BLESSED ASSURANCE
Notes
Transcript
-{Romans 8}
-One of the most beloved hymns of the Christian faith is Blessed Assurance. But the title of the song is also something that is lacking in the life of many Christians. One of the most debilitating things that can happen in a Christian’s walk and life is doubt about one’s salvation. I believe some doubt is normal, but there are many who are so possessed by doubt, all they do is fret about whether or not they are really saved. And it prevents them from maturing in the faith and serving effectively in the faith.
-I have gone through my doubts—but what I find is that when I have doubts, it usually comes because I have placed my focus on myself, as if my salvation hinged on what I do or don’t do. But that would make it not only a works salvation, but also a works-based remaining in salvation, and that just can’t be. If it is up to me to get saved and to stay saved, then I’m in a whole heap of trouble. Because, let’s face it, as John MacArthur is known for saying, “If I could lose my salvation, I would.”
-But, since salvation is all a work of God from beginning to end, then our assurance in remaining in salvation is also of God. So the next time you doubt your salvation or know someone who is going through doubts (unless it is the Holy Spirit working in you showing you have never truly been born again), remember God and His character especially as given to us in this passage.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
32 He who indeed did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction, or turmoil, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were counted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-We’ll look at a few lessons tonight:
1) Know that God is for you
1) Know that God is for you
Look again:
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
32 He who indeed did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?
-At the end of v. 31 is says if God is for us—but it is not intended to hint at doubt. As if Paul is saying: IF GOD IS FOR YOU...HE MIGHT BE, BUT HE MIGHT NOT BE. It is more of a statement: SINCE GOD IS FOR US. So, hear the power of that statement: SINCE GOD IS FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US--—because of the act that God is completely for us and on our side, who or what in the world or the supernatural realm can do anything against us?
-We know that in the seen and unseen worlds we have many things against us—unbelievers, demons, false teachers, etc.—but what does that matter since God is for us? If you remember just one thing tonight, remember that God is completely and utterly on your side. It doesn’t matter what people may say or do, it doesn’t matter what your circumstances might be, GOD IS ON YOUR SIDE, HE IS FOR YOU.
-Now, I know that might come across like something Joel Osteen would say, but if he said it, he actually got something right for once. If you are a child of God through Jesus Christ, then God is on your team.
-We get this skewed picture of God that he is just sitting there, waiting for us to mess up so He can point His finger & accuse==but God is not the accuser, Satan is. God is not a football coach, that when we go through a rough spot, He pulls us from the field or trade’s us to somebody else or just plain kicks us off the team. That’s not God.
-And we know this is the truth because (according to v. 32) it is proven by the fact that God did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him for us. So, if God did not hold back His own Son for us, will He not then be for us and provide for us in every other way as well?
-We can say with confidence what the psalmist said:
8 You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?
9 Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; This I know, that God is for me.
-How do I know that God is for me? God has done the greatest conceivable thing for me—given His only Son to cruel death. The death, burial & resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate showing of God being for me, and since God is for me there is nothing anyone (including myself) could do to take me away from Him.
II) Know that no one can prevail against you
II) Know that no one can prevail against you
-Not only is there the fact that since God is for us, no one can be against us, we are also told vv. 33-34:
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
-There is not a single accusation or charge against God’s children that will stick—even if it is true (which most likely it is), it will not be counted against us.
-Paul has here a picture of a courtroom drama—Satan is the one making the accusation; he is described as the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night (Rev 12:10 ). But all the things that Satan throws at the judge about us, although true, does not lead to condemnation from the judge because justice for all the crimes we have committed against God has already been handed out at the cross.
-Satan can put before the judge the 1 trillion + sins we have committed against God, and God looks Satan straight in the face telling him that justice has already been served for every single one of them, and this guilty person has been justified.
-Once you are in Christ nothing that Satan or any other person tries to make stick to you can stick because you have already been justified from all your sin, and you stand before the judge a clean and righteous person because Christ took upon Himself the justice needed for your crimes on the cross. That does not mean you can now go and sin all you want, for your nature has been changed, and your desire is to please the one Who justified you.
-But, as one pastor put it:
The Judge is already on our side. The only person who can condemn is the Judge, and He is the One who most wants to pardon and free us. The only finally effective accuser is God Himself. He is pledged to the very opposite. And from His court, there can be no appeal!
-The Counsel for the Defense has done everything. He has already died for guilty defendants, taken their maximum punishment into Himself. He has risen from the dead so that He will always be available in the future. What is more, He has been exalted to the right hand of the Judge, where forever, without ceasing, He personally intercedes for every individual who trusts Him to do so. Best of all, the Counsel for the Defense is the Judge’s only beloved Son!
III) Know that nothing can separate you from God
III) Know that nothing can separate you from God
-Let’s look againt
35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction, or turmoil, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were counted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-If you are in Jesus Christ, there is absolutely nothing that can separate you from Christ’s love. I don’t care what you come up with or think of, once you are God’s in Christ nothing can take you away from Him.
-Can Satan separate you from God? Nope…sin…you yourself...? For all those who believe that you can lose your salvation, you are in essence saying that there is something that can separate you from the love of God—but these verses make it abundantly clear that you cannot be separated from God’s love.
-When you die physically, if you are in Christ, you cannot get away from God. Angels and demons have no power to take you away from the love of God. They might mess with the joy you have of being in the love of God, but they cannot separate you from it. Time & space & distance cannot separate us.
-Once you are in the love of God, you are His for all of eternity and (to use terrible grammar) THERE AIN’T NOTHING NOBODY CAN DO ABOUT IT
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
-So, by faith, knowing that God is for you and He is on your side, knowing that no accusation will prevail against you or stick, knowing that nothing and nobody can separate you from God’s love, live in the full assurance that you are saved, sanctified, and will be glorified.
-Satan will try and throw doubts your way, but don’t let him have the final say and don’t let him steal the joy of your salvation. Rest in the assurance that you are God’s and God is yours.
-But it all begins by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And if you haven’t yet believed, then you are already separated from God. But when you put your full faith and trust in Jesus, you too can have blessed assurance.
