling you.
[7:18] This just didn't start with Jesus Christ. It goes way back to the beginning. And you know this because this gospel, this message that I'm telling you, the prophets told you.
[7:30] And the reason you know that, it's in the Holy Scriptures. And God's gospel is that you're not the good news. Your incredible works aren't the good news.
[7:43] Your incredible faithfulness is not the good news. Your incredible way of thinking is not the good news. God's gospel is the good news.
[7:55] It's his gospel, and his gospel is his way of salvation. If you were away last Sunday, I could say shame on you, but that's okay.
[8:08] We miss here and there. But I started with an understanding of salvation. And this is key for us to understand. I talked about three aspects of salvation.
[8:20] And the reality is, when we look at salvation, certain components need to be described. One, salvation first and foremost is our need to be rescued.
[8:34] It's our need to be rescued. And if you ask yourself, does mankind really need to be rescued? Open up your eyes. Open up your eyes.
[8:45] And let's be honest. We probably live in the best place on earth. Do we not? And I'm not even talking the physical beauty that exists here. But there's stability.
[8:58] We may have a... I'm not going to say anything about the government. But we have government that functions. Right? There's food in the grocery stores. Like, we have a lot to praise.
[9:09] Like, even when we... Let's be honest. Even when we complain about government, really, is that really worth complaining about when we know what goes on in the rest of the world? And the only way we really don't is because we really do not know what goes on in the rest of the world.
[9:24] And there is literal chaos in this world. This world is not moving to greater peace with mankind.
[9:36] This world is moving to a greater hatred of mankind. We're not moving closer to God. We're moving further from God. No matter how much man thinks they're bettering life, we are so corrupt.
[9:54] And I'm not talking intentionally corrupt. We are so corrupt by the flesh that it keeps messing it up more and more. So we need to be rescued.
[10:04] But an element of salvation that needs to happen is that we need to be returned to a state where we existed in perfect peace.
[10:14] Right? God created that one. So to understand salvation means to understand Genesis. To how God created this world perfect. We had no needs.
[10:26] We walked in the cool of the day with God. So any talk of salvation has to lead back to a time where it was perfect.
[10:38] And so there's three aspects of salvation. One is we need to be rescued from our sin. We know that. We need to be rescued from our sin. And I talked about three elements of sin last week.
[10:51] We need to be rescued from our guilt. Our guilt. Our shame. Salvation rescues us from the condemnation of sin which we get from being under the law.
[11:06] We know that God lives. We know that God has a way to live for us to live. But we don't measure up. So salvation, any plan of salvation has to rescue us from the guilt of sin.
[11:19] Has to rescue us from the power of sin. As soon as we sinned in that garden, we went from perfect relationship to God to being God's enemy.
[11:29] Do you get that? We didn't go to some type of neutral where I'm kind of ambivalent about God. No, you went to the dark side. If I can speak in Star Wars terminology, you were a Jedi who decided to go after with Darth Vader.
[11:45] You went from the light side to the dark side. And that dark side is a corrupting side. And can you get back to that light side? You can't. But Dave read this great passage in Colossians 1 where it says God himself, Jesus Christ, takes us and moves us from the kingdom of darkness back to the kingdom of light.
[12:06] Right? So when we're saved from sin, it means not only the guilt, the shame, not only the transference from bad kingdom back to the good kingdom, but it also saves us from the corruption of sin.
[12:19] That when Jesus Christ looks at us, we're declared clean from all iniquity. Do you get that? There's people in our lives, you ever meet someone, I don't know, someone that you maybe thought really highly of and that you looked up to them, and for some reason along the line, things really didn't work out for you in the way that you wanted to.
[12:47] And you kind of feel this tinge of shame. Right? It happens. And knowing our sin, knowing how we've lived such godless, anti-God lives, when we face them, you know, we want to be like Isaiah in Isaiah 6, right?
[13:08] Hide behind the pillar. But we don't need to. Isaiah 6, it's this great imagery of him being in the presence of God and this angel takes his coal and flies over and he takes his coal and he touches his tongue and it cleanses him from all sin that he's able to come without shame.
[13:29] So that's what salvation does, my friends. It cleanses us of the guilt of sin, the power of sin, and the corruption of sin. The other aspect of salvation is it restores us to a right relationship with God that we do not have shame.
[13:45] We will one day walk in the cool of the day with the king. And the third aspect of salvation is we need to be restored to a future hope which means we are delivered from the wrath that God said he is going to deliver on all mankind.
[14:03] So when God, when Paul is talking about this idea of salvation, he's actually talking about it in three different ways. He talked about we are saved.
[14:16] At that moment and that we are saved, Romans 5.1 says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[14:29] There's a theological, technical term means we've been justified. And that's that moment where you first started trusting Jesus Christ with your life. You went to be saved.
[14:41] That is an action that happened in the past. You were saved. But then there's this other action that is going on and scripture uses these three tenses when it talks about salvation.
[14:55] There's the past tense, we are saved. Then there's the present tense, we are being saved. Philippians 2.12 says, therefore, my beloved, for you have always obeyed.
[15:08] So now, not only in my presence, but much more in my absence. It says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So there's this idea, in the past, we were saved, but as we live this life out, we're to work out our salvation.
[15:30] And that's done in the present tense. It's a little bit more complex in the Greek, but one is a past tense, a present tense. And then the Bible speaks of a salvation that's in the future.
[15:46] And that is called glorification. So to go back to the theological terms, we are justified. The life we live now, Nathan's got it, sanctified. And then we will be glorified.
[16:00] And Paul talks about this verse in Romans 8. He says, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, grown inwardly, as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies, for in this hope we were saved.
[16:21] You with me on that? Now, you have to understand all those three aspects to understand where I'm going next in this sermon. So if you weren't here last week, look at that.
[16:32] You just got last week's sermon in like 10 minutes. Not bad, right? So, so we have this justification, sanctification, and glorification.
[16:43] Now, there's a question that I want to answer for you this morning, and I guarantee you every single one of you have had this question on your mind in one way or the other.
[16:56] And when I talk about past, present, and future, the question is, if I am saved, how am I guaranteed to be saved in the future?
[17:09] You're talking about a past saved, but there's this middle ground of salvation. How do I guarantee my salvation at the end? How do I know that that's going to happen?
[17:23] The Bible says, I've been justified, but does that mean I am automatically glorified? Does an action of God in the past guarantee God's action in the future?
[17:37] Here's another way to ask the question. If God saved me now, can I trust God to save me in the future? Another way to ask the question is once saved, always saved a thing.
[17:55] There's generally two schools of thought that exists, that once saved, always saved. There's others that believe that we can be saved, but we can later lose our salvation sometime in the middle time before the end time.
[18:16] Now, some people call this the doctrine of the perseverance of the saint, which means the biblical teaching that God saves those who persevere.
[18:27] Now, for some of you, you may think you have this all worked out, and I'm not going to endeavor to say we can't be friends because we have a different point of view. That's okay because I am more than aware of the scope of theological thought, and I'm hoping to bring you with me, even though you may completely agree with me on these things, there's still a point and a place I want to bring you to in a greater understanding.
[18:54] understanding. Why? Because at the very least, I pray that you will be encouraged with the truth that God has for us on salvation.
[19:06] So some people ask, how can I keep from losing my salvation? I think the better question is, how do I keep my salvation? If you told me which is the harder thing, the harder thing isn't, how do I lose my salvation?
[19:25] The most difficult question to ask is, how do I keep my salvation? Let's take a look at the text, verse 16. It says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel.
[19:37] This is God's gospel. I glory in the gospel. And Paul makes this incredible statement, for it is the power of God.
[19:50] This does not mean that God is very powerful. What God is saying is that this is God's way of salvation. This is God's way of saving mankind.
[20:03] Paul, as I said, did not desire to travel to Rome to tell the Romans how to save themselves. Paul came to Rome to tell them that we are saved through the power of God.
[20:19] God. See, what's amazing about God's gospel is it's not just information, but it's actually this power. And if you know anything about God, you know he is a God of action.
[20:34] God has always acted. From the very beginning, God created. He created Adam and Eve. When they sinned, God covered their shame.
[20:48] When they thought there was no way out, God told them, I will provide for you. He made a promise. God called Abraham out of the land to be the father, the nation of his people.
[21:04] God made a covenant with Abraham. God called his people out of Egypt. He acted he saved.
[21:18] God gave Israel kings to rule over them. God gave them a covenant to one of their kings, David, that from his line the Messiah, the Redeemer, would come from.
[21:33] God gave the people prophets to remind them about his word over and over and over. And we know.
[21:45] probably the greatest act to this day that we are all ready to celebrate around the world, that when the time was right, God gave us his son, who intervened in all of mankind, born of a woman, under the law, to redeem us from that very law that convicted us and gives us shame.
[22:09] You see, God is not a passive entity who we need to coax into some sort of action. Like he's some God who sits up in heaven.
[22:21] He says, hey, they'll figure it out. You know, I'll send a prophet here and there just to drop a few hints. That's what pretty much all other foreign gods are.
[22:32] the hope that one day they will work it out. God is a God of action and God acts in power.
[22:52] That's why salvation, that's why it reads here, for the gospel is the power of God for salvation. salvation. Paul is not describing the power.
[23:05] Paul is not commenting on the power. Paul is declaring, it is the power of God that saves. It is not the good we do in ourselves.
[23:16] It's not what God does in us. It is what God does in us that brings about salvation. Let me ask you a question.
[23:27] If it wasn't God, who was it? who can bring salvation? Let me share with you a few verses that coincide exactly that God is the power for salvation.
[23:42] Earlier in 2 Corinthians, Paul is writing to a group of Christians who are asking themselves that question. What guarantee do we have for the future?
[23:55] So in 2 Corinthians 5, 5, he says, he, that is God, has prepared us for this very thing. And this very thing he's talking about is a heavenly dwelling is God, who has given us the spirit as a guarantee.
[24:13] Ephesians 1, 9 says, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might?
[24:25] Ephesians 2, 10 says, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
[24:40] Philippians 1, 6, Paul later writes, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
[24:53] So that work that began in you in the past God is guaranteeing that it will work at the very end. It doesn't even talk about our own faithfulness.
[25:08] Philippians 2, 13, for it is God's work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. What God, what Paul is saying again and again and again and again over and over and over, this salvation is all God.
[25:24] This salvation is all done through the power of God. Salvation is something that God works out in us. He began the work and he will finish the work.
[25:36] First Peter reminds us and this is 1 Timothy 1, 3, 5, if you're taking notes. 1 Timothy 3, 5, it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[25:49] According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, it is undefiled, it is unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed the last time.
[26:24] That salvation he's talking about is that future salvation. So God who grants you that salvation upon belief, he holds it for you and guarantees it.
[26:38] Every part of your salvation is empowered by God. The past tense, the present tense, the future tense, it is God all the time. Do you know there's no part of my walking that I can credit myself?
[26:54] Listen, and I'm going to get into this. We all know people who've walked away from the faith. People who walked with us, ate with us, served with us. People we would put our lives on were saved.
[27:10] And some of them walked away. We have no right to say, well, I was more faithful than them. I held it together when they didn't.
[27:23] And I'm going to explain that a little bit more. Just give me a few minutes. The reality is the salvation that Paul talks about is powered by God. And where does it come from?
[27:34] It comes from the gospel. That is God's gospel. That is God's means of salvation. You see, when Paul speaks of God's salvation, salvation, Paul is speaking of God's determination before the foundation of the world.
[27:53] Do you know that your salvation began before you were even born? God's determination before the foundation of the world. It says all that God has planned, all that God is going to bring to pass, all that God has done, all that God is yet to do, the only type of salvation that God delivers is total salvation.
[28:15] There is no other kind. It is complete. It is not partial. Some people will argue that God holds you, but you can walk away. To that I say, apparently we're not strong enough to be saved, but somehow we're strong enough to overpower God and walk away from him.
[28:37] Now, let us consider who God is for a moment. God is the creator of the heaven and earth. He is the creator of the universe.
[28:52] And one day, he will take it all apart and rebuild it into something new and glorious. God is not short on power. You see, the gospel is the power.
[29:06] You see, the gospel is the power where God regenerates us. That justifies us in the past. The gospel is the power that sanctifies us, that grows me in my life, that draws me, because we're not going to be perfect holiness on this world, amen?
[29:25] But I hope, I pray by God working in you, that that moment you were saved, by the time you were glorified, you have walked in holiness and are more like Christ, amen?
[29:37] And it's not because of you, it's because of God. It is the power that God uses to preserve us, and it's the same power that God uses to glorify us.
[29:59] Now, please turn your Bibles to Romans 8, Romans 8. Now, I am aware I am going to use some terms that some of you may object to.
[30:12] We're going to use words like election, calling, predestination. But what's interesting is the Bible speaks rather clearly that God elects those who are saved.
[30:27] Now, before you shut yourself off and you start to argue about all these other verses, be patient with me, we're going to get to something here. But we have to consider what Paul does indeed write in Romans 8.
[30:40] So look at Romans 8, 28. I want you to read along with me. It says, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.
[30:51] Now, we all know we get excited about that. I'm ashamed of this. All right. I used to be with Athletes in Action when I was in University.
[31:03] If you guys are familiar, it's part of Campus Crusade. You work with professional athletes. And because I played college baseball and track and stuff, so I was a part of AIA and I'd reach out.
[31:15] And one of the things they'd make us do is put a cross on your shoe. You used to put a cross on the toe of your shoe. And you used to think, you know, through Christ I can do all things, right?
[31:25] You used to wrote this verse, for we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. And believe me, it was for my good to defeat those people, right?
[31:37] Those evil swine that I combated and like I had to strike him out, right? Like, really? It's kind of funny. I'm reading this biography.
[31:48] I just read it. You guys remember the story of Andre Agassi? He used to be a famous tennis player. It's a great biography. And in that, he plays a guy by the name of Michael Chang. And Michael Chang was an evangelical born-again Christian.
[32:01] And Andre asked the question, because this guy used to always pray about God would give him victory over Andre. And he's like, does God really care about this tennis match?
[32:13] You know? And it's true. And I encourage you always to read biographies written by non-Christians that reflect some sort of Christian background. Because it usually tells you what we got wrong.
[32:26] It's usually not what they didn't understand right. It's what we were communicating wrong. And in the biography, every time, he'd always say, oh, on this date, I vanquished Michael Chang and his God.
[32:38] You know? But he says it in fun terms, right? Like, it's just a tennis game, man. But anyway. But we used to do that. We used to think this is the mindset they gave us. But that was completely out of context.
[32:52] And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose. Who are those that he calls to his purpose?
[33:03] He goes, for those whom he foreknew. Now, I'm going to tell you right now, this word, we're going to get into this far later. The word foreknew is probably one of the most misunderstood words.
[33:14] A lot of people like to, they think that God had knowledge beforehand, but that's actually not what the word says. The word means that God had a knowledge beforehand.
[33:26] And that knowledge beforehand wasn't because he saw, it's because he knew us. All right? God knew us even before he called us.
[33:38] Okay? This is mind-breaking, but this is not where I want to stay. But I want you to understand that. But there was this knowledge. God so he knew us beforehand and he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.
[33:55] So when God called us to salvation, he's now promising to predestine us to be conformed to the image of his son in order that we might be the firstborn among many brothers, which means heaven.
[34:11] All right? For those whom he predestined, he called, and those whom he called, he justifies, and those whom he justifies, he glorifies.
[34:24] So he calls us, makes us right for him, justifies a legal term, and then he presents us, glorifies. Now, my friends, if you object to these terms, you need to reconcile that these are the terms that God himself uses.
[34:44] you're objecting to God's terms. And we're going to get into this. You notice this text is full of belief, and there's all these other words, and we're going to get to them, so please be patient.
[34:56] But what Paul is saying here, who God has predestined, God will call. This call that God has is a powerful call.
[35:09] It is an effectual call. What that means is that call is so powerful, it is going to have an effect on you. That when God calls you, he's calling you.
[35:20] It is an effectual call. And get this, scripture also says it's an irresistible call. You cannot say no. A lot of people have a problem with this, but keep reading with me.
[35:33] Verse 30, and those whom he predestined, he also calls, and those whom he called, he also justified, and I just read that again. All right, why is this certain? Why can we say that this call is powerful, this call is effectual, this call is irresistible?
[35:50] Because it's God's call, and God is powerful. That is the gospel call. Guess what? God's power works.
[36:03] What God means to do, he means to do. God's power provides results. What about our power?
[36:15] What about our rights? What about our free will? We're going to get into that later, but the fact is, God does that, we rejoice.
[36:30] The fact of the matter is, we need to be rescued. If you think you would rather have free will and not need to be rescued, then you do not understand the condition of this world and the condition of your soul.
[36:47] Fact is, we're always trying to save ourselves. I'm going to attend church more. I'm going to go read my Bible more. I'm going to give more money. I'm going to be nicer to my neighbor. right?
[36:59] We always revert to our actions, the morals, the laws, the philosophies. The whole world wants to make this world a better place, but we can't.
[37:14] But let me tell you right here, right now, there are tensions that exist in Scripture. There are tensions, there are truths that we can both affirm but it's hard to affirm them together.
[37:31] It's hard to bring them together. What we see in Romans 8, 28 to 30 here is the gospel truth. And at the same time, we will read later on in Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, which we know is true.
[37:50] We know that we are responsible for our sin. We are responsible for our rebelliousness. God calls us to heaven, he must be calling people to hell.
[38:04] And it's a term that people use called double predestination. But that's not what the Bible teaches. That's man's logic trying to work it out. The biblical reality is because we were all sinning, we're all going down to hell.
[38:18] God calls those because that is their natural disposition. He calls them, reaches in, and calls them to him. You with me? That's how that process works. The process, whatever.
[38:30] But you know what I mean. It also says in Romans 1 32. And it's interesting, I've been just looking at this word belief. What does belief mean? I've been just reading theologians talking about belief.
[38:42] Because some people want to say, you can't believe because belief would be a work. And if you said, I believed, then therefore, that is a work, and it's really not of God.
[38:53] So I did have some part of the process of salvation. Here's what Romans 1 32. It says, though they knew God's righteous decree, they knew what God said about them and himself, that who practiced such things deserve to die.
[39:12] So, we're going to get into Romans 1 32 pretty soon. We'll do it in the new year. But he's saying that God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die.
[39:25] The world says, yes, there are things that people do that are worth dying, that you deserve to die for. It is wicked. But he says, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them.
[39:44] Crazy. They believe they're wicked, I know they're wicked, but I'm going to clap you for being wicked and doing wickedness. That's the world we're in right now, you know that, right?
[39:56] That is that world and we're going to get into that. But, also, in Romans 1, 16, it says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
[40:18] for there's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. So, there's this calling on God's side that God calls, and then there's this other side, it's for those who believe.
[40:39] It seems that there's a condition to everyone who believes, and we're going to look further on that. So, how do we understand this tension? That God elects some unto salvation, yet our actions condemn ourselves to death and hell.
[40:58] You guys want to know the answer to that? The Bible doesn't tell us. It's called attention. They are two equal truths, and our mind cannot comprehend it.
[41:12] The Bible doesn't tell us. But what the Bible does tell us is that the gospel saves, the gospel is God's power, and God's power cannot fail.
[41:27] See, my role is to call you to the gospel truth, that if you believe, you will believe in the end. The gospel truth is, if you're elect, you're okay, don't worry.
[41:42] The gospel call is, according to Romans 10, 9, to tell you right here, right now, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
[41:55] God, you get that? That is the gospel call. The gospel call isn't to go and make sure that you're elect or go to find some book where this is found.
[42:06] You won't find it. The gospel call is, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart, that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart one believes and is justified.
[42:22] So God, we just read that God is the one who justifies you, but we're also reading here that if you believe you're justified as well. So there's this tension that goes on, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
[42:44] Like I just said a few minutes ago, most of us, if you have walked this Christian life long enough, know people who have walked away. Perhaps you know multiple people, perhaps it could be your spouse, parents, child.
[43:00] So you know in your head, you know this truth. Do you guys know the story of Billy Graham and Charles Templeton at all? If you don't know, most people know who Billy Graham is.
[43:12] Does anybody not know who Billy Graham is? Put your hand up. Don't know? Jesse, you're forgiven for not knowing who Billy Graham is. Your parents though, on the other hand, how do I punish you for not letting, anyway, Billy Graham, right?
[43:27] He was this great preacher of the time, you know, people call him the greatest evangelist of our generation. He actually started off his ministry with another guy named Charles Templeton.
[43:39] And Charles Templeton was actually the stronger voice, the smarter man, and the greater orator. It was Templeton and Graham, not Graham and Templeton.
[43:50] Templeton, by the way, was a Canadian guy, so he was touring. What happened? He gave up the faith, left it all behind. He's actually even wrote a book on it. You know, so there's people that, here is a guy preaching before thousands of people.
[44:09] So you might be asking, how on earth can one say that one saved always saved? When I think the question is, why them and not me? First of all, let's be honest.
[44:24] We live in a messy world. We do. Some of us live in worlds far messier than others, and you know what I'm talking about. Some of us have issues in our family that goes back generations that we're constantly dealing with.
[44:46] Things aren't simple simple for many of us. And there's enough things that cause us to doubt, to disparage, to give up hope.
[45:02] We live in a world that is affected by our sin. We live in a world where others' sin affects us as well. Not only that, we live in a world where we are under attack 24-7 images on the TV or the internet.
[45:19] And I'm not even talking about simple inappropriate images. Like even on YouTube, apparently, I keep getting ads for women who are looking to marry Canadians.
[45:35] Like, you're over 40, they show up. But those aren't the things that are really dangerous. It's the inappropriate ideas.
[45:46] It's the inappropriate teachings. It's the inappropriate philosophies that marketers sell to us. You will feel so much better if you own this car.
[45:57] You will feel so much better about yourself. About yourself if you own this and that. But we also live with an understanding of the law which accuses us and we feel shameful.
[46:13] And any of you who come from a Catholic background know exactly what I'm talking about. And the thing is, we will feel, to some, a different degree that hardships, distress, persecution, famine, peril.
[46:33] Some of us may even have to face death in this wickedly broken world. It's all there. We've got several families who've just moved here as immigrants from war-torn countries.
[46:50] And then we have this guy running around named Satan. The question is, how can we ever hope to keep our faith?
[47:06] My theory as to why people walk away from the faith, I always ask, some people always ask me, how do I know if I'm saved? I just simply ask, do you love Jesus? Do you love Jesus?
[47:19] Is he the object and affection of your faith? Now, a lot of people said, yes, I love Jesus, but what they love is what Jesus gives them.
[47:32] I love Jesus because I have a wonderful wife. I love Jesus because I have a wonderful job. I love Jesus because I have a wonderful family. Do you understand?
[47:43] I love Jesus because he gives me what I want. And when that is taking away that idol that we want, then people don't love Jesus so much anymore.
[47:56] And they walk away. I think I've used this example at all. My friend, he's a pastor, one of my best buddies. And there's this couple, I go to his church all the time at that time in my life.
[48:08] And I was friends with this one couple. They were really great. They're our age. They're both executives and they were incredibly generous to my friend as a pastor. They loved on him.
[48:19] They took care of him. They paid for his holidays. They did everything to help him. But they couldn't have kids. So she went in and the doctor told this woman that her ovaries were like the age of an 80-year-old woman, ovaries.
[48:33] She left that week and no one's ever heard from her again. Gone. Left the husband, church, everything behind. And you wouldn't have thought, at church, she was great, she was involved, she was exceptionally gifted in leadership and administration.
[48:48] with everything that the world throws at us, it's easy to think that we would lose our faith.
[49:00] So what do we do? All right, we're back to Romans 8. Let's take a look at 8.31. What does the Bible tell us? Romans 8.31.
[49:13] I'm just going to read this text. Think about that for a second.
[49:36] God gave his only son to save you in the past at that moment of salvation. He gave his only son for you. Do you not think he's going to keep you to the end?
[49:49] He gave up his son for you. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?
[50:01] Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who's at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. So not only did Jesus, God himself, give his son who died for us, he's not given any other son to make up for us, but he actually has his son who now intercedes.
[50:18] He's involved. That's the saving process. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, that word tribulation, is to experience difficult hardships, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
[50:35] 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.
[50:51] 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 of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
[51:07] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. You see, know why those who truly love Jesus, no matter their actions and stupid decisions, will not lose their salvation?
[51:20] Because it is God's power that holds them there. Let it be said, if you could lose your salvation, you would.
[51:32] I'll be honest with you. I almost lost my salvation three times last week playing Yahtzee with my wife. I hate those dice and I hate losing. My friends, the power of God saves to the utter most.
[51:51] Until we are finally and completely glorified, He saves us. And let me tell you in another way. If someone told you the gospel, hey, I've just given you the good news of Jesus Christ, you will need to deny yourself.
[52:11] People will reject you for the hardship. I just got to read this. You're going to have persecution. You're going to have tribulation. You're going to have all these things happen to you because of me.
[52:25] You still ready to go? And guess what? Your salvation is not guaranteed at the end. I'm asking you to buy into my salvation but it's not guaranteed at the end.
[52:42] Are you in? You're probably not, are you? And if the people who say they are, they're generally good moral people who think, hey, I can do that, right?
[52:54] I can keep these laws. my friends, the gospel of God which brings salvation is the power of God.
[53:12] It does not and never will depend on you or me. Even my power to believe, if it did, everything would be lost. If you do not have the power to earn salvation, you certainly do not have power to keep your salvation.
[53:29] You see, it is God's power that saves us, keeps us, justifies us, sanctifies us, and glorifies us. Why does he do this?
[53:39] Let me just read to you one final passage found in Ephesians 1 verse 11. It says, in him we have obtained inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
[54:03] In him you also when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and believed in it were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
[54:14] So that moment that you were born again that you were called and responded in faith you were sealed by that Holy Spirit to hold you to the end who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we require possession of it.
[54:31] It says to the praise of his glory. Get that our salvation how great it is to us is ultimately to the praise of God.
[54:44] Amen? It is to glorify God. What would it say about God that if you could have your salvation here and lose it over there would that still be the God that you would praise?
[55:04] How could we ever rejoice in a gospel if it wasn't certain? Let me pray. Dear Lord holy heavenly father there are such depths to the works that are found in your word your word is incredible father and I just thank you for the time and even the time that this body of believers gives me to study and understand and just even how do I communicate these deep truths while being fair to all your truths so God it's so easy to be on one side and ignore the tensions that exist but as believers in Christ I don't know how it's going to work but I have to accept your words that are spoken even when I do not understand them the one thing I do know and I can say without reservation is that you are sovereign there is nothing that escapes your understanding there is nothing that is lost on you there is no soul that is not known by you father you were great and your purposes are great and we know just even from amongst our populace here not everyone is great in this world you save everybody how powerful is your gospel in
[56:33] God we we give you praise that in order to praise you you keep us you have sealed us and at the same time we are to work out our faith with fear and trembling in you that means to be reliant on you to be obedient to you the fact is it's not a work because it's a love action we love to obey your words oh lord we love your precepts that's why the the david the king talks about it in the psalm so often i love your precepts i love your commandments that's what psalm 19 psalm 19 are all about they lead us to wisdom father may be a people that shun foolishness and cling to wisdom love it glorify in it father you are good and we thank you for these things in your name we pray amen