CalBaptChBlfdWV

05/31/09 Sunday a.m.

Assurance Because We Are Secure in Christ

Romans 5:1-21
So many Christians struggle with the concept of Assurance of Salvation. How can I know
for sure that I am really saved?

One of the best books I ever read early on in my Christian life was written by a Christian
business man named John Strombeck entitled Shall Never Perish. The primary text of the
book was John 10:28 "And I give to them eternal life and they shall never perish...."

This teaching that we are secure in Christ transcends the Gospel of John and permeates
Scripture from Genesis to Revelation and gives us real assurance in salvation.

The Bible is clear that from Adam to Abraham to King David to Peter, James and John
right up till today man has always been saved be grace through faith. There is no other
way of salvation. Therefore, all believers are secure for eternity and we can rejoice in that
and be assured of our exalted position in Christ.

This fact that we are all saved by grace through faith should answer all questions of
security because once a person at any point in history repents and confesses Jehovah God
as His Lord then he is saved and given eternal life.

There is therefore no difference in the OT saints and the NT saints. It is just a matter of
perspective. By faith they KNEW that Messiah would come and die to take away their
sins which the blood of the sacrifices could not do.

By faith we KNOW that Christ DID come and died to take away our sins fulfilling the
just demands of God that "the wages of sin is death."

The Bible is clear as we have seen and you know from your personal study that we are
justified in the sight of God by faith.(Romans 4,5) He loved us and graciously extended
salvation to us so that when we believe He gives us eternal life and we live forever in
Heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ro. 5:8; Eph. 2:8-9).

If this is not true then it is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on humanity. If it is not
eternal based on God's grace alone then again it is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on
humanity and we have NO ASSURANCE of eternal life.

I submit to you that the Scriptures clearly teach that once you have genuinely repented of
sin and expressed your faith in Christ you are saved forever. Not only is that truth taught
in John 10 but that truth is taught very clearly here in Romans 5 and we intend to
examine that today and because of that we have assurance in our soul that we are saved
forever.

Our secure position in Christ gives us assurance daily that we are His children and that
He will see us through to the end.

It has nothing to do with "How good have I been today?" although we are supposed to be
good. Eph. 2:10; Titus 3:8 et al.

Some teach a doctrine called "perseverance of the saints" which means that all true
believers will persevere in the faith until the end -- death or Rapture. However, G.
Campbell Morgan a theologian from the past said something to the effect that it has more
to do with the perserverance of the SAVIOR rather than the saints. He is absolutely right
and that is where we get our ASSURANCE of Salvation. We have assurance of salvation
based on what God has done for us not on what we have done for Him.

Yet many people constatnly wrestle with assurance in their Christian life. They know
they made a profession of faith. They got baptized. Were active in church. But they
struggle with the imperfections of humanity and doubts creep in because they are basing
their assurance on the wrong foundation. They are basing their assurance on what they
are doing for Christ not on what He has done for them.

Romans chapter 5 gives us the Assurance of Salvation based on three truths about what
God has done for us.

This outline is not original. I have modified it some but mostly is that of John Phillips
Exploring Romans (c) Moody Press 1969 pp.86-87 but please do not blame him for the
rest of the sermon. And a Univ Prof said "Originality is forgetting where I stole
something."

Those three truths are:

1)God has Lifted Us -- 5:1-5
2)God has Loved Us -- 5:6-11
3)God has Loosed Us -- 5:12-21
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Let us expand on those for a few minutes.
We have ASSURANCE of Salvation because we know that:
I. God Lifted Us -- 5:1-5
A. Our New Standing 5:1-2
God has Lifted Us and given us a new standing based on His grace through faith. The
Psalmist said
 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock,
making my footsteps firm. 3He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Psalm
40:2,3
Paul wrote in Eph. 1 that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ in
the heavenlies. You see because of Christ we have a new standing which means we have:
1. Acceptance v.1 (peace with God)
Our standing is that we now of peaceful Acceptance with Him. Before we were at war
now we are at peace with God. God has granted us amnesty and we have accepted the
terms having been met. (cf. v.10)
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Eph1:6
This "peace" is first a change in God's relation to us; and next, as the consequence of this, a change
on our part towards Him. jfb commentary on Romans 5:1
And because of Christ we have:
2. Access v.2 (introduction etc. stand)
This peace gives us Access. Before we were aliens and afar off. Now according to Paul in
Ephesians and Hebrews we are brought near. When Jesus died the Bible says that the
veil of the Temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. We now have direct
ACCESS to the throne of Grace -- the mercy seat.
Eph.2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the
blood of Christ.
Heb. 7:19 (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better
hope, through which we draw near to God.
B. Our Current State -- 5:3-5
We are now in a growth state in Christ. We grow in grace and in knowledge of
Jesus Christ. We do not grow in the sense of adding to our justification. That is
settled once for all. But we become more like the image of Christ (8:31). This is
the maturing process. Paul referred to this in other letters to the Corinthians and to
the Hebrews. He chastized them for not growing. They were still in their infancy
in their knowledge of Christ even though they had been saved quite a while.
Peter instructs us to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ." If you are unsure of your salvation ask yourself "Am I growing in the
Lord?"
a) Maturity Displayed v. 3a
We display our maturity when we rejoice in suffering. cf James 1:2,3 2
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces
endurance.
POEM: "It's easy enough to be pleasant when life goes by like a song.
But the man worthwhile is the man with a smile
When everything goes dead wrong."
b) Maturity Developed v.3b-5a
(b1)In the trials of Life 3b-5a
The tests of our faith work in us endurance (a better translation than patience) anda
endurance, and then character, and then hope, a hope that does not disappoint us but
flows out of God's love through the Holy Spirit.
"We are handicapped on all sides, but we are never frustrated; we are puzzled,
 but never in despair. We are persecutedm but we never have to stand alone; we
may be knocked down but we are never knocked out! Everyday we experience
something of the death of Jesus, so that we may also know the power of the
life if Jesus in these bodies of ours."
2 Cor. 4:8-10 The New Testament in Modern English by J.B. Phillips (c) 1958 p.385
(b2) By the Holy Spirit -- v.5b
The Holy Spirit of God comes to live within us and He spreads God's love out all over us
and in us and through us.

In those times when the trials of life seem to burn like coals at our feet and we don't
know where to turn the Holy Spirit whispers His peace to us and we are assured that in
Christ all is well. Maturity is developed in the furnace. But we have the assurance that
Christ is with us.

And that brings us to the second truth. #1 -- We can have assurance of salvation because
God has Lifted Us giving us Acceptance with and Access directly to God. #2 We can
have assurance of Salvation Because God has LOVED us.
II. God Loved Us 5:6-11
John Phillips said in his book Exploring Romans
"It is the love of God that guarantees our eternal security. That same love
that planned our redemption in the far reaches of a past eternity, that yielded
up the Lord Jesus to the death of the cross will fling wide at last the gates of
glory to welcome us home."(c) Moody Bible Institute of Chicago 1969 p.90
What assurance to the soul. Secure in Christ forever because He loved us.
A. The Proof of God's Love VV. 6-8
God's love is proved in the fact that it is a gift. A gift given to you is not paid for by you
but by someone else. All you need to do to make it yours is accept it.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He GAVE His only begotten Son...."
Eph. 5:25 "Christ loved the church and GAVE Himself for her."
Gal. 2:20 "[He]loved me and gave Himself for me." That is the proof of God's love -- He gave
it. Personalize the love of God. He loved the WORLD, the CHURCH, and He loved ME.
1) His Love is Unconditional v.6
Christ died for WHO? the ungodly.
"Those iron bolts of Rome in the pierced hand of the crucified Christ could
well have become thunderbolts of wrath. He could have hurled His
anathemas across a guilty world, summoned from the ramparts of heaven
twelve shining legions with drawn flaming swords and marched to
Armageddon then and there. Instead, [our suffering Savior] cried, 'Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do." Phillips ibid p.91
God's love is unconditional.
Moreover .....
2) His love is Incomparable v.7-8 (read them)
While we were yet sinners....Imagine that. Jesus said "I am not come to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance. Matt. 9:13. The son of man is come to seek and to save the
lost. Lk.19:10; Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners I Tim. 1:15.

Look around you at what sin has done to the world both humanity and the environment
where once God looked out and saw what He had made and pronounced it "very good" it
is now, because of sin, filled with riot and rebellion and ruin and decay. "And man is
hand in glove with sin." (ibid Phillips p.92) People are perverted and are calling evil good and
good evil. And yet God in His incomparable love allowed His son to die for them -- for
us. That's the proof now the Provision of God's Love.
B. The Provision of God's Love vv. 9-10
God's love provided for our Salvation. We are both justified and reconciled to God
through the death of Jesus. The Scriptures no where teach that God has to be reconciled.
We were the enemy and we needed to be reconciled to God not the other way around.
Note the little phrase "much more" which Paul uses several times in this chapter. God
restored to us a relationship much more than what what Adam had.
1) Christ gave His Life FOR us vv.9-10a
Think for a minute. I know at my age that's getting harder to do. But think about Adam.
If He had not sinned man could have conceivably continued on forever in innocence but
ONLY AS SONS OF ADAM. "Because of Calvary, however, we become the sons of
God and enjoy a relationship to God far closer that that enjoyed by Adam."
Phillips, ibid p. 93
2) Christ gave His Life TO us v.10b
Christ giving His life FOR us saved us from the PENALTY of sin.
Christ giving His life TO us saves us from the POWER of sin and one day from the
PRESENCE of sin.
C. The Product of God's Love vv. 11
When Adam and Eve sinned in Garden of Eden they suddenly, instinctively tried to
AVOID God. Their consciences kicked in for the first time in their lives and GOADED
them making them feel the guilt and shame of what they had done. So when God came to
visit with them their tendancy was to flee. The first fruit of SIN was to AVOID God.

In stark contrast the firstfruit of Salvation is just the opposite -- drawing near to God
"Reconciliation" better than the KJV "atonement". Same word in Greek as in v. 10. We
now are assured of our Salvation because of that special relationship with God through
Jesus Christ and His work at Calvary. Thereore, we GLORY in the Heavenly Father
because of what He has done in reconciling us to Himself.

The Product of God's love is our rejoicing and exultation of Him and that reassures us
that we have eternal life in Jesus Christ. Otherwise why would we glory in Him?

I can only imagine what happened after the Prodigal Son came home and after all that his
father did for him. He must have told everyone everywhere he went about his father who
was waiting for him, looking for him, anticipating his return. "What a marvelous father I
have. I wasted his wealth with riotous living. I degraded the family name. I shamed my
father and yet he took me back. Welcomed me home with a feast. Restored my position
in the family. What a wonderful dad I have."

How much more then for us to glory in the Heavenly Father?

Not only are we assured of Salvation because God Lifted Us and because He Loved us
but also because He LOOSED us.
III. God Loosed Us 5:12-21
No longer RUINED but REDEEMED. No longer sinners but saints. No longer under the
reign of death but deliverance. Adam offended Christ obeyed.
A. The Entrance of Sin vv. 12-14
1) Presence of sin v.12 "sin entered into the world..."
2) Penalty of sin v. 12 "...and death by sin...."
3) Power of sin v. 13-14
Man was not formally charged with sin until Moses came with the Law but the power of
sin was quite evident because everybody died. Sin is like a virus that infiltrated the
bloodstream and infected everyone even though they had not been born yet. We are not
sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. We sinned in Adam and therefore
we die. This curse is illustrated to us daily in the death of innocent infants, children with
deadly cancers and so on.
B. The Explanation of Sin vv. 15-21
The solution is found in:
1) The Gift of God v.15-17
a) releases us from bankruptcy v. 15
b) releases us from blame v. 16
J.B. Phillips v.16 "Nor is the effect of God's gift the same as the effect of that one man's
sin. For in the one case man's sin brought inevitable judgment, and the result was
condemnation." Thje New Testament in Modern English pp. 326-327 quoted by John Phillips in Exploring Romans p.97
c) releases us from bondage v. 17
J.B. Phillips again: "For if one man's offence meant that men should be slaves to death
all their lives, it is a far greater thing that through another man, Jesus Christ, men by their
acceptance of His more than sufficient grace and righteousness should live all their lives
like kings." ibid p. 97

And just in case we didn't get it the first time or thought that it might be too good to be
true, Paul repeats that truth in vv. 18-19.
2) The Grace of God v.18-21
The grace of God is what makes the gift of God possible. Without grace there would be
no gift.
Because God loosed us from sin by His gift and because of His grace we stand in Christ
totally assured that we have etrernal life.

So there you have it. We have assurance of Salvation in Christ because of these three
things that God has done for us:
He Lifted Us
He Loved Us
He Loosed Us.

You can't have assurance of something you don't have. Have you come to the place in
your life where you have repented of your sin and placed your faith in Jesus Christ alone
for Salvation -- to be lifted, loved and loosed?

Are you 100% sure that if you died today you would go to heaven? If Jesus returned
today would you go with Him or would you be left behind? If you aren't sure you can
make that decision for Christ today.

Perhaps you are saved and yet you have not been allowing Jesus to be Lord in your life.
You can confess that to Him and tell Him that from now on He is Lord. Not the job, not
the sports, fill in the blank___________! Jesus is Lord. Confess Him today as Lord of
your life.

Let us pray.

THE END