Introduction My challenge and encouragement to you is that over the what we've learned over the last six weeks, that you will take this road and that you will resolve to share it with someone who needs to hear it. This isn't just the job of the pastor is what it means to be a Christian. And so here we go into our last part of the road.
:Let's go by just reviewing what the markers on the road we have seen so far to help us understand the gospel marker number one for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans three 23 that we all have the same starting point. We all need help. Marker number two for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord that God made away even despite our sin, he made a way that we can have life marker number three and he didn't give it to us because we got our act together because we got it all figured out because we were a students, but rather God demonstrates his own love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us before we ever even knew that we needed help to begin with.
Pastor Jason:He already had paid the price for that sin marker four and this is how you express your faith in Jesus Christ. If you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10, nine that's it. Full stop. You will be saved. No question. Done. Deal. Simple but not simplistic for a huge price was paid to make that happen. Market number five. Therefore, as a result, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We can't be punished because of sin. The punishments already been taken by Jesus himself. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation to live in such a way that we can share God's glory with the world. And now into our last marker on the road. And I want to get there by sharing a couple of stories. The first is, how many have you taken your kids or grandkids to Liberty science center? Liberty science center? Yeah. Yeah. Tons of fun. Liberty science center. So, this was maybe, I'm going to say a year ago. Could have been a little longer, but we went to Liberty science center and we went on, there's this thing where the skyscrapers are, and you can walk on the beams, like you're walking on a skyscraper and it's, it's pretty high up. It's pretty high. I don't, maybe 20 feet or something. It looks like a thousand feet when you're up there. Anyway, so my kids were like, Oh, that's really cool. Let's do that. Okay, sure. So I take them up there and they're starting to get a little, well, I don't know. I don't know if we really want to do this. I'm like, no, no, no, no. Don't worry about it. I'll do it too. I'll do it too. So I'm gonna show how brave dad is. So, so then, and then like they're getting, well, it's getting, the situation is just crumbling in front of my eyes as we're getting ready and we're getting close to being our turn. Then they're just like, um, yeah, we don't really want to do this anymore. I'm like, no, listen, listen. I'll go first. I'll go first and I'll show you. There's nothing to be afraid of. So they, you know, harness me up and as they're harnessing me up, they bolt awesome. Thank you. Thanks kids. But you know what? I'm going to show you, this is fabulous So I get harnessed up and I get out there and there's something I discovered about myself. I'm very afraid of heights, like very afraid. So I'm on this thing and the whole time this is not safe. How is this even legal? this must be for kids anyway. I shouldn't be up here. They should have stopped me and up there. And I'm walking around the thing like, and I'm like holding onto the thing, but I'm trying so hard to be brave. Don't let them see your shaking. And I'm like, this is great. Kids come join me. And so I'm walking along and I get through the thing. Okay. And they're like, and I'm just like, Oh yeah guys, you know... It's such a lie, but I want to encourage them. And they're like, yeah, we're not going to do that. but then last summer we go down to Jenkinson's. Jenkinson's adventure Look out Jenkinsons man, they're making some cash. I'm just going to say, wow, good business plan. Anyway, we go down there and and the kids are like, let's do adventure, look out. Oh really? Let me remind you of what happened the last time you want to do something like this and this is way higher and way like way higher, way bigger. I think probably a bit scarier to experience. There's like a zip line and everything else. Many of you have been there, you know what I'm talking about? Sure enough they get all saddled up and they'd go up on the thing. I'm like, well, gives- they're like, well look, I mean there's a bunch of kids on there. It's like there's some parts where you can hold on. For some reason they thought this was a lot safer than the Liberty science center and therefore they were able to get on this thing and I think my daughter did the zip line like two dozen times. They loved it. They want to do it again and in that is a very important spiritual truth. When we feel secure, we're able to push far beyond our comfort zones. It's actually feeling secure helps us to thrive. When we're secure about our relationship with God, we can go way past our comfort zones into becoming the people that God has designed us to be. This is true with rollercoasters. Hey listen, I love roller coasters. I don't like that coaster with the little lap bar. I don't feel very secure in that thing. I feel like it's just going to come up. You don't know talking about or if you've got a kid with you and you're just doing the arm bar like that's going to do anything, but you're worried that the thing I would much rather, we're all strapped into the harness. I don't care if my feet are dangling on that thing. I like wearing the big old locking mechanism that feels safe and even though it's a scary roller coaster, it does more flips and twists it a much higher. I feel more secure, therefore I enjoy it more. That's the other thing about security. Security helps us enjoy the ride. When you have security of faith, it helps you enjoy the roller coaster of life. This is even true with our relationships, right? I mean, listen, you ever been in a relationship where you didn't feel secure? That's miserable. That's like the worst. When you're not feeling secure in a relationship, it's torture. Security helps us enjoy our relationships. It helps our relationships thrive. There's something about that security we can do. It's like we can do riskier things in a way. If we're feeling secure, we can take greater risks with our life because we're feeling that safety and security. Security frees us to enjoy our relationships. So in order to live this Christian life, like a relationship or a high ropes course or a roller coaster, we need to feel secure. Why? Because life is coming at us a hundred miles an hour with challenges constantly. Life is still life and it's happening fast and all sorts of stuff. We do not know what's going to happen tomorrow and stuff happens that we did not expect and we have to navigate that. The Christian life is meant to be a whole different way of approaching that life. It's that when these things come my way, we have a deep, deep spiritual security that enables us to thrive like Katie, when tragedy hit her life, what if she had God to lean on? It would change the way her life was going forward. So let's jump in here. Let's go Romans chapter eight starting at verse 31 this is what Paul says about security of faith. What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also along with him graciously give us all things? In other words, God's got your back. There is no opposition. There is no opposition that can come your way, that has not already been handled or won't be handled by God. God's got your back. There's nothing who can be against us if God is for us. I remember when I was in first grade, there was a stretch of two weeks where I was getting bullied by a sixth grader and I do not know why I came to school one day and that he started just like shoving me around. He has little sixth grade minions with them and they were all laughing and I was just in first grade man and, but he's pushing me around and he was like pulling my hair. He's like, getting me in a headlock and all this stuff. And I remember telling my parents and y ou k now, they're just like, you just got t o sock h im one. It was a different time. Okay. Kids its a different time. You just got to sock t hem o ne. That's how you stand up to bullies. You just got to sock t hem one. I'm like, a ll r ight, next day I got out on the playground. This kid pushes me. I did not hesitate. I punched the kid so hard right in the face. I distinctly remember having to reach up to reach him c ause I was only in first grade and his nose starts bleeding and he starts crying and the teacher comes over. What happened here? She grabs my arm, walks me off about 10 yards and goes, good for you. she's like, get to class. but you know what I felt? I felt like that kid's not going to bug me again. And even if he does, that teacher's got my back. Listen, no matter what opposition you are facing, God's got your back. God's got your back. No matter what, there is no opposition that could come your way that God will not handle in your life. And this is huge cause we doubt God all the time. Even if we don't think in here, we doubted here this new challenge comes our way and we doubt that God's going to show up the situation that we don't know how to figure out. We doubt if God's going to show us the way there is no opposition. There is no opposition that God cannot handle. All right. Verse 33 who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen. It is God who justifies. Remember Paul, as we said six weeks ago, Paul had a very courtroom understanding of Jesus and what he did. It's like in the divine bar of justice. We approached the bench and instead of sitting in the seat of the guilty, Jesus saves us from that, so he's talking this justice language again. It is God who justifies, who then is the one who condemns no one Christ Jesus who died more than that, who was raised to life. Is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. He's getting in the way so to speak. He's, he's standing between us and a judgment that condemns us. He takes the blame on our behalf so that we can walk free. It's like I think about a great courtroom drama or courtroom movie. I think about a few good men with Jack Nicholson is Nathan Colonel Jessup and you've got a picture of it. Go ahead and go to that. Yeah, I'll be, come on. That's just a great thing. Did you order the code red? Your gosh darn right. I did- church I had to clean that up. Great scene, but it's like when it comes to Jesus, Jesus would intercede in that situation. If this was a spiritual courtroom, Jesus would would dismiss Colonel Jessup and say, I did. The punishment goes to me so that this other can walk free, that Jesus interceded for us. He took the sin that we did upon himself and paid the sacrifice, paid the penalty so that we could be free. As a result, there is no condemnation. That's the other thing that brings us security. There's no opposition. There's no condemnation. Listen, how much of the Christian life for so many people is driven by guilt? What is that about? Jesus did that so you wouldn't be driven by guilt, that you'd be driven love. You'd be driven by the sheer joy of knowing that he interceded for you. There is no condemnation who can condemn God alone, can condemn an he already took that condemnation upon himself. It just blows your mind. God took the condemnation that we deserve upon himself upon his perfection so that we can live. There is no condemnation. Verse 35 and this is the big like punchline for Paul, who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword as it is written for your sake. We face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. What's he, what's he referencing? He's referencing Christian persecution that was happening to Christians in Rome. He's writing a letter to a group of people, group of Christians. He's like, who's going to separate us from love of God, all these things are happening to you. Do you think this is actually gonna do anything to your soul, to your relationship with God? Think God's just gonna leave you hanging out there. And here's, here's the big famous thing that he says in verse 37. No, in all of these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. And even in the Greek, it's a bit stronger than more than conquerors. It's, we are overwhelming conquerors. Like, it's not even close. It's a landslide. We are overwhelming conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And that's the third thing that gives us security. There is no separation. no opposition, no condemnation, no separation. What could give us any more security than that? Because I know how you think because I think to some times it's like, well, I did that thing that was wrong, right? Or, uh, my sinful behavior was like this. And, and you start going down this weird rabbit trail in your brain, like you're trying to justify or it gets it, you're like, well, I did all these things and so I don't know, maybe maybe God's mad at me. Maybe God's love isn't going to be with me for awhile because I did those things and have to be good again so that I'll return to his favor. No, nothing can separate. Your behavior cannot separate you. It can cause you pain, but it can't separate you. It could give you some negative consequences in your life, but he can't separate you. Yeah, but what if I give in to temptation? Well then bummer, but it doesn't separate you. What if I give up on my faith for a while? Even that it doesn't separate you. We come up with all sorts of reasons why we should be out and God says, no, you're in. You put your faith in me you're in, be at peace about it. You got other things to worry about. You got a life to live. you've already won. That's the thing that I love too. He says, you are more than conquerors. Not you will be more than conquerors. You are already more than conquerors because of what Jesus did in your life. You already know like what? If you were going to play a game and you knew you couldn't possibly lose, that'd be pretty fun. I'd be inviting you over to like play play pool or something. I can't lose. I cannot lose. It changes the whole way You play that game, right? Even if you're down, you're like, I'm going to come back. Can't lose. Enjoy it while lasts buddy, I'm gonna win this thing. This is the Christian life. We know we already won because God did the winning for us. You already DVR the game. You know how it ends. You know the ending of that movie. You have victory because of what Jesus did. Nothing in life should give us more security than that. The games won already and nothing in life is going to change that there is no separation. So what does this mean for you and me? It means that on this journey of the road, that really brings us to this final piece is in everything that God did for you, be sure that he will never leave you nor forsake you, that he will be with you every step of the way as you navigate following him the rest of your life. And so marker number six is for I am convinced that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Again, as I always say, you know what? A sermon should be like an airplane, things gotta land somewhere. It's great to talk about the love of God. It's great to talk about the road and all these things, but where does this land in your life today? If you're not sure, maybe here's a place to start. Think about this idea. If God is for you, who could be against you? What if right now, in a space in your bulletin, if you have something to write with, if you wrote, if God is for, and then put your name in there, put your name in the blanks. If God is for who can be against, and your challenge is to go home and pray that this week, it won't take you long. It's one sentence. If God is for you, who could be against you, you're already going to win the game. Enjoy your life accordingly. It's that security that frees us to leave our comfort zones, enjoy our relationships, and enjoy the ride. This is the road from Romans to the gospel.