Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, we're going to be looking
this morning at Romans chapter 5. Before I bring the message, I
want to express my deepest appreciation to this church for your many
kindnesses and your hospitality to me and my family. for so many,
many years. What Paul said should be the
characteristic of God's people everywhere is the characteristic
of this church, given to hospitality. I've been associated with this
church almost twenty years. I think shortly after Brother
Jim Byrd came here as pastor, he invited me to come and preach.
And I visited here year after year after year. And now I'm
so very happy that Pastor Paul and Mindy and Hannah live in
Rocky Mountain, Virginia. I'm so glad that God led them
here to live. and to minister with you
in the things of our Lord, what better place on this earth could
you be? You people go on vacation to
other places. Why not? You get a little time off, we
come over here. Get on that parkway and just
enjoy looking at God's And you live out in the middle of it.
You're blessed, aren't you? I think I'll live here during
the millennium. Let's read two verses here from
Romans 5 to begin this message. Romans 5 verse 20, law entered that the offense
might abound, sin might be exposed in us. But where sin abounded, that
word is overflowed. Where sin overflows, thank God,
grace did much more overflow. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, it did. Through Adam's transgression
it overcame us, conquered us, destroyed us. It reigned. It
literally reigned over us. Sin reigns in these mortal bodies
by nature. Even so might grace reign, conquer, rule. The reign of grace, that's
what I'm preaching on today, the reign of grace. through righteousness,
through His righteousness unto eternal life by our Lord Jesus
Christ. Philip Doddridge once wrote,
and I wish this hymn was in our book, Grace, Free Grace, inscribed
my name in God's eternal book. free grace gave me to the Lamb
who all my sorrows took. Grace, free grace, taught my
soul to pray. And pardoning love to know, grace,
free grace, has kept me to this day and will not let Grace, free grace, taught my
heart to fear. Grace, free grace, my fears relieved. Precious did his grace appear,
the hour I first believed. And Radford added these words,
and when from this world my soul removes to mansions of delight
and love, I'll praise the Lamb upon the throne, and I'll shout,
free grace, free grace, free grace, amazing grace, how sweet
the sound, a Savior rich like me. I was lost, now I'm found. By His grace, Well, I'm going to start with
verse one, and I've got three things I want to say. I want
to talk about three things in this subject of free grace, the
reign of grace. The blessings, the blessings
God has given us by His grace. showers of blessing we just sang
about. There should be showers of blessing.
Let's talk about those blessings. And then secondly, let's see
if we can find some proof, some proof of His grace, some undeniable
proof that God has shown grace to us. We have some proof. And
then to help us as we depart, I'm going to talk about the assurance.
We need assurance, don't we? You can't have any peace if you
don't have assurance and confidence that we have that He has been
gracious to us. Well, let's look at the blessings
of this grace in chapter five of Romans, verse one. what the pastor talked about
this morning. Faith, the gift of God. We've
been justified. It says we have peace with God.
We have peace with God. Now, the natural man, natural
man, natural mind is not at peace with God. If you look at Romans
8, verse 7, it says here, the carnal mind is in the gift of
God. Men hate the God of the Bible.
They don't hate their God. They don't hate the God of their
imagination, but they hate the true and living God. Our Lord
said that. He said, Marvel not, my brethren,
if the world hate you. It hated me before it hated you. Proof of man's hatred for God
is when God came to this earth in the form of a man. If you want to show your utter
and absolute contempt for somebody, you spit in his face. That's
just, that's the lowest thing. That's the most utter contempt
you can show. Instead, they spat upon him. And they crucified him and laughed
at him as he died. They said, you trusted God, let's
see if God will have you. You saved others, save yourself.
They ridiculed. The natural mind, look at that
Romans 8 verse 7, the carnal mind is enmity against God. The natural mind is, it's not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. They that are
in the flesh cannot please God. And I'll tell you this, not only
is man angry with God, God's angry with men. Not only does the natural mind
hate God, but God hates the natural mind. And the world doesn't like
that. And they won't approve of us
saying that, but it's true. The Scripture says God is angry
with the wicked every day. Doesn't it say that? The Scripture
says God hated all workers of iniquity. God's angry. You can see that. through the
Old Testament when Adam rebelled against God, God put him out,
out of his presence. Your sin separated you and your
God. He put him out of the garden.
You can see that in the days of Noah. God destroyed every
person on this earth except eight people. Utterly destroyed them. You can see that in Sodom. Our generation is talking about
lifestyle and freedom of choice. God showed his contempt for our
so-called perverted lifestyle and suffered. He destroyed everyone
of them, burned them up with fire from heaven. God hates evil. God hates the
work of iniquity. God is angry with the wicked.
But it says here, talking about believers, by grace, we have
peace with God. We have peace with God. God's
not angry with you. Over there in Isaiah 12, look
over there just a moment. We just don't understand what
a blessing that is. God is not angry. In Isaiah 12,
we were children of wrath even as others, but God has reconciled
us. God reconciled us. Look at Isaiah
12, verse 1, In that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I have praised
thee, though thou wast angry with me. Thine anger is turned
away. Think about that. Christ our
Lord has turned away the anger of the Father. He took it on
Himself. The wrath of God that was due us fell on Christ. He
turned it away. And thou comfortest me. Behold,
God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
and the Lord Jehovah is my strength, my song, my salvation. He's not
angry with me. Look at 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. I want you to look at this carefully
with me for just a moment. 2 Corinthians 5. In verse 19, it says, namely,
to which God was in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5, 19, God was
in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. He reckoned—what
is reconciled? It's friendly again. It's peace. It's, I'm not angry. We're one. God reconciled us to him. He reconciled us, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, but laid them on Christ and had committed
to us the word of reconciliation. Christ reconciled us to God. Took away the enmity and the
wrath. Took away the sin, which was
the cause of enmity and wrath. But I said, God's reconciled. God's not angry with you. We're
at peace with God. And here in verse 20, Paul said,
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
deceit you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be you reconciled to God. See, God loved us from the foundation
of the world, chose us in Christ, and sent Christ to the earth.
And Christ, in His obedience and in His death, reconciled
us to God, removed the enmity and wrath. God loves us. But
when we started life on this earth, we didn't love Him. We
were just like others, children of wrath. We hated God. And the
Holy Spirit one day arrested us, and the Holy Spirit quickened
us. And the Holy Spirit revealed
the gospel to us, and the Holy Spirit took the wrath out of
our hearts against God, and now God is at peace with us, and
by His grace we're at peace with God. I don't hate God. You don't hate God. We did, but
we don't anymore. We've been reconciled. Christ
reconciled God unto us, and the Holy Spirit reconciled us to
God. Isn't that right? We have peace. You cannot overestimate the value
of peace with God. All right, secondly, verse two,
and we have peace through Christ now. That's where the peace came,
through Christ. He made peace for us through
his blood. That's right, the blood of his
cross. All right, verse two, by whom also we have access. by faith into this grace wherein
we stand. We have access. What is this
state of grace? We have access by faith into
this grace. Now, peace is a particular blessing,
a particular blessing. Grace is all blessings. We have been brought into a state
of favor with God. The angel said to Mary, Fear
not, thou hast found favor with God. Thou hast found favor with
God. God has brought you into His
favor. God loves you. And God Almighty
has brought you into a state of favor. Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. God brought Noah into a state
of favor. Moses said, Lord, If I found
grace in thy sight, and the Lord said, you have found grace in
my sight. God spoke to Moses as a man speaks
to his friend. God showed his judgment to Israel,
he showed his ways to Moses. A state of grace, a state of
favor. And that's what God has given
to us. All spiritual blessings in Christ
Jesus. We're sons of God. He said, I call you not servants.
A servant doesn't know what the master's doing. A servant lives
in the house, but he doesn't know what the master's doing.
I call you sons. Sons is a state of favor. And then notice the
next line. These are the blessings of His
grace. Peace, a state of favor, sonship, and then we rejoice
in hope of the glory of God. We have a blessed hope. The Scripture
calls it a hope a living hope because he lives, a sure hope,
a certain hope. It calls it a blessed hope. It calls it a hope of grace.
We have a hope of eternal, eternal glory. How does a person live
in this dying world with no hope of glory? How does a person survive? How does one grow old without
a hope of growing? How does one experience the frailties of this flesh and disease? And knowing that, like Brother
Paul said this morning, some of us are seventy and it's over. The seventy years, three, four,
and ten, it's over. We're on par with time. How do
you enter that area without any hope? Swift to its close ebbs
out life's little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories
fade away. Change and decay in all around
me I see. Oh, here's the solution. Thou
who changest not, abide with me. We have a hope. We have a
hope. Abraham walked this earth, didn't
own a foot of ground, lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob, yet
he looked for a city which had foundations. He lived in tents
that didn't have any foundations, but he looked for a city that
had foundations, would never be removed, never fade away,
a cloudless day. built by God. That's how Abraham
survived this journey, looking for a city. David, he said, I'll
be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Paul, he said,
the time of my departure is at hand. It is at hand. I've fought
a good fight. I've finished my course. I've
kept the faith. Henceforth, there's laid up for
me the hope of glory. the crown of righteousness, which
the Lord himself shall give to me in that day, and not to me
only, but to all who love his appearance. Job said, I know
my Redeemer liveth, and though worms destroy this body, in my
flesh I will see God. That's what kept him going. That's
the blessings of grace. We have peace. You can lie down
and sleep at night. God's not angry. God loves us
in Christ. He that hath not the Son, the
wrath of God abideth on him. We have peace. We have a state
of favor. God, we're highly favored. We're sons of God. That's my
son. He's highly favored. He's more
important to me than anybody. And I'm God's son. You understand
what I'm saying? I'm God's son. And nothing good
will he withhold from me if I need it, if I require it. If you,
being evil, know how to give good things to your children,
how much more, more, how much more shall your Father give good
things to you? He's with sons, and we have a
hope. We have a hope of glory. We have
a hope of the glory of God. Our Lord said, the glory which
you gave me, I've given them. You love me just like you do
love them just like you love me. Think about it. That's grace. That's the reason I'm going to
shout free grace. And then he says, and next, and
not only so, verse three, but we glory in tribulation. We can
glory in trouble. There's not many folks that can
glory in trouble. It takes special grace to triumph
in trouble. It takes special grace and special
favor to glory in tribulation and trial and heartache and sorrow. We can rise above the sorrow. Most folks can't. When our son was killed in Vietnam,
1969, the nation was at war. And there were other boys in
the Ashland area who were dying in Vietnam. And when my son was killed, that
was a great sorrow. That was an indescribable experience
of grief and trial and sorrow. But we had the grace to overcome. I had the grace to to preach
his funeral. I had the grace to accept it.
Like somebody said, well, where was God when your son died? I
said, same place he was when his son died, on the throne.
And this was the purpose of God, just as much as that was the
purpose of God. And all things work together for good to them
who love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
It didn't make the pain any easier, or the sorrow any less, or the
heartache any less, but it gave us comfort and hope. knowing
that God did it for His glory and our good. And I had people
call me, who lost sons and husbands and relatives, and they say,
well, I want you to come over and give me the peace you have,
and help me to take this like you take it. I can't give you
that, because I didn't give it to myself, God gave it to me.
It's His grace. Isn't that right? The glory and
tribulation, it's not something that you have a recipe for performing. It's the presence of God, and
the Word of God, and the hope of God, and the knowing that
God reigns. God reigns. God rules. God's the first cause. Man's
only the second cause. Joseph's brothers, they hated
him, and they wanted to kill him.
If it hadn't been for, say, Judah or Reuben, one of them pled for
him, said, Don't kill him. Throw him in a pit. Not much
difference. Throw him in a pit and sell him
as a slave. And so the Egyptians came through
there and they sold their brother. They sold him. And he went down
to Egypt and he suffered down there. He suffered down there. He was a slave in Egypt. His
brothers sold him into slavery. And then he was put in prison.
He sat in prison for years in Egypt, in dungeons, and back-breaking labor. And
his beard grew long, and there was dirt under his fingernails.
And finally, by God's grace, he got out of prison and became
a king. And then these brothers came down, and he had them where
he wanted them. They were right there in front
of him. All ten of them. Benjamin wasn't in on that, was
he? They were all ten of them. He had them right where he wanted
them. Now then, Joseph, put it to them. Put it to them. You got them, Robert. They had
you. Ten of them. And look what they
did to you. Now, you've got them. You know
what he did? He went and hugged them and kissed
them. He said, what you did to me,
you meant for evil. God meant it for good, to preserve
the nation alive and to keep us and our little ones from starving.
So he embraced them. I wonder if we could embrace
these second causes. People do things to you and hurt
you and just say, you didn't do it, God did it. Pharaoh, God
said, I raised you up, Pharaoh. to mistreat my people for my
glory." You see, these trials are sent
by our Father. We don't rejoice in trials. We
rejoice in Him who sent them and the results that they will
accomplish and the purpose for which they come. That's what
we rejoice in. And so we can... Isn't that a
blessing of grace? And you can't... There's no way. You can tell others about it.
You can tell them about Him, but you can't put it in their
hearts. God has to do it. That's the reason your people
ought to pray out, Chandra. Your loved ones and friends ought
to pray, Lord, give me this grace. Give me this peace. Give me this
favor. Give me this hope. Oh, give it
to me. While on others' dire passage,
don't pass me by. Don't leave me in confusion and
enmity. hate and wickedness and no hope,
save me. You can do that. That's what
Peter did when he was sinking beneath the waves. He said, Lord,
save me or I'll perish. Give me this hope. We had a man
came to our service at Ashburn a couple of weeks ago, and he
came there just for one purpose. Two of our men worked with him.
been working with him a long time. And he said to those two
men, you've got something that we don't have. And these men
said, well, it's the gospel we believe. It's the grace that
God's given. Well, I'm going to come and see what it is. Come
and see. Come and see. And then ask God
to give it to them. Well, we have one other. He said
here in verse Listen, and patience, tribulation,
work with patience, and patience, experience, and experience hope.
It deepens the hope. It increases the hope. And hope
maketh not ashamed. Hope maketh not ashamed. We're
not ashamed of Him. He's not ashamed of us. And we'll
never be put to shame. And we'll never be put to shame.
And we'll never be ashamed of Him. And we'll never deny Him.
Why? Because, because. You know, a lot of people get
religion. You've experienced it. You've
seen this happen right here. People get religion, learn a
little theology, buy Gill's Commentary, read Pink Sovereignty of God,
maybe Lord Jones' Sermon on the Mount, get them some religious
books and come to church for a while Seem to rejoice and join
up and then one day they begin to lose interest. And then one day they grow weary
and then they begin to miss the senses and then they're gone. Why do you not grow weary? I'm
looking in the faces of men and women I've preached to thirty years ago, twenty years
ago, and still around here, just as excited, just as thrilled,
and just as committed, or more, more so, more committed, more
thrilled, more interested, more satisfied, drinking of the water
of life, eating of the bread of life, just can't wait for
the next service, so you can hear about the treasure. What's
the difference? Listen, because Hope, make it
not a shame, this hope, make it not a shame, because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. That's
right. He loves you. He loves you. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love, an everlasting love, an unchangeable love. Therefore,
with loving kindness have I drawn you. He loves you and He has
put in your heart a love for Him. A love for Him that'll never
quit. A love for His people. Blessed are they who hunger.
God gave them that hunger. He gave them that appetite that's
never satisfied until we awake with His likeness. Blessed are
they that hunger and hunger and thirst and thirst For righteousness,
they're going to be failed, and failed, and failed. That's the
reason. His love. Our hearts. Got it? Not my love. Here in His love. Not that I
love God. He loved me and gave His Son to be a propitiation
for my sins. I love Him because. Because. Tribulation works with patience.
Patience, maturity, maturity, hope, and hope making. You'll never be ashamed. Believers
never quit. They're not true believers. They never quit. John said, if they'd been of
us, they no doubt would have continued. That's an evidence
that God did. See, what the Lord does, it'll
be forever. The almost undeniable evidence
that God has saved a man is that man stays saved. What God does,
He does forever, and hope will never be ashamed because, because
the love of God, the indescribable, immutable, unsearchable, unspeakable
love of God Almighty is shed abroad in our hearts. The proof of this love. The proof of this grace. We have
peace, we have God's favor, we have a blessed hope, we are able
to try to overcome trouble, we have the love of God. What is
the proof? that God is mindful of us. David
said, Lord, when I consider the heavens, the sun, the moon, the
stars, the things that God has made, the vast, unsearchable
universe, the awesome vastness of all that God has made, like
the pastor preached on the radio, the God of creation, the God
of the universe, what is man without mindfulness? That God, what does the word
mindful mean? It means to recognize. It means to remember. It means
to take notice of. And that's what David's saying.
When I consider the heavens, the glory of God, what is man?
Is he mindful of us? What's the proof? Well, here
it is. Verse six, when we were without strength, without beauty,
without righteousness. When we were without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. This is the sum
and substance of our great article of faith and the proof of God's
grace and love to us. Christ died for us. That's what Paul said. He said,
who is he that condemneth? God will justify it. Who is he
that condemneth? Christ had died. Yea, rather
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also
makes intercession for us. I know God's mindful of me because
He sent His Son into this world to die for me. Who died? Christ died, the Son
of God. How did He die? A death of Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, yet made himself of no reputation,
took upon himself the form of a man, a serpent, was made in
the likeness of flesh, and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross, even, even the death of the cross. That's who died, Christ died.
How did he die? A horrible, shameful death. Why
did he die? The sense is, Christ died for
us. In verse 8, God commended his
love toward us in that while we were sinners, sinners, Christ
died for us. When did he die? When we had
no strength. We're sinners. In the midst of
God. Who died? Christ. How did he
die? An ignominious, terrible death. For whom did he die? Us, sinners. When did he die? When we had
nothing to pay, without strength. Oh, one of the old Puritans said,
what language can I borrow to thank thee, my dearest friend?
for this thy dying sorrows, for thy grace and mercy to me without
end." Mine, mine were the transgressions, thine, thine the deadly pain. Thy grief and bitter suffering
was for my eternal gain. Oh, make me thine forever, and
should I fainting Lord, let me never, never, never, never outlive
my love for Thee. I don't mind getting old, but
I don't want to get so old I can't rejoice in Him, do you? I'd rather
go on to glory, outlive my love for Thee. Be with me when I die,
and show Thy grace to me. Thy grace, my hope supplies. from death shall set me free.
His grace. I'll need His grace as much or
more for the last day as I did for the first day. There is no
difference. There's no difference. Doesn't
change. By grace. Every day is a day
of grace. Every day is a day of mercy. We're not saved by His grace
and then given a scoop down the hill. He keeps us day by day. He feeds us day by day. He sustains
us day by day. And listen, as they gather the
manna every day, you couldn't store it up in rock. We gather
grace every day. Thy grace is sufficient for this
day, but I'll start all over tomorrow. depending on him and
his Christ. Proof of his love? Calvary. That's all the proof you need.
Who's that Christ? Why is he there for me? When
did he die for me? When I didn't have anything to
give. And then here's the assurance. That's what I want a little more
assurance, don't you? Let's read verse 8 and 9. But
God commended his love for us. And why were we yet sinners?
Christ died for us. Much more. You mean there's more? Much more. That's two big words
there. Much more than being now justified
by his blood, we'll be saved from wrath through him. If God
loved me while I was a sinner, And Christ died for me when I
was a sinner, much more sure and certain is His love for me
now that I'm justified. Isn't that right? Now that I'm redeemed, now that
I'm accepted, now that I'm in His family. If He loved me when
I was a tadpole in the mire and the mud and corruption and on
the donkey hill, now that I'm in Christ, seated at His right
hand, much more. being justified shall I be saved
from wrath through him." If God's wrath wasn't on me then, in Christ
I'm protected, certainly in Him now God's wrath's not on me. Loves you with an everlasting
love. All right? Verse ten. If when we were enemies
we were reconciled to God for the death of His Son, when we
were being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. If when we were enemies we were
reconciled, much more now being reconciled, excepted, we're saved
by his life, by his life. And then look at verse fifteen,
but not as the offense, so also as the free gift. If through
the offense of one, that's Adam, if through the offense of Adam
many be dead, much more. The grace of God and the gift
of grace which is by one man Christ hath abounded unto many. In other words, if through Adam's
fall and Adam's transgression so many be dead and damned and
cast out, if that's the effect of his transgression, The damnation
of so many, the destruction of so many. If that's what happened
by Adam's disobedience, think how much more the glory and the
accomplishment by the network and life of Christ, who is the
Son of God. By one man's disobedience, we
were made sinners. By another man's obedience, we
were made righteous. I know what happened in Adam.
His influence and His power and His sin damned us. It left us,
it left this body dying, diseased and full of sin. Think what God
accomplished by the work of the second Adam. You see, how much
more, how much more certain. Death is certain by Adam. Righteousness
is certain by Christ. The difference in who they are,
they're not even to be compared. That's the reason he said there
in verse 15, not as the offense, so as the gift. The gift is so
much far above the offense, it's not even worth it to be compared.
You believe in the work of Adam? I know it. I'm a prophet. I just
believe much more in the work of Christ. Isn't that right,
Bob? Much more. If Adam could do this
to me, think what Christ could do. Isn't that what he's saying? Wow. You don't have anything
to be afraid of, anything to fear. Because if God be for us,
who can be against us? If He spared not His own Son,
how should you not with Him freely give us all things? I'm persuaded nothing can separate
me from the love of Christ. He's too great, too mighty. Alright, one more verse, verse
twenty. Moreover, the law entered. Sin was already there, the law
just exposed it. Sin was already there, the law
just made it more sinful. This is against God. The law
entered, the offense, the sin, the guilt might abound. But where sin abounded, We're
seeing overflow. We're seeing laid us bare, crippled
us, stripped us, overflowed. Grace, God's grace in Christ. God's grace appeared in the person
of His Son and much, much, much, much more overflowed. Much more. He said over here in Psalm 103,
turn over there with me. Much more. Much more. Psalm 103, listen to verse 8. The Lord is merciful. The Lord
is gracious. The Lord is slow to anger. The
Lord is plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither
will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us after
our sins, thank God. He's not rewarded us according
to our iniquities. Oh, praise His name. For as the
heaven is high above the earth. That's indescribable. That's
just so high above the earth. So great, so great is His mercy
for them that hear Him and that believe Him. Them who hold Him
in highest regard. As far as the East is from the
West, infinity, that's how far He's removed our transgression
from us, much more. The blessings of His grace, peace,
favor, access into God's favor, His love in our hearts, His grace
to overcome the world and the troubles and trials here, and
a blessed hope. And the proof of it? Calvary's
cross. There, the love of God and the
justice of God and the mercy of God and the grace of God is
demonstrated as nowhere else. And the assurance of it? Well, if by one man's disobedience
we're made sinners, think of the grace and the glory that
comes through that other man. Our Father, thank you so much
for these days together, for this time of worship. Thank you
for the word that the pastor brought to us on faith. Thank you for this passage that
we've been blessed to study this morning in worship service, and
I pray you take the word. that has been taught and preached
and make it affectionate to every heart. Bless every home and family represented
in this service today in a special, special way for your glory, I
pray. Amen. Number two. Number three. Number four. And love is the way, love is
the rightful way, And to be ever faithful is the holy Calvary.
♪ The Word of God ♪ you. Thank you.