Blessings of Salvation

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We've been in the book of Romans. We're working our way through Romans. We're going to flip to chapter 5 today of Romans. So if you've got your Bibles, I invite you to open up there. If you're not sure where Romans is at, you go to the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And after John, there's the book of Acts. And after the book of Acts, there's the book of Romans. We're in Romans chapter 5 today. We'll also have the words up on the screen if you don't have your Bible. I would encourage everybody we're in Romans 5 today, but go home as you're trying to read the Bible some go back and read this passage and the context around it.

Before we get to the message and read this passage, I'll say one more thing. We're blessed to have a lot of servants and we're currently in the process of trying to update our website, get some new photos up there and so forth and so on. And May is over here and she's been gracious enough to get some photos today for us. We'll use some, we won't use others. I think it's good to show people what God's doing here. Amen.

So if you see May taking any pictures, that's why she's going around before and after church and during church just getting some photos so that we can show all that God's doing. And if it leads one person to come to Christ or leads one person to get to church here, that's a blessing. Amen. But we are today and May thanks for doing that for us.

But today we're going to Romans 5. We're going to begin in verse one. I do invite anybody that would like and is able to stand with me in honor of the reading of the word of God.

Romans 5 beginning in verse one. The word of God says, "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 the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations knowing that tribulations produce 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."

God, thank you for your word. Thank you for your grace and your mercy. And God, I just I thank you and I praise you for the blessings that we get through salvation. I thank you and I praise you for the peace, for the joy, and for the hope we have to name a few when we are saved. And God, today as we continue to worship you, Jesus, and as we study the word and the word is preached, help me and use it, God, to speak to our hearts. And I pray that as we worship that all the honor and all the glory and all the praise goes to you. And I do pray as your word speaks to our hearts, use it to mold us and to shape us and let us be obedient to what you're tugging on our hearts about. If there's someone you're calling to salvation that's right here in this room, I pray they would make it public today and most importantly call on you Jesus as Lord and Savior. We love you. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen.

Peace with God

You know, today we're talking about the blessings of salvation. There's clearly many blessings of salvation, and we're talking about a few that I think we can be reminded of in these first five verses of Romans. And honestly, in some of the verses that follow the first five verses as well. There's other things we see as well. But one blessing that we get when we're saved is we have peace with God. Amen. Amen. We when we're saved, we have peace with God. Yes, sir.

I love that verse. Verse one. Therefore, now understand, remember, we've been in Romans. We were in Romans 1. We were in Romans 2. We were in Romans 3. And Paul was talking about all building up to it. He was talking to the Gentiles in Romans 1. How they were sinners. Talking to the Jews in Romans 2, how they were sinners, too, in Romans 3. And how we're all sinners in need of a savior and how we all need to be made right in God's eyes. And here as we get to Romans five, it starts off, therefore having been justified by faith. When we have faith in Jesus Christ, we're justified. When we have faith in Jesus Christ, we're in right standing with God.

When we understand we're a sinner and we understand that there's no way to be forgiven of sins, no way to get to heaven except through what Jesus did for us, going to the cross, suffering for us, dying for us, rising on the third day. And when we believe in him, we place our full faith and trust in him. We are put in right standing with God. And what Paul is saying here is, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I love that verse. You see, before we call on Jesus, we are not at peace with God. We are sinners and we need a way to be made right in God's eyes. And we can't be made right in anything we do. We're not that good. We could do all the good deeds in the world. We could do all the charitable deeds in the world, which are good to do, but they won't get us to heaven. But when we called on Jesus and trusted that he died for us, God came down from heaven to this earth, born of a virgin, and he was God in the flesh and he made the one and only sinless, perfect sacrifice that could be made to atone for our sins when anybody who believes in him will be forgiven. We're made right in God's eyes. And that gives us peace.

Aren't you thankful that if you've called on Jesus, if you're saved, you have peace with God? Amen. I'm thankful for that peace we have with God. It says there in Colossians 1:21 and 22, "And you who once were 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 holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight." We've been made holy. We've been made blameless. Not by what we've done, but by what Jesus did for us. And we can have peace with God.

Yeah. I remember before I was saved. Anybody that's saved, you remember before you were saved? Anybody? I remember. And I wasn't living for God. I didn't know the Lord. I remember being there at college at probably the best college anywhere in NC State. I was at NC State. I remember I would kind of live for the party. I was studying too, you know, getting by, but I was out there partying. I remember at first I thought it was so cool. But after a while, I was just like I didn't have peace. You know, I'd go out on the weekends and I'd party and one point I thought it was so fun. After a while, I'd walk around and I'd feel kind of just didn't have peace. Just wasn't fulfilled with that.

You know, things of this world, living for worldly things, living for fleshly things, living in sin or that fast life, it's not going to give peace. And I remember God started working on me and I was stubborn. And it took me a while till I was 27 when I finally gave my life to the Lord. But I remember God started working on me and I just I knew I needed something more. I honestly knew I needed God. And I'll tell you, when I finally surrendered my life to Jesus Christ, I was 27. It was after a lot of people had shared the gospel with me. This woman, my bride, Crystal, being one of them that shared the gospel with me a lot. But when I finally gave my life to Jesus, I remember just having a peace.

You know that that's what happens when we truly give our life to Jesus. We have a peace from God. A peace knowing that even though we're sinners, we're forgiven. We're forgiven of our sins. And listen, we've all we've all sinned and we've all done some things that we are not proud of. But what the Bible teaches is when we've asked Jesus to truly forgive us and placed our full faith and trust in him, he has forgiven us as far as the east is from the west. And if God has forgiven us, forgive yourself, too. When you've let it go, when you've asked Jesus to forgive you, when you've talked to those people that you hurt and you said, "I'm sorry." And you're truly trying to live for the Lord. The enemy wants to get you to try to live in that and dwell on that kind of a regret about what you did.

You got to give it to God. You got to tell him, "I'm sorry." Get as right with those people you hurt as you can. But God doesn't call us to live in a sea of I hate what I did 20 years ago when we've truly repented. We got to let it go. The Bible talks about forgetting the former things, right? I press on towards the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So I say that today if you're struggling with things you've done, but you've truly repented. You've truly turned from them, and truly living for the Lord. Live for the Lord. And we ought to focus on how can I live for Jesus now?

But I tell you, when we're saved, that's one blessing. We have a great peace with God. You know, this world can be tough, right? It's tough when you're not a Christian. It's tough when you are a Christian. But a lot of times when it's tough, sometimes as people, we go to things that aren't going to help us. Do you know what I mean? You've probably done it. You might be doing it now. You probably know people that have done it or are doing it now. You know, a lot of times when people are really hurting, when they're really having pain, when there's something hard going on in their life, sometimes we have a tendency to try to suppress the pain and the hurt in the wrong ways. People go to alcohol, people go to drugs, people go to sin and ungodliness.

And if you're struggling with any of that today, one hope I've got is that you know God loves you. But living for worldly things is not going to bring peace. It's not. Living the sinful life, it's not going to bring peace. Down in a bottle liquor, it's not going to bring peace. The way we get true peace is we get it from the Lord, not from the world. And we can have peace on this earth when we've trusted in Jesus. It doesn't mean that there won't be hard days. There will, but God can give us peace. And we most certainly have peace knowing what's to come, that heaven awaits.

Rejoice in Hope

Also, when we're saved, something I think we're reminded of in this text, verses 1 and two, is that we can rejoice. It says there, "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 the hope of the glory of God." When we've been saved, we can rejoice. Amen. Amen.

You know, it talks, the Bible talks in Luke 15. It says, "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." John, you gave your life to the Lord the other day. There was joy in the presence of God. There's joy over every one of us that repents. You know, I was thinking there's a billboard right out by Roses and Wayne's helping with marketing and he was trying to look at the cost. It cost a little bit to get a billboard up there. It cost about $1,000 per month. But I was thinking, you know what? If the church paid $1,000 to have a billboard up there to share scripture, invite people to church. If it led to one person getting saved, it would be worth it. Amen.

It'd be worth it. And this is the reality for us. When we're saved, we can have great joy. Now, that on this earth, we'll have hard things, right? We go through hard things, but deep down inside when it comes down to it, when we've given our life to Jesus, we know that we can have joy. And by the way, a great joy knowing what awaits. Man, that was a good screech. I love hearing the sound of babies. Amen. Amen. That's a beautiful thing. Lord, I pray you send us more babies and more struggles going in this place. I pray it in Jesus name.

But we can have great joy knowing that one day we'll go to heaven. And by the way, in heaven, these aches, these pains, these sickness, we'll get a new body. We won't have this sickness. We'll have a heavenly body. That gives me joy. Does that give you joy? I was talking with Joyce Hatch the other day. Please keep Joyce in your prayers. She's not been able to come to church for a few months. By the way, every Sunday, even though she can't come to church, she keeps tithing to the church. And she was sharing a testimony with me about tithing about 20 or 30 years back when she had a heart procedure. It really convicted her about the need to tithe. And she can't not tithe even though she can't be in church. I love that testimony.

But we were talking about heaven and she was talking about her grandchild who had passed away and a baby son who had passed away already in heaven. She was just thinking about the joy she'll get to see them one day. Amen. You know, we're talking about the streets of gold. You know, you think about with heaven, we don't need the sun because the Lord will light it up. I think about that movie I can only imagine and now I can only imagine two is out. That makes me think of the scripture eye has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those that love him. We can't even imagine what heaven's going to be like. We can't even grasp the glory of the Lord, indescribable joy, indescribable peace we'll have in heaven.

And I tell you, when I think about heaven and what awaits us, that gives me joy. It gives me amazing joy. Joy to know that we'll get to see loved ones who gave their life to the Lord. Amen. And honestly, best of all, we'll get to be in the presence of Jesus in a way that we have never we haven't experienced fully the full presence, indescribable joy. So, when we're saved, we're at peace with God. When we're saved, we can have great joy.

Glory in Tribulations

When we're saved, I'll tell you what else I think we're reminded of in this text is we're helped to endure trials and tribulations on this earth. You ever have times that you've been through hard times and it feels like you can't go on, but God gets you through. I don't know how people make it without the Lord. It says here in verse three, "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character and character hope."

You read that and it says, "We glory in tribulations." And you think about James, count it all joy when you encounter all various kinds of trials. And you sometimes say to yourself, how can I glory in tribulations? How can I count it all joy when I encounter various kinds of trials? Well, you know, there's no question. We go through trials. It's hard, right? We go through trials and we don't always feel joyful. I can honestly say that. Trials that I've been through in my life, they're hard.

But one thing they do is they test our faith. They when we go through trials, we're reminded Lord, I need you. Right? That's one thing I think we can be reminded of is that Lord, I need your help. I can't do this on my own. And when we go through trials, God has a way when we're saved of getting us through. He has a way of helping us through that trial. Now, I've been through trials that I would say are harder than this, but this is kind of just one that comes to my mind.

I remember when I had that second knee surgery and it was a big one and I couldn't put weight on my leg for eight weeks and I couldn't my knee felt like it was going to explode every second for that first week especially and I had to lay down on the CPM 8 hours a day to get my range of motion back. And I remember I'd wake up and it'd be I try to keep getting up and try to have my box as hard as be 6:00 a.m. I make coffee and I'd lay on the couch to do 30 minutes of PT cuz I couldn't put weight on. And then I'd go to my bed and I'd lay on the bed for 2 hours on this machine moving my knee back and forth. And then I'd go out and have a little sit out on the porch for a second. And then I'd go back and I'd sit another two hours on this CPM machine. And then I try to hop around on crutches and do something else. And 8 hours a day on that CPM. I remember getting in the middle that week being like help me Lord. Like I don't feel like how am I going to do this guy? And that's a small trial in the grand scheme of things, but it's big. And I just remember God just got me through.

You know, I remember when my dad died, I gave That's the other thing about trials. Trials help us as believers and that we can get through them with the Lord's help. And I'll tell you what else, God can also use a trial to lead you to Jesus. I had heard the gospel a lot of years before this and a lot of seeds had already been planted, but my salvation point came after a very hard time in my life. 3 days after my dad died, my dad was my best friend. I loved him. And man, when he died suddenly, a heart attack while shuffling on Carolina Beach, it hit me hard. But you know what God used that trial for? God used that trial for me to finally give my life to Jesus and surrender all 3 days later saying, "Lord, I need you. I'm giving my life to you." God can use trials in our life. He can use them to lead us to salvation. He can use them as believers to mold us and to shape us more and more into his image. Understand, I need you, Lord, and to put more of our trust in God that God's got us. He's going to get us through.

If you're going through a trial right now, trust in God. God has a plan. And by the way, when God gets us through that trial, isn't it so true that God can work through that and work through you to minister to others? But I tell you, when I think about trials, I think about the fact that when we're saved, God is so good that he gives us strength to endure those trials. And even if we have to bear something, even if we have a thorn in the flesh or even if we have to bear something, we know heaven awaits. Amen. We know this earth is not our home. Our citizenship where we'll reside forever is in heaven.

Hope That Does Not Disappoint

You know, I just want to close by saying this. When we're saved, we have hope. Yeah. Amen. When we're saved, we have hope. You know, there's all kinds of things we can have hope in. But there's nothing like the hope we have in Jesus. Amen. Amen.

Why I think about on this earth while God as long as God chooses to have me here, as long as God chooses to have you here, one hope that we've got is there's always hope with God. God can do anything. Good. You know, we've been reading on Wednesday nights. We've been reading through the Bible and we're in the New Testament now. We've already read Matthew. Some of us, we've already read Mark. And man, you read miracle after miracle in Mark. Jesus say, "Your faith has made you well." There is nothing too big for God. So, even on this earth when we have a situation that seems impossible, there's nothing impossible for God. Nothing. You know, God's plan, we might have to endure that, but if God chooses, he can do anything. So, we have hope on this earth.

But best of all, we have hope for eternity. There's no greater hope we can have than the hope that we've got that we've got to look forward to reside forever in heaven with Jesus. We are not hopeless. I love what it says in 2 Corinthians 5. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And I love John 14. Some of y'all have this memorized. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. He is preparing a place for us. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know, and the way you know. The Lord has a place prepared for his children.

That gives me amazing hope because no matter what happens on this earth, this isn't the end. The best is yet to come. We haven't seen close to the best yet. And that gives great hope. I love what it says in Revelation 21, "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.'"

If you're saved today, and if you're a believer today, I just hope you're reminded of the peace you're at with God, the joy, and how we can rejoice when we're saved, and the hope that we've got, the hope on this earth, and the hope for eternity. I just want to close by asking two questions.

Are you saved? That's question one. If you were to die today, are you confident you're right with God? Have you placed your full faith and trust in Jesus? If you have, I pray you'll call on Jesus today. When we call on Jesus, he forgives us of our sins and he promises us eternity in heaven. And second question, if you are saved, are you living with the peace, the joy, and the hope we have in Christ? And if you are saved, are you living for the Lord? That old person, that's not who you're meant to be. When you're saved, forgiveness of sins, live for Jesus.

God, we love you. I do thank you, God. And I praise you for your word. And I praise you for the peace we have, the joy we have, the hope we have in Christ. I thank you for the blessings that we get through salvation. And Lord, today, right now, I just pray the Holy Spirit move through this place in our hearts. And although I don't know all the ways that you're working, I know with every fiber in me, you're working on some people today. When we read your word, we preach your word, the word works inside of our hearts.

So God, I pray whatever way you're working that we would obey you. We would be obedient. And I pray right now, even right now in this place, as we have a time to just pray to you and talk to you, I pray we would respond whatever way you're leading us to. If there's someone that you're calling to salvation, more important than anything, I pray they would make that best decision of their life and trust in you. And I pray they'd come forward to make it public. God, if there's a person that's strayed in their faith and they just know they need to get back and fellowship and rededicate, I pray they call on you to say, "I'm coming back to you. I'm returning to you, Lord." And again, they'd make it public so we can pray and celebrate that.

And God, whatever way you might be working, whatever burdens there are, whatever we might need to lay down, I just pray during this time of invitation that we respond whatever way you're leading us to. We pray it all in Jesus name. Amen.