In the sermon titled 'The Believer’s Standing,' Jason Dohm explores Romans 5:1-5, beginning with the concept of justification by faith, as illustrated through Abraham's faith being credited as righteousness. This justification provides believers with peace with God, marking the end of enmity due to sin. Unlike the 'peace of God,' which is an internal rest, 'peace with God' signifies a cessation of conflict. Dohm highlights the transformation from being enemies of God to having a standing of grace through Jesus Christ, described as the 'great exchange,' where believers receive Jesus' righteous standing. The sermon emphasizes the 'chain' of tribulations producing perseverance, character, and ultimately hope, which is a confident expectation rooted in the unchanging love of God poured into hearts by the Holy Spirit. This hope is confirmed by the Holy Spirit's presence, assuring believers of God's unwavering love and the promise of future glory. The sermon calls for believers to enjoy these truths and for unbelievers to seek reconciliation with God.

Our sermon text for today is gonna be Romans 5 verses 1 through 5. We're gonna start in 4 verse 23. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead Who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification Therefore having been justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, and Not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulations produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope.

Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through Him.

For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. Much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also rejoicing in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. The title of the sermon this morning is the believers standing. When you trust in Jesus Christ, Where do you stand?

Paul actually tells us. Last week's text was the end of chapter 4, the last three verses in chapter 4, verses 23 through 25. And Paul is picking up on having repeatedly, I don't know how many times he did it, it was probably four or five times in the chapter and a half leading into that. He's been quoting and quoting and quoting Genesis chapter 15 verse 6. What's that?

Abraham believes God and it was accounted or credited to him as righteousness. So Abraham was saved by grace through faith. And Paul quotes that repeatedly to prove that salvation of a sinner has always been the same way. Under the Old Covenant, under the New Covenant, salvation has been and continues to be by grace alone through faith alone. And so our text today starts with the word, therefore.

So what flows from what I just taught is what Paul is saying. So We should just review those last three verses in chapter 4 before we talk about what flows from that. So here's what Paul says about Abraham believing God and that being accounted or credited to him for righteousness. Chapter 4 verse 23, Paul says, Now it was not written for his sake alone, for Abraham's sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

Abraham's trust in a God who gives life to the dead is a monument for us. That's why it's written. That's why you have Genesis 15 verse 6. It's left as a monument. A monument to what?

A monument to the fact that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. That those who trust in who Jesus is and what He has done will be justified. What does it mean to be justified? It means to be proclaimed, announced to be innocent, to be declared not guilty, to be declared righteous. If you trust in who Jesus is and what he has done, then you will be declared to be innocent, not guilty, righteous." So that is the monument that Abraham's faith has been set before us as.

Now, therefore, because that's true, Paul tells us the other things that flow from that, and that's what our text is. Let's ask God to help us. God, I'm amazed at the standing of the believer. As I said last week, if you hadn't said it, we would say, this is too good to be true. But you have said it, you never lie, you can't lie.

You are the God of truth. So we Take you at your word that these things aren't too good to be true. They are true. We cling to them for ourselves because you have left this great monument in the faith of Abraham that whoever believes, trusts, will be declared innocent, righteous. Thank you for the other truths that flow from this, and I pray that you would press them on our hearts in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, not surprisingly, we're subdividing this morning. So we're going to begin with Romans chapter 5 verses 1 and 2. So follow along as I reread those two verses and then I'll talk about them. Romans chapter 5 verse 1.

Paul writes, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Paul loves a modifying phrase, So we have a bunch of them, and it helps to just sort of look at them phrase by phrase, and untangle them from one another. Now, there is the peace of God that passes understanding. That's not what's being described here. This is actually peace with God. People who have peace with God can then understand the peace of God.

He's not talking about the rest in your heart that is a gift of God. This is actually talking about peace with God. Paul returns to this more fully and explains it in next week's text. I'd like to Go into next week's text a little bit here because it really is the context of understanding, rightly, peace with God. Look at verse 9 and verse 10.

He's going to next week say, much more than, having now been justified by His blood, by Jesus' blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." So in verses 9 and 10, Paul is describing the unbelieving state, which is to be under the anger of God for your sins, under the wrath of God, and an enemy of God. He says both of those things very clearly and explicitly there. So that is the context for the peace with God here in verse 1. This is peace as opposed to war.

It is the ceasing of the conflict between you and God because of His anger towards your sin because you had made yourself his enemy by your rebellion against him. Now the war is over because of your trust in who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. So the Peace with God is peace as opposed to war. The war is over because of justification, because you've been declared innocent, declared righteous, not because of anything in you, but because of who Jesus is and what he's done. Listen to Colossians 1 verses 21 and 22.

Of course Colossians is another of Paul's letters, so you have the same author. Here's what Paul says in Colossians 1, 21 and 22. And you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you wholly blameless and above reproach in his sight. So this reconciliation, the bringing together of two parties at war and reconciling them, is the peace accomplished through our Lord Jesus Christ.

He has accomplished that peace. You were at war with Him because of your sin and rebellion, but Jesus has brought you together because of who he is and what he's done. We are declared, reckoned, accounted, innocent, or righteousness, and this puts an end to the war. We were enemies, and we were under the judgment of God, the anger of God for our sins, and Jesus has brought all that to an end. That is a thing of the past, and a thing of the past forever, because of justification, because of this declaration that I'm not guilty of my sins because they've been paid for.

All the debts have been paid by Jesus on the cross. Verse two says that we also have something else through faith in Jesus. So we have peace with God through faith in Jesus. Verse two says there's more. What is this other thing?

Access into a standing of grace with God and from God. So, through Jesus we also have access into a standing of grace with God. The believer has a standing of unearned, undeserved favor with God. But even though it's undeserved and unearned, it's completely sure and solid. We've been given a standing that we did not have before in our unbelieving state, but now we have it and it is a standing of favor, a standing of grace.

That's just what grace is. That's the definition of grace. Undeserved, unearned favor. That's our standing now before God. In short, it's Jesus' standing that the believer has come into because of the great exchange.

Meaning, I get Jesus' standing with the Father. The favor that it was so right for Jesus to have enjoyed through all eternity for his perfect, cheerful, loving relationship with his father, and in the incarnation, his perfect, joyful obedience to his father. The favor that Jesus deserves for that, I get because we've traded places. He took on the debt for my sins and completely paid all of the debt, leaving none for me to pay. And I took his place of the favor that he has always had and deserves to have with his father, I get that spot and he takes my place and dies the death that I deserve.

That's the great exchange. So it's Jesus' standing, this standing of favor, this standing of grace. I've been given access into this grace in which I stand. So the believer who before trusting in Jesus was the object of God's anger and condemnation. That war is over now and there's peace, but it doesn't end there, it gets even better.

The believer is so much better off than just not at war. Now, You should be happy if you're a believer that you're not at war. We might even consider that that would be enough for us if we had been in this war of insanity. In other words, who would wage a war against an almighty God? How could anyone ever win that war?

No one could ever win that war. It is a war of insanity. It would be enough to say that war is at an end. But God hasn't ended the blessings. The believer is so much better off than just not at war.

He also, or she also, gains access into this standing of favor. Jesus' standing becomes my standing because by faith I'm united to Jesus. We are one. His standing is my standing. He has a standing, an eternal standing of favor with his Father.

And now I'm given access to that standing of grace, that standing of favor. Matthew Henry says this, God is either the worst enemy or the best friend. So what will it be? For the unbeliever, God is the worst enemy. His fury is aimed at your rebellion against him, and the sins of your thoughts, your words, your deeds.

His anger is pointed at your rebellion. You are the object of his wrath and fury against rebellion. You stand in condemnation. He's your worst enemy. You can never have an enemy worse than that.

But in trusting his son, You become his best friend. He becomes your best friend. He begins to champion your interests. You live, you stand in his favor. So really, The difference between the unbeliever and the believer couldn't be more stark.

They couldn't be more polar opposites. God as your worst enemy, or God as your best friend because you were joined to his son by faith. This is what's being taught here. It's peace with God or war with God. It's an enemy of God or reconciled to God and brought into his favor.

It's God is either the worst enemy or the best friend. Then verse 2 concludes with where all this is headed on a timeline. So we're, what's today? March 12, 2023. That's where we are on the timeline.

Where's the timeline going? Paul tells us where the timeline is going, where all this is headed. And rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Now let's unpack that. I don't love the translation, rejoice.

Literally, it means glory. I think it's the NASB that translates it. We boast. That's even better than rejoice. Rejoice isn't particularly bad.

Only glory is the most literal. And the same Greek word New King James translates as glory in verse 3. So they translate it differently between two and three. I wish they had just kept it the same and said glory because that's very literal. So if we take that very literal translation, the believer glories or rejoices in the confident expectation of the glory of God.

The believer glories knowing that the glory of God is coming. That's really what's being said here. That's what hope is. It is a confident expectation. When we encounter hope in the New Testament.

It's a million miles away from wishful thinking, which is how we use it in our normal vocabulary. While I hope somebody gives me a house or something. It's wishful thinking. The New Testament is not being used that way. It is a confident expectation.

It's something that's certain. It just hasn't happened yet. So there's no lack of solidity or certainty. It just hasn't happened yet on the timeline. You have every reason, every good reason to believe it's going to happen, to trust that it's going to happen, it just hasn't happened yet.

It's a confident expectation. So the believer glories in the confident expectation of the glory of God. Think of Revelation chapter 4 and Revelation chapter 5. In Revelation 4, the 24 elders, whoever they are, you would Hope have been in Revelation. Maybe you can tell us who they are.

I don't know who they are. These 24 who have been appointed to places of honor in heaven are falling down before God and casting their crowns before the throne. In other words, they've been glorified. They are occupying places of honor in heaven, but there's a sense in which they don't want it. They're casting their crowns before God.

They're falling down before God. Like all the glory that we've received, no, no, no. It ought to be yours. It's best that it be yours. It's most fitting that it be yours.

Have our crowns. Revelation 5, every creature in heaven is worshipping God saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever." Believers live to be part of that moment. If that doesn't make your heart burn, I'm not sure I can help you. I think God needs to help you If that doesn't make your heart burn, I'm not sure I can help you. I think God needs to help you if that doesn't make your heart burn.

The thought that Every creature in heaven has stopped everything to say these words, blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. Having been saved by grace, we want eternity to only be filled with God getting the glory. That ought to make your heart burn, believer. Believers in Jesus' glory in their confident expectation that they will behold the King in all his beauty. Believers in Jesus' glory in their confident expectation that they will behold the King in all his beauty.

Believers in Jesus' glory and their confident expectation that they will behold the King in all of his glory. A time is coming where all the distractions, all the sin, all the stubbornness, all the tears and sorrows are wiped away. And there's nothing left but to cast our crowns before the King. For him to receive the glory that as our Savior we want him to have throughout all of eternity. It hasn't happened yet, but these believers know that that day is a certain day and they glory in it.

The thought of it is their boast. So that is verses 1 and 2. Justification, this declaration that I'm not guilty, that I'm righteous Because of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done means peace with God, access into a standing of favor, and knowing that you know that you will Be there in that place where God gets the glory for all eternity. And that being your boast. Verses 3 and 4.

Let's move to the next section of the text. Romans chapter 5, follow along as I reread verses 3 and 4. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope. Paul is teaching us that there's more, giving us the proof of the changed standing. Our standing before God has changed from one of being an enemy to a standing of favor, and there's proof.

I'm sure you've seen the infomercials on TV where the salesman tells you the great thing about the product and then he says what? But there's more! You know, and then he sweetens the deal. He offers you more. You know, it was one for $19.99, but there's more.

If you call now, you get a second one at no additional cost. Paul's not a salesman like that, but he is sweetening the deal. But there's more. Let me start with the big picture. The big picture of verses 3 and 4 is that the hope of the believer is not just in a future state, even though it's an unbelievably wonderful future state to imagine.

But our hope isn't just in a future state, it's also in the present. The believer has the birthright of a confident expectation in God right now in the present. We're not waiting for good. We have God's good in our lives right now. Because of the chain which Paul sets before us.

What chain? Tribulations produce Perseverance, which produces character, which produces hope. There's your chain. Linked together. Tribulations or pressures, hardships, produce perseverance.

The ability to endure, to keep going, which produces character, qualities that we need in our lives, which produces hope, this confident expectation. There is a future hope, the glory of God, that we'll see it. There is a present hope at the end of this chain. Let's examine each link of the chain individually. Tribulations, or tribulation, it's used once in the singular, once in the plural.

The Greek word being translated tribulations literally means a pressing, a pressing or Pressure. Like the pressure brought to bear to press the oil out of the olive. There's a press for that. You take an olive and you want to extract the valuable out of it. So you put it under pressure.

By persisting with the pressure, you extract the value. It's odd that we would glory in that. Why is that odd? Because in the world, it is characteristic of pressure, tribulation, hardships to erode hope. Think about this.

Does the normal worldling, the normal unbeliever, you put them under pressure, is the outcome of that a confident expectation of good? No, no, no. It erodes their hope. Like, no, the train's coming off the track. The wheels are coming off the car.

Things are going wrong, and they may never be right again. That's the result of pressure, hardships, tribulations on the average unbeliever, the average worldling, calls hope into question. Is there really anything to be hopeful about? Remember the parable of the soils in Matthew chapter 13. In Matthew chapter 13 we get this parable.

A sower goes out to sow, and he's sowing seeds, and there's four different kinds of soils that he sows seeds on and in the end only one of the four is actually fruitful soil. Only one of the four is is good soil but a couple of the soils look like they're good for a period of time. Listen to Matthew 13 verses 20 and 21. This is Jesus in Matthew 13 verses 20 and 21. He who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy." So far so good.

Here's the word and receives it with joy. Yet, he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation, the same Greek word here as in our text, for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. This is not someone who's genuine. This is not good soil that's going to end in the bearing of fruit.

This is someone who looks the part for a while, but there's no root in himself or in herself. When tribulation comes, when the pressure comes and is brought to bear, when hardships come, It doesn't result in hope at all. It results in abandonment. Genuine believer is the opposite. He or she has a root that sustains in tribulation, in times of pressure, in times of hardship.

God upholds the believer in hardships. That's the root. That's the internal root is the work of God upholding you in hardships. So that you don't crumble under the pressure, the tribulations, the hardships, but the good is extracted from it. Buy it.

So that the believer not only survives pressure, tribulation, hardships. The believer often thrives. Some of the times of in my life of walking the closest with the Lord, having the sweetest fellowship with the Lord Have been those times of pressure and tribulation and hardship. And at the end you look back and you wouldn't trade for times of ease because it brought you close with the Lord. This is the Christian experience over the long haul.

Not every minute being sunny and birds chirping every day. No, that was never promised to us. In fact, this is actually teaching the opposite, that God brings pressure to bear, hardships into your life to extract good, because he's put a root in you that will sustain and maybe even cause you to thrive like never before in these times of pressure. The pressure, the tribulations, the hardships produces something good in the believer. What is that?

Perseverance. The next link in the chain. The ability to endure. The ability to keep going. Keep going.

Listen to what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4 verses 16 and 17. 2 Corinthians 4 verses 16 and 17. Paul writes, Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. This is it exactly.

This is what Paul is talking about in this chain that starts with pressures and hardships, with tribulations. The pressures, tribulations, hardships become light momentary afflictions when God upholds and helps us. Meaning we get perspective. We get perspective. When he renews the inward man day by day, so we don't lose heart, we can keep going, we do keep going.

Why? Because God is renewing our inner man day by day. His mercies are new every morning. We're experiencing them. It gives us the ability to endure, to keep going, to Persevere.

Perseverance is produced. And then the perseverance itself produces something good in the believer. What is that? The next link in the chain. What is that?

Character. NASB renders it proven character. They add a word here, proven character. It's because of what we find in the Greek lexicon for that Greek word. Listen to this.

Approved, tried character. Tried character a specimen of tried worth The idea is that this endurance This ability to keep going through pressure and tribulation and hardship produces qualities of tried worth in your life. Meaning you don't have to guess whether these good qualities will face the test of time and pressure because they've already faced the test of time and pressure. They're tried, proven qualities, qualities of godliness. God uses these pressures and tribulations and hardships to give us the ability to endure, to keep going, to persevere, and this produces godliness in our lives.

That is proven godliness. God uses these things in our lives to conform us in our character to the image of the Son. What's being described is God's work in your life. God is owning you day by day by giving you growth and progress in the faith. Listen to what Job said.

Just think about who we're talking about. Job. Did Job know anything about pressures, tribulations, hardships? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Job knew a thing or two.

Here's Job's testimony. When he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. He says this. What chapter is that? That's chapter 23.

That's halfway through Job, at the halfway point. Job knows he's in the press. He's in the press. The pressures are brought to bear and he says, when God has tested me, I'll come forth as gold. That is what Paul is teaching.

Listen to Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon says this, you cannot make an experienced Christian without trouble. Do you buy that premise? Do you buy the argument? You can't make an experienced Christian with all ease and comfort, and no pressure, no hardships, no tribulations.

Can you make an experienced Christian that way? No, you cannot. He continues, you cannot make an old sailor on shore, Nor make a good soldier without fighting." And he says this, what God has done for us is a token of what God will do for us. Meaning, He made you an old sailor by taking you out on the sea, putting you through some storms. He made you a good soldier by sending you out to the fight and giving you some battle scars.

But he sustained you through it all. He gave you that internal root. He helped you. He sustained you. He proved that you could not only survive those things, but thrive, flourish in the middle of them because of who he is and what he can do in the inner man renewing you day by day in the inner man.

And that's proof of what he will do for you. You can say, God wouldn't have done all this in all these times of pressure and tribulations and hardships if he intended to abandon me in the end. That makes no sense. Of course he will do what he said, what he promised for the future, because he sustained me through all these troubles. That brings us to what character produces.

The last link in the chain. Hope. A confident expectation of what is certain but just hasn't happened yet. Don't you see that we've come full circle? We were at hope in verse 2, and now we've been through four links of a chain and we're back to hope.

We've come full circle. In verse 2, the believer was glorying in this confident expectation of the time and place where God will receive all the glory. And now the believer, having been tried by pressure and tribulations and hardships and God having proven to be faithful by sustaining the believer in all that pressure the believer has a more steadfast hope the confident expectation is more confident than it's ever been because you've been through the wars and seen that God is faithful and He can cause you to even flourish in the middle of that. Flourish like you never did in times of ease and comfort. He's proving himself to you.

He's owning you in your day-by-day life, even in the middle of the pressures. Believer, glory in that! Paul gives you permission to glory in that. I think we're being told to glory in that. Glory in that chain.

That tribulations produce perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. The book of James, James, the author of the book of James says something very similar. Listen to James 1, verses 2 through 4. James 1, chapter 1, verses 2 through 4. It says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

It's rendered patience there, but it was rendered perseverance, but it's the same Greek word. So we're using the same terms are being used here by the authors. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience or perseverance, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Glory in that! God is doing these things, bringing these things to you, to make you perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

So, you're a believer, he's not done with you yet, you're still lacking, he's pressing out the lacks and extracting the good from these things, through these things. Finally, verse 5. Romans 5 verse 5. Now hope does not disappoint Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. This is more proof that the hope of the believer is on the most solid ground.

If you're taking notes on the handout by filling in blanks, solid ground fills in the two blanks. More proof that the hope of the believer is on the most solid ground. Paul declares that the confident expectation of the believer is real gold, not fool's gold. Are You familiar with iron pyrite? Gold is rare and very valuable.

Iron pyrite is plentiful and worthless. And at a small distance they look exactly the same. If you've never discovered a piece of iron pyrite and been very excited, it's an amazing experience. We had a rock in my backyard when I grew up that had iron pyrite, and I was sure that I was rich. It was worth nothing.

So what is our hope? Real gold or fool's gold? Paul was saying, oh no, no, no. It's not iron pyrite. It's real gold.

It's of the rare and highly valuable kind. This hope does not disappoint. The King James version renders that, maketh not ashamed. So instead of does not disappoint, maketh not ashamed. ESV and NIV render it very similar.

Doesn't put you to shame. And a very specific reason is given why this hope does not disappoint or put the one who hopes to shame. What's the reason? Because The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It was given to us When a person is justified by faith At that moment the Holy Spirit is given to that new creation to pour out the love of God in that person's heart.

I want to say that again. Think about this. When a person is justified by faith, this happens in a moment of time, it's not a process, a person goes from not justified to justified in a nanosecond and then that justification lasts forever. That's what scripture teaches. At that moment, the Holy Spirit is given to that new creation to pour out the love of God into the heart of that person.

With justification, I get an indwelling member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. And one of that person of the Holy Trinity's functions in my life is to pour out the love of God into my heart. How do you like that? That isn't the only work of the Holy Spirit, but it is a key work, and what a blessing it is, and how the believer needs that work of the Holy Spirit. Do you need that work?

God's not done sending pressures, hardships, Tribulations. How are we going to make it through that? Well, if the Holy Spirit is pouring out the love of God in my heart, I think I can endure. I know I can endure. It's something real, though not tangible.

Can you touch and feel the Holy Spirit? Is there a sensory? Well, there is having a sense of it, but you can't touch and feel the Holy Spirit pouring out the love of God into your heart. But it doesn't make it any less real. Haven't you felt it?

Haven't you known it, believers? Listen to Galatians chapter 4 verse 6. This is what Paul writes to the Galatians in chapter 4 verse 6. And because you are sons, it's not gender specific, Offspring would be a good translation here because you are offspring God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying out Abba father Abba is the tender familiar informal name a child would use for his or her father. It's not lack of reverence at all, But with your dad, if you have a tender, familiar, informal, close relationship, you're not likely to call him father.

He is your father. You do have respect for him, but that's not what you call him. Why not? Because there's this tender, close relationship that has you calling him something much less formal. God implants the Holy Spirit in our hearts that gives us this impulse, acknowledging a tender, close, informal, familiar relationship.

Here's what John MacArthur says. This is just a note in the MacArthur study Bible. God has implanted within our hearts evidence that we belong to him. In that we love The one who first loved us. Goes right along with this informal, close, tender name that the Holy Spirit gives us this impulse.

He is King, but we don't call him King, we call him Dad. Because he's brought us near. He's given us this evidence that we belong to him, in that we love the one who first loved us. This expression of tenderness towards God and what we call Him is actually a response to this sense that we are loved by Him. That He is a tender Father of the home that wants us close, has brought us close.

Listen to what John Murray says. John Murray says, What is it that gives solidity to this hope and guarantees its validity? It is the love of God to believers. A love that suffers no fluctuation or reverse. Hence the hope which it promises is as irreversible as the love itself.

Amen. He gives you a love that doesn't fluctuate, there's never a reversal with it. When he sets his love upon you, he doesn't stop loving you. And the hope that he gives you is as irreversible as his love for you. And that's the function of the Holy Spirit, to pour out the love of God in your heart.

By the way, for those keeping track, this doctrine is now Trinitarian. We have peace with God through Jesus with the Holy Spirit given. We have peace with God the Father through Jesus, God the Son, with the Holy Spirit being given as a result. The Holy Trinity conspires for the salvation of a sinner. It's a holy conspiracy.

It's a wonderful conspiracy. You want the Holy Trinity conspiring for you. We say conspire against. No, no, no. The Holy Spirit is conspiring for you.

He's bringing you into his family. God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Spirit working together to bring you in and then to keep you. And the Holy Spirit's not done working for your good when you're saved. Then someone has to keep you. Will you keep yourself?

You wouldn't unless God was working in and through the circumstances of life, in and through you to keep you. Applications, I have one for the believer and one for the unbeliever. Application for the believer. I'll turn it over to Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones to give you your application.

He says this, we are meant to enjoy these things. We are meant to be enjoying peace with God. We are meant to be enjoying peace with God. We are meant to be enjoying the grace of God and standing in it. We are meant to be boasting in anticipation of the glory of the God to which we are going.

These are truths not just to be known, we should know them, but to be enjoyed. God is giving us truths to enjoy. Trying to get a little more disciplined and structured in my prayer life. So I've got a pad of sticky notes in my office. And I'm having an allotted time, and I'm actually just putting some bullet points to make sure that I'm hitting some things.

And I'm trying to start with praise. I'm trying to linger longer. Take my own counsel and linger longer in praise in my personal prayer time. This would be a great thing to put up there. Peace with God.

Let's enjoy that the war is over forever. In my unbelieving state I deserve the anger of God and the condemnation of God and I put myself in a war of insanity against an Almighty God and that is over forever. That is to be enjoyed. That is the truth to be enjoyed. But it's not just that.

It's not just that I'm not at war. Now I have the place of favor that Jesus ought to have because of the relationship he's had eternally with his father. I get that spot of favor. And a time is coming where because of all of that, whatever honor we get, we'll be wanting to fall down before God and say, no, no, not honor to me, honor to you forever and ever and ever. That day is coming.

We should enjoy the thought of that day where we get to at least honor God for saving us. These are truths to be known, but also truths to be enjoyed. Two, unbeliever. All this can be yours. All this can be yours.

By simple faith. What would you cling to that would make You wait another second to throw yourself on Christ and entrust yourself to Christ. What are you thinking that you would wait another second? What is so sweet, so dear to you, that you wouldn't part with it to have this? Those of us who have been in the Lord for a while, walked with the Lord for a while, we would say, don't wait another second!

You'll find that you don't miss any of those things you're thinking about right now. You'll wish you had done it sooner. You won't regret having done it. All this can be yours. Jesus said, you won't come to me that you might have life.

You won't come to me. Think of how sad that is. Life is here for the offering again. Here for the offering. But you won't have life.

You won't go to Jesus to have life. We urge you, those of us who are in the faith, urge you today to be reconciled to God. Let the war be over. How will you wage this war? How will you end this war?

Making yourself God's enemy because of your rebellion against him. Give it up right now Let's pray God life is busy Our thoughts go in a hundred different directions. And it's so infrequent that we take time to just meditate for a few minutes on all of these great blessings that flow from justification. That flow from justification. We're happy to be declared innocent and righteous.

There are these things that flow from it that are so precious. And our hopes would be reinforced. These expectations of your work in our life, your faithfulness would be so strengthened if we would just think of them. I pray that during the course of this week, every one of us, you would bring it to mind and help us to just enjoy the things that flow from our justification. And for anyone who hasn't yet entrusted himself or herself to Jesus, who He is and what He's done, that you would give them eyes to see and ears to hear these things.

Thank you for your goodness to us in Jesus' name, amen.