Romans 5:1-2,
"Reasons for Assurance"
Romans
5:1-2, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have
access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice
in hope of the glory of God" (King James Version).
"Let's turn in our Bibles to the book of Romans. Please
open your Bibles to Romans chapter 5, and we'll only get through
the first two verses this morning of Romans chapter 5, but,
hey we made it to Romans 5. My message is, for the next two
weeks are titled "Reasons for Assurance". Paul has told us
that we're saved by grace through faith. He uses chapter
four to enlarge upon that and show from the example of father
Abraham how God saves people. Now he's telling you, 'Not
only are you guys saved, but you are secure. You can have
assurance that you're saved and going to heaven [some believe,
"going into the kingdom of heaven", wherever that is, amounts
to the same thing]. And he gives us five reasons, here at
the beginning, why we can know and be assured, reasons for
assurance. And the first reason that we have assurance of
salvation is that we have peace with God.
Look at Romans 5, verse 1. "Therefore having been justified
by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into
this grace in which we stand. And we exalt in the hope of
the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2, not sure of what translation
Pastor Mark is using.) He says, 'Because you're saved, you
have peace with God.' And having peace with God ought to
give you assurance in your salvation. It's interesting to
note how many times [the words] grace and peace go together in the New Testament. Some have called them Siamese
twins. Whenever you look at the introduction of Paul's letters,
with all but one exception, he begins them with "Grace and
peace". Look at Romans chapter 1, beginning in verse, let's
see, 7. He opens up the letter, Romans 1 verse 7, "To those
of you in Rome, called to be saints, Grace to you and peace
from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." And then
if you keep your hand in Romans, but go next-door to the right,
to 1st Corinthians. You look at chapter 1, verse
3, just read the first four or five words with me. It says,
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father". OK? And go
to 2nd Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 2, by now
you got it memorized, "Grace to you and peace".you got it
right. And in Galatians you got the exception, like I said.
[I don't know what Pastor Mark means by, "exception", Galatians
1:3 says "Grace to you and peace."] Go to Ephesians chapter
1, verse 2, ok, ready? "Grace to you and peace, from God our
Father".I mean, it's there, it's all through Paul's Epistles,
it's all through Paul's writings. And so we see "grace" brings
peace. It's never "peace and grace to you", no, you see the
only way you can have peace with God is to first to have experienced
his grace. You have to experience the grace of God to then
experience the peace with God. And so he says "Grace and
peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." Very
significant. So every believer, if you've been justified,
"having been justified", Romans 5:1, "we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ." One of the very first verses
my little two-year old memorized was the "Therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God." And then she
memorizes Romans 8:1, "There's therefore no condemnation to
them that are in Christ Jesus." Real important verses for
us to know, get them into our lives early on. We have been
declared not guilty by faith in Christ, that's the grace of
God. Now the result is that we are at peace with God. You
see, we used to be at war with God, we used to be hostile
toward God. And God was repelled by us and our sin. But
because God sees us righteous in Christ when we accept Christ
by faith, we have peace with God. Actually, the Greek word
for peace is really interesting because it's a word the means
"to bring two separate people together, to bind together that
which has been separated." Sort of like if you had friends
that were getting a divorce, and they'd already moved out,
but God worked a miracle in their relationship and it came
back together-and they're now at home living together, happy,
in harmony." That's peace. OK? To have peace, to understand
this idea of peace, you have to understand that you used to
be "not at peace", but you've been brought together with the
party you used to be mad at. OK? 1st Timothy
2:5 in the Living Bible says this, "God is on the one side
and all the other people are on the other side. But Jesus
Christ himself man, is between them to bring them together,
giving his life for all mankind." Jesus (Yeshua) is the way
that God has made peace with us. We were on one side, God
was on the other side. But Jesus is the link between the
two that has brought us together with God. Now look up Colossians
1, go to the right, you'll find the letter to the Colossians.
Colossians 1, and we'll begin in verse 19-, "For it was the
Father's good pleasure for all the fulness of deity that is
to dwell in Jesus, in him. And through Jesus, to reconcile
all things to himself, having made"-there's our key word-"peace."
How did he make peace? Read on. ".through the blood of his
cross. Through him I say, whether things on earth or things
in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile
in mind and engaged in evil deeds, yet he, Jesus, has now reconciled you
in his fleshly body through death"--he died for you and in
your place-"in order to present you before him holy and blameless
and beyond reproach." Ooh I love this verse! I have peace
with God. I'm at
peace with God, not because of anything I have done, but because
of what Jesus did for me-in taking my place, in dying in my
place-in taking the sin of the world upon him-being punished
for me. All God's wrath poured out on him, and there's not
wrath left over for me, there's love and acceptance and grace
and mercy. And
it's open to you. We're at peace with God, gang. The great
war is over, your biggest battle has been fought and won by
Christ. And if you're at peace with God, you're going to
heaven [or you're going to be in the kingdom of heaven].
The question, therefore, has to be the application of this.
Have you made your peace with God? Are you at peace with
God. A very important question. Billy Graham asked L.B.J.
that, did you know that? Reading the latest biography of
Billy Graham's life, fascinating, over 700 pages of it. And
I'm learning a lot of things I didn't know, but he was palsy
walsy with a lot of Presidents, you know, and still is. God
used him to minister to their lives. And when Lyndon Johnson
decided not to run again the second time, rather to retire,
he did it because he thought he was going to die. His father
had died about the same age he was at that time, and he thought,
'You know, I just have this feeling I'm going to die pretty
soon, and I don't want to die in office and subject the country
to another death of a President.' You know, Kennedy had just
been tragically shot. And so he decided not to run again,
and to try to squeeze out a few more years of life. He and
Billy would often get together after his retirement from the
Presidency, and Billy would meet with him on his ranch there
in the rolling hills of Texas. And they would go out for
a walk, and out for drives in this huge ranch that he owned.
He had this convertible Lincoln that he loved to drive. Actually,
he loved to chase deer with his convertible Lincoln, that's
what he'd do. And one time when Billy was riding with L.B.J.,
and L.B.J. was chasing a deer with his Lincoln, L.B.J. started
talking about death again, and Billy point blank asked him,
I mean, right between the eyes, he says, "Look Mr. President
(I still call him Mr. President, before he was President,
I called him Lyndon)" I said, "Mr. President, are you ready
to die?" "You better be sure you're right with God and have
made your peace with him." And he said, he stopped the car,
we're at the crest of a hill, and they were looking at this
beautiful sunset, and when Billy asked L.B.J. "do you have
peace with God, if you were to die, would you go to heaven?"
L.B.J. looked at Billy, maybe L.B.J. remembered some of his
Grandpa's sermons, his Grandpa was a great evangelist-he looked
over at Billy and said "Would you pray for me?" Billy said
"Yes sir," and he did. And he said, later on that evening,
on the drive back home, they stopped by the family cemetery,
and L.B.J. said "Come out of the car." And he walked him
over to some cemetery plots and he says, "Here's where my
Mom is buried, and here's where my Daddy's buried." And Johnson
looked at Graham and he said "I want you to preach at my service,
and I want you to make sure I get buried right here." And
then he looked at Billy with tears in his eyes and says, "Billy,
will I ever see my Mama and my Daddy again?" And Billy replied,
and I quote: "Well, Mr. President, if you're a Christian and
they were Christians, then someday you'll have a great home-going."
Johnson pulled out a handkerchief and began brushing tears
from his eyes. Then he decided that others needed to hear
what he had just heard. And returning to the discussion of
the funeral, he said "Obviously, there will be members of
the press here. I don't know how many, but maybe they'll
come from all over the world, and Billy I want you to look
at those camera's and I want you to just tell them what Christianity
is all about. Tell them about how they can be sure they can
go to heaven. I want you to preach the gospel." I didn't
know that had happened, did you? I didn't know that God had
used one of his servants to touch a sinners heart and save
him, shortly, very shortly before he died. He made his peace
with God, have you made your peace with God? Are you right
with God? It's not by something you do, as I have already
said, it's by what Jesus has done. And you can make your
peace with God by asking Jesus Christ [Yeshua haMeshiach]
to come into your life today. And I'll give you that opportunity
in a few minutes. And I want you to note, Christians, that
there is a difference between being at peace with God, and
having the peace of God. A lot of you are at peace with God,
because you are saved, and that's like a great umbrella over
us. But some of you don't have the "peace of God", do you?
You're worried, you're bothered, you're bugged, you're baffled,
and you need to let the peace of God guard your heart and
rule your mind. And you need to accept the fact that you
can't control your lives. You need to rest in Christ's plan
for your life. "I don't know what it is."
Yeah, but that's because it's not yours to know. You're not
in control. "Oh, but that's what I don't like." [Me too,
count me in on that statement!] We'll join the club. We
all want to be in control. But see, that's what this "Lord
thing" is all about. When he's Lord, he's in control, and
you're not. And so we're all in that school together.
The
first reason that we have assurance of our salvation, getting
back to Romans 5, I'm assured that I've got assurance of salvation
because I'm at peace with God because of what Jesus did, not
because of what Mark does, what Jesus did for me at the cross.
2. The second reason why I have assurance with
God and assurance of my salvation is that I have access to
God. "Through whom, we have also" verse
2, "obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in
which we stand." The NIV says, "Through whom we have gained
access by faith." I like that. Access, we have access
to God! The term "access" was a word used to describe, it
was a very, very old word used to describe somebody who would
take you into the presence of a king or a queen, and get you
there safely, and get you out of there with your head still
intact. OK?-access. It's not the government program. Access
to God. You see, when you appear before a monarch there are
things you need to know. And listen up, you never know when
you might bump into one at K-Mart or something. If you run
into a king or queen, you need to know, you don't come in
uninvited, they call for you. You don't just barge in, 'Yo,
king!' That's just not the way you approach a king. You
don't just decide when things are over you just walk away,
either. It's a supreme insult for you to turn your back on
royalty, so, you have to walk backwards away from the king
or the queen. You never turn your back. Interesting. You
need to know how to address them, and what to call them, you
know, all of that. It's important to know what you're doing
when you're in the presence of royalty. But Jesus (Yeshua)
has made us able to enter into the presence of God at any
time. How did he do it? You need to understand it. It just
couldn't be done just any way. God presence was [is] holy.
In the Old Testament there were all sorts of restrictions
on who could approach God [by entering into the Holy of Holies,
the most holy part of the temple sanctuary]. In fact, if
you weren't Jewish [he has this a little bit wrong-If you
weren't a Levite, and of the priestly Aaronic family] forget
it. You couldn't approach God. In fact. I've got something
to show you here. One of the signs that was on the outside
of the wall of the Court of Gentiles in the Temple, they've
recently excavated this and found this sign, that one was
found in 1935. There's a better one more recently (put that
one up [must be showing slides on a slide projector]). There,
read it, (no, it's in Hebrew!), what it says is-it's so different,
because our churches say, you know "Service, 9:30, Everyone
Welcome, come one, come all!" Not so, I tell you, under the
Old Covenant, man. The sign outside the church said [in the
Court of the Gentiles] "If you're a Gentile and you go beyond
this point, then you are responsible for your quickly ensuing
death." I mean, that's the welcome to their church! 'If
you walk through these doors, then you are the one responsible
for your death!' So they [the Temple wasn't] weren't the
friendliest places on earth. But you see, Gentiles were forbidden
from coming any closer to God. Then you had to be Jewish
[Israelite], but if you weren't.But if you were a Jew [Israelite],
but not a man, you could only go so far, you couldn't go beyond
the Court of the Women. And if you were a Jewish man, but
not a priest, you could only go into the Court of Israel and
you couldn't go inside the temple. [The priests were not Jewish, but were of the tribe of
Levi. Jews were of the tribe of Judah. After the fall of
Jerusalem in the wars from 70AD through 135AD, the tribe of
Levi got mixed into the tribe of Judah, so Levites and Jews
are all called Jews nowadays. A Jew having the name of Cohen
is really a Levite of the Aaronic family line of Kohath, which
is the priestly family line from which Aaron and Moses were
descended (Numbers 26:58-59). Most Christians do not fully
realize that all Israelites were not necessarily Jewish, only
those of the tribe of Judah were actually Jewish. The ten
northern tribes of Israel whom the Assyrians took captive
in 721BC were deported out the land of Israel, and became
historically lost. The Levites stayed with the House of Judah,
the Kingdom of Judah, to the south of the Ten Tribed nation
of the House of Israel which was captured and deported by
the Assyrian Empire. So even the Jews themselves couldn't
enter the Temple.] If you were a Jewish priest, but not the
high priest [again, should be "a Levitical priest, but not
the high priest"], you could never go into the Holy of Holies.
So there were all these restrictions and barriers keeping
you away from God. [Most don't realize why. If man in his
sinful nature got close to God, in real life (and don't forget,
God's actual presence was supposed to be in the Holy of Holies
of the Temple), he got fried. Remember Nadab and Abihu, who
disrespect God by bringing into the Tabernacle "unauthorized
fire" in their censors. Lightning came from the presence
of God and killed them on the spot. Disrespect for God is
sin, and sin cannot dwell in the presence of God. Our sins
have to be covered over by something (the blood of the Lamb)
in order for us to have direct access to God. So in Old Testament
times--you had no access to God whatsoever [accept through
the priesthood]. There's a very interesting Old Testament
illustration of how we got access to God. I'd like you to
go to the book of Esther if you would (I'll give you 15 minutes
to find it). I'll tell you a secret, if you find the Book
of Psalms, going to the left, then just to the left of Psalms
is Esther. See if that doesn't work. You'll find Esther.
If you find Job, it's right next to Job to the left. Page
595. [laughter] Somebody ought to paginate all these Bibles
then it would be really simple to say "it says on page 495."
This is an interesting incident recorded here in the book
of Esther, it's the beautiful story of a Jewish young maiden
named Esther who is selected to become the new queen of Persia.
The king got tired of his mouthy queen, she defied him and
he didn't like it, so he says "I want a new queen" and he
decided to have a beauty contest, and as a result of the beauty
contest he chose Esther. And I guess beauty contests are
biblical, right? I'm not going to comment on that, I don't
know, I have no idea, don't understand that at all. After
she became queen, a very wicked man by the name of Haman devised
a diabolical plot to destroy all the Jews [living in the whole
Persian Empire-don't forget, the entire Jewish race had been
taken captive and deported to Babylon during the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar. So here, Satan is trying to destroy the whole
Jewish race through this wicked man name Hamen. That's the
background and significance of this story.] And the king
accidentally played into Haman's hands by signing a decree
that would actually be used to become the death warrant for
the Jews. [Quite similar legislation was actually penned
into the laws of two major European churches, and was used
by one of those churches during its Inquisitions, and later
was tuned up and used by the Nazi's to try to destroy the
Jews, so this is nothing new to the Jews, it's been going
on for millennia, dating back to this time of Esther.] Well
when Esther's godly uncle, a guy by the name of Mordecai,
when he found out about this plot, he knew that it would be
absolutely necessary for Esther, since she was Jewish (nobody
knew it, she was a closet Jew), since nobody knew she was
Jewish it was necessary for her, since she was the queen,
to go into the king's presence and plead with him to spare
the people's lives, telling him about the situation. But-this
would make a great movie!-the real thrill here and the scare,
and the tremendous danger, was that it was against the law
to approach the king unless you'd been invited. In fact,
at the time Mordecai comes to Esther and says "Esther, you
got to go into the king for us. Esther says, 'Man, I can't,
you know the law, it says if you walk in uninvited, off with
your head, you're dead! And he hasn't asked for me for thirty
days! So I don't dare go in there now. He's probably forgotten
who I am (so many other wives around here).' But even though
she understood that she could be executed unless the king
extended to her, gave her access-unless he extended his golden
sceptre to her, she would be destroyed. She knew that, and
in spite of all that she decided to take the risk and come
into the kings presence even though she wasn't invited. She
took three days to prepare herself (not unusual for a woman)
[laughter]. (Someone thought I was being very anti-woman
today in my first service, and all I said was something like
that-I mean, let's be honest ladies [more laughter]). At
the end of three days, finally her hair was done [laughter].
And she dressed in her finest robes, put on her finest jewels
and approached the king, she was all perfumed, her fingers
were done, whatever they do to fingers, and her toes too,
and everything was where it belonged, right in place and she
looked gorgeous and stunning. And we read about it here in
Esther chapter four, verse 11, you read about the danger,
"all the kings servants and the people of the kings provinces,
Esther says, know that for any man or woman who comes to the
king, to the inner court, who is not summoned, he has but
one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out
to him the golden sceptre so that he may live." "And I've
not been summoned or come to the king for these thirty days."
'Mordecai said, 'Look, there's so much at stake, Esther, you're
going to be dead if Haman's plan gets launched, you're going
to be dead anyway because you're Jewish. And so, really,
whether you die in Haman's hands or you die interceding for
your people, you may die anyway. This is your one chance
lady, and maybe this is the reason why God helped you win
the beauty contest, so that you'd be in place to intercede
for God's people.' And she says, 'You know, maybe you've
got a point there. I'm just going to trust God.' And so
in verse 16, she says "Go assemble all the Jews who are found
in Suza and fast for me, and don't eat or drink for three
days, night or day, and I and my maidens will also fast the
same way, and thus I will go to the king, which is not according
to the law, and if I perish, I perish." Well at the
end of those three days, dressed stunningly, perfumed to the
max-you know, some women they walk into a room and you don't
even have to look up, your nose gets hit with the perfume,
cough, they're here-and I'm sure, she came to the door of
the throne room, and they opened the door. It must have been
one of the most tense, highly charged moments of all time.
For a few eternally long seconds she stood there, as everything
hung in the balance, the atmosphere in the room must have
been electric with dread and fear. Would Esther be accepted
or rejected, would she gain access or would she be axed.
She stands there, in all her beauty, like I say, the perfume
making its way to the king's nose. He remembers, 'Esther!
Haven't seen you in a month.' I kid you not, read the Bible,
verse 1, chapter 5. "Now it came about on the third day,
that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner
court (I know, there's nothing about the perfume, but believe
me, it was there) of the kings palace, and in front of the
king's rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne
in the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace", verse
2, "and it happened when the king saw Esther, the queen standing
in the court, (the Bible says it very nicely) she obtained
favor in his sight." Aah, we would call it grace, maybe.
"And the king extended to Esther the golden sceptre which
was in his hand." And it's so cool, she kept walking up to
him, and she touches the top of his sceptre and he brings
her on up to his throne, and he says, 'What do you want?'
It's so neat, I love it! Because this is such an awesome
picture, gang, of how you get access to God! 'Say, what?'
Now come on, put your gospel glasses on for a minute. We're
the bride of Christ. We've been dressed in Christ's rich
robes of righteousness, haven't we? We look stunning in the
sight of God. We're adorned with his jewels, with his goodness,
with all the good deeds of the Lord, they look like so many
diamonds and rubies and emeralds and sapphires adorning us.
And the perfume of Christ's righteousness is on us. And when
we enter into the presence of God, although no one has a right
to enter, God looks at us, and we find grace, favor in the
eyes of God-and he extends to us his acceptance, his Sceptre,
and he says 'Come on in.' 'Come on in, you're accepted in
the Beloved, come on in, I accept you in my Son, I see my
Son in you. I'm well pleased with you, what do you want?
Come on in.' Isn't it a beautiful picture of the access we
have with God. No, we're not supposed to come in as sinners-yes
you must be saved in order to have this access. But the glorious
thing is, if you have been justified by faith, you have this
access. Any time you can come into the presence of God.
Any time he'll take your call. Any time you have an audience
with him. You know how it is in business, it's so hard to
get through to people, you know? Here, I get so many phone-calls,
I'm often times with people, any you know, you can't interrupt
somebody who's pouring out their heart, you're ministering
to somebody, and so they [his secretary or assistants] take
messages. But I've given one message, I've said "If my wife
or my daughter, either of my daughters ever call-and sometimes
Emmy gets on the phone-I said "you send them right through.
I don't care what I'm doing, you send them right through."
They have access. Just say you're my wife if you want to
talk to me, I'll talk to you right away. [laughter] You have
access with God! Because you come in Who's name!? Jesus'
name, right? When the Father hears that name, "Yes! Yes,
Come!" "Come on in. I hear you. You're my child, my son."
We are accepted, as Paul says, in the Beloved. Never forget
Esther. Never forget how you have access with God. And so
we have wonderful assurance, gang. How does all this apply?
Well Hebrews 10:19 says, "Since therefore brethren we have
confidence to enter the Holy place by the blood of Jesus",
verse 22, "let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance
of faith." Since
we have the access, let's use it. That's what Paul is saying.
Let's use it. We have boldness, we have access to God, now
let's draw near. Why are some of you hanging back? Tell
me? Why are some of you Christians who have access to God,
you're not using the access you have with God? You're hanging
back. You're not drawing near. You're saying, 'Oh you knew
what I did this week, I think you don't know.' Well, God
knows. 'Well, he wouldn't want to see my face.' No, you
see, you've been covered with Christ's righteousness, and
you can come, you can come, God will accept you in Christ.
Let us draw near. You can get rid of your guilt trips. And
you can draw near to God in Christ. Christians, draw near,
get your strength from him. Get your daily agenda from him.
I've given up trying to keep a schedule, I've just given up
on it. Man, my days, you know. I've given up on planning
things. Oh, I plan them, but everything gets changed. Is
it that way with you? [It stinks, doesn't it?] And you know
what I'm doing now? I'm just trusting God. I'll make my
plans, but God is the one who is going to make it come to
pass, or not, or he'll do what he wants to do in his time,
and I'm just going get my surfboard out spiritually and ride
God's wave. [There is a proverb that says, "Man makes his
plans, but God guides his steps."] I've stopped fighting
him, you got to ride 'em. And if he wants this to be, he'll
make this to be, or it won't be. And we're not going to sweat
it, we're not going to hassle it. We're going to rest in
God, because we have access. We can get our life from him.
3. Finally, the third reason that we have assurance
in our salvation is that, gang, God's begun the work already
of glorifying you. There are three modes to salvation.
The first is 1), justification--that's when you're saved, declared
righteous, made perfect in Christ in God's sight [through
the blood of Christ, covering your sins and clothing you in
Christ's righteousness. 2), the second is called sanctification-that's the work of a lifetime, that's
God making you more and more like Christ. [And we have an
important part to play in this, and that is: By and through
the working of the Holy Spirit in us, we put out sin whenever
and wherever we spot it in our lives-i.e. overcoming. An
excellent book to read dealing with this subject is Michael
L. Brown's book "Go
and Sin No More" To read a book report on this book,
log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/whatisgrace/GoandSInnomore.htm
.] But the end thing, 3), is glorification-and that's when the Lord returns, and we're caught up to be
with the Lord, or if you die before the Lord returns, you'll
[be resurrected at his 2nd coming] and come back
with the Lord and meet us in the air. [The dead in Christ
rise first, and then we which remain alive are changed in
a twinkling of an eye, made immortal and rise up to meet the
Lord with those just resurrected saints-is the classic or
historic pre-millennial interpretation of 1 Cor. 15:49-56
and 1 Thess. 4:13-17.] And at that moment-zap!-wham, bang!-in
a twinkling of an eye, we're going made to be like Jesus [cf.
Revelation 1:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:49-54]-glorified, shining
[like the stars of heaven, cf. Daniel 12:1-3], awesome-whoa
it's going to be neat! The awesome thing here is, is that
the process has already begun. That's not just something
that, 'Oh yes, I can hardly wait till glorification.'
Glorification has begun right now. Already Jesus is beginning
to make his likeness reflected in you. Already he's working
to make you more and more like himself, the process of glorification
has begun. That's what he says back in Romans 5 now. Verse
2, he says "because we've been justified by faith", the 3rd
reason we have assurance is, 'Hey we're rejoicing in the hope
of the glory of God!' What's that? We're rejoicing in the
fact that we're going to see God [as he is, glorified. In
1 John 3:1-2, John states that we don't know what we're going
to look like, but we will be like the Lord when he returns,
for we will be like him. John hadn't seen Jesus in vision
yet on the Isle of Patmos when he wrote 1st John.
In Revelation 1:13-18, John saw Jesus in vision, and he said
Jesus radiated in brilliance like the sun. In Daniel 12:1-3,
Daniel prophecied in the Lord that we would be like the stars
in the heavens. Now I'm an astronomy enthusiast. Stars are
brilliant, glowing nuclear fusion furnaces that have unspeakable,
unimaginable brilliance. Think about that one. Expand your
spiritual horizons a bit, and realize we're a work in progress.]
We're going to see God's face [and not be melted, vaporized
when we do]. Now how could he say something like that if
he wasn't sure whether of not he was saved? How could he
say "I'm sure I'm going to see God"-"but I'm not sure I'm
saved." I mean, can you say those two things? No, you can't
say that. You can say "I'm not sure I'm saved, therefore
I'm not sure I'm going to see God." But if you can say "I'm
going to see God, then you can say "I must be saved." And
he's saying "Look, Christians, who've been declared 'not guilty'
by grace through faith, you're going to see God-and you're
going to be like the Lord Jesus Christ, glorified." He says,
"It's begun." The process has already begun. You say, "Prove
it." Well, OK, I'll try. Look at Romans 8, verse 30, (if
you guys would stop breathing, it would stop getting warm
in here). Romans 8, verse 30, "And whom he predestined, these
he also called. And whom he called, these he also justified.
And whom he justified, these he also glorified." Hey, he's
talking about you. He's talking about me, he saying, 'you
were justified.' Right? 'You've been justified?' Then he
said, 'OK, if you've been justified, then you're going to
be glorified.' He even skipped a step, didn't he?-sanctified.
He even skipped that step. He's saying, 'Hey, look, as far
as God's concerned, if he's saved you, he's finished the work.'
It's a done deal in God's view. You will be justified. You
say 'Is there any other verses that say that?' Yeah, there
are other verses that say that. Look at 2nd Corinthians,
chapter 3. Just keep going to the right, we're just working
our way. 2nd Corinthians chapter 3, and verse
12. [I'm going to quote it though. "Seeing then that we
have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not
as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children
of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which
is abolished: But there minds were blinded: for until this
day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of
the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But
even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their
heart. Nevertheless when it [I think "it" would be better
rendered "they"] turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken
away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open
face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed
into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit
of the Lord."] Remember when Moses was on Mount
Sinai getting the Ten Commandments from God? He came down
from Mount Sinai, and it was like he had this glory on his
face [his face was glowing!]. His face was so brightly shining
from being in the presence of God's glory that he had a decision
to make, to either vail his face or hand out sunglasses to
three million people. He decided to vail his face. He says,
'Remember though, Moses left that on for quite awhile?' And
the glory began to fade, just like a suntan fades. You go
to Hawaii, three weeks later, no one could ever tell you were
in Hawaii, right? The tan's gone. Well the same thing happened
to Moses. He had this thing over his face for awhile, and
nobody knew that the glory had faded. You know, it's the
same way. That glory was big and faded out to nothing. He
says, 'It's just the opposite with you Christians.' Paul
says it begins really tiny when you're saved. And the glory
is just getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger-and it will be just the opposite
like it was with Moses. It started out BIG and faded out
to nothing. With you it's starting out with little, but it's
going to get more and more, and more and MORE. And the more
you grow in Christ, the more Jesus (Yeshua) is reflecting
off of you [or shining inside of you]-the more we see Christ's
glory in you, and ultimately someday there will be physical
glory shining out of you [cf. Daniel 12:1-3], you know, we'll
be glorified beings [cf. 1 Cor. 15:49-54]. It'll be sort
of neat, but glorious. The thing about the glory is that
it is Christ shining through us, the love of Christ, the joy
of Christ [Messiah], the patience of Christ. Jesus had prayed
in the garden, "Father, I pray that they would share in my
glory." You had better believe that God's going to answer
that prayer. Got two more verses then we quit.
Colossians 3 verse 4, Colossians
3:4 says, that you can be assured that if you're a Christian
[or Messianic believer], you're going to see the glory of
God. Colossians 3, verse 4 says, "When Christ who is our
life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him
in glory."
It doesn't say "hope to", it doesn't say "might be" revealed,
it says "You will be revealed with him in glory." If you're
saved right now, you're going to be glorified. Look at Philippians
1, verse 6. "How could you boast or glory in this, if you
didn't have the assurance that salvation's process would be
completed in your life? For I am confident of this very thing,
that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until
the day of Christ Jesus [Yeshua haMeshiach]." [Or the NIV
has, "I always pray with joy because of your partnership in
the gospel from the first day until now, being
confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will
carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." ] The Bible says, that if God started something in your life,
he's going
finish it.
And the finish isn't until you're glorified. It began with
salvation, goes through the process of making you more and
more and more like Christ [sanctification], and then, at the
return of the Lord, glorification. It's coming. And it's
a sure thing. And John summarizes it all in his little epistle,
and I'll read it for you hear, it says in 1st John
3, verses 1 and 2, "See how great a love the Father has bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the children of God, and
such we are." And then in verse 2 he says, "Beloved, now
we are children of God, and it hasn't yet appeared what it
shall be [King James Version: "what we shall be"]"-in other
words, 'we are God's children, but looking at us, we look
sort of ordinary.but he says, 'I know, it doesn't appear right
now, you don't see the glory with the earthly eye right now,
but he says-"we know, that when he appears, we
shall be like him, because we shall see him just as he is."
You're going to see the King, you're going to be like him.
And the process that's begun in your life is going to finish.
[And to see what we shall actually look like, turn to Revelation
1 and read verses 13-18.]
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