FUNERAL: BRIAN SANDERS
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
TEXT:
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 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 we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
THE FIRST BIG HEADER I’D HAVE YOU TAKE NOTE OF THIS MORNING IS...
WE HAVE PEACE!
WE HAVE PEACE!
The peace that the Christian has access to is unpacked here in Romans 5 beautifully. God points us toward peace with these incredibly rich promises of God.
Peace, peace, wonderful peace
Coming down from the Father above
Sweep over my spirit forever I pray
In fathomless billows of love
There is a peace that passes understanding.
There is a grace that knows no limit.
There is a love that knows no bounds.
There is a hope that never fades.
Faith, Peace, grace, love, and hope have marked this family among many other qualities during these incredible days…not just the 4,613 days since Brian’s suffering began…but every day that this family - The Sanders Tribe - has endeavored to live for Jesus.
PEACE is available to the Christian because of WHO JESUS IS...
It’s my prayer that as we look at each promise together, God will enfold us deeper in his embrace.
1. We Are Justified through Faith
1. We Are Justified through Faith
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The word justified means that we have been made right with God, no longer facing guilt for our sin, punishment for our wrong, or fear of his wrath.
Why do we have these beautiful blessings?
NOT because of our earning or deserving, BUT because of our faith in what Jesus Christ did (verses 6–9).
Christ died for US in our
weakness
ungodliness
our sinful rebellion
on our way to God’s wrath (where we rightfully deserve to go)
Christ justified us before the HIGH HOLY COURT OF HEAVEN by shedding His precious blood for us!
God is NOT waiting for us to get good enough to love us.
He is NOT measuring how much he will care for us by how righteous we will become.
NO. He took the guilt that WAS ours, he took that away and replaced it with the righteousness that is NOT ours.
The worst of us was laid on Him and the best of him was laid on us!
We do not have to get as good or as knowledgeable or as zealous as some superChristian in order to be at peace with God.
No, He tells us to believe that Jesus died for our sins and that such faith makes us right with God.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
WE HAVE PEACE BECAUSE we have been Justified By FAITH...
WE HAVE PEACE BECAUSE...
2. We Are Standing in Grace
2. We Are Standing in Grace
2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Now, almost everyone here this afternoon that is in Christ knows that we are lifted from our guilt and shame BY CHRIST ALONE! It is Christ’s work; not our earning or deserving anything…Christ is the one that lifts us to a loving relationship with God.
But there’s another incredible truth here:
God did not lift me to his love through faith for just a brief moment; He keeps me in his love.
I am standing in grace.
Liz, YOU are standing in grace.
Family…if you are IN Christ…then YOU ARE STANDING IN GRACE!
Once any of us truly places our faith in him, our souls are eternally secure IN HIM!
We were WEAK, UNGODLY, SINFUL REBELS HEADED FOR THE WRATH OF GOD!
…WE WERE HEADED “DOWN” WITH THE PEDAL TO THE METAL!
BUT JESUS REACHED DOWN AND LIFTED US!
OUT OF THE MIREY CLAY
SET US ON THE ROCK OF WHO HE IS
ESTABLISHED US IN THE FAITH
ADOPTED US INTO THE FAMILY
BY HIS BLOOD!
He has lifted us from our misery by his mercy—and not through any accomplishment of our own.
Virtually every Bible-believing Christian understands this, but many think that we are always in danger of slipping out of God’s hand by our failure to walk as carefully as God requires.
Instead, the apostle declares that once God has rescued us, we are standing in grace. We have been lifted to the eternal plane of God’s love.
God’s grace is a safe place!
It is a safe place as broad as eternity,
as high as heaven,
as secure as is God in heaven.
I may not do everything right.
I may not say all the right things,
think all the right thoughts,
or have patience even for the religious things that I am supposed to say and think at the time of death,
but I am still secure in the Savior’s love.
Because I know these things! I can rejoice!
WE HAVE PEACE BECAUSE we have been Justified By FAITH...
WE HAVE PEACE BECAUSE we are STANDING in Grace
We have peace because...
3. We Are Rejoicing in Hope
3. We Are Rejoicing in Hope
2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Hope here is NOT hope against hope.
Hope here is NOT optimistic wishing.
This HOPE is a future confidence that because we have been justified through faith and because we stand in grace, our eternal relationship with God is secure!
When this mortal reality with all of its weakness, frailty, and sin falls away, we will be with our God in glory—in the arms of Jesus, secure in his love for all eternity.
Brian is not living this by faith…He is living this by present reality!
He has seen the face of Christ and that he cannot get over it.
He has experienced what has been promised to all of God’s children in 1 John 3:2: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
Sometime during the morning on Tuesday, Brian slipped into the presence of the radiant, welcoming face of the Creator of the universe and the Savior of his soul!
Brian sees Jesus face to face, eye to eye, soul to soul.
He looked into Christ’s gaze. And because He saw the face of Christ, he became like him!
Brian had been justified through faith, stood in grace and rejoiced in hope. Righteousness is no longer an imputed reality - it is the very air that Brian’s soul is breathing.
He’s free. He’s free. He’s free from the limitations of his body, his brain injury, his suffering, his loneliness, the darkness!
Heaven is far more than a mere “universe beyond,” so much more than a “better place”!
Brian has passed from blindness into HD to a million K to a city whose builder and maker is God - untouched by sin....Where each moment is as wonderful as the first.
Christ is real! Heaven is real!
Our hope is NOT secured by the absence of pain here…but the reality of a King on a Throne there who rules in our hearts and lives here!
The JOY is so rich and HEAVEN is so sweet because the pain and suffering was so real.
Brian’s pain was so piercing at times…and so were its ripples to the family and friends that cared for him so beautifully.
It is a pain of which Paul speaks here too.
The Bible not only beautifully and powerfully unfolds the loving embrace of our God; it also speaks just as plainly of the pain that makes us long for those arms.
I’m grateful that God’s Word doesn’t hide our misery or sugarcoat our problems.
WE ALSO HAVE PAIN
WE ALSO HAVE PAIN
How can we have peace in a fallen world where disease, disappointment, disaster, and death are chasing humanity down on every side?
We can experience this peace from God when we recognize the purpose of our suffering.
The Purpose of Our Suffering (verses 3–4)
The Purpose of Our Suffering (verses 3–4)
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
Rejoice in suffering?! How can this make sense?
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
Mourning over feasting? Sorrow over laughter? Wisdom at a funeral…foolishness at a party?
The Bible teaches us clearly that suffering in this world produces glimpses of heaven’s greater truth in those who are in Christ (verse 4)!
Since neither our suffering nor our handling (or mishandling) of it can separate us from God, life’s challenges produce endurance.
WHEN YOU ARE IN CHRIST, YOUR ADVERSITY IS A LIKE PULPIT TO POINT TO GOD…instead of a pit of despair.
This perseverance is deep-rooted confidence that God will work his ultimate purposes in this world and in our lives FOR HIS GLORY, resulting in faithfulness in the face of challenge.
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Paul writes to the church that confidence in God produces CHARACTER,
not just boyscout morals...
but the light of Christ in us in the face of the darkness of this world.
And as a light shining in darkness gives hope!
So suffering ultimately gives us greater hope in the glory that will be revealed in us (verses 4–5).
Not prosperity
Not good times
Not parties
Not health, wealth, and wisdom
Not success
BUT SUFFERING!
Suffering eases our grasp on the things of this world.
It makes us less willing to die for the things that do not last and more willing to live for the things that are eternal.
Even in this family’s pain and suffering, love was pouring out of them, as it has so consistently in their walk with Jesus through the years testimony of many years.
This is part of the explanation of how we have peace in our pain too.
Pain strips away many of the distractions of the world that parade as important.
Pain makes us more conscious of the importance of the work of the Spirit in us and others.
Pain is handled not just by sensing the purpose of our suffering BUT also by realizing the importance of the promise and presence of God’s Spirit in our lives.
WE HAVE THE PRESENCE OF GOD!
WE HAVE THE PRESENCE OF GOD!
The Promise of God’s Spirit
The Promise of God’s Spirit
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Therefore, I will grieve for Brian’s present loss and separation from us along with the family, with the caregivers, with the friends...
but we do NOT grieve like those outside of Christ grieve. We do NOT grieve without HOPE!
Rather, I will say, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV).
We rest in his grace that embraces us with such security that we can know peace in our pain, joy in our sorrow, and hope that perseveres until the One who loves us beyond all our weakness and suffering and sin unites us with himself in glory.
——
#SPOILER ALERT:
THESE PROMISES ARE ONLY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN MADE RIGHT WITH LIVING GOD THROUGH A LIVING RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.
We all have pain. Maybe not like Brian’s pain and suffering, but we all will experience pain.
Do you have the peace of God this afternoon?
Do you need peace FROM God this afternoon?
Then you need Peace with God today! Right Now!
Call on Jesus!
Cry out to him, LORD SAVE ME!
I’m weak.
I’m ungodly.
I’m a sinful rebel.
I’m headed away from your peace and toward your wrath…and I know I deserve it!
Lord, I believe you shed your blood for me! Wash me, make me new…I want to follow you!
I want that faith that justifies.
I want to stand in grace; not the shifting sands of this world.
I want that joy in hope…I need that…I need JESUS.
Christ died for you!
Christ shed His blood for you!
You can stand RIGHT before GOD today...
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Christ IS the peace that we all need!
The Holy Spirit brings the lasting HOPE we all long for!