WEBVTT 00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:05.400 This is your daily reminder. God has not run 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:09.199 out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:12.939 to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome to today's 00:00:12.939 --> 00:00:15.949 episode. of the New Mercies Podcast. It is February 00:00:15.949 --> 00:00:19.030 the 12th, and my reading plan today is suggesting 00:00:19.030 --> 00:00:22.969 I read Romans chapter 5. Great passage of scripture. 00:00:23.269 --> 00:00:26.050 Again, this week is kind of themed around Titus 00:00:26.050 --> 00:00:29.429 3. In Titus 3, it tells us what we became, right? 00:00:29.510 --> 00:00:32.350 We were justified by his grace, and we are now 00:00:32.350 --> 00:00:35.009 heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 00:00:35.740 --> 00:00:38.000 So let's dive into that a little bit and see 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.820 what Romans 5 says. Romans 5, powerful, powerful 00:00:40.820 --> 00:00:43.539 text. One of these verses is going to stand out 00:00:43.539 --> 00:00:48.460 very familiar to you, Romans 5, 8. It is a passionate 00:00:48.460 --> 00:00:51.840 -filled text where we, a lot of pastors, a lot 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:53.060 of teachers, a lot of Sunday school leaders, 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:56.479 and small group leaders, and everybody. I mean, 00:00:56.500 --> 00:00:59.700 this powerful, powerful text. But I want to look 00:00:59.700 --> 00:01:06.030 at what happens before that text shows up. passage 00:01:06.030 --> 00:01:10.750 in Romans 5, as I read through it and as I just 00:01:10.750 --> 00:01:13.629 kind of thought, what would this be themed as? 00:01:13.969 --> 00:01:17.250 And I think it would be themed as, if your peace 00:01:17.250 --> 00:01:21.049 with God rises and falls on your emotions, you've 00:01:21.049 --> 00:01:24.569 not fully experienced or you don't fully understand 00:01:24.569 --> 00:01:29.120 grace yet, you'll get there. It's a long journey. 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:32.959 It's hard to live this life sometimes. It's hard 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:35.780 to live this Christian life and to walk with 00:01:35.780 --> 00:01:38.000 it sometimes. And I think churches may do a pretty 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.680 bad job about this. I think we try to build this 00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:44.099 Christian life based on hype. And Romans 5 is 00:01:44.099 --> 00:01:47.040 very grounding. The Scriptures, they're very 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:49.819 grounding. They help us to ground our faith into 00:01:49.819 --> 00:01:52.760 something solid, and that's the person of Jesus. 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:55.439 Romans 5 does it. And if your faith is grounded 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:57.879 in Jesus, if your grace and understanding of 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:01.200 grace is grounded in Jesus, then you're going 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:03.939 to have a much better go at this life. So let's 00:02:03.939 --> 00:02:07.359 ground our faith today into Christ. Let's dig 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:10.620 our roots in deeper so that we can see what the 00:02:10.620 --> 00:02:13.599 Lord is trying to show us. I want to read us 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:16.560 a couple of verses in Romans 5. I'm just going 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:18.740 to read the first few verses today, and we'll 00:02:18.740 --> 00:02:22.860 see what turns out from this. Romans 5, beginning 00:02:22.860 --> 00:02:44.250 at verse 1. Not only that, but we rejoice in 00:02:44.250 --> 00:02:46.509 our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces 00:02:46.509 --> 00:02:49.330 endurance, and endurance produces character, 00:02:49.490 --> 00:02:53.590 and character produces hope. And hope does not 00:02:53.590 --> 00:02:57.370 put us to shame, because God's love has been 00:02:57.370 --> 00:03:01.370 poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit 00:03:01.370 --> 00:03:04.849 whom he has given to us. You know, when you read 00:03:04.849 --> 00:03:07.620 those five verses, There is something that stands 00:03:07.620 --> 00:03:10.300 out to me. The first couple of verses there, 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:12.360 he says, therefore, we've been justified by faith. 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:14.080 Paul says, hey, we're going to bust open the 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:16.659 doors of this courtroom. We are justified by 00:03:16.659 --> 00:03:19.759 faith. That's what we are justified by. You were 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:22.759 guilty, and now you're declared righteous. You 00:03:22.759 --> 00:03:24.500 were guilty in your sin, right? We read that 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:27.479 in Titus 3 as well. You went from this ungodliness 00:03:27.479 --> 00:03:30.659 into this wonderful sonship. You get to be an 00:03:30.659 --> 00:03:33.819 heir of Christ. Unbelievable. So you were once 00:03:33.819 --> 00:03:36.740 guilty. Now you are declared righteous. You were 00:03:36.740 --> 00:03:39.840 once condemned. Now you are declared. You are 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:43.039 accepted. You're set free. You were once an outsider, 00:03:43.259 --> 00:03:46.340 and now you've been brought near. This is powerful 00:03:46.340 --> 00:03:48.939 stuff in the text. He says that in verse 1. We 00:03:48.939 --> 00:03:50.879 have peace with God through Jesus, though we've 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:53.590 obtained this faith. This faith gives us this 00:03:53.590 --> 00:03:56.189 grace. All these pieces begin to play on each 00:03:56.189 --> 00:03:59.050 other, and they begin to add and compile on one 00:03:59.050 --> 00:04:01.449 another. And I look, what's the result? We have 00:04:01.449 --> 00:04:04.870 peace with God now. Now we have peace. We didn't 00:04:04.870 --> 00:04:07.449 have peace with God before Christ. Now, through 00:04:07.449 --> 00:04:10.650 faith, we have peace with God. We're now close 00:04:10.650 --> 00:04:13.409 to him. We're drawn near to him. It's this powerful, 00:04:13.469 --> 00:04:15.789 awesome moment. The war is over. The case is 00:04:15.789 --> 00:04:18.709 closed. The gavel has fallen. We are now justified. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:22.939 by faith in Jesus Christ and Him alone. You didn't 00:04:22.939 --> 00:04:25.839 earn access. It wasn't like you did really good. 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:28.019 It wasn't like you did great. It wasn't like 00:04:28.019 --> 00:04:29.920 everything worked out. We've obtained access 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:34.240 by faith into His grace. This grace that He has 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:37.819 given, we have access because of faith in grace. 00:04:38.540 --> 00:04:41.079 Grace is not this doorway that you nervously 00:04:41.079 --> 00:04:44.579 step through. It is now the place that we have 00:04:44.579 --> 00:04:47.139 a firm foundation. It's what you stand on. It's 00:04:47.139 --> 00:04:49.540 what your whole Christian life is standing on, 00:04:49.579 --> 00:04:52.060 the grace that was given to you. You know, I've 00:04:52.060 --> 00:04:53.660 heard it said before, justice is getting what 00:04:53.660 --> 00:04:56.740 you deserve, mercy is not getting what you deserve, 00:04:56.899 --> 00:04:59.699 and grace is getting what you don't deserve. 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:04.420 So we deserve death, separation from God forever. 00:05:04.910 --> 00:05:06.829 That would be just. That would be the justice 00:05:06.829 --> 00:05:09.550 move. If God gave us exactly what we deserved, 00:05:09.949 --> 00:05:13.649 we would be separated from him forever. But he 00:05:13.649 --> 00:05:16.769 gave us mercy, right? The mercy is he didn't 00:05:16.769 --> 00:05:19.910 send us to separation from him. Instead, he gives 00:05:19.910 --> 00:05:23.149 us this loving kindness that allowed Jesus to 00:05:23.149 --> 00:05:25.449 come and die so that we could experience glory 00:05:25.449 --> 00:05:28.730 forever with him. Here's the wild part. So we 00:05:28.730 --> 00:05:32.189 didn't just not get what we deserved. We got... 00:05:33.860 --> 00:05:37.120 peace with God. We are now connected to him. 00:05:37.579 --> 00:05:40.959 We are now able to live with him, dwell with 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:44.180 him. He dwells with us. That's a grace that's 00:05:44.180 --> 00:05:46.740 far bigger than our minds can even conceive. 00:05:47.220 --> 00:05:50.740 He goes on and keeps writing. Grace rewrites 00:05:50.740 --> 00:05:52.980 our suffering. You may be suffering right now, 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:55.040 but I'll tell you this. I was reading it and 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:57.029 looking over it, and I kept... thinking this 00:05:57.029 --> 00:05:58.649 thought in my head over and over and over again, 00:05:58.649 --> 00:06:02.269 whether it's right or wrong or inspired or not 00:06:02.269 --> 00:06:05.329 or whatever this thought is. It's grace does 00:06:05.329 --> 00:06:07.750 not deny pain, right? You're going to experience 00:06:07.750 --> 00:06:09.810 suffering. You're going to experience endurance. 00:06:10.149 --> 00:06:11.930 It's going to produce endurance. It's going to 00:06:11.930 --> 00:06:14.430 produce difficulty. You're going to rejoice in 00:06:14.430 --> 00:06:16.829 that suffering, though. Grace doesn't deny the 00:06:16.829 --> 00:06:19.569 pain. Listen to what grace does. It outlasts 00:06:19.569 --> 00:06:24.740 it. The grace outlasts our pain. Sometimes I 00:06:24.740 --> 00:06:27.560 just need that hope found in verse five, where 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:31.680 I can say the grace of God is giving me hope. 00:06:32.170 --> 00:06:34.689 that one day I'm going to be with him and all 00:06:34.689 --> 00:06:37.170 the present sufferings that I can face in this 00:06:37.170 --> 00:06:39.769 world are going to be gone. As it says in the 00:06:39.769 --> 00:06:41.129 book of Revelation, he's going to wipe away all 00:06:41.129 --> 00:06:43.269 of our tears. He's going to wipe away all of 00:06:43.269 --> 00:06:46.930 our hurt, our shame, our death is going to be 00:06:46.930 --> 00:06:50.410 gone. Every suffering you can imagine is going 00:06:50.410 --> 00:06:52.990 to be gone. That's the hope that I have today, 00:06:53.149 --> 00:06:56.329 that because of the grace that I have received. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:06:59.360 Because that's where I put my faith, in Christ 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:02.259 and in him alone. Then he says in the next few 00:07:02.259 --> 00:07:04.339 verses, verses 6 through 8, which I'm going to 00:07:04.339 --> 00:07:05.879 go ahead and read these. I wasn't going to, but 00:07:05.879 --> 00:07:08.319 I'm going to. I decided. It's my podcast. I can 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:10.800 do whatever I want. Verse number 6. For while 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:13.259 we were still weak, at the right time Christ 00:07:13.259 --> 00:07:16.980 died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die 00:07:16.980 --> 00:07:19.180 for a righteous person, though perhaps for a 00:07:19.180 --> 00:07:22.319 good person one would even dare to die. But God 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:24.759 shows his love for us in that while we were still 00:07:24.759 --> 00:07:32.220 sinners. Christ died for us. Grace, can I say 00:07:32.220 --> 00:07:38.420 this? You know, we were weak, we were ungodly, 00:07:38.420 --> 00:07:41.079 and we were sinners. That does not sound like 00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:43.860 a great prize. It doesn't sound like God was 00:07:43.860 --> 00:07:46.759 like, ooh, I hope I get them. It sounds like 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:48.579 God should have said, I'm starting over, right? 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:50.759 I'm getting rid of you guys. This is awful. You 00:07:50.759 --> 00:07:53.560 were weak. Nobody wants a weakling around. You 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:56.199 were ungodly. I mean, you did everything that 00:07:56.199 --> 00:07:59.279 I wouldn't do. There's nothing in you that looks 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:02.399 like me. So there's no, you know, if you find 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:05.259 a friend, right, you typically find things that 00:08:05.259 --> 00:08:09.480 you have in common, right? Imagine from God's 00:08:09.480 --> 00:08:13.899 perspective. He's looking for things in you that 00:08:13.899 --> 00:08:17.000 are in common with him, right? That would be 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:22.699 godly things, right? This is one of those moments 00:08:22.699 --> 00:08:24.139 where, I don't know if you've ever thought about 00:08:24.139 --> 00:08:26.439 this before, but when you have companionship 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:27.899 with someone, you typically look for things you 00:08:27.899 --> 00:08:31.379 have in common. Maybe with your spouse, there's 00:08:31.379 --> 00:08:33.320 certain things that you both laugh at together. 00:08:34.059 --> 00:08:35.919 And you know what's wild? Whenever you laugh 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:38.519 together at the same things, guess what? Your 00:08:38.519 --> 00:08:41.139 relationship grows stronger. Because you have 00:08:41.139 --> 00:08:43.820 that in common. And the more you experience those 00:08:43.820 --> 00:08:45.940 things that you have in common, the closer your 00:08:45.940 --> 00:08:49.100 relationship gets. God is looking for things 00:08:49.100 --> 00:08:53.240 in you that are in common with him. He does not 00:08:53.240 --> 00:08:56.580 have a sinful nature. He does not have unholiness 00:08:56.580 --> 00:09:00.480 in him. He is holy in all of his ways. He's perfect. 00:09:00.840 --> 00:09:04.980 He's not going to stoop down and be sinful so 00:09:04.980 --> 00:09:07.980 that we can be together with him. In fact, he 00:09:07.980 --> 00:09:11.559 sent his son to die to become sin so that we 00:09:11.559 --> 00:09:14.690 could then be godly. So we could have that in 00:09:14.690 --> 00:09:16.470 common with him. And the more things we do with 00:09:16.470 --> 00:09:19.129 him in common, the stronger our relationship 00:09:19.129 --> 00:09:21.549 gets. You may say, I don't feel like my relationship 00:09:21.549 --> 00:09:23.769 with him is very strong. What godly things are 00:09:23.769 --> 00:09:26.370 you doing? Do godly things and then you're going 00:09:26.370 --> 00:09:28.750 to be closer with him. He wants to do things 00:09:28.750 --> 00:09:31.029 that he has in common with you. And the things 00:09:31.029 --> 00:09:33.470 that are in common have to be godly things. He 00:09:33.470 --> 00:09:36.190 said, we were weak, we were ungodly, and we were 00:09:36.190 --> 00:09:39.269 sinners. That's who we were. And while we were 00:09:39.269 --> 00:09:42.029 still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus didn't 00:09:42.029 --> 00:09:45.570 wait till we got good. Grace did not wait for 00:09:45.570 --> 00:09:51.450 worthiness. Grace created worthiness. It created 00:09:51.450 --> 00:09:54.750 it in us. The grace that we received, God says, 00:09:54.830 --> 00:09:57.649 I'm going to give you grace so that you become 00:09:57.649 --> 00:10:02.529 worthy of a relationship with me. Now, what we 00:10:02.529 --> 00:10:05.629 have in common, the godly things that are in 00:10:05.629 --> 00:10:08.350 you now, let's do those things together so our 00:10:08.350 --> 00:10:11.899 relationship can grow. You know, there's more 00:10:11.899 --> 00:10:14.279 in here that I want to talk about, but I know 00:10:14.279 --> 00:10:17.419 you're busy. You're a busy person, and you need 00:10:17.419 --> 00:10:18.899 to read the Word. If you've got a little extra 00:10:18.899 --> 00:10:21.720 time, go read the whole chapter yourself. I do 00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:23.639 want to say, verses 12 to the end of the chapter 00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:26.919 talks about the death in Adam and the life that 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:29.120 we have in Christ. There is some beautiful theology 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:30.860 there. There's some beautiful doctrine in there. 00:10:31.419 --> 00:10:34.460 There's two Adams and two outcomes, right? There's 00:10:34.460 --> 00:10:39.259 Adam. Who brought on sin, death, and condemnation. 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:42.519 And then there's Jesus. There's Christ. Who brought 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:46.919 on righteousness, life, and justification. That's 00:10:46.919 --> 00:10:51.240 the way it is. Sin entered through one man, and 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:56.100 grace overflowed in the other. The more I think 00:10:56.100 --> 00:10:58.980 about it, the way it says it even in the text, 00:10:58.980 --> 00:11:03.539 it's abundant. It's more than. Jesus' grace that 00:11:03.539 --> 00:11:06.700 he brought was so much bigger than we can even 00:11:06.700 --> 00:11:09.259 understand. We don't know the depths of our own 00:11:09.259 --> 00:11:12.419 sin, let alone the amount of grace it would take 00:11:12.419 --> 00:11:16.399 to overwhelm that. Paul says this is so incredible. 00:11:16.440 --> 00:11:20.919 Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. 00:11:21.740 --> 00:11:24.460 Where sin was in your life, grace was bigger. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:28.139 Grace is bigger than your sin. This is a great 00:11:28.139 --> 00:11:31.019 concept. Grace is not fragile. It's not threatened. 00:11:31.220 --> 00:11:34.860 It's not outmatched. It justifies the ungodly. 00:11:34.860 --> 00:11:37.779 It proves the love of Christ because that's what 00:11:37.779 --> 00:11:40.580 God does for us. He loves us. He says, I'm going 00:11:40.580 --> 00:11:42.500 to prove my love for them in that while they're 00:11:42.500 --> 00:11:44.159 still sinners, I'm going to die for them. I'm 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:48.120 going to send my son so that they know how much 00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:53.240 I love them. Grace secures this peace that we 00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:57.019 have. Grace anchors us in hope, as it says in 00:11:57.019 --> 00:11:59.919 the first part of that chapter. I look through 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:04.600 all of this, and if your justification depends 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:10.139 on Christ, you're secure. If your peace comes 00:12:10.139 --> 00:12:15.480 through grace, you can rest. If your love was 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:20.549 proven at the cross, you can trust. If your hope 00:12:20.549 --> 00:12:26.710 is anchored in this God, then you won't drift. 00:12:27.190 --> 00:12:34.070 Romans 5 may be telling us, stop living like 00:12:34.070 --> 00:12:39.730 the verdict is still up for debate. The cross 00:12:39.730 --> 00:12:45.149 settled it, grace sealed it, and hope holds you 00:12:45.149 --> 00:12:45.389 fast.