Good morning. I was talking to Brother Gabe
a few days ago, and he was telling me that he was going through
one of those times when he was just empty, just totally empty. And I told him, been there and
done that. You would think with all that
the Lord has done for us and the wonderful grace of God that
he's revealed to us in Christ that we wouldn't struggle with
something to preach from. But we do. How ignorant we are
and how dependent we are on his grace and his presence and his
spirit. And I say to you this morning,
I'm so dependent on that very thing. I invite you this morning
to turn with me to Romans chapter five. It's indeed an honor and
a privilege, not only to be here, but to be in the company of God's
saints anywhere that I go. There was a time when I had no
interest in the gospel, had no knowledge of it, and thus had
no interest in it. Without a knowledge of it, you
don't know what you're missing. Without those convictions of
the Holy Spirit, we have no appreciation for what he's done. And so it's
an honor for me and a privilege just to stand among God's saints
and a special given to me to say something on his behalf.
I don't look on my office as a job. Somebody told me the other
day, said, you have a wonderful job. Well, I don't look on the
office of a preacher as a job or as a profession, but it's
a calling and it's a privilege. It's a privilege. Oh, my soul,
what a privilege to speak for God. You are ambassadors of God. And what a humbling thing it
is to know that. I've come to know most of you,
and I can see your faces in my mind when I pray for you. A lot
of times I take pictures. It refreshes my mind. I've got
them hanging all over my study. and I can see your faces when
I pray for you. And all the churches of God that
I know, and I hope by the grace of God today to say something
to encourage you, something to stir you up, to get actively
engaged in the ministry that God's left us in, in this world. My message to you, or subject
if you prefer, is in the light of his love. I know nothing except
what I know in the light of his love. Everything God has revealed to
sinners, all of his glorious means, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief means. It all goes back to the
wellspring of God's love. Everything about God has love
in it. And you may not believe that,
but it's so. Even the wrath of God has love
in it. Love poured that wrath out on
his son. You want to know something about
God's love? He said, I commended my love
for you. Where? In the death of my son. That's my love. In that wrath,
in that justice, is the love of God. The love of God. By way of introduction, allow
me just a few minutes to comment on these first four verses of
Romans chapter 5. The Apostle begins with a glorious
declaration of the free justification of all that believe. He said,
therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. What does faith have to do with
being justified? I was justified long before I
believed. So what in the world is he talking
about here? What does faith have to do with being justified of
God? Well, he tells us in the last
verse of chapter four that Christ was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification Therefore, based on that, based
on that, all that happened, all this happened
long before he was born, and if you really wanna know the
truth, he acted on that justification before he ever created the first
man. Before God ever created this
earth, he acted on that justification. Paul said, God hath saved us.
When did he do that? God hath saved us, hath, time
passed, hath saved us. Then he called us with a holy calling, consistent
with his character, consistent with his glory. He called us, not according to our works, Religion,
here's how religion deals with predestination. God looked down
through the telescope of time to see what man was gonna do.
God don't know, what kind of God do you got? He needs a telescope? God knows all things, and he
sees all things because he's determined all things, ordained
all things, predestinated all things. He doeth all things according
to the counsel of his own will. And Paul said, God has saved
us, and then he called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. If God
had not made provision for our justification in Christ, he would
have destroyed this world when Adam sinned. Not even after he ate of the
fruit, but when the thought of foolishness entered into his
mind, that would have been it for creation. God would have
burnt this place to cinders, but he made provision for his
elect. That's why this earth is still
spinning. That's why people are still procreating. That's why sons and daughters
are still being born. God still acting on that justification
performed way back yonder. That justification, well, you
say, well, that just rules out the reason for Christ. No, that
establishes it. That's why Christ died, was provision
for justification was given in him. Romans 3.24 says, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus
whom God has set forth, over in Romans 3.24. Being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption, through to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins. So what part does faith in time
have to do with my justification before God? Well, it identifies
me as one for whom Christ died. He didn't die for unbelievers.
He died for believers. His death All of the things that
Christ did, men want to apply universally to all men. You can't
do that. Especially his love. Because all of these other things,
all this justification, all this predestination, all this election,
all of these things, divine union, all of these things that he did,
flow from that wellspring of God's love. And it's hard for me to believe
that God justified Judas and then sent him to hell. That's
totally contrary to the scriptures, isn't it? Or Demas, or on and
on the list goes. His love is particular and therefore
his redemption is particular. Faith identifies me as one of
those for whom Christ was appointed and died and justified when he
rose from the dead. All God's elect are identified
as elect by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, he tells
us we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There's
no peace with God outside of Christ, is there? I thought I
had peace. I listened to one of those, I
call them yay-hoos, but I was one of them at one time. And
they cry, peace, peace, where there is no peace. They talk
about, as Paul described yesterday, making your peace. Well, you
can't make peace with God. You might be at peace, but that
doesn't make God at peace. There's no peace with God outside
of Christ. I love what Paul said yesterday.
He said in the ark there was one window. What did you see
when you looked out the window? You're out here, the storms are
raging, the great springs of the deep have bursted forth and
the ark's now up and there's nothing to see out there but
the wrath of God. You look out there at the world,
the whole world lies under the wrath of God. There's nothing
out there. There's no life outside the ark,
is there? No life. Salvation in all of its ways
and means is in Christ, and we're saved in a Savior. It's not a doctrine. I preach
doctrine, I teach doctrine, and it's all the doctrine of Christ,
and doctrine's useless apart from Christ. We're saved in a
Savior. We're redeemed in a Redeemer.
And we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is
our peace. Isn't that what Scripture said?
He is. He's our peace, who hath made
both one, Jew and Gentile. All of God's promises, if you
read the Old Testament, they're all given to Jews. They're all
given to Jews. Well, so what? I'm not a Jew. That's so what? You're not a
Jew. Oh, He's our peace. You and I are
Gentiles. We had no promise Christ. He
said at that time you were without Christ. You didn't know anything
about Christ. Yet no hope is without God in
the world. But in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes
were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is
our peace, who hath broken down that middle wall of petition,
unveiled the mystery of the spiritual Jew. Ain't you glad you know
something about that mystery? Oh, when he made promise to Abraham,
he made promise to me. An old Gentile, old ignorant,
dead, idle, worshiping Gentile. He made a promise to me. How'd he do that? He did that by showing to us
who the true Jew is. We're all children of God, Paul
said, by faith in Christ Jesus. And in him, there's neither Jew
nor Greek, male nor female, bond nor free. We're all one in Christ. We're all one in Christ Jesus,
and if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs
according to the promise. That promise is to me, if I can
believe. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also, now look at this, Romans
five, verse three. Here's the third thing. By whom
also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Faith is a provision
given in Christ and by Christ to all his elect, as many as
were ordained unto eternal life believed. That's what Paul said
to the about the Gentiles at Antioch. By divine union with
God's Son, Paul tells us in Ephesians 2 that he raised us up together
with Christ. We died in him, was buried in
him, and God raised him from the dead the third day. And we
were in Him. He raised us up together, He
said. And we ascended up with Him into
glory when He stepped on that cloud. All those in union with
Him stepped on that cloud. And He raised us up and made
us sit together with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now watch
this. That. You ever notice that next
verse in Ephesians 2? That. In order that, in ages
to come, verse 70, Ephesians 2, in ages to come, he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus, for by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Having
done that, having done that, He's gonna show that grace, the
exceeding riches of that grace to us, to all for whom he died. He's gonna say, yeah, but man,
I'm over here and I'm buried in sin and I'm cursing God and
I'm an enemy of God and I'm running around working. In his time,
in his time, just like Paul. Be down there seeking some papers
to go down there and persecute some Christians. looking for
that soapbox to get on in that Armenian church and stand up
and talk about people coming down the aisle and getting eternal
life. In your ignorance, in the fullness of the time, God's gonna
reveal himself in you just like he did in Paul. He's gonna show
you the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward
us in Christ Jesus, and you're gonna melt like butter when he
does. I don't care how hard-hearted
you are, I don't care how much of an enemy you consider yourself
to be, God gonna melt you like butter. You'll come to him, not
even able to talk, just like that leopard, just throw yourself
down just like you are, and all your stink and your leprosy and
your rottenness, and you fall down before him and say, Lord,
if you will. Oh, mine is love, he looks at
you and says, I will. I will. Oh, you melt like butter
when he comes into the heart. In the grace of God, it begins
to show you something of that treasure, something of the exceeding
greatness of his riches and his kindness. Where his workmanship
falls here. I didn't do it. I didn't find
it. People talk about that all the
time. Boy, I found it. Who was it, Philip? His brother. Well, the Lord found him. And
Abraham told his brother, he said, I found the Lord. No, the
Lord found you. He found you. And then you found
him. How did we find access into such
grace, such high and lofty privileges? How is it that we and a few others
have come to such grace while the whole world lies in wickedness? Well, the scripture said, God
hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Now listen, through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto, Paul said,
he called you by our gospel. Oh, you ladies fixed a big Thanksgiving
dinner. I had one, and I just loved it. And ladies, a lot of times, they'll
set that table, and it's all decorated, and all the things
around on the wall. And the good china comes out,
and all the silverware comes out. And they put a dinner just
out of this world, and you heap it up on that plate, and you
get ready to eat. But I've had Thanksgiving on
a paper plate. And it was just as good. And
when God serves his gospel to men, sometimes, sometimes he
serves it on the finest china. And sometimes, like me, he just
puts it on paper plates. But I tell you, when you know
what it is you're eating, it don't matter. It don't matter. I was telling them yesterday,
telling Paul, I said, can you even imagine my fellowship? Here
he is. He had to be carried in. He's
lying on his feet. He can't walk. The only reason
he's not dead is because of a covenant that his father made with David,
David the king. And now here's Mephibosheth.
And the servants dress him up. And they bring him in. And they
sit him down at the king's table. Here's the chef, the greatest
cook in the land. He's occupied with cooking for
the king. He's going to prepare things
for the king. And he sets it down on the table. And Mephibosheth
gets a bite. And he said, you know what? Those
mashed potatoes could have had a little more butter in them.
You can't even imagine that, can you? And neither will a son
of God. Neither will that believer when
God brings him down and then pulls that treasure into his
heart. He don't mind eating off a paper plate. Oh, my soul. Access and ability. Not only
is there an open door, but Paul said, given thanks to the Father,
which has made us meet, given us the ability to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. Let's talk about enlightened
saints. We all gather here this morning.
And I think the most of you, I can't say this of everyone,
but the most of you in here this morning are partakers of that
inheritance with other enlightened saints. You understand what I'm
saying. Isn't that great? Isn't that great? Because of anything in you, God
made you meet to be partakers of that inheritance. Oh, my soul, enlightened saints,
given the precious faith, being brought into the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect
man. Christ is that perfect man. He's
a perfect Savior, a perfect Redeemer, a perfect example, and a perfect
Lord. Be perfect, be perfect. I'm gonna tell you something,
we're perfect in Him, in Him. We have access by Christ, in
Christ, by faith, into this grace wherein we stand, and the basis
of our salvation is the free and sovereign grace of God. If God doesn't give it, you can't
access it. You couldn't stand in it, but
if he does, you can't do anything else. You can't do anything else. Salvation's of the Lord. All
right, now watch this, here's the fourth thing. Not only do
we have access by faith into this grace and the ability to
stand in it, but we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Who
else in all the world is even interested in the glory of God
except those he saved? Those he saved, they understand
that everything God did, he did for his glory. He did it for
his glory. There's an interesting verse
in the book of Genesis in the very beginning. God created the
heavens and the earth, and God said, let there be light. Now that's not talking about
the sun, the moon, and the stars. That didn't happen until the
fifth day. When he said, let there be light, he's talking
about the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. How do I know that? Because that's
what he said over in 2 Corinthians 4. God has shined in our hearts.
The God who shined that light, that light of creation, has shined
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This world was created by our
Redeemer. Everything in it glorifies Him. The whole purpose of it glorifies
Him. Everything about it has to do
with His glory. And in this grace that we stand,
in this enlightened state of faith, we rejoice in hope of
the glory of God. Aren't you anxious to see it?
when it comes. My soul, I'm anxious to see it
when we come to worship. Just want a little glimpse I
get of it in that. I can't imagine what it's gonna
be in that day. He's not gonna come, the lowly
Jesus, in a manger, but he's gonna come in what? All the glory
of his Father's house will be manifested in his second coming. What is this glory? He said,
God, Moses said, show me your glory. He said, I'll show you
my glory. I'll cause all my goodness to pass before you. The goodness
of my justice and the goodness of my wrath and the goodness
of my kindness and longsuffering and love, the goodness of my
sovereign lordship. I'll make all my goodness to
pass before you. We rejoice in hope of the glory
of God. And knowing this, God saves sinners
for his glory. For his glory. Lord, would you
for your glory save me? Save sinners. Do what you've
ordained to do, and the love you've ordained to do it in,
and manifest your glory. And then listen to this. Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, hold my soul. Don't you want to know something
about that? I know about this much. I want to know this much. Listen to this. Well, you say,
well, how does a sinner get in Christ? You come to the front,
you kneel at a bench, do you sign a card? How do you get in
Christ? How does a man get in Christ? Well, you can't get in
Christ. Of God, the scripture said, are
you in Christ Jesus? Who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Why'd he do that? According as it is written, he
that gloryeth, let him glory in the Lord. We rejoice in hope
of the glory of God, and then fifthly, verse three, not only
so, but we glory in tribulations also. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't
glory in suffering. When I'm suffering, I'm suffering.
I don't like it. I want it to stop. I want it
to cease. We don't rejoice in pain and
anguish or being hated of men. I don't rejoice in that. But we rejoice, he said, knowing. Uh-oh. It's what we know about suffering. That's why we rejoice. what these troubles are all about,
knowing that tribulation, that's troubles, work with patience. Patience. And patience, experience,
and experience, hope. What in the world does all that
mean? That means we get in trouble. And our troubles would sweep
us away the way it does other men. But God gets you out of
them. He preserves you through them. And then he teaches you what
they're for. We get in trouble, our troubles
would sweep us away were it not for the grace of God in Christ
and the good pleasure of his will to have us as sons and treat
us as sons and intervene for us as sons and not leave us to
ourselves. And over and over, God intervenes
for us, gets us out of trouble, preserves us from all evil. Oh, how fast the world and Satan
and sin would swallow us up were it not for his gracious intervention. Peter, Satan hath desired to
shift you like wheat. But, I pray for you, that your
faith fail not. And over time, we learn to wait
on the Lord. That's patience. Oh, I wish I
had patience. Patience is waiting on the Lord. knowing by experience that with
the temptation, he will also make a way of escape. He'll preserve
you through it. And as he intervened and delivered
Israel out of all her troubles, even so he does for every believer. Verse five, and hope maketh not
ashamed. Now a vain hope will. A false hope leaves you ashamed. A vain hope will not answer to
your expectations. It will not do what you were
deceived into believing that it would. It'll leave you holding
a bag. Holding a bag. Well, what's that mean? My dad lived in town before I
was born, and my oldest brother, had to be left there at home.
This is after the Depression. They had to be left alone at
home. And both my mother and my father had to go work. And
my oldest brother was forbidden to do this, but he got in the
garage and got a can of paint and a brush. I'm guessing he's
12, 13 years old. And he goes out, and he's painting
a fire hydrant out front. He's painting a picture, no telling
what he was painting on it, knowing my oldest brother. And my oldest sister was with
him, and she wanted to paint. And she was standing there begging
him, and he wouldn't let her. And all of a sudden, he saw Dad
coming home from work, getting out of the car, and he said,
here. And she's holding the brush,
and Daddy comes up and looks at her. I didn't do this. You got a wet paintbrush in your
hand. It'll leave you holding a bag.
That's what a false hope will do. You'll hang on to it until
you wake up in hell, and you'll be guilty. You'll be holding
a bag. A true hope will never make us
ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto you. Throughout the life of a believer,
God manifests his love for us over and over and over. Jacob have I loved. Can you see it in Jacob's life?
all from one end to the other. Jacob have I loved. When did
God love him? Always. Always. Before he's ever born or done
any good or evil. And why would God say such a
thing to the mother of these twin boys before they were ever
born? Now listen, he tells us in Romans
9-11 that the purpose of God according to election might stand
not of works, but of him that calleth. That's why he said it.
That's why he said it. And time and again, God manifests
his love for us in Christ Jesus. He chose us in Christ that we
might be eternally before him in love, that is being loved. Over and over in the sweet promises
of Christ, he prophesies of his love for us. Practically the
whole book of Hosea, that's what it's all about, God's love. In Ruth, Ruth and Boaz are kinsmen
redeemers, not the love of God set forth there. And here in
our text in Romans 5, 5, he not only loves us and intervenes
for us, but he sheds that love abroad in those troubles. in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,
which is given to who? The world? No, to us. To us. What a dark, ignorant, unforgiving
world we live in, that a perfect man should appear in our midst
and be despised and rejected of men, hated without a cause. And what love he must have to
have suffered all these things for us. What love he must have
to suffer such indignities. And yet even now he comes to
the troubled sinner and sheds abroad in our hearts such love
by the Holy Ghost." Over and over. When I was about nine or 10,
we rode to school on a school bus. I guess people still do
that, I don't know. Back then, you were allowed to
get up and run around on the bus. Now you have to be seated
and seat belted and all this stuff. But one day on the bus, my friend
came back. And he sat down. And he looked
all around. And he whispered in my ear. He
said, we're rich. And I said, what do you mean
we're rich? We were both dirt poor. He said, we're rich. And he had a little paper sack.
And he opened it up. And there was dollar bills in
there, paper money in there. So he met me after school. We
had a Western auto store in that little town. I went down there.
And I bought a cowboy suit. I mean, I suited up. I bought
the hat and the six guns, had the chaps on. I was a cowboy. And you can imagine, 10-year-old,
I'm coming home. We're dirt poor. And I'm coming
home, and I'm dressed to the hilt. Cowboy Dan, you know, and
I walk in the house, and mom said, where did you get that? I said, oh, a friend of mine
come into some money, and he bought it for me. Uh-huh. Well, what's your friend's name? And I told her, and she called
up and talked to his parents. And no, he didn't have no money. She called around. Well, it turned
out a young cheerleader, a freshman cheerleader, had been getting
donations and things so they could buy uniforms. And her money
was in that bag, and she dropped it on the bus, and he found it.
So now I have to go back with my parents to the Western Auto
Store and tell him what I did, ask him to take the stuff back.
And the worst part of it was I had to go to the little girl's
house and had to face her parents. And I came in, and here comes
her dad, and he's a big guy. And he comes out, and he's got
a real rough voice. And he's, man, he's laying into
me. He's, you know, I'm just starting
to shake all over, and he's just, I got a good mind to turn you
over to the police. A few days in jail do you some
good, and now I'm all welled up, and the tears are rolling
down, and I'm shaking. And all of a sudden, I find his
hand grabs me by the shoulder and pushes me behind him. And
my dad said, whatever is required for your satisfaction, you charge
it to me. You charge it to me. And I stood
and looked at him and a whole new kind of love
was born in my heart as I looked at him. That's what Paul's talking
about here in Romans chapter 5. You go through these troubles,
and that hand, by the time you think you're going down for the
third count, that hand push you behind it. Whatever it takes
to satisfy all his accounts, put it on mine. You put it on
mine. That's the love of God. The love
of God. Oh, my soul. As Christ manifests his love
for us by the Holy Ghost, he sheds abroad in our hearts the
love of God in Christ. My sonship, my father's provision
for me, all revealed in my deliverance. Now let me read this verse to
you and I'll quit. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 8. Paul's talking to this church.
They had so much trouble, so much trouble. And he said, for we would not,
brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us
in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength,
insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death
in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God,
which raises the dead. Now listen, who delivered us. from so great a death, and doth
deliver. In whom we trust, that he'll
yet deliver us. Isn't that something? Now that's
the subject here in the first part of Romans chapter five.
He's talking about all of these things stemming, all this love,
this justification, this redemption, our calling, all of these things
stemming from the wellspring of God's love. And even now,
even having demonstrated that on the cross, even now, in every
little trouble that you get in, he sheds abroad that love in
your heart, delivering us out of those troubles. Oh, great
God in heaven, cause us to see the glory of your love, showing
us that it's the very wellspring of all your blessings upon us,
and that this love is secured in our victorious Savior from
which nothing can separate us.