The Eternal Security of the Gospel 07-21-2024

Test: Roman 8

                    As we study the New Testament there is so much to be found in the Gospels about Jesus, but the truth is we won't learn or understand it all until we meet Him fact to face.  The same Gospel that saves us is the Gospel that keeps us.  The most in depth information about Jesus is contained in the four Gospels -- which means Good News -- of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  But there are many scholars who call chapter 8 of Romans the Gospel according to Paul because it teaches the good news from the beginning to the end, showing how our future and our glory with Jesus are guaranteed when we become Christians.  Today I want to share with you how Paul shows us our salvation is guaranteed forever.

                   First, he writes of the sufficiency of God's Son in verses 1 to 4 which say:  " (1)There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.  (2)For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the Law of Sin and Death.  (3)For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh;  (4)that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."  This is the description of the justification that we have in Christ the moment we accept Him as Savior.  We're no longer condemned sinners awaiting the death sentence that goes with it.  Instead, we're alive, and by the Spirit of life, we are empowered by God Himself.  We're secure and can never be separated from the presence of Christ in our lives.  We're in a place of protection where God's judgment will never touch us, and where the wrath of His judgment can never reach us.  That same love that saves also us keeps us.  We're loved eternally, we're secure in Jesus who is the one that died to save us.  It's what Jesus has done for us by dying on the Cross.  We're now in Him just as John recorded His words  John 10:29.  He said:  "My Father, which gave them to Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."

                   Second, we have the Sanctification of God's Spirit found in verse 5 where Paul wrote:  "For they who are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they who are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit."  Sanctification means that we're pulled away and set apart from the world as we are being made more like Jesus so we can be holy even as God  holy.  We're now living righteously in Christ.  But how does this happen?  Christians quickly learn that the Christian life is hard, and sometimes impossible.  We can't do it ourselves.   Paul also learned it  when he wrote in chapter 7:24:  "Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death."  We are no longer living under the power of sin, because now we can live in the freedom of the Spirit, teaching that we have life and power to overcome sin.  Sin no longer controls our attitudes, appetites, ambitions, assets, or actions.  It's not that we can't sin; it's that we cannot now live in sin because we're brand new and born again.  We have a new nature that allows God's Spirit to continuously work in our life teaching us to think as Jesus thinks, do as He did, and how to let Him to dominate our life.

                    Third, we are eternally secure in the Gospel because of the sovereignty of God's purposes.  In verses 18-30 Paul writes about the problem of pain and suffering in this world assuring us that it will be nothing compared to the glory of the future we are promised when we leave this life.  He writes in verse 22  that 'all creation groans in pain.'  It will be this way until the earth is remade by the return of Jesus.  In the beginning God's creation was perfect, but now because of sin, it's scarred and stained by a curse.  It's the curse of sin that causes the pain and suffering of the earth including everything and everyone in it.  This includes Christians and while we are still in this time and this place, there is a purpose to our suffering.    We will not completely understand why this is necessary until we finally see Jesus.   Until that time, we have the promise of the Savior to see us through all the pain and suffering we will experience.

                   The final resolution to the reasons for pain and suffering will come in the redemption of our bodies.  Our bodies are growing old, are aching, and are being torn down, but one day they will be immortalized and glorified in the presence of Jesus.  And that day will come when this blessed promise will become real.  We are going to see Him face to face one day.  Until then, our pain on earth is only temporary.  There's no way we can compare it to the glory and the greatness that will come.  But in the meantime, God's Spirit guarantees to get us through with the help of Jesus who shows our hearts to God.  He does feel our pain as He sustains and strengthens us when we hurt physically and emotionally.  If you're going through a dark time, remember that through the Holy Spirit God is always changing us, conforming us, and also comforting us.  We're not here just so God can make us comfortable, it's so that He can conform us to His will in order to make us more like Jesus.  

                   Finally, Paul shows that we have the constancy of God's love.  He wrote in verse 35: "Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"  He  goes on in verse 37: "Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loves us."  When we live a Godly life centered on Jesus Christ, we can conquer all that suffering and pain in this life and are also guaranteed that it will be a mere memory when we get to the next.  This is a great closing hymn of praise to the love of God revealed and guaranteed to us through Jesus.  I encourage you all to go home and read the chapter from beginning to end.  You will see that when God works in our life in His way, He gives us a greater capacity to experience His love personally and then to share it with others.  Our hearts are opened up to Him, especially in the crazy and frightening times we are living, allowing us to still find peace that we can then share with others.  We're assured that God will never stop loving us, even when we slip and fall, because His love is fixed and unwavering.  We can honestly believe when God is for us nothing can be against us.  The Gospel --  Good News -- of Jesus assures us that we can live in confidence knowing that life will defeat death, that faith will conquer fear, that God's promises will destroy despair, that love will cure hate, and that joy will overcome depression and defeat.  We can be thankful to a God who gives us these victories through Jesus.  We can love one another -- even those who hate us -- because we are completely secure in Jesus now and forever.

                   Everything that we covered this morning is available to everyone regardless of age, financial circumstances, or things in done in the past the moment they accept Jesus as their Savior.  If you have not yet asked God to forgive your sins and told Him that you want Jesus to into your life, please don't wait any longer.  You can ask Him yourself in prayer, or I can help you ask Him to make this change in your life.   Please don't be afraid or wait any longer.

                   Until we meet again, may God bless and keep you, may He shine His light on you, show you grace, and give you peace in all the days ahead.