WEBVTT 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:19.679 Good morning. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:24.559 The reading today is going to be from Romans chapter five, verses six to eleven. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:32.079 So while you're getting the that uh opened up, city kids and city teens. 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:36.240 This question is something that you might want to look out for today during the reading. 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:41.520 So I want you to think about this question and try and find two answers from this passage, okay? 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:45.280 So the question is, when did Christ die? 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:47.439 So those are the that's the question. 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:50.079 Try and find two answers in the reading. 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:59.920 For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:08.000 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:14.159 But God chose his love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:23.120 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be be saved by him from the wrath of God. 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:36.719 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 be shall we be saved by his life. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:44.959 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:46.719 And so reads God's word. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:52.560 I'm the assistant pastor here at City Church. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:59.439 And um just as I get set up here, why don't you open up um Romans chapter 5 again? 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:01.760 Uh have it open there in front of you. 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:10.080 Uh it's important that you're following along what I'm saying, uh, that you see that it's from scripture, it's not just a bunch of random thoughts that I came up with. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:21.840 Um we we at City we preach through um passages as they are written with the intention of preaching, preaching the intention that the writer had. 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:23.759 So it's important that you were uh looking at it there. 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:30.000 So open it up on your phone, or there's a few Bibles down here, a couple of Bibles there, if anybody's brave, to uh come down and get one. 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:36.080 I want to start today by thinking uh just a little bit, asking you to think a little bit about the future. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:38.800 Uh for some of you that might be a big worry. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:42.719 Uh for the rest of you, uh you haven't worried yet about the future. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:46.560 Um we don't know what's gonna happen in the future. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:50.479 We make plans and we dream dreams, don't we? 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:52.960 But sometimes they don't work out. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:55.520 Sometimes that's because of external factors. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:59.360 Uh stuff that's happened outside that means something can't happen. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:02.800 Well, sometimes that's because we mess up. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:06.639 We don't like to think about it, we don't like to um admit it. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:18.000 But it might be because of things you've done or things that you've failed to do that mean that those those dreams, those plans are yeah, no longer possible. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:20.240 Take your job, for example. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:29.919 Uh so you mightn't be able to relate directly to this, but I hope you can follow along, you can understand uh where I'm going with this, and maybe you'll be able to apply it to some part of your life. 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:50.800 Um but if you if say if in your job you're up for a promotion or you're you're thinking about getting a new job and you're actively looking for that new job, and and if you if you're in that stage, if you're in if you're looking for a promotion, if you're looking for a new job, you're not gonna want to mess things up in the here and now. 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:56.080 You're not gonna want to mess things up in your current job on that current project with that current client or whatever. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:04.400 You don't want to ruin your chances of getting that promotion, and you don't want to ruin that uh your boss's view of you because you'll need their reference. 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:06.479 You'll need a good reference from them for the next job. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:14.560 So no matter what it is, whether it's a good uh a promotion or a new job or whatever, you don't want to mess things up in the here and now. 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:18.480 Or think about relationships. 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:30.639 Maybe uh you have plans of where, or maybe you've done, maybe this has happened in the past where you've had plans of where a relationship might go, but you worry that you might think you might mess things up and they'll reject you. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:37.439 And so the future that you dreamed about, the future you'd planned, that's gone. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:49.199 And that's a fear that Paul wonderfully addresses here in Romans chapter 5, in terms of our relationship with God, how we might fear messing things up with Him. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:56.800 And one of the first things to see in this passage is just how amazing God's love is. 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:05.920 Now, I don't want you to come, I don't want you to be looking at this and hearing me say from the front of church uh just how amazing God's love is. 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:06.639 Of course. 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:08.160 Of course I'm gonna say that. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:10.319 But look at what Paul says. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:15.439 So read with me uh from Romans chapter 8, especially. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:18.879 So just at the start of the passage, we're focusing in on verses 6 to 8. 00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:26.480 It's hard to separate out the whole thing because we see God's love throughout it, but especially in verse 8, there, if you read it with me, so do follow along in your Bibles. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:37.600 Verse 8 says, But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:47.759 That's our our first main point of today's sermon is behold God's love displayed. 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:50.000 And I want you to behold it. 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:56.639 I want you to see it, to sit with it for a while, to know God's love for you. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:05:58.959 How amazing it is. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:09.600 And there's two important things here that show us just how amazing God's love is, they'll help us to behold his love. 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:16.079 There's the costly sacrifice, and there's unworthy recipients. 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:21.759 These two things help to highlight the breadth of God's love for us. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:28.079 And one reason they show the breadth of his love is they're kind of on opposite ends of the scale. 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:38.160 On one side, you have us where we were being weak, being ungodly, being sinners and enemies of God. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:41.759 You'll see that's how we're described the whole way through these verses. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:47.920 And on the other end, there's the perfect, costly sacrifice of Christ. 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:53.759 And these two things together show the extent to which God loves us. 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:56.000 They stretch it out for us. 00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:04.560 It's like looking to the horizon one way and then looking to the horizon in the opposite direction. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:06.240 It just stretches out. 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:09.839 Not just beyond one horizon, but beyond two horizons. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:24.000 If you try to measure the price of Christ's death and his blood being spilled, you'll start here and you'll start to trace it beyond the horizon that way. 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:33.839 And then if you try to measure your sin, the cost of it, you'll start here and you'll trace it beyond the horizon the other way. 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:43.120 The debt we owed was too much for us, but the value of his sacrifice, of Christ's sacrifice, is infinite. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:50.560 So let's focus in on that costly sacrifice just a bit by itself now. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:55.680 Why was such a costly sacrifice needed in the first place? 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:04.319 Well, some of that is answered by the depth of uh of our enmity with God and our sin, which we'll look at more in a moment. 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:16.959 But the Old Testament was pointing towards that through the system of sacrifices for when individuals or the whole people of God sinned against him, whether that was intentional or not. 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:22.720 There was a system there, there was a way for them to be made right with God, to be reconciled to him. 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:24.800 Reconciliation was needed. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:28.639 And those those sacrifices they were costly enough. 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:30.879 A life had to be given. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:34.559 It was usually uh a cow or a goat or a lamb. 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:42.799 And it's no that taking the life of a of an animal being given, that's that's no insignificant thing. 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:45.759 But these sacrifices were never good enough. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:51.440 They had to be made over and over, and they never fully paid the debt. 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:56.399 They were only a shadow of the sacrifice that was needed. 00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:13.679 The sacrifice that was needed, it had to be perfect, it had to be a perfect life, it had to be the costliest sacrifice, it had to be God's own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man. 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:23.759 And as we continue to contemplate who this Christ is, we we keep looking further and further at his majesty, at his supremacy. 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:29.279 It just stretches off into the distance, beyond the horizon. 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:33.039 And we just marvel at who he is. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:37.120 And this is the Christ who died. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:39.120 God himself. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:42.240 The Son of God became human. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:52.639 He lived among us, was betrayed by a friend, mocked by those he had created, and was crucified to those he had given authority to. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:10:01.519 Behold, God's love displayed in the costly sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:10.480 And what compounds this though is how unworthy we are as recipients of his love. 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:12.799 We were weak. 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:16.000 That is morally weak. 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:18.320 That's what Paul's talking about here in terms of weakness. 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:21.279 We're morally weak, unable to make ourselves good. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:22.559 We were ungodly. 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:25.840 We were doing the very opposite of what God intended for us. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:27.120 We were sinners. 00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:30.559 We were those who had committed cosmic treason. 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:34.720 We committed cosmic treason against the king of the universe. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:36.799 We were enemies of God. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:45.600 And we weren't just coexisting with him in some sort of neutrality, but being at enity with him. 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:48.399 We're enemies, being hostile towards him. 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:53.440 And so we were justly under his judgment and his wrath. 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:59.679 Picture me, uh picture with me a classroom for a moment. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:01.519 It's easy for for me to do. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:17.840 Twelve months ago, I was uh worrying about the next day as in Monday, because it was when I was going back to school as a teacher uh for the last half term, and any teachers here will know Sunday is uh Sunday is the the fear day. 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:22.639 Um but and and some of you it's a while since you've been in the classroom, but you can imagine it. 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:24.480 You can imagine this classroom situation. 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:29.279 So occasionally I had students come into class without homework done. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:38.639 And that's not great, so I take a note of it, but there were procedures that we went through, so I gave them a chance to catch up with it, and we left it at that. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:49.919 And if I had some reward, which is the odd time I did, but had some reward for homework that was done very well or something like that, I wouldn't be thinking about giving it to the student who didn't have their homework done. 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:51.519 That's pretty obvious. 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:53.039 They wouldn't deserve it. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:58.639 And if it happened again a couple of times that they didn't bring in their homework, there'd be more consequences. 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:05.440 I'd potentially give them extra homework, punishment fitting the crime and all that, although you might think, well, that's a silly thing to do. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:08.320 If they haven't done their homework in the first place, they're not going to do the extra homework. 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:15.120 Um I'd potentially call home, they could be put on lunchtime detention, or they might have to stay after school or something like that. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:20.080 And all the while I tried to have a good attitude towards the student. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:30.799 I didn't want to let uh their behavior and their lack of engagement with the homework harm my relationship with them as an educator, because the relationship is very important for their learning and for your sanity. 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:33.679 But that can be hard. 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:40.879 Not having the homework done is a pretty minor thing in terms of how it affected the teacher-student relationship. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:50.240 But when it came to misbehaviour and talking out of turn, uh if they're doing that constantly talking over you, talking over others, that's when it got more difficult. 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:53.360 But continue with me. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:13:07.360 Imagine a student who not only fails to bring in their homework to class, not only do they talk over you and over others, and misbehave in general, they're actually outside during the lesson. 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:11.039 They're outside throwing stones at the windows. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:17.440 You wouldn't be anywhere near contemplating giving them a reward. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:19.279 Not in that moment. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:21.440 You'd be straight down to the principal to deal with it. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:24.080 You wouldn't want to have to bother yourself with dealing with it. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:27.279 You couldn't tolerate that sort of behavior even for a moment. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:33.519 And again, there'd be no way you'd be thinking about doing anything good for them in that moment. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:39.440 Yet that's what we were like. 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:41.519 And worse. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:47.279 That's what we were like when Christ died for you. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:14:02.639 And it's not like God just sat us down like a principal might do, and wait till we're settled, and and wait till we've explained ourselves, or wait till there's understanding and we might apologize. 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:09.679 Christ died for us before we had done anything to claw back from the position we were in as enemies. 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:10.399 We were weak. 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:13.440 Again, Paul means that we were morally weak. 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:16.000 We couldn't make our way to God by ourselves. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:20.879 That's when Christ died for us. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:32.480 And Paul, you might have noticed, he makes this argument that it's on a very rare occasion that someone would give their life for another, even if that person is righteous. 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:38.720 But he catches himself for a moment before finishing the thought, saying that maybe he'd consider dying for a good person. 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:40.879 See that in verse 7 there. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:48.000 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:51.200 But God shows his love for us and he goes on. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:56.000 And taken out of context, someone might think, Well, I'm pretty good. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:15:00.799 I think someone would consider dying for me because I'm good. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:11.600 Paul is saying that this barely even happens to a righteous person or a good person, but we weren't even in a state of neutrality with God, let alone being righteous. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:13.200 We were enemies. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:17.679 And that's when Christ died for us. 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:27.600 But God shows his love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:36.480 God's love is shown in the most costly of sacrifices for the most unworthy of a recipient. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:38.720 Behold, God's love displayed. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:48.240 And since he loved you enough to die for you when you were a sinner, he's going to keep loving you. 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:50.559 And he'll keep you secure to the end. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:53.360 Especially because now Christ is alive. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:55.759 We celebrated that last week with Easter. 00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:03.919 If he saved you in his death, how much more does his resurrection and life give us a secure hope for the future? 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:14.879 If his love was displayed, if it was shown, if it was proven when we were enemies, how much more would he keep us and save us on into the future? 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:18.879 We don't need to worry about the coming wrath and the day of judgment. 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:26.559 Because of our current position, that's being justified, and because of what God did in Christ to achieve that for us. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:37.919 Since our current position was achieved by Christ's death and his blood, again, how much more are we assured by his life? 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:46.559 In these next verses, Paul addresses the question of whether we'll be saved and kept into the future, whether God will keep loving us. 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:48.480 Have we messed up too much? 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:53.279 And his answer here is to rest assured in the gospel. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:55.759 That's our second main point. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:59.360 Rest assured in the gospel. 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:02.639 Again, there's two sub points. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:04.960 I should have said at the start, we have three main points. 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:07.680 Each main point has two sub points. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:13.440 I still struggle with maths, despite the fact that I was a maths teacher, and I make that joke every time I'm up here. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:14.480 I need to stop it. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:15.359 Three points. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:19.039 This is our we're on our second point, and there's two sub points. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:25.359 So rest assured in the gospel, firstly, because the cross it justifies us completely. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:28.160 It completely justifies us. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:31.759 And the resurrection gives us a start in the future. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:37.519 So rest assured in the gospel because the cross justifies us completely. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:44.559 So we're looking at verses 9 to 10, and Paul continues to talk about the implications of our justification. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:52.720 But I want to I want to just head back to verse 1 for a moment and just uh talk through what we were looking at last week and then into this week. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:58.160 So he started in verse 1 with um which which we looked at last week. 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:04.960 Um have a look up there in verse 1 and 2 and follow along with me as we see the implications of our justification. 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:12.319 So verse 1, since we have been justified by faith, we're with we're thinking about the implications. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:16.319 We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:23.680 Through him we've also obtained access by faith into his grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:27.759 There are some of the benefits or the implications of our justification. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:35.920 Peace with God, access by faith into his grace in which we stand, and rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:51.359 And Paul goes on then in verses 3, 4, 5, again, which we looked at last week, to talk about how we can rejoice in the midst of suffering, and that we're assured of our future hope because of God's love for us, which we experience by the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:19:04.799 And then we get to today's passage in what we just looked at in verses 6 to 8, where Paul outlines just how amazing this love is, in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:16.400 And now in verse 9, so we're getting to verse 9, he continues with more wonderful implications of our justification, which remember he began back in verse 1 with these. 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:21.839 And just notice the similarity in how Paul writes in verses 1 and 9. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:26.000 In verse 1 he says, Therefore, since we've been justified, and then goes on. 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:30.559 And then in verse 9, which we're looking at now, since therefore we have now been justified. 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:35.519 So he's picking up in verse 9 here more of what our justification means. 00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:47.680 But one thing to do before looking at the implications of our justification is simply, simply to ponder for a moment, to steep in the first half of verse 9. 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:53.440 Since we have now been justified by his blood. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:55.759 Remember where we were. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:59.440 We sinners have been justified. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:00.799 And look at verse 10. 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:03.440 We enemies have been reconciled. 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:06.000 We've been justified, we've been reconciled. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:08.000 That's such good news. 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:15.039 Christ's death for us, while we are still sinners, makes us right before our holy God. 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:17.920 It brings us into relationship with him. 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:22.480 But how can we be sure that this is true? 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:29.039 Well, it's grounded in the cross of the Lord Jesus, in the shedding of his blood at the cross. 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:30.720 We see that throughout here. 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:36.160 Paul talks about Christ's blood, his death, he talks about his death again. 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:38.240 It's all grounded in the cross. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:49.680 The cross justifies us. 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:53.839 Not only does it justify us, it justifies us completely. 00:20:54.640 --> 00:21:01.599 There's nothing more we can do, nothing more we can add, because his death was the perfect sacrifice. 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:12.000 What Christ has done on the cross in his death is not just paying off our debt, though that is wonderfully true, but it's not just paying off our debt, it's more than that. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:16.160 It's that our account has permanently been debited. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:19.119 Sorry, not debited, credited. 00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:20.960 We can't even put more in. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:22.559 We can't earn more. 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:27.039 If we tried, we would debit our account, we'd empty our account, but we can't. 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:28.799 It's being credited. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:34.240 That we may struggle and toil to earn our own righteousness before God and before others. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:40.799 We can rest assured in the gospel because we've been justified by the blood of our perfect Savior. 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:46.000 And the effectiveness of Christ's once for all sacrifice, it doesn't diminish over time. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:49.519 It doesn't weaken the more people are saved by Him. 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:58.640 Our current right standing before God and our present salvation are grounded in the objective reality of Christ's death on the cross. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:07.920 We rest assured In the gospel, because Christ's death, because the cross, indeed justifies us completely. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:13.680 And on top of this, the resurrection confirms our justification. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:21.279 It's proof that he is victorious, that he's victorious over sin, that his death does justify us. 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:23.759 The resurrection confirms it. 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:31.839 And not only that, but we rest assured in the gospel because the resurrection gives us a certain hope. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:36.400 So we've seen that the cross justifies us completely. 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:41.920 And now our second sub point is that the resurrection gives us a certain future. 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:47.200 And this is really what Paul is driving home for us in verses 9 and 10. 00:22:47.440 --> 00:23:04.240 He's drawing us from how amazing it is that we've been made right with God while we were enemies, while we were still sinners, and helping us to see that if that's true, then there's no doubt that he'll keep us to the end, that we'll be saved from God's wrath on the final day. 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:11.839 If Christ won your salvation by his death, how much more does his life give you hope for the future? 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:14.720 A sure hope of eternity with God. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:24.000 And we've already seen how great his love is for us in the cross, so we can be sure that he will keep loving us since Christ is alive. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:29.759 There's nothing that can thwart God's salvation plan. 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:36.079 Not even our weakness, nor our own sin, the sins of others or the hardships we face. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:52.240 If we couldn't stop, if we couldn't put a stop to God saving you, if you couldn't stop him saving you when you were an enemy, then you won't stop, uh you won't stop him from keeping you now. 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:58.559 You see, it's not about you, it's about him. 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:05.759 The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the grounds for our confidence. 00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:10.960 So we can face those hardships knowing that he will keep us. 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:22.079 And we can acknowledge our weakness, we can acknowledge our sin, knowing that we've already been reconciled to God and we will be saved by his son's life. 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:26.000 That's hugely significant for us, brothers and sisters. 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:29.920 We can and should live honest lives before God. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:34.400 And we can live honest lives before each other as well. 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:36.720 We don't need to hide our weakness. 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:38.720 We don't need to hide our sin. 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:44.720 That's why we say a corporate confession together on a Sunday morning every few weeks. 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:53.519 And it's good that we're often led in during other times, maybe in prayer, in song, um, at the Lord's Supper, in confession. 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:58.799 In community groups, we're able to talk about our sin and our failings together. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:01.440 We can do that in one-to-ones as well. 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:14.799 Because we're secure in the fact that God has already pardoned and forgiven us, and confident that Christ brings life out of death because God raised him from the dead. 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:21.680 And we are confident that God raised Jesus from the dead. 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:24.559 We believe it's an objective fact. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:29.359 Our confidence and assurance are grounded in two historical facts. 00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:33.839 Christ died for our sins, and he was raised to life. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:43.519 Rest assured in the gospel because the cross justifies you completely, and the resurrection gives you a certain hope for the future. 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:49.279 Finally, we live out of these truths. 00:25:49.359 --> 00:26:04.160 We live out of the knowledge of what God's done for us, of his love that was shown in Christ's costly sacrifice for us unworthy recipients, that we're justified completely by the cross, that our future is secure because of the resurrection. 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:07.680 So, how should we as Christians live in response to this? 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:11.039 And that's where Paul goes next in verse 11. 00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:12.799 Rejoice. 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:18.079 He writes in verse 11, if you read it with me, more than that. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:24.400 We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:31.920 Our third and final main point is rejoice having received reconciliation. 00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:36.480 And again, there's two things I want to highlight here, our two subpoints. 00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:40.799 They are enjoy God and boast in Him. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:43.839 So first, enjoy God. 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:48.640 Justification, it's not an end in itself. 00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:50.960 It's 100% needed. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:57.119 But its purpose is not only that we're not enemies, it's not only that our debt is paid. 00:26:57.519 --> 00:26:59.440 These things are true. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:08.000 And being those who are certain of our future, being confident that we won't bear the wrath of God should make us at the very least feel relieved. 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:14.799 It's a wonderful truth that we've been declared right before God and we are no longer his enemies. 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:16.799 Again, that's great news. 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:24.240 But we haven't just been brought from being enemies to a place of neutrality to like an absence of hostility. 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:27.279 We've been reconciled to God. 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:29.039 We've received his favor. 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:33.920 We've been restored to a loving relationship with our Creator. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:36.640 We've been adopted by Him. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:39.039 And now we call Him a father. 00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:43.680 And the adoption process is helpful to think about. 00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:48.000 There are lots of important legal things that need to take place in order for an adoption to happen. 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:51.039 It has to be very formal and judicial. 00:27:51.519 --> 00:27:56.640 But the motivation for it is the adoptive parent's love for the child. 00:27:56.799 --> 00:28:00.559 The end goal is not just having something down on a legally binding piece of paper. 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:04.160 That's not why parents go through that process. 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:08.240 It's to have a loving parent-child relationship. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:10.720 And the legal things, they are so important. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:18.079 And they are actually an expression of love, but it's also there can be this loving relationship. 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:21.440 And the same is true for us with our Father. 00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:26.640 What it costs to justify us was huge, but it doesn't just end there. 00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:30.400 We've been reconciled to Him. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:35.359 And when we look at the cross, we don't just see that we're no longer enemies. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:39.759 We see His love for us and that we've been made His children. 00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:42.720 We have a relationship with Him. 00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:51.599 So we go through life enjoying our relationship with our God, with God our Father, confident of His love for us. 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:54.880 And secondly, we boast in Him. 00:28:55.359 --> 00:28:58.640 Having been reconciled to God, that's the position we're in. 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:04.319 We've been reconciled to God by His death on by Christ's death on the cross. 00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:09.279 Having this wonderful relationship with Him and being confident in that reconciliation. 00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:14.480 Again, because of the the cross and the resurrection, we rejoice in Him. 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:17.039 We proclaim what He has done. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:19.200 We can't help but talk about it. 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:23.599 And we can't help but orientate our lives around it and around Him. 00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:29.440 The word Paul uses here, that's translated as rejoice, can also be translated as rejoice. 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:31.119 Sorry, as boast. 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:32.319 We boast in him. 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:36.480 We boast in who he is and what he has done. 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:39.599 Now we've no pride in ourselves. 00:29:39.920 --> 00:29:42.480 We've no pride in our own efforts. 00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:49.039 Paul has just been walking us through how we were, when we were weak, that's when Christ died for us. 00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:50.880 That's what we rejoice in. 00:29:50.960 --> 00:29:52.880 And that's what we tell others about. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:30:04.400 That our God is so loving that Jesus died for us while we were still weak, so that we could be reconciled to Him, being made His son or His daughter. 00:30:05.839 --> 00:30:11.920 So we boast to others whether they enjoy that same relationship with Him or not. 00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:15.519 We boast about how amazing God's love is. 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:23.039 We say things like, Did you know that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me? 00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:25.279 That's how great His love is. 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:30.480 That's why we sing songs all about Him. 00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:34.720 We sing songs all about what He has done. 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:36.720 We're rejoicing in Him. 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:41.119 We're helping each other to rejoice in Him as we sing those songs together. 00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:47.119 We boast in Him as we read His Word together in community groups or in one-to-one Bible studies. 00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:54.079 We're saying that He is worth living for and shaping our lives around because we've been reconciled to Him. 00:30:55.359 --> 00:31:00.559 And our rejoicing in God, our boasting in Him is it's not misplaced or exaggerated at all. 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:06.640 Again, it's grounded in the gospel, in the good news of Christ's death on the cross and His resurrection. 00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:23.920 Just like how the certainty of His love, the assurance of our justification, and the guarantee of being saved eternally are all grounded in the gospel, so too our boast in Him, our rejoicing in Him, and what He's done for us is grounded in the Gospel. 00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:39.359 And if you're here and you don't have that relationship with God, you don't enjoy relationship with Him as Father, then there are no efforts you can make to justify yourself. 00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:54.319 But the wonderful, the wonderful news is that justification, that is, having that right relationship with God, being reconciled to Him, that comes through faith in Jesus, in what He has done. 00:31:54.480 --> 00:31:56.400 And it's a free gift he gives. 00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:03.440 I would urge you to consider Christ, consider His death on the cross and his resurrection. 00:32:04.960 --> 00:32:16.079 And brothers and sisters, you who were enemies with God, but who have been reconciled to him, behold God's love displayed for you. 00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:27.279 Rest assured in the gospel and rejoice in joying him and proclaiming him and what he has done for all your days.