March 9, 2025, Message by P. Kevin Clancey
Transcribed by Beluga AI.
Jesus Christ, you are Lord. Father, you are eternal, creator of all things. Holy Spirit, you are among us, and you are God. And we’re grateful for a great salvation. Amen.
We are grateful for a great salvation. We’re grateful for your presence with us, Jesus. May the words of my mouth, the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, Lord, our Rock, our Strength, and our redeeming. Amen.
All right, we’re going through Romans. We’re in Romans, chapter five. These are some exciting chapters. In Romans, man, Paul just lays out the gospel.
If you remember the last couple, last month or so, a little more than a month, we’ve been doing a lot. We spent a lot of time on the bad news. And now the last couple of weeks, we’re into the good news, and it just keeps getting better.
So, Romans 5:1-11. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through him, by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance. Endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. And this hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.
For while we were still helpless and at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person. Though for a good person, perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath? For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, we’ll be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For rarely will someone die for a just person though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation. (Romans 5:1-11, CSB)
Dear ones, you have peace with God. That’s good news. Just in case you didn’t know this, at one time, you did not have peace with God. You were an enemy of God. You were part of the rebellion, all right. You were the bad guys in the room. You had joined Satan and his fallen legion of angels and the rest of the mass of humanity.
You were born into a world where the main anthem was Frank Sinatra’s great hit, I Did It My Way. You were proud. You were disobedient. You were rebellious. You were a stinker. Turn to somebody next to you as he’s talking about you. All right, you were a stinker, you were a sinner, you were lost, and you were at enmity with God.
There was no peace; there was conflict. You didn’t like the Ten Commandments, you didn’t want to read the Bible, you didn’t want to go to church, you didn’t want somebody telling you what to do with your money, what to do with your time, what to do with your sex life.
And most of the world, a lot of the world, is still in that position, shaking their fist at God. For years, the last couple hundred years, the scientific revolution has given people an out. Basically said, ah, we now know more, we’re now smarter. your God of the gaps doesn’t work anymore. We can answer those questions scientifically.
And there was a heyday in the 18th and 19th century of that, and then the 20th century came along and turned that all around. Now all the scientific evidence is on our side, it really is. But do you think that has turned around the intelligentsia, the academics, the scientists of the world? Some have bended a knee to it, but many more are just still resisting.
Because I can’t believe, because the evidence doesn’t present itself, is never really I can’t believe. Never is I can’t believe the bottom line, and that’s a big statement to make, but I’ll make it. I’ll say never is I can’t believe the bottom line statement, the bottom line reason.
The second one, besides scientific naturalism, that’s always been the big excuse, is if God is good, how can there be so much evil in the world? Again, I can’t believe it’s not it. I had a mothers go to mother school.
I don’t know guys, if you know this. It’s a secret school they ship them all off to, and they learn things. They learn things like if all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump off a bridge? They learn, you know, deep, profound, why statements. Don’t shoot rubber bands. What will happen if you shoot rubber bands? Others know this, you’ll put an eye out.
I’m surprised with all the boys down through the ages who shot rubber bands, how we don’t have more just one-eyed boys walking around, because obviously you’ll put an eye out if you shoot rubber bands.
There’s just all sorts of things. Well, this one, this one’s not a popular one in mother’s school. I hadn’t heard it once, but it fits so good. A friend of mine used to say when her daughter would say, I can’t do something, her line would be, can’t lives on Wont Street.
Isn’t that a good mother saying? That is such a good mother saying. I can’t clean my room. Can’t lives on Wont Street. All right? And so can’t believe lives on Wont Street. Because we don’t have peace with God.
But God has made peace with a fallen and rebellious humanity. And it has not been a peace that has been brokered by the meeting of the two parties halfway. It has been a hundred percent God. God has moved 100% in through his son, Jesus Christ, to make peace with fallen humanity. And that peace is given to us when we are justified before God by faith.
Not by our obedience to the law, not by our good deeds, not by our brownie points, not by how many times we went to church, not how many times we prayed and fasted, not by how much money we gave away, but when we put our trust and aligned ourselves with what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, when we put our hope and trust in God, we instantly now have been switched from death to life, from darkness to light, from enemies of God to children of God. And we have peace with God.
I like that. That’s incredibly good news. When I die, I have peace with God. I’m not going to meet God as an enemy. I’m not going saying, all right, let’s have it out one final time. We have peace with God. And if we have peace with God, dear ones, then there’s a great chance we’re going to have peace in life. Now I get it. We’ll talk about it in just a minute. There are troubles in life. And one of the things I love about the Bible is the Bible never shies away from that.
It never says, follow Jesus and all your troubles will go away. In fact, it kind of says the opposite. Follow Jesus and they will increase. Everybody has troubles. But if you follow Jesus, you’ll have specific troubles of following Jesus and taking the side of God in a world that is at enmity with God, and we’ll inherit a whole bunch of enemies when we decide to follow God.
But still, we can have peace. But still, we can have peace. Why? Because he settles our soul. Why? Because he settles our soul. Why? Because he’s always with us and he’s our companion. One of the things that makes peace the hardest is being alone. You know, it’s always good to have somebody next to you.
I remember the night. Even, not even somebody, just warm blood. I mean, I remember the night. I told you the story before. I was house sitting at this house up in the hills, and the alarm clocks went off, and the door swung open, and the TV commercial for the Exorcist came on all simultaneously. That’ll freak you out.
I don’t care if you’re an 18-year-old stoner or not. That is going to freak you out, all right? And that’s just like Reagan was, a normal girl. All the lights are off. Well, what did I do? They had a big Dalmatian named Fred. Fred, get over here. I wanted Fred right by me as we went through the house, hoping he would sniff out any of those exorcist demons.
Putting on all the lights. I wanted light and companionship. So he’s with you. And you have peace. You have peace with God, and you have peace in knowing that the story ends well in the midst of troubles. The story ends well in a blink of an eye when your body ceases to function, but your consciousness remains the same.
We’re going to be studying this starting next Sunday night at eight o’clock. People will tell the story. They never felt more alive. They never felt more alive. They never felt more alive. And they came into his peace. So we have peace with God.
Then we have access by the same faith by which we are justified. The same faith. Faith is big, man. Faith is like the vitamin now. I don’t know, what’s the super vitamin now? Used to be vitamin C. I think it’s vitamin D. Is that the super vitamin now? You know, take vitamin D and all your problems go away.
All right, so faith is the vitamin D. It’s the deal. It opens up. It’s the master key. How about that? It opens up lots of doors. It opens up the door of justification and being made righteous. It opens up the door of peace. And now here, it opens up the door of access to Him.
And access, we have access to him and access to his grace, which is his unmerited gift of power and goodness to us. To both come to faith and then live in faith. Faith gives us access and therefore faith gives us access to more faith. Faith gives us access to the grace of God. And it’s by that grace that we’re able to stand firm. Okay, now that I’m a Christian, how do I live?
Okay, now that I’m a Christian, how do I live as a Christian? We find out when we first become a Christian. A lot of us, when we became a Christian, we had a honeymoon period. Anybody have a honeymoon period when you became a Christian?
Like, man, your prayers were answered, and you were walking on sunshine. And Jesus was so groovy. That’s a Jesus revolution term for you young folks out there. Jesus was groovy and right on. And we were. We were just going. And then you hit some trials and tribulations. Where are you, Jesus?
Where are you, Jesus? And you need to stand firm. And then the old temptations came back, and the old struggles came back. And then we tried really hard to be good Christians, and that didn’t work.
So how do we do this? And we realized the same way we entered into this. We didn’t move from faith to works. We’re saved by faith. But we’re sanctified by works. We’re saved by faith. We’re sanctified by faith.
If you’re having a hard time standing firm as a Christian, the issue is not moral strength. The issue is relational. Accessing by faith, his grace. Are you accessing by faith his grace? See, when I used to blow it as a young Christian, I would feel so guilty that I would avoid God for long periods of time.
Then I would just spiral downward, and I would really hit a low bottom, and then I’d come back. I just expected him to be disgusted with you, right? You know, you loser. You idiot, you. The devil was telling me all those things. Jesus would tell me all this, and every time, I can’t think of one.
Every time, I can’t think of one exception. Every time, his response was, okay, let’s go. Let’s keep going. you’re good. Never a spanking, never a scolding, never a slapping around, never a beating, never a shaming.
And so finally I’ve come to this conclusion. I don’t always do it, but repent. But it’s my conclusion. Repent quickly. It’s better that way. Will you blow it? Just go. Okay, let’s go. How many? Okay, let’s go. Well, how many times?
Well, if you believe the Bible speaks figuratively, an unlimited amount of times. If you believe it speaks limited, literally, you have 490 chances with any particular sin. With any particular sin.
I’m going with the figurative, but even I don’t think I’ve done the same. Well, we’re not going to go there, all right? We have access that enables us power, grace that enables us to stand firm and live as a Christian. We get it by faith, by believing, by trusting, by walking with them.
And therefore, we can boast in the hope of glory, of God, Christ in us, the hope of glory. And I already said the story ends well. We have hope. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man or woman conceived for those who love what the Lord has prepared for those people all the time.
The older I get. I tell this to people all the time, the older I get. You know, I’ve told you, the older I get, the more I contemplate mortality and the more I’m blown away. Not with the thought of living forever in glory. I want that. Not even with the thought of my meat orchard. I like that idea, but I’m blown away.
But I’m blown away with the thought of the first encounter, the risen Lord of all the universe. The risen Lord of all the universe. I just. I still have no answer. Help me if you can on how I’m supposed to respond to that one. All right? If somebody has any good advice on what I’m supposed to say, what I’m supposed to do.
Sophia, can you help me out there? When I meet Jesus face to face with his eyes blazing and radiance and glory, and he’s just staring at me with eyes of love and mercy and compassion, you know, do I smile? Do I cry? I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m going to do, Karen. I don’t know. My shoes are tied. All right, all right.
But our hope is the hope of glory, not just going to the good place. It’s not just going to the good place. It’s being in the presence of the magnificent. Radiance. Glory, glory, glory, glory. Four meanings of glory: heaviness, Kabad, Hebrew heaviness, just the weight of glory.
And then luminosity, brilliance, the brightness. And then, of course, honor, majesty, and then even wealth and abundance all are tied up in this word that the Bible uses as glory. And we boast. You know what Christians boast about? Heaven. For years, the world would try to silence us and say, oh, your religion is just pie in the sky by and by.
You avoid the troubles of the world by escapism, believing that you’re going to go to this pretty place afterwards and you’re just an escapist. But history has proven that wrong. The people who actually do the most in this world are the people who believe in the next one the most. And it does make sense for two reasons.
Well, one reason it makes sense. The other reason is amazing gift that God gives to those people. The reason it makes sense is because when you believe, when you have that hope of glory, you can live fearlessly.
The story ends well. The story ends well, you know, because one of the biggest threats the world uses is the threat of war. It’s the threat of violence. It’s the threat of the death penalty. The ultimate threat that the world can hold over you is if you don’t do what we want, we’ll kill you.
And we get to say, you can’t threaten me with heaven, you can’t threaten me with heaven. You can’t threaten me with heaven. And you’re an idiot if you think you can. And by the way, whether you kill me or not kill me, whether somebody kills you or not kills you, guess what? you’re going to die too.
We’re all going to die. We’re all going to die, just no matter how you live. So we have this hope of glory. But the other thing that happens is there’s an attraction with heaven and earth. Jesus taught us to pray. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. How do we get heaven on earth? By focusing on heaven.
When we focus on heaven, we actually. Then when we focus on the future, we have that hope of glory that actually draws heaven back down into the present. And these little heaven bombs start to drop on us, and we start to see miracles and signs and wonders. We start to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Just had a testimony at Grace Covenant. I’m praying for Fran O’Brien, who’s a missionary to the Native Americans, White Buffalo Ministries. And I’m praying for Fran in France. We’re praying for her ministry, and we’re praying for this big gathering that we’re having. We’re praying for revival among the first peoples, among the Native Americans.
And, you know, I really feel like revival in America, you know, there’s something huge about those mothers and fathers, you know, who were here before the pilgrims, bringing in and blessing that revival. It’s going to be huge in the awakening that comes to America.
And I’m praying for that with Fran. I can’t even put my mind around it. I’m saying, those brothers, you know, it’s going to happen. Brianna, we’re praying for it. And then she gives me a by the way, because we’re praying for revival amongst some Native American Jews, by the way.
Oh, my brother Patrick, 60 some years old, has had terrible vision for a number of years. And he was praying the other day, and he woke up the next morning, and his eyesight was restored. Heaven bomb. Heaven bomb.
God restores the sight of a seven-year-old. God restores the sight of a seven-year-old. That’s awesome. He gets to see the rest of his life, but an old guy.
Yeah, yeah, I’ll do that too. Yeah, I’ll do that too. The blind see. The blind see the hope of glory where there’ll be no blindness. It breaks into the here and now. That’s so good. And then Paul has to go and ruin it. Oh, that’s so good. And then Paul has to go and ruin it.
And we glory in our affliction. What? The afflictions gone. I want the afflictions gone. Don’t worry, child. They will be soon enough. But in the meantime, we have afflictions. We have persecutions. We’re reviled. Remember the rest of the world.
Just because we became friends with God and at peace with God doesn’t change the rest of the world. They call us names, they slander us. In some countries, they still kill us. Josh, their family.
Josh D’Antino Santo was online with a Muslim guy and just using Christian apologetics and talking about faith. And the guy really came around. He said, you know, everything you say makes sense, and I believe it’s true. But here’s the final straw. If I say yes to it, I lose everything.
If I say yes to it, I lose everything. That was in your case when you became a Christian. See, that was in your case, when you became a Christian. You didn’t lose everything. You didn’t lose everything. If I say yes, I lose everything.
But in his case, if I say yes, I lose my family, my job, perhaps even my life, my freedom, maybe my life. Man accepting your truth, he says, man accepting your truth. And Josh very compassionately said, come on, wimp, do it. No, I don’t know what Josh. I don’t know how Josh responded.
Probably like, yeah, I don’t. I haven’t faced that kind of person, but it’s real. One of the things that convinces me about Christianity, one of the things that convinces me about Christianity is the level of vileness and hatred.
You’ll notice, even in our culture, we’ll speak out against hate, which is good. Speak out against anti-Semitism, which is good. Speak out against racial injustice, which is good. And we’ll speak out against those things.
Nobody never mentions in our culture that far and away, not even close. The most martyred group of people in the world are Christians. Somehow it gets twisted around that the Christians are the ones who are being the persecutors, who aren’t the persecuted in the cultural narrative. It’s a lie.
And then here comes Paul and says, rejoice at that. Why? Because you need spiritual muscle. Because you need spiritual muscle to carry the blessings I want to bring to you. Spiritual muscle. You need spiritual muscles.
You need endurance. Because this life takes endurance. You need to. You need. You need. I love. I love gym coaches, man. Gym coaches. I don’t know about gym coaches. They keep it simple.
Kids don’t do gym anymore. We used to do gym. We have PE. There was one answer. There was one answer to your PE coach for every problem in life. Take a lap. Take a lap. Oh, I’m not getting much sleep. Oh, I’m not getting much sleep. We’ll take a lap. Oh, that guy’s picking on me. We’ll take a lap. Just take a lap.
Go run around the track one more time, you know, just go run around the track one more time. Actually, there’s. There’s actually. Actually, there’s. There’s. There’s some truth to that. Get a little exercise. Get the blood flowing. You feel better.
Let’s take a lap. We need to take a lap. We need to take a lap. We got the poor me’s when we got the poor meats when we got the entitlements. How many of you have ever prayed to God when we’re whining, how many of you have ever prayed to God with like this?
Why is this happening to me? Anybody ever pray like that? Take a lap. Take a lap. Take a lap. I love my friend Rob Magnus. I love my friend Rob Magnus and Lori Magus, and they went to Africa. The first year was horrible. Horrible.
The pastor that was supposed to greet them there had skipped ship and come to America. They landed in Nigeria, one of the most corrupt countries in the world. They were getting robbed, they were getting taken. They friends. They were getting malaria. It was terrible.
And Lori, like her second or third bout of malaria. Rob, I’m so sick. This is so hard. Said. I know, sweetie. Suck it up, Buttercup. Suck it up, Buttercup. Suck it up, Buttercup. Buttercup Marine. Suck it up, Buttercup.
Trials take a laugh. Endurance Trials produce endurance. I love revival. I love. I love revival. I love when the power of God. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen a room full of people on the floor shaking underneath the power of God. And I’ve come to Christ. I’ve seen many people come to Christ, man. I love that.
I love that so much. And yet I still have this: that most of my Christian life is left foot in front of the right, right foot in front of the left, left foot. And the older I get, it keeps going. Just keep going. In the middle of afflictions, in the middle of afflictions, you don’t get a day off. You don’t get to stop. You don’t get a day off. You don’t get to stop.
Sometimes the phone rings and, you know, one of my kids Sometimes the phone rings and, you know, one of my kids is sick or somebody in the church or some bad news, you know, or somebody died or this or that happened, and it’s. And, you know, I’ve got. I’ve got a little.
I’ve got a little ptsd, you know, like, what’s going to happen here? Endurance. Endurance. Affliction gives us endurance. What does endurance. Affliction gives us endurance. What does endurance do? Surprisingly, makes us more like Jesus. Proven character. It gives us proven character.
It really works like this. Anybody can be good. It really works like this. Anybody can be good when it’s easy, right? Anybody can be good. Anybody can be good when it’s easy. You lose your temper at your family, what’s the first thing you say? My day.
Well, you don’t. My day. You picked the wrong day. My day. You picked the wrong day. That crossed the line with mom, with dad. You picked the wrong. Well, you know what? If you can’t be Christ during a bad day, when can you? Because Christ.
Anybody can do it during a good day. Anybody can do it during a good day. Proven character comes. Proven character comes from endurance. And that gives us hope. Why? We realize God’s in it. God’s in it in the tough times, if God’s in it.
In the tough times, if God’s in it. When our character grows, we know God is in it. And the Holy Spirit then lives in our heart, and he pours out the love of God. And these are the evidences of our salvation. You know, some people have this. They just read the Bible.
Oh, I’m justified by faith. And they just have this perfect emotional assurance of salvation. My wife’s like that. Do you know God loves you, Jill? Do you know God loves you? Oh, yeah, I know God loves me.
She asked me, do you know God loves you? She asks me, do you know God loves you? I think so. I’m kind of a loser. I know he says he loves losers, but I don’t know if he loves this big old. I hope he loves me. Don’t you know you’re going to heaven?
Don’t you know you’re going to heaven? You know, according to the Bible, I’m going to heaven. Yeah, but don’t you have that deep inner assurance you’re going to heaven? How many people in this room got that deep inner assurance? Kind of. Okay, kind of middle deep inner assurance?
Yeah, a lot of people do. A lot of people don’t. Right. Jill, she’s like, I’m going to heaven. Yeah, I’m good. Here’s my assurance. Here’s my assurance. The Holy Spirit. Here’s evidence that the book says. Here’s evidence that your faith is genuine.
Not only can you endure affliction and have hope. And have hope, which after 50 years as a Christian, I have. Which after 50 years as a Christian, I have hope. I speak in tongues. Now, I’m not saying tongues is the, you know, that you’re not a Christian if you don’t speak in tongues. I don’t believe that.
What I mean by that is that’s one evidence. But what I mean by that is that’s one evidence in my life of the Holy Spirit. There’s other evidence in my life of the Holy Spirit. All of a sudden, I flip over to thank.
Like when I’m grumpy, all of a sudden, I flip over to thankfulness. And all of a sudden, you know, it’s like, yeah, what a day. you’re married to Jill. Shut up. Quit whining. I know. God doesn’t tell me to shut up. That’s me.
Oh, yeah. I’m married to Jill. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I got three wonderful children. I got the Paulsbo Firehouse Church to look forward to. Oh, yeah, you know. Oh, yeah. Sophia’s my friend. How good is that? She’s a world-class debater.
Even though they don’t know how to do acronyms, she. I have a great salvation. That’s the Holy Spirit. Oh, yeah. I love people. I actually do love people, care about people. I can be a pretty selfish guy. What is that? That’s the love of God. That’s the Holy Spirit. There’s evidence of the Holy Spirit in my life.
Well, what does the Bible say? That’s the down payment. That’s the guarantee of our salvation. The Holy Spirit in you is an assurance of our salvation. If you doubt your salvation, go do a miracle. There you go.
Holy Spirit just worked through me. Go forgive an enemy. Holy Spirit working in you. Just tap into the Spirit of God. Just tap into the Spirit of God. His love is poured out in our hearts. We have the Spirit, and we have hope. We also have this. We also have this. We have the story that God’s love is demonstrated on the cross of Christ. Because while we were yet enemies, Christ died for us.
8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8, CSB)
As I said, our peace with God comes 100% from the heaven side. He wrote the terms. He executed the terms. He established the terms. He fulfilled the terms. He is the terms. Really, our side of the equation. Really, our side of the equation. Receive the gift. It’s like we’re three again, and they’re Santa Claus.
It’s like we’re three again, and they’re Santa Claus. This one, you don’t even have to. You could be on the naughty list. Only this one, you don’t even have to. You can. You can be on the naughty list, still get a gift. In fact, everybody’s on the naughty list. You still get a gift. That’s our side. Open the gift.
That’s our side of the equation. He even gives us grace to open the gift. I don’t believe that grace is irresistible, but I believe it’s there. Open the gift. Open the gift. God’s love demonstrated on the cross of Christ. Christ died for his enemies.
Listen, I would probably die for a good cause. I’ve never. Maybe I would die for a good cause. I’ve never been tested. It’s never been tested. My courage has never been tested. At that point, nobody’s ever pointed a gun at Jill and said, you are her buddy.
And not only men, do you have to make the right call. And not only men, do you have to make the right call. At that point, you can’t think about it, you know, just telling you, him or her, you know, if you do him or her, okay, me and then the rescuers come in, okay, me and then the rescuers come in, you’re still in trouble.
Two or three seconds delay. You had two or three second delay. You just got to go. No, I’ll take a bullet for it. All right, I’m pretty sure I do that. I’m pretty sure I’d do that. I’m pretty sure I’d die to protect my grandchildren. I don’t know. I haven’t been tested.
I suppose if there was some threat to y’all and I had the opportunity, at some risk to myself, to put an end to that threat, I would probably do it. You know, I’m an old guy, like, ah, take me out, aim well, you know, but don’t hurt, don’t hurt Mark. So many fun things happen in that life. Still, too many fun things are gonna happen in that life.
So, you know, I probably do that. So, you know, I’d probably do that. But what about, you know, what about if there was this, you know, terrible murderer in this room and, you know, came in to get the murderer, came in to get the murderer, and they were about to shoot him. But I knew if they shot that murderer, he was gonna go to hell.
And I knew if the police shot me, I was gonna go to heaven. Would I take that bullet? Jesus did. Jesus did. He took that bullet for scumbags. He took that bullet for scumbags. Liars, thieves, child molesters, murderers. Me. Me. Why were we yet enemies? Why were we yet enemies?
7 What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! But I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. (Romans 7:7, CSB)
This is the love of God. What shall we say then? What shall we say then? We shall be saved. We’ve just talked about all the benefits of faith and that we are saved. We do have peace with God. Our sins have been forgiven.
So what does it mean? We shall be saved? Well, there is a now and a not yet to the kingdom of God, right? It’s not yet consummated. We shall be saved. From what? His coming wrath. That hasn’t come yet. The wrath of God.
We don’t like to talk about the wrath of God. God is love. There’s no wrath in God. No, there is. There is wrath in God towards sin and toward those who hold on to sin and become his enemies. Read through the Old Testament.
This God will destroy his enemies. So, but here’s the deal. He’s done everything possible to make it so that we’re not his enemies. He died for his enemies first. But those who insist on remaining his enemies and not receiving this free gift will be destroyed by his wrath. They will be judged. They will be cast down. Eternally lost.
We’re saved from the wrath of God. That’s a good thing. I don’t know what the wrath of God is going to look like in its entirety. I don’t know if the lake of fire is literal or figurative. I don’t know what eternal conscious torment or destruction looks like.
Here’s my commitment. I don’t want to find out experientially and I don’t want anybody else to find out. I don’t want my loved ones to find out. I want to be saved from the wrath of God. And I have been. And so have you, because you have been justified by his blood.
Notice that two theories of the atonement appear in this passage. The three major theories of the atonement. There’s more than that. You can kind of parse out more than that, but really there’s substitutionary atonement. Christ died in our place. He was our substitute.
There’s the ransom theory that by Christ’s death on the cross, he paid off the debt owed to sin, Satan, and death, so that we have now been redeemed from our slavery to those things. Christ paid it off.
That’s if you watch The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. That’s the theory that C.S. Lewis presents the ransom theory. The third theory is the moral influence theory. God so loved the world. Behold what manner of love is this that the cross woos us with his love to come to him by faith.
Here’s the thing about the atonement theories that’s different than the thing about millennial or eschatological theories. Eschatological theories, millennial theories are mutually exclusive. In other words, you can’t be postmillennial and premillennial at the same time.
You know, one says the thousand-year reign is now. The other says the thousand-year reign is yet to come. Alright? One says the world’s going to get better before Christ comes. The other says it’s going to get worse before Christ comes. They’re exclusive. They both can’t be true.
All right, the atonement theories can all be true. Christ can die in our place, pay the debt owed to sin, slavery, and death, and overwhelm us with his love. And right here, it’s two of those are there. The ransom theory is not, but the other two are there.
Behold what manner of love. While we were still enemies, Christ died for us. That’s the moral influence theory. And here justified by his blood. That’s the atonement. That’s the substitutionary theory. That’s I’m a, I’m a. I’m a tri. I’m a tri. I’m a. What would you call it? A triatonement person, I guess.
Kaleidoscope when it comes to. I believe them all. I think they’re all in the Scriptures. I think they’re all true. But we’re justified by his blood. What the blood of goats and cows and pigeons could not do, the blood of Christ has done.
What the blood of other human sacrifice could not do, the blood of Christ did. It cleansed us, and we are justified, and therefore we are reconciled to God. Here’s a good one for you. Those of you who like to do a little apologetics.
When somebody says all religions lead to God, no, they don’t. In fact, there’s only one religion in the world that teaches that. Islam does not teach you access to Allah. Islam teaches you Allah will give you paradise. you’ll get to go to the happy place.
Buddhism teaches Nirvana, this state of peace and bliss. I don’t know Hinduism, what does it teach? What’s the you get off the wheel. You become kind of you become one with the cosmos. All right. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one what comes to the Father, but by me.
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6, CSB)
And we say it all the time. I say it all the time. Here. He’s the prize. Father, Son, Holy Spirit’s the prize. That’s what makes heaven heaven. It’s not the trees. It’s not the flowers. It’s not the rivers. It’s not the butterflies. It’s not the pretty city. It’s not nice people. It’s him. We are reconciled with God.
We are saved by his life. So there’s both a negative and positive aspect as it is to salvation. We are saved from this horrible consequence of the wrath of God. And that in itself. A lot of Christians, we’ve celebrated that. That’s. Wow. Yes. Got my fire insurance. I’m out. And that in itself is worth 10,000 years of praise and thank you.
But it gets better. We’re not just saved from that. We’re saved to this. Him forever. All his glory, all his goodness, all his love. Never ending, world without end. Can you imagine why the early church called this gospel? The announcement of good news. This is good news.
We ought to get excited about this. Somebody ought to whoop it up. Thank you. Thank you. Somebody ought to whoop it up. We now boast in God. Notice earlier, we boasted in the hope of glory. We boasted in our afflictions. Now we boast in God. What’s missing from all the boasting? Us. Yeah.
I’ve been coming to church for 66 years. We’ve never sang a song about Kevin. Kev, be magnified. We don’t sing that. I don’t know if I’m blasphemy. Just, you know. You didn’t sing that, did you? Let his praises rise.
No, we didn’t sing that. All hail King Brian. He makes great bratwurst. No, he didn’t sing that. I’ve been to his house. He makes good bratwurst. I appreciate it. Right. It’s all him all day. Oh, there’s my grandsons.
Taught their little mises to say, all day, son, all day we boast in God. We boast by giving testimony. Guess what God did. He healed a 69 year old blind man. Guess what God did. He raised our friend from the deathbed. Guess what God did, why we were yet enemies. He died for us. We boast in God.
Guess what God did for me. I have my testimony. Here’s how he came and saved me. Here’s how he met me. We boast in God. We boast when we praise. I just said we boast in God. We sing songs about Him. When we worship, we humble ourselves before him, and so our boast is in God.
When we serve, we don’t serve so everybody will look at us. See, I’m not entirely sanctified. When I’m doing something good, I always hope I get caught, right? When I’m humbly doing something anonymously good, I hope it becomes unanonymous.
One night it was great. You know, my wife was working, and this is when she worked like three minutes away. We lived on Marine Drive. It’s like six or three minutes away from the 911 center.
And just a few minutes earlier, I’m in the back room just watching TV, just being a lazy slob while she’s out making the money. And I thought, you know what? I had to get up and do those dishes. And I got up and I started doing those dishes.
And she walked in the house, and she caught me doing the dishes. That was awesome. You know, your wife just walks in, and you’re not expecting her. So it wasn’t like, you know, it wasn’t like a setup. She just caught me doing the dishes.
Oh, you’re doing the dishes. And it’s what I live for. I live to serve you acts of service. Man, I would marry her all over again. But I might look hard for a woman whose love language was an act of service first. I might find somebody, something easier, like words of affirmation.
I would so much say you’re pretty than vacuum. It’s just so much easier. you’re pretty. The carpet’s a mess. Yeah, but you got a great smile. That works for me. Ah, but then we. Never mind. Well, I’ll say it. We rejoice in our afflictions. So. But when we serve without being noticed, without looking for recognition, we boast in God.
This is the gospel, people. By his blood, by his love, by His 100% grace and mercy poured out upon us, we are justified. We have peace, we have hope, we have the Holy Spirit poured out and the love of God. We’re transformed from the inside out, dear ones.
We have access to his grace on a 24/7 basis. We have the boast and the hope of glory. We have the boast that even in our sufferings, God is working through them. In Romans 8:28, which we’re going to get to pretty soon, God works out all things for the good of those who love him, are called according to his purpose.
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, CSB)
So even in our afflictions, we boast because God’s doing a great work in us. One of the things God does in our afflictions, just to get back to that point, is he builds the Spiritual muscle necessary to carry the blessings.
We think carrying blessings is easy, but carrying blessings isn’t easy. What if the Lord were suddenly going to suddenly give us 200 new Christians? Wouldn’t that be awesome? 200 baby Christians all just. And we have a baptism. We baptized 200 of them. And they’re all going, yeah, we’re baby Christians.
And they’re all young and immature, right? They’re all, you know, younger than Sophia, all a bunch of teenagers, and they’re all coming off of drugs and sex, and they’re all tatted and pierced and coming from broken homes.
Oh, this is revival. It’d be a mess. It would be. Oh, my gosh, that would be. There’d be so many fires to put out. I pray for that kind of revival.
God says, well, you need more spiritual muscle, son. You need more affliction. All right. Sometimes we wonder why success ruins people because they’re not ready for it. It’s hard to carry.
Somebody once asked the comedian Bill Murray, what’s it like to be rich and famous? And he answered honestly. He said, I’d take the first, but not the second. Fame is not easy to carry. How would you like to have paparazzi outside your door every day?
Neither is. Look at all the large profile spiritual leaders who have moral failings. It’s not easy to carry. And therefore we glory in our afflictions. Why? Endurance and proven character and hope. So that the goodness of God is something that we can carry.
The glory of God, something we can carry. We will never lose the ability to serve without recognition. We’ll never lose the ability to give a cup of cold water in Jesus’ Name and not tell somebody about it.
This a great gospel. This is good news. This is the one story on earth. It’s the only one. Anybody comes along and tells you something that’s too good to be true. It is.
All right, Sophia, a young man comes into your life, and something will spark up in you and be like, oh, this guy’s just too good to be true. And your parents go, no, he’s not. you’ll believe it for two years. Then after two years, you’ll discover, no, he’s not.
That’s the way it works. That’s the way falling in love works. But this is too good to be true. And it is. Jesus said, remember my story is too good to be true. Remember by a simple meal that you are New Covenant people.
Your sins have been forgiven. You belong to me. You glory in the hope I give you strength for the endurance needed to walk it out on this planet. And you just glory in me, and it will be good, and it will be well.
And we already experience the beginning of that goodness and wellness. That’s one of the things communion is. Communion is an appetizer for the feast in heaven. You think, gather together and being with these sweet people in this room who you love and singing Jesus songs and going home encouraged and all that is good. It is. But no eye has seen or ear heard, the glory to be revealed. And this tells us hope, hope and be thankful.
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