Romans and Assurance of Salvation

[0:00] The book of Romans has had a number of descriptions applied to it over the centuries and millennia since its publication.

[0:20] ! One of the best is referring to it as the Mount Everest of inspiration.! A voice like that. For the first seven chapters, the Apostle Paul outlines and described the great theme of justification by faith.

[0:44] Now we know from history that the book of Romans has had a profound effect on certain individuals and a tremendous impact on the Christian faith.

[0:59] Why? Because justification by faith is an absolute essential to the saving of a soul. It's an essential.

[1:09] In the fourth century, there was a philosopher and teacher that was held in high regard by friends and students.

[1:21] What they didn't know is that he was under tremendous conviction concerning the truthfulness of Christianity.

[1:31] His name was Augustine. You may have heard Augustine, but it's Augustine. He was described as both a brilliant man and he was an attractive guy.

[1:44] He lived in the 400 AD. He lived in the 400 ADs. I didn't know him personally. The problem that Augustine had was that he lived a deeply immoral life.

[2:00] He was in fact living with a woman out of wedlock and this union had produced a child. Augustine had studied Christianity, but because of his lifestyle, he put off any true repudiation of sin.

[2:24] He was enjoying himself. He was enjoying his lifestyle of fornication and adultery, a common problem in his day and in ours.

[2:37] But he's enjoying it far too much to make a commitment to a carpenter from Nazareth. But still the convictions came.

[2:50] One day he was sitting in the garden of an estate owned by a friend. This was near Milan, Italy.

[3:02] He could hear children playing nearby and one, a little girl, was singing repeatedly the words Tollelege, Tollelege. Augustine had never heard those words before in the context of a child's song.

[3:24] And he took what was happening as a message from God. By the way, Tollelege means take and read.

[3:35] Sitting on a table nearby was a copy of the book of Romans. Augustine picked it up and randomly his eyes fell to the 13th chapter.

[3:53] Now I've already described the kind of life he was living. These are the words that he read. Inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. Romans 13, verses 13 and 14.

[4:05] Think of Augustine. Under conviction, living in fornication. Let us behave properly. As in the day.

[4:19] Not in carousing and drunkenness. Not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality. Not in strife and jealousy.

[4:32] But put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

[4:47] Augustine's reading this. And he's sitting there thinking, That's my life. To this point, that has been my life.

[5:01] And those were the very words the Lord used to convert Augustine. And then Gustin later wrote books. And one of them was appropriately named Confessions.

[5:13] And this is what he said there about his experience of reading the passage I just read to you. And then, Instantly, Instantly, As the sentence ended, By a light, as it were, Of security infused into my heart, All the gloom of doubt Was vanished away.

[5:37] As a result of this encounter with God's word, Augustine became the greatest and most important figure in the church Between the Apostle Paul and Martin Luther.

[6:00] Augustine. Well, this leads us to our next example. Of the great influence the epistle to the Romans had on people.

[6:13] And it was, in fact, on the monk by the name of Martin Luther. His father wanted to be a lawyer. And there's no doubt he would have been a good one.

[6:28] One day, Martin was trapped outside when a fierce thunderstorm arose. He was nearly struck by lightning. And lying on the ground, He cried out And said, If I'm spared, I will become a monk.

[6:51] Well, that's how Luther became a Catholic monk. But he was not satisfied. He was not a satisfied one, Primarily because he wasn't saved.

[7:05] Luther struggled to achieve peace with God, But he had no peace in his heart or soul. I've told you many times in here about, In the monastery, How he went to confession.

[7:17] And one time he confessed for 15 hours. Like Dr. Sproul says, How much trouble can you get into in a monastery in 1521?

[7:29] Confessed for 15 hours, Got back to his little room, Which was probably this big. Remembered one sin he hadn't confessed, Went back down and wanted to start over. And the father confessor said, No, we're not starting over.

[7:45] Luther struggled to achieve peace with God, But he had no peace. No peace in his heart. No peace in his soul. He wanted to be accepted by God.

[8:00] But the harder he tried, And strained at that, The more distance there came, Between him and the Lord.

[8:13] Luther wanted to love God. But one time he admitted, That he had grown to hate God. This is basically the father of the Reformation.

[8:25] Although there were some reformers before him. He said, People say love God, I hated God. In Luther's mind, God had erected An impossible barrier.

[8:42] Try as he might, It was a standard of righteousness That neither Luther, Nor any human, Could achieve.

[8:55] And it was very frustrating for Luther, Because he tried. He strained. He did not possess The righteousness With which to achieve unity with God.

[9:10] And Luther didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to do. One day, Filled with frustration, He picked up a copy of the book of Romans, And he began to read.

[9:24] Now unlike Augustine, He didn't let it just fall open. It was a scroll. But he didn't let it just fall open. He started in chapter 1, verse 1. In the first verse, First chapter, And at verse 17, He saw these words.

[9:44] And by the way, This is the best translation From the Greek language. Romans 1.17 For in the gospel, A righteousness From God.

[10:02] Most Bibles say of God. From God. Is revealed. A righteousness That is by faith From first to last.

[10:15] Just as it is written, The righteous will live By faith. And when Luther's eyes Saw those words, And he read them.

[10:26] And he read of a righteousness That comes from God. And this was the very thing He had unsuccessfully Tried to conjure up.

[10:39] But it did not originate Within him. And he never realized He didn't realize that Until he read those words. Hey, I'm trying to achieve Something internally That comes from God.

[10:53] The righteousness He needed Was not his own. It was a righteousness From God Freely given To all Who God knew Would receive it.

[11:07] And God knows that Because he's omnipotent. Luther also realized In that moment That it was a righteousness Not received Through any work He could perform.

[11:18] And he'd done A bunch of works. Including climbing Those stairs In Rome On his knees Like 30 flights Of stairs I mean He tried And tried And tried To impress God And he couldn't do it.

[11:35] This was a righteousness From God That came by faith only. What did that mean? It meant Taking God At His word.

[11:49] Believing What God revealed In His word. Luther did this And he later wrote That he felt himself To be reborn Interesting word And to have entered paradise.

[12:03] This is what he wrote. I had no love For that holy And just God Who punished sinners. I was filled With secret anger Against Him.

[12:15] I hated Him Because not content With frightening By the law And the miseries Of life As wretched sinners Already ruined By the gospel. But when By the Spirit Of God I understood The words When I learned How the justification Of the sinner Proceeds From the free mercy Of our Lord Through faith That I felt Born again.

[12:43] I felt like a new man. In very truth The language of St. Paul Was to me The true gate To paradise.

[12:58] In that moment Luther was taken captive By the words of Paul In the epistle To the Romans. It was there That the apostle Paul Ascended The mountaintop Of God And recorded The words Of the Spirit Of God For seven chapters.

[13:17] And what did the first Seven chapters Contain? And inspired An authoritative Treatment Of the great Theme of justification By faith alone.

[13:31] That's what Luther discovered. Now by the time The apostle Got to the Seventh chapter We see Paul Pouring out His life As a Christian But also As a sinner.

[13:55] And I'll tell you People have tried To do gymnastics With that chapter And said well That was Before Paul Was converted Or Paul's talking About somebody Else. Paul's talking About himself As a follower Of Christ.

[14:07] He's been a follower Since the road On his way To Damascus. And was pouring Out his life As a Christian But also As a sinner.

[14:20] And the description Paul uses Is totally Consistent With what Luther would later Say about himself And all true Believers Simul justice At peccator Before.

[14:33] And by the way That is Latin And if There was a Roman Around Those are the Very words He would have Used in the First century And that's what It would have Sounded like If he'd been From Oklahoma That's exactly How it would Sound If he was From Rome It would have Been a little Different That is a Great phrase In Latin But what does It say in English?

[14:59] We are Simultaneously Just Or justified And yet A sinner Luther was Saying in Our justification We are at One and the Same time Justified And sinners Paul understood That Another way to Put it is That we are Both righteous And sinners We are Speaking Here of an Alien Righteousness It is a Righteousness That is not Our own It is a Righteousness That did not Originate Within us It is a Righteousness That has been Imputed To us It is the Righteousness Of Christ Applied to The life of Every True Believer Every saint It is a Righteousness That comes

[16:00] From God This truth Comes center Stage by the Time the Apostle Paul Writes Romans chapter 7 Now please Remember We are speaking Of the great Theme In this Class Of the Eternal Security Of the True Believer Known Also As the Perseverance Of the Saints That is What the Reformers Called it And by The way That is a Dead Giveaway It is Perseverance Of who The Saints Saints In the Bible Are always Believers They are Always Followers Of Christ Divorce Your mind From how The Roman Church Has Developed Their Whole Hierarchy Of Saints By The The The They Remove One Put In Another One It May Not Seem Like It But Everything We've Said This Evening Thus Far Has Direct Application To Our

[17:00] Theme Of Eternal! Security Now I'm Not Going To Read Romans Chapter 7 This Evening And Then Make Comments That Would Take Until At Least The Christmas Break But I Am Going To Highlight Some Words And Phrases You'll Think I'm Reading The Whole Thing But I'm Going To Highlight Some Words And Phrases That Paul Uses In A Great Portion Of Scripture As A Way Of Confirming His Struggle With Simul Justus At Pecator It's The Same Struggle Or Frustration Experienced By Augustine It's The Same Frustration Experienced By Luther It's The Same Frustration Experienced By Me And I Would Imagine It's The Same Frustration

[18:00] Experienced By All Of Us Who Truly Believe And Yet Battle Sin And Are Fallen Unredeemed Human Flesh Every Day I Mean I Had Great Love And Respect For Now The Late Ravi Zachariah I Don't Know We Call him Late He's Very Much Alive In Glory He Spent Every Morning From Seven To Eight O'Clock On His Knees Repenting Of The Previous Days Since Ravi Zachariah How Many Hours Do I Need To Spend If That's Ravi Let's Consider Some Passages In Romans Chapter Seven Some Long Some Brief The Holy Spirit Telling Paul What To Write What Shall We Say Then Is The Law Sin May It Never

[19:00] Be On The Contrary I Would Not Have Come To No Sin Except Through The Law For I Would Not Have Known About Coveting If The Law Had Not Said You Shall Not Covet But Sin Taking Opportunity Through The Commandment Produced In Me Coveting Of Every Kind For Apart From The Law Sin Is Dead I Was Once Alive Apart From The Law But When The Commandment Came Sin Became Alive And I Died And This Commandment Which Was To Result In Life Proved To Result In Death For Me For Sin Taking An Opportunity Through The Commandment Deceived Me And Through It Killed Me So Then The Law Is Holy And The Commandment Is Holy And Righteous

[20:00] And Good Therefore Did That Which Is Good Become A Cause Of Death For Me May It Never Be Rather It Was Sin In Order That It Might Be Shown To Be Sin By Effecting My Death Through That Which Is Good So That Through The Commandment Sin Would Become Utterly Sinful For We Know That The Law Is Spiritual!

[20:32] To Sin This Is Paul Sold Into Bondage Boy That's That's Strong For We Know That The Law Is Spiritual For What I'm Doing I Do Not Understand For I'm Not Practicing What I'd Like To Do Hear The Frustration Here I'm Not Making A Practice Of Those Things I Want To Do I Like To Do Instead I'm Doing The Very Thing I Hate To Do But If I Do The Very Thing I Do Not Want To Do I Agree With The Law Confessing That The Law Is Good So Now No Longer Am I The One Doing It But Sin Which Dwells In Me For

[21:34] I Know That Nothing Good Dwells In Me That Is In My Flesh For The Willing Is Present In Me But The Doing Of The Good Is Not For The Good That I Want I Do Not Do But I Practice The Very Evil That I Do Not Want To Do But If I'm Doing The Very Thing I Do Not Want I'm No Longer The One Doing It But Sin Which Dwells In Me I'd Say Paul Had A Firm Understanding Of Unredeemed Flesh Which We All Have Because Our Flesh Hadn't Been Redeemed Yet Paul Goes On I Find Then A Principle Hey He Found A Principle Here Evil Is Present In Me The Very One Who Wants To Do Good For

[22:36] I Joyfully Concur With The Law Of God In The Inner Man But I See A Different Law In The Members Of My Body Waging War Against The Law Of My Mind And Making Me A Prisoner Of The Law Of Sin Which Is In My Members And Paul Cries Out Wretched Man That I Am Who Will Set Me Free From The Body Of This Death Thanks Be To God Through Jesus Christ Our Lord So Then On The One Hand I Myself With My Mind Am Serving The Law Of God But On The Other With My Flesh The Law Of Sin That's A Tough Chapter That Is A Tough Tough Chapter After

[23:38] Paul's Conversion On The Road To Damascus Over The Last Two Thousand Years Paul Has Really Become Elevated To The Status Of The Greatest Christian That Ever Walked On The Earth That Was Not A Self Description He Never Thought About Himself That Way Listen To A Comment He Made About Himself In 1 Corinthians 15 9 For I Am The Least Of The Apostles And Not Fit To Be Called An Apostle Well Why Not Paul I Held You In Pretty High Regard He Answers That Because I Persecuted The Church Of God And He Did I Am Of The Personal Opinion That The Apostle Paul Never Forgave

[24:38] Himself In This Life Over His Treatment Of The Early! Christians In The Baby Church I Don't Think He Ever Forgave Himself This Was Especially True Of His Leading Role In The Murder Of Stephen Remember Stephen The First Martyr Of The Church I Don't Think Paul Ever Forgave Himself For That Until He Got To Heaven And Received A Hug From Stephen And Then It Was Okay But This Man Paul Who Many Regard Or Hold In Highest Regard Of All Believers Pins Words Such As These Contained In Romans Chapter Seven And You Know You Can Read These Words And Feel His Angst You Can Feel It By

[25:39] The Way Angst Is A Feeling Of Anxiety Apprehension Or Insecurity That's Paul That's Paul That Should Be All Of Us Who Truly Believe Paul Understood Something And We Need To Understand Simul Justice At Pequitor Justified Yet Still A Sinner I Love What Dr.

[26:08] McBride Our Former Pastor You Say Keep Short Accounts With God Keep Short Accounts With God Go To Him Every Day In Confession Every Hour In Confession Every Minute If It's What Necessary So Here We Are In Romans Chapter 7 And Let's Be Honest It's Really Not A Pretty Picture For Paul For Us Dead In Trust Passes And Sins Fleshly In Bondage To Sin At War With Ourselves As A Spirit Battles Indwelling Sin A Prisoner Bound Up By The Law Of Sin And Then It Kind of Culminates Wretched Man In Our Study Of The Perseverance Of The Saints We've Looked At The Great Truths Of John Chapter 6 Where We Saw Jesus Making Promises To The Father About

[27:08] Our Eternal! Security We then Studied The Great Truths Of John Chapter 10 Where We Saw Jesus Making Promises To His Children The Great Shepherd To The Sheep Concerning Their Eternal Security When I Was Just A Shirt Tail Boy I Grew Up On Northeast Queenstown Just A Few Blocks That Way From Here We Lived On A Dirt Road Just Off A Tuxedo Boulevard If I Look East At Our Back Door At That Time All I Saw Was Small Farms Dotting The Horizon We Were The Last House Going East In Fact Ours Was An Unincorporated Community Called Tuxedo We Didn't Tell People We From Bartlesville Remember That Oscar We

[28:08] Were From Tuxedo You Delivered Mail Out Oscar Thought He Was On Mars When He Bartlesville Downtown Bartlesville When I Was Little Was About 20 Minutes Away Why So Long Poor Roads And Poor Bridges Some Saturday Mornings Though I Was Allowed To Go To The Matinee At Either The Osage Or Arrow!

[28:42] Theater They're Gone Now I Could Show You Where They Were At If You Are Ever In The Phillips Cafeteria And Go To The Far North End That's About Where Arrow Was At If You Look Out The POB East Side Of Johnstone All Those Shops There's A Hole Now A Parking Lot That's Where The Osage Was It Burned Down And The Fire Department Saved The Buildings On Both Sides Well I'd Go To The The Theater And The Movie Was Almost Always A Western And The Theme Was Almost Always The Same An Old Man Lives With His Beautiful Daughter On A Ranch A Greedy Land Land Own From Back East Has Come To The Area He Wants The Ranch But The Old Man Won't Sell The

[29:43] Bad Guys With Him Kidnap The Daughter And Tell Her Dad We're Going To Tie Her To The Railroad Tracks If You Don't Sign Over The Ranch To Us Well Who's Going To Save The Day Out Of Nowhere Appears A Handsome Cowboy Asking For Some Water For His Horse The Rancher Tells The Cowboy About His Daughter And The Cowboy Rides Off Toward The Sound Of A Train Whistle And By Now We're Sitting There And Our Hearts Are Pounding And Next We're Going To See A Similar!

[30:22] My Heart's Pounding Now! The Cowboy And His Trusty Steed Overtake The Train He Spots The Damsel In Distress He Jumps Off Just In Time Lifts Her Off The Tracks The Train Goes By He Rides Back To The Ranch The Greedy Land Grabber Has Fled To Return Back East The Old Rancher Is So Ecstatic That He Gives His Ranch!

[30:49] And Daughter To The Cowboy The Girl Swoons Into His Arms Of The Cowboy And All The Boys In The Theater Know She's Going To Kiss Him So We All Look Away No One Wants To See That At Seven Or Eight Years Of Age Now You'll Never Have A More Feeble Way To End Our Lesson Than That Example I'm Sure!

[31:19] We'll Get A Choir Member To Sing That But In Romans Chapter Seven We've Been Tied To The Tracks Of The Human Sinful Flesh And The Train Is Bearing Down On Us And Try As We Might We Can't Get Off The Tracks Augustine Couldn't Get Off Luther Couldn't Get Off But Next Week The Apostle Paul Is Going To Ride In With His Guns Blazing And Rescue Us Now He Really Didn't Carry A Gun But It's A Sword Sword Of The Spirit The Word Of God He's Going To Use The Inspired Words Of Romans Because Next Monday Night Lord Willing We're Going To Get To Chapter 8 We're Going To Get To Chapter 8 To Be Rescued Out Of Romans 7 And Our Flesh I

[32:20] Believe Romans Is Mount Everest Of Scripture I Really Do And I Believe With All My Heart That Romans Chapter 8 Is The Pinnacle Of The Book Of Romans We're On The Top Of Mount Everest Thank you.