Alright, I'm getting the recorder
up and running here. I want to remind everybody on
May the 19th we'll be having a fellowship together with down
at the Phillips place in Pineville. And then on the 20th, we'll be
here. I want to invite everybody, set
that time aside. We'll start having cinnamon rolls
and things like that at nine o'clock. Then at 10 o'clock,
we'll have preaching from 10 till around noon, noonish. And
then we'll have lunch together. And then that afternoon, we'll
have some more preaching and fellowship. And then Sunday we'll
have services basically the same as kind of how we have normally
and everything. If any of the men are going to
be here, that'll be coming to the meeting. I'm going to see
maybe if one of them want to speak here as well. So be looking
forward to that. Good time of fellowship. We already
know that there's going to be a brother Kevin coming from California
and hopefully maybe some others that'll be joining us. So Be
praying for that time, not too far away, about a month away
or so. But be praying for that and looking forward to that.
And anybody that's watching or listening, if you're anywhere
close and want to drive and meet and fellowship with us, you're
welcome to do so. Just give me a call. My number's
on our Facebook page or on our website. If you know me, you
probably have my number anyway. Or call Brother Larry. He also
has numbers on his Facebook. Actually, if you look on the
Facebook page, if you're watching by Facebook Live, if you'll scroll
back a little bit, we've put all the information on the Facebook
page. Brother Larry's number's on there
as well as mine. So you're welcome to give either
one of us a call. All right, turn with me, if you
would, over to Romans chapter five. That's where we'll be reading
first this morning. Romans chapter five. It truly is a blessing. I guess is probably the most
simplest word to use. It truly is a blessing to be
a child of grace. We just sung that, such as some
of you. We were children of wrath, and
there was no way that we could, as leopards change their spines,
there was no way we could do that. For us to go from being
people who hate God to people who love God, from people being
estranged from God to being reconciled to God, from people who had no
capacity for spiritual things to being given a spiritual mind
and heart, to be able to be given a life that is eternal versus
a life that is carnal and temporal. We have truly been blessed Ephesians
makes that very clear. We've been blessed with all spiritual
blessings in Christ Jesus that Blessed are they? and you just
go right down that list Jesus give us the list of all the ones
who are blessed and and how we are blessed. And so we truly
are a blessed people. And a lot of times I think we
forget all of what we have access to and have been given as the
children of God. And so I thought this morning
we might look a little bit and examine some of the things that
we have as believers, privileges that we've been given. And I
know sometimes whenever we talk of these things, whenever you
talk about a chosen few, you sing about just a few people
here or a few people there being saved and praising God that we
are among the remnant or among the few and everything like that,
that that seems to be us boasting and being prideful and flaunting
the fact that we're elect and you're not. for anybody listening
or watching, in no way is that our intent or our heart. Yes, we are thankful that we've
been chosen of God. Yes, we are praising Christ for
his peculiar people. We're praising God that we have
been counted as accepted in the beloved. Had he not done that,
we would have had a destiny like all others who have not been
chosen of God, and that would be eternal torment. And so when
we praise these things, we praise them for the fact that we are
thankful to God for saving us, that we couldn't have ever, we
didn't choose that. We didn't make a decision for that. We
didn't work our way into that. So none of the credit goes to
us. The only reason that we are being saved, will be saved, is
the fact that God has chosen to do so. And it's only because
of Him that we are what we are. And so we're giving praise and
honor to Him for that. But we're also stating true biblical
doctrine and facts that not everybody is receiving that. Not everybody
will be recipients of the grace of God, the love of God, and
the salvation that comes through Christ. Not everybody will be
recipients of that. And so we don't boast because
we've done anything or because we're better than anybody else.
We boast and our boast is in the Lord for what he has done. He has saved the people that
didn't deserve it. He has truly came and he has
saved sinners. That is an amazing feat for a
holy God to devise and determine a way to justly save people that
don't deserve being saved. And the only way he could have
done that was through the righteous work of his son Jesus. That's
the only way that God could be just and the justifier is through
the death of his son. There's no other way that any
man could be saved and God be just and be right. God cannot
be just and save you sinners. He can't be just except for there
be someone to stand in your place who is equally deserving to have God say, perfection,
obedience, everything required, satisfied. Jesus had to stand
for us. He's the only person who could
have done it. And he did that. And because he did that, that
salvation on its legal side was applied to every child of grace.
in its practical side or its experiential side is being applied
to every child of grace and will be applied to every child of
grace. And so salvation is completely out of our hands. It has nothing
to do with us. Justice was satisfied and it
is being satisfied. As far as what Christ purchased,
it's being laid to everyone's account, but it's also being
experientially felt and known. And so, that's why we say that
salvation isn't a choice. It isn't just a decision to,
I'm gonna turn it from this way to this way and choose this from
now on, okay? Sometimes I like creamy peanut
butter and sometimes I like chunky peanut butter, okay? And I can
make a choice on one or the other. Well, salvation's not like that. Salvation's not me just today
wanting to be a Christian and I'm gonna walk this direction.
No matter how much anybody decides to be a part of Christianity,
unless it's applied legally and experientially, you'll never
know Christ and he will not know you. And so truly to be a child
of grace is an extreme privilege. And I say extreme privilege because
the Bible says that there are few. The Bible says that there
are a remnant. The Bible says that there are
not many. Now there are many that will
find this road, but they will be much fewer than others. And
so it's an extreme privilege because we couldn't have ever
experienced this had it not been for God's grace. And so being
a child of God, being a born-again child of the king has its privileges. And so I thought we would look
at this today. Romans chapter 5, and if you
would look with me starting in verse 1. we find one thing that
is extremely important. And as we look through the Old
Testament and even some into the New Testament, and then as
we look from the cross on in its spiritual application, we
see that people does not have access to God apart from a mediator. In the Old Testament, people
couldn't approach to God. Whenever God came into the tabernacle,
or the tent of meeting, or wherever it was that God placed His presence
among Israel, no man could approach to that. The only one who could
enter into the Holy of Holies was the high priest on a certain
day after he did a whole lot of things that God said, you
need to do these preparations before you can enter into here,
and you can only do it once a year, and only after you've cleansed
yourself the way that I have said for you to cleanse yourself.
Now all those cleansing, all those washings, all those priestly
garbs that he put on, all the ritual things that he went through,
didn't actually remove his sin, his guilt. It didn't remove those
things, but that's what God required as the symbol for him to be able
to come into the presence of God. God required those things
of that priest before the priest could approach to God. The whole
people couldn't approach to God. The outside Israelite couldn't
just walk in and go in and present those sacrifices in the Holy
of Holies, even if he put on the garb, even if he washed his
self like the priest did, and went through all the rituals.
The regular Israelite could not go into God, no matter what,
only the high priest. God always required there to
be a mediator between God and between man. And in the Old Testament,
that was symbolized by the Lord Jesus Christ. or excuse me, by
the priest who typified the Lord Jesus Christ. So whenever that
high priest went in and offered those sacrifices and purged himself
and cleansed himself and came in and put on those priestly
garbs, he put on the jewel ephod and the shoulder plates and all
that stuff that represented all of God's people in whom he was
bearing their burdens and had them on his heart, went before
God and made those sacrifices for the people. That was typification
of Jesus Christ for his people, for us. And so those people didn't
have access to God. And today there is no access
to God except through Jesus Christ. Even New Testament believers,
we can boldly approach the throne of grace, but it's only through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see this here in chapter
five, but the reason I said that all that is I wanted us to see
that one of the privileges of being a child of grace is that
there is access to God. We have access to God, but always
remember it's never on your own merits. It's never because you're
worthy to have access to God. It's only because Christ has
made us that way and has represented us, intercedes for us. He is
our mediator and it's only through him that we have access to God. In the Old Testament, Israel
had access to God through that priest, but the Hittites, the
Jebusites, and all the other ites, they didn't have access
to God. That priest, whenever he went
in to offer those sacrifices, was not sacrificing for those
other countries, those other nations, those other peoples.
He was only making those sacrifices for the people of God. That's
particular redemption, isn't it? That shows that Christ is
a mediator of a particular people, not all people. And so even so,
in the substance, Jesus, He took on the sins of His people. He
was the sacrifice for His people. Not everybody, but His people.
And so that, in and of itself, tells us that everybody out there,
they don't have access to God. Only the ones who are in Christ
have access to God. Look what it says here, Romans
5 verse 1. Therefore, being justified by
faith, and of course we all know that we are justified by the
faith of Christ, not by our own faith. We're justified by the
faith of Christ. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now I just want to pause here. Notice the mediatorial aspect
of this. We are justified by Christ's
faith. It took Christ being the mediator
of faith on our behalf. It was His faith because our
faith could never be enough to justify us. It was Christ's faith
that was counted as righteousness. Okay? So Christ is already here
shown as the mediator of faith before God on our behalf. How do we know that? Well, we
know that the Bible says that He has kept all the law. He has fulfilled all the law
perfectly for us on our behalf. And so now it says we have peace
with God. Okay, so the sinner not only
has been justified by the mediatorial work of Christ, so we've been
privileged by being justified, but we've also been privileged
by being granted peace with God. There is no wrath of God on us. There is no hostility shown towards
us. There is no vengeance upon us. But on the other side, we see
that we in this are given a piece as well, right? It isn't just
the fact that wrath is settled, propitiation has happened, God's
wrath has turned away, but we also see that we in and of ourselves
have been given peace. Peace of mind, peace of heart,
peace knowing that we are His, peace knowing that justice was
satisfied. It's a peaceful thing to know
that I don't have to keep the law to be saved. How peaceful
is that? Before these things of imputed
righteousness was known to me, seeing the finished work of Jesus
Christ alone as my salvation and not my choice, my free will,
my decision, my continual works of service or anything like that,
whenever that came in, I tell you what, there was a load of
weight taken off of me. that it wasn't up to my performance.
My daily performance has nothing to do with my salvation. We are
privileged to be given not only justification, but peace with
God. But notice that peace with God
and from God comes only through our Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody
can have peace with God except through the Lord Jesus Christ.
So only the believers, only the children of grace have been given
peace. Why? Because they're the only
ones who have been justified. Now look at verse 2, it says,
by whom, speaking of Jesus Christ again, by whom also, so not just
by Christ we have justification, not just by Jesus Christ do we
have peace with God, but by whom, Jesus Christ, also we have access
by faith into this grace wherein we stand. and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. So we have access by faith to
all these things that God has given us. Whenever we read in
Ephesians of all the blessings that God has given us, whenever
we read throughout all of Scripture all the blessings and all the
things, and as we'll read and see today, all these privileges,
whenever we look at these things, We have that by Jesus Christ. It is only by Him. And the only
way that we can access God and receive these things or ask God
in supplication for these things. How many of us want to be more
patient? I would love to be more patient. I have a patient problem. Okay, a patient's problem, not
a patient problem. I have a patient's problem. I
would love to be more patient. I can have access to God to ask
for more patience through the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because
we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings and patience
is a spiritual blessing. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance,
and faith. That's a spiritual blessing that
comes from Heaven alone. And to access that grace, I must have communion in the
Lord Jesus Christ. If I don't have communion, life,
union, relationship, there has to be a tie, a marriage between us and Christ. If there is not that, then we
cannot come to God. That has to be there. But it
says, we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand
and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Here's another
privilege we see is that we have the hope of the glory of God.
One of these days, brethren, the Bible has been very clear
that all those whom he foreknew he predestinated predestinated
to be conformed to the image of Christ, that those that He
foreloved, He justified, and they will be glorified. So here
we see, it starts with justification. We've been justified through
Jesus Christ. We have peace with God through
Jesus Christ. We have access by faith to God
through Jesus Christ. And we rejoice in hope of the
glory of God through Jesus Christ. The only reason we have any hope
of glory is Jesus Christ. Matter of fact, is it Colossians
that says that it is Christ in us, the hope of glory? So we have access to God. What
a privileged thing we have. Look with me, if you would, on
that aspect. And I hope to maybe bring a couple
of messages or so at some point on this topic. But look with
me at 1 Peter, chapter two. In chapter 2, look with me if
you would. At verse 7 it says, "...unto
you therefore which believe He is precious, but unto them which
be disobedient to stone which the builders disallowed, the
same is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the Word,
being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." So
you see here, those who are not believers, They only find Christ to be a
stumbling stone. They stumble at the fact that
there's an imputed righteousness. They feel that there has to be
something done on their part. They stumble at the fact that
it's free grace. They stumble at the fact that
it is sovereign grace. They stumble at the fact that
it's pure grace and not by words. But notice here that they have
also been appointed for being disobedient. Okay, that's just
kind of a side note. Okay, God does appoint those
things. But, look verse nine, but ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood. That's something that one of
these days, like I said, I'd like to do a few messages on,
is on being a priest, a royal priesthood, or being the priesthood
of the believer. A holy nation, a peculiar people,
and here it is, that. Why has God caused us to differ
from the disobedient ones? Why has God appointed us to be
believers that find Christ to be precious? Why has God chosen
us as a generation? Mark read that a while ago, that
he would have a generation, a seed that would serve him and declare
his righteousness to a people that will be born. Why have we
been made a chosen generation that will declare those things?
Why has he made us a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a peculiar
people? that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Isn't that what
we just sang in our hymns this morning? That we just praise
God, that such were some of you, but now we are part of a chosen
few. There you go, brother. There's
your couple of lines for the next poem. We have been given access to
God. A royal priesthood means that
we've been given access to God. We don't need another man to
go before God for us. That's why the Roman Catholic
religion is a false religion, is because it requires men to
go to other men to get forgiveness, to find salvation. You have bishops
and you have cardinals and you have all this hierarchy that
goes up that men are bound to, subservient to, and waiting upon
them to grant forgiveness, to grant salvation, to take salvation
away. The Pope can grant, quote unquote,
can grant salvation, can take away salvation. on whether or
not you are complicit with all that he says and does. And we
find that to be true, especially whenever we go back and look
whenever indulgences were first instituted in the Roman Catholic
Church. These indulgences were ways of
beefing up the Catholic Church's coffers and people's eternal
souls was put in the balance. Unless you do these indulgences,
you're not gonna be saved. You'll be thrown into purgatory
after you die and won't be able to get out unless someone else
then comes and pays for your sins. And so people did these
indulgences, paid these indulgences to get out. So here we see, the
Bible says we're a royal priesthood. We don't have that. You have
no need that a man teach you. You have no need to call a man
father. There is only one mediator between
God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have that access to God.
What a great privilege that is, brethren, to have access to God. The Bible says that those who
are not His, the non-elect, the reprobate, the Bible says that
the Lord does not hear their prayers. I don't care what anybody
says, and I've heard this growing up in Arminian teaching all my
life. You know, God does not hear other
people's prayers, no matter how nice, religious. If they're not
a child of grace, born of God, God does not hear their prayers. The Bible is very clear on that.
However, for the child of grace, the Bible says we can boldly
come before the throne of grace. We can make our prayers and supplications
known, but it's only through the Lord Jesus Christ. What a
great privilege we have. So that leads us to the intercession
of Christ on our behalf. Look with me at Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7, it's already 11 o'clock,
my word. Hebrews chapter 7. Look with me at verse 25. Christ is in view here. He's
the subject matter at hand. The context of this passage is
speaking of Christ. So the he that we'll see here
is speaking of him. Wherefore he, Christ, is able
also to save them to the uttermost. I love that phrase. He is able
to save them, but not just save them, He's able to save them
to the uttermost. That word uttermost there, that
Greek word behind there, if you look how it's used throughout
the rest of the King James Bible and the Scriptures, you'll find
that that word means forevermore. He is able to save them forevermore. There isn't any way that they
can be unsaved. He is able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by Him. Isn't that a wonderful
truth and privilege that we have, brethren? The fact that not only
have we been saved, but that that salvation cannot ever be
lost. It can't go in reverse and be
lost. I can't do enough bad deeds that
God is gonna say, I tell you what, I changed my mind, I'm
not gonna save you now. No, because the legal action,
the legal work has been done. It was declared before the foundation
of the world. And the experiential act, in
time, to one who's been born again, they cannot be unborn. Even if you take somebody's life,
if I would take somebody's life, that still does not change the
fact that they were born. Have you ever thought of that? You may end somebody's life,
but that does not erase the truth that they were born. And for
the spiritual man of God, woman of God, one who's been born again,
one cannot be unborn. There is no way that that could
ever be taken back. We have been born from above
and that birth is a spiritual birth and that life that proceeds
from that spiritual birth or that comes in that spiritual
birth is an eternal life, an everlasting life. And so whenever
Christ saves us, he saves us to the uttermost or to the evermore. That's what that means. He saves us to the evermore,
meaning that he, his salvation isn't just for a short time,
but it is for evermore. It cannot be lost and it will
continue on. It will not cease at the end
of time. It will continue on. And so this
intercession, I want you to pay close attention because we're
going to talk about eternal life here in just a minute. But look, he
says, he's able to save us for the other most that come unto
God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession for
them. Notice if you would, that come
unto God, again, we see the phrase by him. The only way that anybody
comes to God is by Christ. So you don't come by your free
will, you come by Christ who draws you. You come because God brings you
to himself. That's why we use those phrases
a lot in Sovereign Grace Circles. We have been brought to Christ.
We didn't come to Christ, We didn't decide for Christ. We
didn't choose Christ. We were brought to Christ. Why? Because the Bible says that no
one comes to the Father except through me. And here we see no
one comes to God but by Jesus Christ. And we also see that
nobody would ever come except the Father draw him. So we see that there are three
aspects of coming. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. All three are working to bring
us to Christ. All three parts or administrations
or avenues of the Godhead are bringing us to Him through one
man, Jesus Christ, through his son, Jesus Christ. Christ being
the image of the invisible God, but that Godhead, the Father,
the Word, and the Holy Spirit, all giving evidence of being
part of this drawing coming. No man can come except to be
granted unto him. And so the coming is by him.
So it's a privilege. We're privileged to come. Many
men think it's their choice. It's their right. It's their
choice and freedom to come to Christ. But here we see it's
a privilege because that coming only comes through Jesus Christ. But look, he says, seeing he
ever liveth to make intercession. We all know that Christ is alive
and well. He's not dead. He did raise from
the dead on the third day. He came back to life. He reigns
forevermore. He's seated at the right hand
of God. And the Bible says that he ever liveth. That means he
lives continually on and on forever to make intercession for them. Who's them? Not for everybody. He's not making intercession
for everybody. He's making intercession for
them, the ones who was saved to the uttermost, the ones who
were given to come to God by him. the ones that we just read about,
the holy priesthood, the chosen generation. Those are the ones
whom he ever lives to make intercession. Brethren, we have the privilege
of being interceded for by Christ himself. God intercedes on our
behalf. Can anybody tell me what an intercessor
does? What is an interceder? What is intercessory work, or
what is intercession? Someone that pleads for another.
They intercede on someone else's behalf to another. And generally, that being said,
it's just presumptive. It's just kind of common understanding
that if it takes one, to intercede for another, then one is of lesser
stance, stature, status, ability, worth, whatever the case might
be, and the other is of higher rank, worth, status, level, whatever
the case might be. Thus needing someone in the middle
to intercede and make that intercession on their behalf. Why? Because
they can't do it themselves. They're unable to do it themselves.
That's why we have in our court systems lawyers. They intercede,
they speak on our behalf. Why? Because we don't know the
laws like they do. They know the laws. They know
the law end and they know our end. They know our rights, they
know the laws. They know what happens on our
behalf, and they know what is required by the law, and so they
speak for us on our behalf. Why? Because we can't do it ourselves, so to speak. We can't do it. Well, Christ is an interceder
for us. Why? Because we can't do it ourselves. Remember, we just said that we
have access to God, but only by Jesus Christ. We can't have
access to God. If we want our prayers and supplications
to be made known unto God, we have to have one who intercedes
on our behalf. He is making a plead on our behalf. Well, what is Christ doing? Now,
I've heard this and, You might correct me if there is a scripture
that says this or teaches this, but at the top of my head, I
can't think of any, and I know I've studied this in the past
and don't recall ever finding it, but I don't see anywhere
where the Bible says that Jesus is always praying for his saints. See, a lot of people think this
intercession means that he's constantly praying for his people. Now,
I know that Jesus prayed for his people. We see that in John
17. He prayed for his people. But what is this intercession
that we have? How is Christ interceding? Have
you ever thought of that? We always claim him to be our
intercessor, but how is he interceding? Well, if we look back at the
type in the Old Testament, intercession was made on behalf of the people
by blood. It was the blood that made intercession
between God and man. Everything was purged with blood. And from year to year, from the
day of atonement to the day of atonement, all throughout the
year, What interceded or what stood for the people was the
blood on that altar. That was what was their intercession.
It was the blood. The blood was always before God
on behalf of the people. The blood, so to speak, although
God doesn't forget, the blood was the reminder that this was
a cleansed and purged people. And so Jesus is our intercessor
in the fact that his blood, his sacrifice, his death, his righteousness
stands for us continually before God. The blood of Christ in and
of itself is what God required, and that's what stands in our
place. His blood intercedes or pleads our case. His blood pleads
for us, saying that they have been forgiven, they have been
justified, they have been given righteousness, they have been
saved to the othermost. It pleads for us. but notice
it's just for them though. It's just for them for whom it
was shed. Brethren, this is a privilege that we have as the children
of grace. All right, we'll take a break
right there and we'll come back and look at a few more verses
in this regard.