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Amen. So Romans chapter five, this is our Sunday evening Bible study. We're going through the Book of Romans. We're up to Romans chapter five. Verse one reads, Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to go to the Lord and a quick word of prayer as well. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this great chapter of the Bible. Please just help me to preach it accurately, boldly. Just fill me with your spirit, please, Lord. Please help those here to just be wide awake now and help them to be alert and to just listen to what your word's got to say to them. In Jesus' name, we pray all of this. Amen. So we went through Romans three and four that are so, so clear on salvation being grace through faith alone. And we spoke about this last week. There is no way that you could read Romans chapter three and four and come away. There should be no reason you could read those and come away saying, yeah, I've still got to be good to go to heaven or I've still got to do something. I'm still going to do something to keep salvation. However, which way it's packaged, as we know, it's work salvation, isn't it? It is grace through faith alone. And look, those chapters are so clear, which is why, which is why this starts with therefore. Therefore, because Romans three and four, like I say, they're clear as day, aren't they? Clear as day that salvation is not some process. Salvation isn't something that you have to keep striving for. Salvation isn't something that you have to do something for. You have to be a really good person that do any of that. Salvation is a free gift. Salvation is a free gift. And we're going to see that it is specifically a free gift, even though a gift is by definition free. Romans five here begins with therefore, because there is no argument. We've just gone through the first part of Romans, therefore, therefore being justified by faith. There is no argument. But how many people still want to argue this? Sadly, how often today on the door, just today, were you trying to show the gospel to people and they're still trying to argue, yeah, but you've got to do something. You've got to do something. They don't really want to hear the word of God, do they? They just want to believe. And I said that to someone politely today, that really, look, you can make, many people want to make their own God, their own version of God, make their own idea of God. But really, all we have really, or what? It's not just all we have. We have something amazing, and that is a preserved word of God. And the preserved word of God says exactly who God is. It says exactly what is required for salvation. And it's not how we like to make it, how the majority of men like to dress it up, that it's got to, got to earn it, got to make myself feel good, got to make myself feel special enough, got to make my religion sound good enough. No, it's faith in Jesus Christ, isn't it? OK, so when it says we have peace, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Well, turn to Luke chapter 2. And we're going to look at verse 13, which is where the shepherds are being told of the birth of Christ. So famous parts of the Bible that you probably hear read a lot of the time around Christmas. People quote these passages in Christmas cards and everything else. Luke 2.13 reads, and suddenly there was with the angel, Luke 2.13, and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. Now, what is that peace on earth and goodwill? Is there peace on earth between men right now? Is there peace on earth between men? I don't see that. Anyone see that? I'll tell you what, right now, I'm sure a lot of people are, I don't think anyone could claim that right now, could they? There is not peace between men, is there? No, the peace and goodwill is toward men, people from who? From God, yeah? It's from God. And it sounds obvious, doesn't it? But a lot of people, they, how many false, false versions of Christianity will take verses like this and talk about the peace between men and Jesus Christ created peace between men and created this peace on earth? That's not what it's talking about, is it? It's that peace, it's that reconciliation we've got, and we're gonna look at that in a minute, because without that, it's a scary thought, isn't it? That's a scary thought to not be at peace with God, and sadly, that's the majority of the world. Now, verse two says, by whom, by whom, talking about Jesus Christ here, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. So the grace wherein we stand, that's present tense, isn't it? Present tense, we stand in grace, which is access by faith. Turn to Titus one, because I wanna point out here, and before we get to verse four, that although we use hope in our modern vernacular, like wish or desire, in the Bible, it involves expectation. So some people just go, oh, I hope I win the lottery, but that's not how it's used in the Bible. There's an expectation within. In Titus chapter one, again, famous verses, Titus chapter one and verses one to two say, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began. So the faith and acknowledging of the truth here creates hope of eternal life, but it's not this sort of distant maybe. So, oh, well, I hope I might end up with eternal life as God promised it before the world began. Does God break his promises? No. He doesn't, does he? If God promised it, that hope is an expectation, isn't it? Yeah. It's something that you are guaranteed. You could swap that for expectation in expectation of eternal life, because there's an assurance there, isn't there? There's an assurance which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. Hebrews 10, 22 says, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, by whom also we have access by faith. Sorry, sorry, let's go back to, sorry, I'll just jump forward there. Go back to Romans. So Hebrews 10, 22 finishes with wash with pure water. So there's a full assurance of faith there. If you go back to Romans, chapter five there. And verse two said, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And we should rejoice in that glory, shouldn't we? Use it as a pick me up in hard times, yeah? There's nothing wrong with rejoicing there, is there? Rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Verse three, and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. So we can glory in that assurance of salvation, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not a shame, because the love of God is shed abroad in the hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. So verse three says that we should also glory when we go through hard times, tribulation, trials, that can even be persecutions. Why, why? Because trials and tribulations improve us. Because they make us better people, don't they? That when you were saved, you wouldn't automatically become this perfect person, this perfect Christian, contrary to what many of the false religions will tell you. No, there's a work in progress, which you can choose or choose not to try and work on yourself as well, okay? It's not some automatic, right, you're just gonna end up being, or you're just gonna persevere to perfection or anything else, no, there's free will there. And many people like we know will get saved and not choose to be a disciple. If you continue my word, then are you my disciples indeed, said Jesus Christ, to those that believed. And it only takes belief to get saved, doesn't it? So here, here it's talking about when you're saved, when you're saved, you should and could glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation worketh patience. So tribulation worketh or results in your patience. How does that work? Well, when you go through hard times and you're going through trials and tribulations of life, you do learn with time as a Christian that you need to be patient, don't you? Because a lot of the time it can take a little while. Christian life is about patience, isn't it? In many things, patience, sometimes the prayers to be answered, patience to get through those hard times, but we do get through them, don't we? And when you look back and the longer you live the Christian life, the more you look back and you can remind yourself of those times when, wow, I was really wondering then, and then had I just been a little bit more patient, because he does come through, doesn't he? It results in your patience. Now he says here, and patience experience, because the more patience means more experience, isn't it? So the more tribulation you go through, the more patience you end up getting, and the more patient, well, the more experience you're going to get, because you're patient to get through that and to get that experience. And that can be helpful, can't it, sometimes, to have that experience and to remind yourself, yeah, I remember I got through that though, and I got through that time and things did work out in the end, and God came through like he promised he would. And that comes from experience, doesn't it? Experience comes from the patience, it comes from the tribulation. The more experience means more hope or expectation, because it says in experience, hope. So the more you experience the trials and tribulation of the Christian life, the more you experience God coming through time and time again, and that gives you that expectation, that assurance. And look, the stronger your faith gets, and the less ashamed you are of Christ, it says here, and hope maketh not ashamed. The less ashamed you are of Christ, of your faith, of the Christian life. And again, that's not automatic, is it? There are people that say, there are people here probably sitting in this room who have times, I'm sure many people, probably most people, maybe all people, have had and will continue to have times when they just feel that little bit of shame sometimes. That little bit, just maybe it's in front of someone else, maybe it's someone that you're a bit out of your comfort zone with, when you don't have that quite confidence. But look, the hope, the, sorry, the tribulation, the patience, yeah, that experience that comes with it, and then that hope that comes with it, starts to get rid of all of that, doesn't it? And I'm sure everyone here, barring maybe at that little honeymoon period where you just want to tell everyone about salvation, and then you started getting kind of burnt a bit with that, and suddenly you started getting mocked a little bit, and then suddenly, wait a second, they don't all want to hear. Why don't they all want to hear how to get saved? Because a lot of people don't want to get saved, sadly. But look, with time, the more you grow, the less ashamed you become, don't you? The more you go through trials and tribulations of the Christian life, the more you just realise it doesn't really matter, does it? Because I'm sure many people here, how do you feel the first time you went door knocking? First time you went soul winning? Okay, you don't know what you have to, you don't have to tell me, but I bet a lot of people were pretty scared, pretty terrified, probably playing on the way there, please God, just help me with this. And now, with a lot of you, I'm sure it's water off a duck's back. In fact, you want to go, don't you? A lot of the time, you're like, yeah, looking forward to this, it's exciting, I'm not saying that'll be every time, but it makes a difference, isn't it? The more you go through, the more the Christian life to go through, the more experience you get, the more hope you have, and the hope maketh us not ashamed. Now, this isn't the only place in scripture telling us to glory or rejoice when times are hard, when we're being tempted. So if you turn to Matthew five, turn to Matthew five while I read James chapter one from verse two to four, which reads, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. So patience is a great result if we make use of it, though, yeah? So there's no good kind of getting that bit of patience from it, and then what comes from that patience? Well, if we grow in patience, but let patience have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, if it makes us more complete, wanting nothing, if we become more content with it, yeah? That's what we want, don't we? But again, that can be easier said than done. But we wanna make use of that patience. You wanna grow as a Christian. Matthew five and verse 10 says, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And by the way, that's a key point here. It's when you're blessed for righteousness' sake, not when you're persecuted for your own wickedness, yeah? So blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, not because you've gone and stolen something from a shop. I'm just being persecuted because I'm a Christian. No, for righteousness' sake. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. So in case you're wondering, in case you're sitting here thinking, wait a second, I thought when you become, when you get saved, that everything's just a bed of roses. Everything's just, if you're a good Christian, everything will be fine. Is that true? No. No, the Bible says, Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. So again, not if you, there's a load of evil that is true about you. Okay, you're not blessed about that. But when it's falsely for Jesus Christ's sake, when you're doing things for God, and look, and people can be tricky with that. There'll be people that are trying to persecute you and slander you and say things about you, and they'll try and base it loosely on something which maybe is half true about you and make it look like it's not about Christ. But it is about Christ, isn't it? Think about the, think about, well, let's think about recently, for example, with the persecution of Steadfast Baptist Church. Anyone know much about that? Yeah, okay, so this is a church in the US which basically they had a load of protesters outside their church because they preach the Bible and they preach the whole Bible and they don't change it to appease what is a sort of very pro-LGBTQ+, you name it, however many other letters you want to add to it. Basically, a gender of the day, and that's kind of the modern, you know, the modern push right now. They don't change the word of God for that. They preach the word of God. And they've basically had a load of protests and then their landlord just decided that that was enough to revoke their lease, which they had literally put about, I think, a hundred grand in into the building. They were, I don't know, how did anyone know how far into the lease they are? A couple of years, maybe? Yeah, yeah, it's a couple of years in and they're meant to have a five-year lease and they've basically just been evicted. And even the appeal failed based on what, because they preached the Bible, because they preached the word of God and they somehow don't even, I mean, there's some wickedness in high places there, isn't there? But point being that when you look at it and you go on to the, and you see the comments, there's all these people going, ah, that's God getting rid of you, ah, that's teaching you a lesson and everything else. It's like, no, you're being persecuted falsely for my sake, said Jesus Christ, yeah? They're preaching the word of God. They're going out preaching the gospel. That isn't chastisement, okay? That's not chastisement. That's ridiculous. In fact, I saw an interesting, I think I saw an interesting sermon of his where he's saying, how ridiculous is it to suggest that these wicked people out there protest his chastisement of God? I mean, I think he gave the analogy. It's like, you know, God's a loving father. It's like saying, kids, you haven't eaten your dinner, now meet uncle rapist, basically, and sorry to be a bit crude here, but that was his analogy. It's like, how absolutely ridiculous to suggest that it's chastisement, that these wicked Satan worshipers join pentagrams outside the church, that these vile, child-molesting types, that all these wicked people outside their church are somehow chastisement. No, it's persecution. It's persecution falsely for my sake, said Jesus Christ. But he says here, blessed are ye. And he's a good example. Pastor Jonathan Shelley there isn't here, someone that's just upright with it. He's dug deep. Okay, now move on, and he's not crying. Does it look like, you know, he looks like he's taking it pretty well, doesn't he? And I'm sure they'll find a great church, because it says here, rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. So we should be rejoicing and be exceeding glad when we're persecuted. All of us are gonna go through our own levels of persecution in life as Christians. If you're living for God, you're gonna go through some persecution. But you can rejoice, you can be exceeding glad when you remember that great is your reward in heaven. Okay, great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. And these idiots who kind of act as if as a Christian, you're never gonna go through anything like that, clearly have never read the Bible, because the prophets went through some stuff, didn't they? They all went through some stuff, whether they're Old Testament or New Testament, they went through some stuff, yeah? Everyone goes through stuff, and of course they try and pin it on something else. It's not always, they're not always openly about what they're actually preaching. They try and catch them on something. Jesus Christ tried to catch them in his words all the time, didn't they? I think about that with the sort of, again, on that with steadfast, the YouTube stalker suddenly came out, yeah? They've been a bit quiet for a while. Suddenly they're all appearing and attacking, because they love to, they're like vultures, don't they? Wait until they think there's some flesh there to go for. And they come out, and these people, you just think, you're years down the line from getting kicked out of these churches, because that's what a lot of them are. They're people that have been kicked out for the right reasons. And they're still going on about these churches years later. I mean, they're like some weird stalker exes, aren't they? It's like, just move on, move on. But again, it's really, it's because they're persecuting, because it's, the work of God's being done there, isn't it? The work of God's being done. And when it's for righteousness' sake, when it's falsely for his sake, we should be rejoicing and be exceeding glad. So we shouldn't get frustrated and angry about this. We should be just rejoicing. Great, more persecution. Because, look, that's the ultimate there. Not only are you growing into patience, experience, and hope that we've just seen in Romans 5, becoming less ashamed, but you're getting rewards too. You're getting rewards too. So if you can remind yourself of that in those times, rejoice, yeah? Rejoice. Rejoice and be exceeding glad. Go back to Romans chapter 5 though. It says here in Romans 5, five, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Because when you're hoping in God, you're more filled with the Holy Ghost, which gives you that boldness and that comfort, doesn't it, as well? And in case anyone here is a bit unsure about this, because again, there's a lot of false teaching about the Holy Ghost. When you're saved, you get immediately, immediately indwelt or sealed by the Holy Ghost, otherwise known as the Holy Spirit, okay? It's immediate. You don't have to do any prayers for it. You don't need someone to lay their hands on you and ask for the Holy Ghost, okay? You don't need to get baptised to get the Holy Ghost. You don't need to prove you've got the Holy Ghost by jibber jabbering with a load of nonsense that doesn't mean anything, okay? And telling people that you've got the gift of tongues. No, Ephesians, you don't have to turn there, 113 says, in whom ye also trusted, talking about Jesus Christ, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. When you believe, you get sealed. Not after that ye believed, and then started asking to jibber jabber and have people lay hands on you and do a load of other stuff by people that tell you you've got to keep repenting of your sins, by the way, as well, that you will somehow then get the Holy Ghost come upon you, and then if you're really lucky, you might be able to heal people and charge a load of money for it. No, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. So what's our goal, though? We have the Holy Spirit in us, but our goal as a Christian is to be filled with the Spirit. Now that doesn't mean you're gonna get an extra bit of spirit. No, it's basically, when we're talking about being filled with the Holy Ghost, filled with the Holy Spirit, we're talking about being controlled in our daily life. Okay, we want more of the Holy Spirit to govern us and to be with us, to be more in the Spirit, to be doing the things of God and less in the flesh. And that is a daily battle that we'll all go through, and you'll have good days, you'll have good weeks, good months, you'll have bad times sometimes, and the trick is to not let the flesh take over, but it's got nothing to do with people laying hands on you or anything like that. So in case anyone is wondering about that, it's being filled with the Spirit as opposed to being controlled by our sinful flesh, which, again, is a battle, and it's a battle that Paul talked about, and it's a battle that every Christian will have to go through. Now verse six says, For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Jesus died for us when we didn't have the Holy Ghost, by the way. Verse seven, For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. It wasn't that Jesus was dying for good people, which still most wouldn't do. Let's be honest, how many people would die for anyone? Most wouldn't, would they? But it wasn't that he was even dying for good people. Verse eight, Commendeth means exalted. Basically, God exalted his love toward us. So it's like a love above anything we think we're capable of. Says here, In that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Because that's some extra love to die for wretches like us, isn't it? Jesus Christ died for wretches like every single person here. None of us here are righteous. Every single one of us needed Jesus Christ to die for us to then have his righteousness imputed unto us. And that's some love, isn't it? I don't know. I often when I use this, most people probably use this first. It's quite a nice like bridge between hell and the love of Christ and going in to explain who Jesus Christ is. And sometimes I just say, But God commendeth, I mean shows just as a quick way of kind of explaining that he showed his love. But there is something special about that. Commendeth is really it's like an exalting of his love, isn't it? And showing that extra love that God has for us. Verse nine, Much more then being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. So verse one, and we talked about this just earlier said, Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Here it said, it said we shall be saved from wrath through him. And it says for if when we are enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Now turn over to John chapter three. Because it's not that there was just a God shaped hole that needed filling in your life. Yeah, a lot of people like coming out with that one, don't you? You know, they've got a God shaped hole, you just need that filling. It wasn't that we just invited him into our life, was it? It wasn't that, oh, well, I just want to invite, I just fancy having God in my life. I think I have a nicer life like that. That's going to be a bit more fun. I can go to church then and get involved with the things of God and feel a bit more holy. It wasn't that we decided to live for God, did we? And again, how much of this terminology do you hear by people that claim to be saved? Yeah, I, you know, gave my life to Christ, so I decided I made that decision that day to live for God. Well, that's not really what happens, is it? If you're saved, no. Because without Jesus Christ, there's no peace, is there? Amen. God is angry, he's furious. He's furious with unbelievers. And again, something that's watered down, isn't it? So much, and especially obviously by the false prophets and the false church, but look at John 3.36. It says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Amen. Person number one, I like using this when I'm soul winning to say there's two types of people. You've, basically everyone's a sinner. You've got sinner number one, he that believeth on the Son. That's everyone hopefully in this room. Have everlasting life, that means they're going to heaven. No ifs or buts. And he that believeth not the Son, that's person number two, sinner number two, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Amen. If you don't have your faith in Jesus Christ, if you don't have everlasting life, and that means, by the way, if you have everlasting life, you can't lose it, it wasn't everlasting, okay? If you don't have everlasting life, it's not just, oh well, there's still a God-shaped hole in my life. Still need to fill that hole, still need to give my life to Christ, still need to welcome him into my heart. No, the wrath of God abides on you. You need to get saved. You need peace with God. You need reconciliation. That wrath is anger, fury. Isn't that scary? Amen. Anger and fury from the God of this world. Psalm 7-11, you don't have to turn there, says God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day. Every day. Let alone the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he did for you. So people that are unsaved, it's not just, oh well, if only I could persuade the Christian life so much better, the Christian life so much more fun. That's not what we're, we're persuading them. Be ye reconciled to God because he's furious with you, he's angry with you, he's angry at your sin, he's angry at your rejection of Christ. You could try to fill those holes in your heart, invite him into your life all you like. Doesn't mean he's not angry with you, does it? Try to follow his commandment. You can wear crosses and Jesus love your t-shirts. You can wear them everywhere you go. You can have caps on, you know, with fish on it and everything else. You can put those stupid graven images on the back of your car. But God's still angry at you. Yeah, he's angry at you if you don't have faith in Jesus Christ and that is scary, isn't it? To have God angry with you. But without believing on the Son, it says the wrath of God abideth on you. That's scary. Go back to Romans 5. That's why it's called reconciling. It's making peace with God. That's what you're doing when you're getting saved. You're given that choice. You're given that choice. Do you want to make peace with God? Yeah, how many reject that? How many reject that for a number of ridiculous reasons? Why would you not want peace with God? Romans 5.9 says, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. It's wrath. Again, it's not separation from God. It's not just, oh, separation from God for eternity. It's not just a quick annihilation or anything else. No, it's wrath. Wrath, the wrath of God abideth on them. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life because we were enemies with the almighty God of this world. Everyone here before you got saved was an enemy of God. You were enemies with God. That is scary, isn't it? To think that everyone here, I hope there's no one here that still is, but everyone here at one point was an enemy of the God of this world. And by the way, notice here how his blood is part of the justification? Jesus Christ's precious blood was shed for us. I say that because there are damnable heretics out there that deny the blood of Christ as having any significance at all in salvation. A famous one is John MacArthur. Anyone heard of John MacArthur here? Most people have probably heard of John MacArthur. He's very famous. He's all over YouTube and he's been around for a long time now, John MacArthur. And John MacArthur throughout his reference Bible is constantly at different parts, basically denying the saving power of the blood of Jesus Christ. He denies the power of the blood. We actually sing a hymn, don't we? About there's power in the blood. I won't carry on because I don't want the room to empty. But you may not know much about the blood of Christ, but I hope you're not denying it, okay? Because there's a difference. You might be sitting there going, well, yeah, but I mean, I'm saved, I know, but I don't really talk much about the blood of Christ. Yeah, but I'm sure you're not behind a pulpit denying the blood of Christ. You're not preaching and teaching the Bible and denying the power of the blood of Christ. And I hope when you see verses like here, Romans 5, 9, saying, being now justified by his blood, you don't sit there and put a line through it. Or go, that must be a translation error because there's nothing special or precious about the blood. He's preaching behind a pulpit, but worse, adding to the word of God with his heresies. In fact, he's gone full, he's kind of pretty much exposed himself fully to most you would think now with his own so-called translation of the Bible. What's it called? The Legacy or something? Standard, anyone know the name of this? He's got some new Bible that's come out. Absolutely wicked. Some of our brothers over in Germany, I think had done a couple of good videos on this, just short videos showing you many of the heresies and changes and take you away from the word of God and adding to the word of God. What does that say about him? Reprobate. Reprobate. But he denies the power of the blood. Now, I'm just going to read you some quotes here, the April, 1986 edition. And I'm reading this, it's not because this isn't just some obscure guy, okay? This isn't just another, this is a guy that has a big following. This is a guy that is respected in evangelical circles and people that claim to be saved. In the April, 1986 edition of Faith for the Family, it quotes Pastor MacArthur as saying in the 1976 article entitled Not His Bleeding But Is Dying, it was his death that was efficacious, not his blood. Christ did not bleed to death. The shedding of blood had nothing to do with bleeding. It simply means death. Nothing in his human blood saves. It is not his blood that I love, it is him. It is not his bleeding that saved me, but his dying. Does it line up with scripture, does it? Does that line up with scripture? Go back to Romans 3 and verse 24. Romans 3, 24 says, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins and a pass through the forbearance of God. Doesn't look good for MacArthur that, does it? Especially when you consider that Hebrews 10, 29 says of how much sore a punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and have counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace. Now that's possibly they're talking to save people, but I have no doubt that John MacArthur is a great false prophet. He's just a subtle one, and he's a subtler one than most, but this guy, he's going to a low depth of hell, isn't he? Now, like... So just a warning there, when you hear someone go, oh, yeah, it's grace through faith behind a pulpit, don't automatically go, right, must be saved, must be right, because that same guy is just as likely a few months down the line to say something the opposite, or that same person is just as likely to then, behind closed doors, say something else, okay? But John MacArthur, John MacArthur has tried to kind of cover up for this and say, oh, no, well, I was taken out of context and blah, blah, blah, and blah. So I was having a little dig around, yeah, to just see what John MacArthur claims. And I went onto his Grace to You website, and when I was looking about what he says about the blood, yeah, check this out. You say, well, how can the blood of Christ, who died 1,900 years ago have anything to do with me today? I'll be really honest with you, I don't have the faintest idea. All I know is God says that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. So here he's obviously talking out the other side of his mouth now. And all I know is that when a man comes to Christ and says, Christ, come into my life and take away my sin, and when a man is willing to repent of his sin, by some divine miracle right out of heaven, God speaks with the blood of Jesus Christ, it is clean. It's a divine miracle that takes place within the life of a man. So what's John MacArthur saying there? John MacArthur is saying there that when a man comes to Christ, says Christ, come into my life and take away my sin, and when a man is willing to repent of his sin. Is that what the Bible says you gotta do to get saved? No. No. How do you repent of your sin, John MacArthur? Which sin is that? Is that all your sin, John MacArthur? Is John MacArthur giving up all his sin? What has John MacArthur done? He's a liar. He's a liar, and he's got it straight on his website now. It's funny how it takes a while for these guys to come out with this stuff. Knowing MacArthur, you lying wolf. Verse nine, where we were said, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. It's got nothing to do with you repenting of your sin, has it? Nothing to do with that. No. Just another wicked wolf out there, but one that does have a large following. There, in verses nine and 10 there, that's his shed blood, his death, his burial, his life, which is what? His resurrection. His resurrection. Verse 11 says, and not only so, but we also join God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement. So, not only do we have peace, we're saved from wrath, we're justified, we're reconciled. We also have joy in God, don't we? We have joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement. It's by Jesus Christ. Atonement is agreement or concord after enmity. And that's by him, not our repenting of sin, is it? Got nothing to do with our repenting of sin or anything else. No, it's to do with what Jesus Christ did. We just have to believe. Verse 12 says, wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death pass upon all men, for that all have sinned. Now that's referring to the first man, Adam, and yes, all have sinned, yeah? Now look at verse 13, for until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Now that doesn't mean that it's not sin or that it's not punishable by death. So again, people kind of go with this verse and go in crazy places with it. Verse 12 said that death passed upon all men, didn't it? Didn't say all men after the law of Moses. Verse 14 says that death reigned from Adam to Moses. So I believe where it says here, but sin is not imputed when there is no law, that he's saying that even without the law to convict and dictate earthly punishment, to impute it or attribute it in this life, nevertheless, verse 14, death reigned from Adam to Moses. Nevertheless, the eternal punishment is hell, isn't it? Okay, always has been. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come. Nevertheless, the eternal wages of sin is death, with or without the law. Okay, that's death, that's eternal death in hell. Isn't that absolutely, should be absolutely terrifying to the unbeliever. And regardless of the sin here, it wasn't just the eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that results in death, is it? It's sin, it's sin that results in death. That was basically the choice presented to sin or not, wasn't it? And we all have that choice. We all have that choice to sin or not, and we all fail, don't we? We all fail, we all fail. Every safe person here still fails daily on that. Now, how is Adam the figure of Christ? Because it says who is a figure of him that was to come. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. It says, of the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come. Figure, figure, not it is him, it's not like the first him, it is, he's a figure. It says, 1 Corinthians 15, 45 says, and so it is written, the first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam, talk about Jesus Christ, was made a quickening spirit, albeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward, that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy, the second man, Christ, is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we are born the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. So in the same way that we're the physical seed of Adam, we inherited life from Adam, we are the spiritual seed of Christ, and we inherited eternal life from Christ, yeah? That's why he's a figure there, he's a figure there of Christ. Now look at verse 15 back where we were in Romans 5. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God and a gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. Now this verse of verse 18, which talks again the righteous of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification and life, are useful, by the way, for the odd person that tries to claim that a gift isn't free. So if you've ever been so when you've had someone say, well, I don't know if the gift is free, then these could be quite handy just to show them that it's clearly talking about a free gift. Now obviously a gift is free, isn't it? And it's just, I don't know, I blame Santa Claus or Satan Claus for this one, I think, because he knows if you've been naughty or nice and all that sort of nonsense. But look, people do sometimes, anyone had anyone come out with that before? I don't know if a gift is a gift free? Today, today, thank you very much, good. Yeah, I've had that, I've had that a few times, I think over time, you do get people sometimes go, well, is a gift, well, a gift isn't necessarily free. Okay, so these can be handy verses for that. Verse 16, and not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift, for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses under justification. For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. So basically verse 15 to 17 is saying, yes, death started with one man, Adam, but what grace basically that one man, Jesus Christ, has paid for the offenses of us all, okay? So yes, it was started by one and you could get a bit, oh, Adam, but Jesus Christ has paid for every single offense, yeah? Every single one of our offenses that we ever do and ever will do have been paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse 13 to 17 that we just looked at there bracketed. So verse 18 here basically follows on from verse 12. So he's kind of put in that thought there between those brackets in verse 13 to 17. Then we started with verse 12 saying, wherefore as by one man's sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for the all of sin. And then you kind of jumped now to verse 18. Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. And look, we love, you know, we all, most people here are probably given an allergy of a gift when they're trying to get someone saved, yeah? How can it be a free gift if you have to do anything to earn it? If you have to do all these good deeds and do all this church work and read your Bible however many times, anything that you have to do like that stops it being a free gift, doesn't it? Okay, and in the same way, anything you have to do afterwards, it's not a free gift. You know, if you give someone a free gift and then say to them, but they've got to go and do exercise, it's not a free gift. Well, you've got to keep doing this or you're going to lose your, it wasn't a free gift, it's not a gift. Yeah, you're basically loaning them, something that you're taking back if they don't fit whatever criteria you've put on it. And again, it's so clear, isn't it? But look, the heart, the man, flesh wants to believe they can earn their way to heaven. But verse 18 said, therefore, as by the offense of one, talk about Adam, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, that's Jesus Christ, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. How many men did it come upon? All men, yeah? Did it not just say that there? The free gift came upon all men. All men, not just those that God pre-elected that he decided for no apparent reason other than he just picked them out of a hat, those that would get saved. No, for all men. Yes, sadly, sadly, most are still going to go to hell. Most are still going to go to hell because most don't want to get saved because straight is a gate, isn't it? Narrow is a path that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. But it's there for everyone. It's there for everyone. Everyone has that choice to make. And sadly, some people go so far in rejecting and changing the truth of God into a lie that they no longer have that choice. But at the beginning, when you're born into this world, you have access to that, don't you? You have access to that that was that free gift that came upon all men unto justification of life. Verse 19 says, For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. So Jesus Christ paid for all our sins. Whether your list is long or short, there's enough grace to go around, isn't there? Now, again, and obviously we've covered this over the last few chapters and what's the angle that people go with? The people that don't actually read their Bible or sadly aren't saved and can't understand the Bible, they'll say, you're just giving a license to sin. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. So you're saying that what? So you just sin more and then there's more grace? Look, yeah, we do have a license to sin. Yeah, yeah. Does anyone here want to just go and sin? Does anyone really want sin? Does anyone, look, and I know there's gonna be sins that you're gonna find it hard to get rid of your life. Some people sadly will follow after certain sins in life, but look, he's given us that free gift and for me, I wanna live for God. I wanna try my best. I'm gonna get it wrong. Where everyone here's a sinner, everyone's gonna sin, but look, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That grace makes you wanna get right, doesn't it? And forget that, I don't wanna get chastised in life. I don't want God to whoop me, okay? So regardless of whether I wanna, you know, and we'll have days where we're feeling like, yeah, I wanna get right, we'll have days where we might not, but I tell you what, that chastisement doesn't half make you wanna live right, doesn't it? Because God's chastisement can be hard, can't it? God's chastisement is something that we wanna avoid in life. And you know what? I also wanna get blessed in life and I also wanna earn blessings in heaven. And when you put the whole thing together, yeah, amen that it's a free gift, but look, look, on top of that, it's not, oh, well now let's just go and do what we want because we understand that we have a loving father in heaven there that wants us to behave, yeah? Okay, and that's why we wanna try our best, don't we? But regardless, regardless, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, yeah? Every single one of us is sinner and amen that grace did abound, yeah? And grace continues to abound. That as sin has rained unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. What an amazing gift that is, eh? What an amazing gift and what an amazing few chapters of the Bible there just to make it clear as day. And obviously, you know, Romans 5 there talks about some other things as well, but Romans 3, 4, 5, like I said last week, you can't read through these chapters and come away saying, yup, gotta be good to go to heaven. Yup, gotta follow the test. I had a lady today who said she did actually, well, I think I preached about this last week. She said, I said, well, you know, we talked to her, she said she was a Catholic and then she said, but she doesn't believe in heaven. And then she started telling me how, what was it, an eco war, what was it again? Ecologist. She's an ecologist and she's- Environmentalist. Environmentalist, that was it. And environmental, that was her kind of qualify for what a good person she was. Well, I'm an environment, like straight away, forget all the rest of it. So anyway, so we're talking a little bit and then I said to her, I said to her about, you know, about what the Bible, would you like to know what the Bible, I know what the Bible says. I did A-level theology, you know, religious studies or something at A-level, you know, the kind of chest went out and her nose went up in the air. I said, oh, okay. She said, yeah, and I, and I've also started, what did you, I think she said something about doing something, some other theology she's done as well, maybe at university, I studied theology as well. I said, oh, okay, so having read the Bible, then what do you think the Bible says you have to do to go to heaven? Well, Jesus said the two greatest commandments, yeah. Okay, so you know what she's going to say here, or you think she's going to maybe at least quote them half right, to love God and love your neighbor. So forget the love God with all your heart, mind and soul. Yeah, forget to love your neighbor as thyself, which I did politely correct her on a little bit there and just show her how actually we fail at that every day. But that's quite a nice one, isn't it? Yeah, love God, love your neighbor, because I'm a loving person. Yeah, I love my, I love God. I love my neighbor. There we go, job done, solved. And then when I pointed out to her that actually shows how we fail every single day, then she just kept going off on curve balls, didn't she? Are you saying that my dad, who is the greatest guy ever, but he's an atheist, is in hell? Oh. And. Yeah. You can imagine, I wasn't thinking, yeah, salvation. It wasn't the lowest hanging fruit, but truth is, yeah. And I had to be honest with her, didn't I? But I tried to do it in a nice way, but look, yeah. Yeah, because the word of God's because you can't make your own God, because you can't make your own salvation, can you? And Romans 3, 4, and 5 make it clear that you can't make your own version of what you think is going to be enough to get you into heaven, it's grace through faith. And why would you want to put some criteria? You'd think, wouldn't you? When you look at it, you go, why do you want to have this tick box that you feel you need to achieve? Because just sinful flesh wants to believe they're righteous enough, they can earn their way, that they've done enough, that they've done enough in their life, that those good things, that, you know, environmentally, what, environmentalism, is it? Environmentalism was enough, or whatever it is. And no, the Bible says just put your faith in Christ. Great few chapters to show that. I hope you've enjoyed them. Probably start to have some gear changes again now, but on that, let's pray. Father, I thank you, thank you that you make it so clear about salvation, that all of us here can just be in no doubt. If we're, you know, we're saved, we put our faith in you, we have that Holy Spirit just clearly showing us the word of God is just so clear that salvation is a free gift, that it's not of ourselves, you know, that it's a gift of God, not of works that any man should boast, thank you. That that's so, that you make it clear to us and just help to strengthen our faith, to help us to go out and preach that clearly to other people. Thank you that also we can be, you know, that you teach us that we can have joy through the tribulations of life. We know that just because we're saved, it doesn't mean we don't have to go through trials and tribulations. And in fact, as saved people, we're gonna go through sometimes worse trials and tribulations and persecutions in life, but that we can seek joy from that. Help us all to do that as we go through our own individual struggles, this week and Lord, please, please bless our week. Please help us to preach your gospel to others and to all get back home safely tonight and to return safely next week for another day in your house. In Jesus name, we pray all of this. Amen.