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This podcast is a production of Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas, USA. Watermark exists to be and make more fully devoted followers of Christ, looking to God's Word as our only authority, conscience and guide.
Good morning. Good to see you. How are we doing today? All right. Welcome to church. I'm glad you made it. If this is your first time ever with us on a Sunday, thanks for trusting us with your morning. I really do hope this place can feel like home for you and like you can take your first or your next step with Jesus Christ. We're all about Jesus here, and we want every person here to know him and to enjoy life with him.
Every Sunday, before we jump into studying the Bible, I give you an opportunity to pray and ask God to speak to you. You can leave here having heard from God if you want. So, let me just give you a chance right now to pause and pray. Would you just pray for yourself and pray, "God, would you speak to me this morning?" Then, would you pray for the people around you, your family, friends, and other brothers and sisters in the faith, and ask God to speak to them as well? Then, I want to ask you to pray for me and ask God to speak through me to you.
Lord, you know my prayer before the service today was that there would be nothing half-hearted today, that we wouldn't sing half-heartedly, that we wouldn't listen in a half-hearted way. So, I pray even now, as we open up your Word, I'm asking, God, for you to draw us into you. I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would strengthen us and empower us.
Give us ears to hear and eyes to see. I pray that every single person in this room would hear from you. God, I just wonder how different things would be this week if all 3,000 people in the room heard from you today and responded to you throughout the week. So, have your way in our lives, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.
Today, we're looking at Romans, chapter 5. I call Romans, chapter 5, the _Showcase Showdown_ _of the Bible_. When I say, "Showcase Showdown," does anyone here know what I'm talking about? Yeah. I am talking about _The Price is Right_. Look. I grew up in the 80s and 90s. If you were home sick from school, you watched _The Price is Right_. That's a fact. I'm just stating facts up here, people.
The Showcase Showdown was the competition at the end of _The Price is Right_. It was between the top two competitors. The way the Showcase Showdown would work was that Bob Barker would reveal a collection of prizes for each competitor, and each competitor would see their collection of prizes and would have to guess how much that bundle of prizes cost.
The thing I loved about the Showcase Showdown was that Bob Barker didn't just show them the whole bundle of prizes at once. It was a progressive reveal. So, the Showcase Showdown might go like this. It might say, "You and your family can enjoy watching TV from your new living room," and it would pull back the wall, and there would be a living room,
Then it would say, "Not only can you enjoy watching your TV, but when you need some fresh air, you can head outside and hop on your new boat," and you would see a new boat. Then it was like, "But in order to get your boat to the lake, you're going to need…a new car!" That's when the contestants would be like, "Oh, it's just incredible." You know, they're finding their family, like, "This is it. It's what we've been waiting for." Then, right after they showed the whole bundle, what would the announcer say? "All of this could be yours if the price is right."
Romans 5 is the Showcase Showdown of the Bible, because as we walk throughout this chapter, Paul is going to keep revealing all of the prizes that belong to you for knowing Jesus Christ. The difference between _The Price is Right_ and the Bible is that in _The Price is Right_ it says, "All of this _could_ be yours if the price is right." If you know Jesus Christ, the price has already been right. The price is the body and blood of Jesus Christ, which was the right payment that was made for you and me. If you know Jesus Christ, it's not that all of these things _can_ be yours. All of these things _are_ yours in Jesus Christ.
So, my hope for us today… This is the perfect passage for us to be looking at right before Thanksgiving, because if you know Jesus Christ… I don't know what you have going on in your life right now. I know many people in here are carrying very heavy things, yet you have so much to be thankful for. If you don't know Jesus Christ, I'm so glad God brought you here today. You're here not because a friend wanted you to be here; you're here because _God_ wanted you here. God wants to show you everything he wants to give you.
So, I just want to walk you through the Showcase Showdown of the Bible. I want you to know everything that is yours in Christ. If you have a Bible, turn with me to Romans, chapter 5. As you're turning there, you just need to know the book of Romans might be the most important book in your Bible. Martin Luther said the epistle to the Romans is the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest gospel. He said it deserves to be known by heart, word for word. Has anyone here memorized the book of Romans? If not, get busy, because according to Martin Luther, it's deserving of that. That's how significant this book is.
1\. _Justification is yours_. That's the first prize on the Showcase Showdown of Romans 5. Justification is yours. Paul says, **"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."** Paul starts out by saying, **"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith…"** That phrase sums up the entire first four chapters of the book of Romans.
What's Paul's point in the first four chapters? Nobody can know God apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter if you're a Jew, the people God had chosen in the Old Testament. It doesn't matter if you're a Gentile. If you want to belong to the family of God, the only way to do that is by being justified by faith in Jesus Christ.
Now, what does _justification_ mean? _Justification_ is a legal term, and it means to be declared innocent or not guilty. Get the picture here. When you read, you should picture… Paul is bringing us into God's courtroom. God is the judge. In God's courtroom, with God as the judge, you need to understand your reality in God's courtroom.
Just a couple of chapters earlier is one of the most famous verses in all the Bible. Paul says in Romans 3:23, **"…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…"** That word _sin_ is an archery term. To sin is to miss the target. It's to miss God's bull's-eye. So, Paul is saying, "Put yourself in the courtroom standing before the judge. You have missed it." You've missed it. How have you missed it? How are you and I sinners? Because we have called _good_ what God has called _bad_.
Just think about it. God is the one who created every human being on the planet. God has certain expectations that the people he created would think, talk, and act his way, yet every person here has thought, talked, and acted opposite of God's way. Because of that, we miss the mark. In Romans, chapter 1, Paul actually gives a list of all of the ways we miss God's mark. On that list is murder. We would hear that and be like, "Of course! Of course murderers miss God's target."
But if you read the list, do you know what else Paul includes? Those who gossip. Those who are disobedient to their parents. Is anyone guilty of those things in here? Of course. We all are. We have all missed God's target. We might hear things like _gossip_ or _disobedience to parents_, and we're like, "You know what? In the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal. We're talking about small things here." But that's from _your_ perspective. See it from God's perspective.
I've said this multiple times, but it all comes down to perspective. The common cold in a public school is expected. The common cold in a visitor to the intensive care unit will not be tolerated. It all comes down to perspective. The smallest imperfections in our eyes cannot be tolerated in a holy God's eyes. In God's courtroom, the evidence against everyone in this room is overwhelming. We have no defense. The gavel should slam down. "Guilty!" Yet the gavel slams down, and what is the verdict? "Innocent of all charges!" How? How is that possible?
If you're new to Christianity, if you're just exploring, you tell me another religion on the planet that offers something like this. How is it possible to stand before a holy God, innocent of all charges? Second Corinthians 5:21 says, **"For our sake he** \[God\] **made him** \[Jesus\] **to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."**
John MacArthur explains it this way: "On the cross, God treated Jesus as if he had personally committed every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe." That's how it's possible for you and me to stand before a holy God, innocent of all charges. Paul goes on in Romans 5:9, just a few verses down, and says, **"Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God."**
Paul is saying because of what Christ has done through the shedding of his blood… Christ had to die so that you and I could live. Because Christ has died, we get to live. Meaning, not just life now, but there is no anger or wrath stored up for us any longer. How is it possible for us to stand before God? Because God, the Judge himself, entered into our humanity. He endured our penalty so that through faith we could enjoy his victory.
So, if you're here this morning, and you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ… Look. The tendency is to avoid topics like sin and judgment just because they're not enjoyable to talk about. People just want to draw their own conclusions and make themselves the ultimate authority on God and how we relate to him.
People want to boil eternal life down to "You know what? The important thing is that you just find your truth" or "Just focus on being a spiritual person" or "Just make sure you put good energy into the world," or whatever the thing is. "Just believe in something." Or "You know what? Nobody is perfect, so just do your best."
Let's be clear. You can say God is love and stop there, but let's be clear. What makes God loving is not that he ignores our sin and honors our attempt to be good. What makes God loving is that he himself entered into our sin and endured our penalty of sin so we could be considered good in his eyes. That's what makes God loving. That's what makes him good.
I think about movies where there's a courtroom scene where someone has been accused of something they didn't do, and then at the end the verdict comes, and they're found to be not guilty. What's the response? It's relief. They might sit there, close their eyes, and burst into tears, because what they knew to be true inside, that they were innocent, is now clear to everyone.
Our reality is that we should know we're guilty, so our response shouldn't be one of relief; it should be one of shock. "Wait, wait. I was guilty. You're saying I'm innocent." That shock gives birth to gratitude. Why? We're only innocent because Christ became guilty on our behalf. The first item on the Showcase Showdown is that justification is yours.
2\. _Peace with God is yours_. Paul says, **"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."** Do you see what he's saying? We _have_. That's present. This is our reality now. Your reality, if you know Jesus Christ, is that you have peace with God.
This is very important for you to understand. Right here, Paul isn't talking about a _feeling_ of peace; he's talking about the _fact_ of peace. He is talking about the permanent status of your relationship with God. If you know Jesus Christ, the status of your relationship is one of permanent peace. This is the idea of _reconciliation_. Paul addresses it a little bit farther down in the passage in verses 10-11. Watch this.
He says, **"For if while we were enemies…"** Think about that. Just let that sink in. **"For if while we were enemies…"** Have you ever thought of yourself as an enemy of God? God has thought of you as an enemy of God. Have you thought of yourself, ever, as an enemy of God? **"For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."**
When Paul says we have peace with God… Another way of saying it is the war with God is now over. The war between you and God, through faith in Jesus, is finally over. But you first have to come to the understanding that apart from Jesus Christ, you're actually an enemy of God. I've talked to people who take the mindset of "You know what? I'm enjoying life right now. I'll figure out faith some other time. I'll get serious about Jesus, about God, some other time."
There's an assumption in that thinking. The assumption is that right now, because God isn't important to you, God is cool with you just… Like, "Y'all just do your own things. Then you'll come back together and figure it out. Y'all are kind of in neutral standing. Just do your own things, and then we'll figure it out later." No. According to Paul, you're either _with_ Jesus or _against_ Jesus. Nobody is just in neutral standing with Jesus.
It makes me think of this time when I was in college. My roommates and I, at any given time, could just start wrestling with each other. There was one of my roommates… His name is John. He was bigger than me, but we would consistently find a way that we would just begin wrestling. So, this one time, I just walked into his room. I don't even think I said, "Hello." I just went and tackled him, and we started wrestling.
There was this moment in time where we were wrestling, and John pile-drove me into his closet. Like he was a lineman in high school, he just pile-drove me into the closet. Now I'm in the closet, lying on his dirty clothes, and I'm panicked, so I just reach down and give him a wedgie. You can totally judge me, but it was a crisis, and I just reacted.
In the midst of giving him a wedgie, I had a realization. I saw John's face. I felt the energy, and in that moment, I came to a realization. It was probably because I was giving him a wedgie, but I came to the conclusion and the realization, "We're in a fight right now, and I didn't even know it." Like, I thought we were just joking around. Something had shifted, and John was actually mad. This was a fight.
I think about that sometimes. I think there are a lot of people in the world who just want to mess around with God. It's like, "You know what? I'm just doing my own thing. I'll talk to you when I want to talk to you. It's just okay." But you're at war with God, and you don't even know it. My hope is that, for some of you, this morning is your moment lying on the floor of your roommate's dirty clothes closet where you realize, "I'm at war with God, and I didn't even realize it. What am I doing with my life? I got up and drove here so casually, as if my life is just going to go on for forever and I'm in charge and I can do whatever I want." No. You're at war with God.
Yet for those who have trusted in Jesus, the war is over. It's permanently over. And not just that. There has been a fundamental change in your relationship. It's not just that God is fine with you now, like, "Okay. We'll just call it good." No, the relationship has changed. Now he has brought you into his family. He calls you his child. He even calls you his friend. Isn't that crazy?
It makes me think of the story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. Many of you know the story of Jim Elliot, but I think there's a whole younger generation growing up who has never heard the crazy testimony of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. Jim Elliot was a guy whose heart God gripped at such a young age, and in his 20s, he felt a calling to take the gospel to this remote tribe in Ecuador.
So, he and some friends make their way to Ecuador to this remote tribe. They're coming because they want to reach this tribe with the gospel. You should go and read the story sometime. This tribe that Jim Elliott was trying to reach with the gospel ends up killing him. They kill him before he ever has the chance to invite them to know Jesus in a meaningful way. When Jim was killed, he left his wife Elisabeth and their 10-month-old child in Ecuador.
You would hear that and think, "Okay. Well, surely, Elisabeth and their 10-month-old made their way back to the United States just to try and pick up the pieces of their life." Instead, Elisabeth and her child stayed in Ecuador and, through a miraculous sequence of events, Elisabeth ends up moving in with the tribe that killed her husband. Like, she moves in with them, lives with them. People who murdered her husband actually came to faith, and Elisabeth became close with the people who killed her husband. Her child grew up playing with the kids of the men who killed her husband and their child's father.
You hear that story, and you're like, "That's crazy!" The thing that makes it even crazier is that's our story. And news alert: We're not Elisabeth Elliot in the story. We're not Jim in the story. We're the tribe. It was our sin that nailed Christ to the cross. It was our sin. When you read in the Gospels that the crowds yelled, "Crucify him…" All of our sin is one declaration after another, "Crucify him. Crucify him."
It was our sin that nailed him to the cross. Yet, through faith, we who were enemies have become children and friends. This is amazing. God doesn't just forgive us and tolerate us. Like, do you have anyone in your life that you're like, "I forgive them, but I'd be fine if we never saw each other again"? God doesn't just forgive and tolerate. He moves in with us. He makes a way for us to be with him for all of eternity. This is what is yours in Christ.
If you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and you're sitting there thinking, "Could this be true of me…?" Yes…through faith. What's biblical faith? Well, if you're at war with God, faith is waving the white flag of surrender. That's what faith is. It is allowing yourself to be conquered by Christ. It's just saying, "Christ, I'm yours. You get control of my life. I give my life to you. I don't want to do life apart from you anymore."
The great news is that Christ's conquest of you doesn't result in a lifetime of harsh treatment as a prisoner of war; it results in life, peace, joy, and freedom. You know, one of the tensions I felt in preparing this point… I was like, "Christians are just going to hear this and be like, 'Yeah, yeah. Okay. That's good, but I don't have much to do with that because it has already happened. Like, I just have peace. Okay, good. What's the next point?'"
Do you understand that without this nothing else happens in your relationship with God? The only reason you're able to worship here this morning, the only reason you can pray to God and he responds to you, the only reason you can look to him for help and for hope is because you have peace. The war is over. You're in the family. You're a friend of God. He has moved in with you. He cares about you. He's with you to lead you, comfort you, and care for you. It's all because Christ has made a way for you to have peace with God. The second item on the Showcase Showdown is peace with God is yours.
3\. _Access to grace is yours_. So, he says we have peace with God. Verse 2: **"Through him we have also obtained access by faith…"** He's like, "If peace wasn't enough, let me tell you what you also have." The doors swing open on the Showcase Showdown. **"Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand…"**
Through Jesus we have access. This is important. When he says we have access _through him_, it means that without knowing Jesus, what we're talking about right now… If you don't know Jesus, you don't have access to this right now. This is access that you have been given through faith in Jesus Christ. And what is the access to? It's access to grace. What's that talking about? I love how commentator and scholar Douglas Moo explains it. He says through faith in Christ, we have been brought into a realm where grace reigns.
Like, physically, you go from your house to work to the gym to wherever you go. Physically, you're moving around. Spiritually, you are stuck in a realm where grace reigns. So, what does that really mean you have access to? Well, I want to give you six _P_s. I'm usually not an alliteration guy, but it just makes sense today. I'd encourage you to write these down. Don't lean on your memory here. It just isn't that good.
A. _You have access to God's presence_. That's a part of the realm where grace reigns. You have access to God himself. What that means is you're never alone. Some of you here today are very lonely. You just need to know in Christ you're never alone. A truth we consistently remind our kids (and I would encourage you, as parents, to share this with your kids) is "God is with you and can help you." Brothers and sisters at Watermark, God is with you. He can help you. You have access to his presence.
That needs to become increasingly more meaningful to us, because David says in Psalm 16:11, **"You make known to me the path of life…"** Does anyone need to know the path of life right now? Is anyone struggling to know what to do in life? Well, because you have access to God's presence… David says, **"You make known to me the path of life…"** Then he says, **"…in your presence there is fullness of joy."** Is anyone lacking joy right now? **"…at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."** That's the benefit of knowing Jesus Christ: access to God's presence.
B. _You have access to God's pleasure_. Think about what God the Father says over Jesus before his ministry begins. At his baptism, you hear the Father saying, "This is my beloved Son with whom I'm well pleased." The good news is when you know Jesus Christ, when you're found in Christ, the pleasure God has for God the Son he now has for you. So many of us miss the pleasure of God in us.
I think about the delight and the pleasure I feel in my boys. Like, this morning, my 8-year-old walked into the room after he woke up. His eyes were still adjusting to the light. The first words out of his mouth were, "Dad, do you think these are the top four players for the Aggies?" When he said that… You know, you just smile inside. You feel a joy inside. When I see my son Andrew laugh, it does something to me.
When my son Noah tells a story or says something funny, I feel so proud. Do you know what I'm talking about? You just look at your kid. They don't even have to do anything, but there are those moments where something in you just fires off, and you feel joy and pleasure and delight. Have you ever realized that God feels that for you? Have you ever acclimated to the fact that God smiles at you? Like, he desires you. He loves that you belong to him. He finds pleasure in you.
So many of us wake up feeling like God is already disappointed in us. I think God is like, "What? Who told you that? Who told you I was disappointed in you? That voice is not my voice. There is an accuser. There is one who condemns. There is one who lies to you constantly." His delight is in you. He smiles at you. He takes pleasure in you.
C. _You have access to God's pronouncements over you_. What has God pronounced over you? You are clean. You are his child. You are new. You are forgiven. You have constant access to God's pronouncements over you.
D. _You have access to God's plans_. You don't have to carry the weight of your world. Your world can rest on his shoulders. A friend was sharing this week about a big unknown at work. Instead of a sense of anxiety, there was this sense of excitement in him. In the midst of this huge unknown, there was excitement. Why? Because he had access to God's plans. There was just peace and rest, like, "I don't have to be in control because you already are."
E. _You have access to God's provision_. God knows what you need. Have you ever thought about God in this way, that he has limitless resources? Have you ever applied that word to him? He has limitless resources. When you think about it that way, it'll make you feel crazy when you try to do life on your own, when you have to figure everything out on your own, when you feel like Spider-Man trying to hold your world together. I think God is like, "You know I have everything, right? Like, limitless supply of everything."
F. _You have God's power_. The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you and is available to you, which means you never have to battle temptation on your own…_ever_. We do all the time. We battle temptation on our own all the time, but we don't have to. You have the same power that raised Christ from the dead available to you. This is what you have in Christ. This is what we have access to. It's all grace.
It says we have access to this grace in which we stand. That idea of standing is the idea of confidence. Think about it. All of the insecurities, worries, and anxieties that run rampant in our world lose their power in the realm where grace reigns. So, I just want to invite you to evaluate. Where in your life is God's grace not ruling?
Set an alarm on your phone to go off a couple times every day, and whenever it goes off, just ask yourself, "Where is God's grace not reigning in my life?" You might need to remind yourself, "Oh, wait. God is with me. God delights in me. God has everything I need. God has already spoken over me that I'm clean, I'm new, I'm forgiven. God gives me power. He has the provision. I can turn to him and rest." The third item on the Showcase Showdown is access to grace.
4\. _Hope is yours_. Verse 2: **"Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and…"** He just keeps going. Here's another one. The doors are spreading open. **"…and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God."** What's he talking about? He's saying we have joyful confidence and expectation that one day we will go to be with God and we will become like God.
What that means… We were made in God's image, yet right now, that image is blurred by sin, but a day is coming where sin will be no more and we will image God or reflect God how God always intended. We will become like him. When life in this world is done, there's a monumental trade-up coming. We have hope.
I remember when I was younger… And this is just part of growing up as a church kid. I don't know if you ever felt this. If you didn't grow up in the church, you're not going to relate to this. There were times growing up where I'd have the thought, "I hope Jesus doesn't come back before I…" Did you ever have that? Like, if there was a big trip you were excited about… "I hope Jesus doesn't come back before I get to go on the ski trip." "I hope Jesus doesn't come back before I get to drive a car for the first time." So dumb.
What was the problem? The problem was I didn't understand how good it was going to be. Somehow, that ski trip or driving would rival heaven, actually be better than it. Like, to get to heaven after the trip would be like, "All right. This is fine, but that trip was crazy." Paul is saying, "No, no, no. We have hope in the glory of God." A better reality is coming. We're going to become like him.
Watch this. Verse 3. This is Showcase Showdown. **"Not only that…"** Like, you're justified by faith. You have peace with God. You also have access. You have hope. Not only that… It gets even better. **"…but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."**
So, watch this. Even our sufferings have a positive benefit in Christ. In Christ, no pain is ever wasted. All pain has purpose. The Greek word for _sufferings_ here is the idea of being under pressure. It's being pressed on. When you're under pressure, it produces endurance. It strengthens your faith muscles. Suffering has a point. There's a benefit to it, because suffering produces endurance. You get tougher spiritually. When trials come in the future, you aren't shaken as badly because you feel anchored.
I remember, when I was in a tough season of life, I was talking to a mentor of mine, Brian Fisher. Brian said, "Hey, TA, you can't teach on endurance unless you endure." I was like, "That's so dumb; don't tell me that," but that's exactly what I needed to hear. His point was "You can't teach on endurance if you're not going to endure, because endurance is a part of the Christian life." But how does endurance grow in your life? When you're under pressure, you remain under the pressure faithfully.
Brian was exactly right, because during that time in my life, I allowed my circumstances to dictate my joy. That's a really dangerous place to be, when your joy is tied to your circumstances. What I learned… The endurance that was produced in my life was now I can identify better when my joy is attached to my circumstances. My joy is only safe when it is found in Christ. That's what it taught me. So now I don't have to be rattled as much.
Then endurance produces character. What does that mean? It means you don't just feel it inside; people see it. You don't just feel it. When you endure sufferings and there's endurance, you kind of surprise yourself. It's like, "Okay. I'm not as rattled as I thought I would be." You feel it. But when endurance gives birth to character, others see it. The godliest people are the people who have suffered deeply and still cling to the Lord.
I've shared these quotes with you before, but the reason I keep sharing them is because I've never forgotten them. A friend of mine who has been in a decade worth of storms… The waves just keep hitting him. Like, my prayer for him is "God, give him some relief. Just give him some time off where the waves aren't consistently crashing one after another." Yet, as I talk to him, he's like, "I've come too far to not finish well."
I've shared this before, but another friend of mine had major, significant weights he was carrying. I asked him how he was doing, and he said, "If getting more of Jesus is the goal, we're doing great." When you hear someone say that, it's worth repeating over and over and over. Why? Because you don't find that kind of character in this world.
People who are immature when suffering comes just see it as "I got dealt a bad hand," so they live the rest of their lives in bitterness and frustration toward God, but the people whose suffering has given birth to endurance, which has given birth to character…that character produces hope. Why is hope the result of character through suffering? It's because when you're in trials and character is coming through and God is using your suffering to help others…
Do you know what happens? Something in you feels affirmed. Like, "I'm becoming more like Jesus. Jesus suffered well. I am walking with Jesus, I'm experiencing sufferings like Jesus, and I'm modeling Jesus in the way I suffer." It produces hope that God is at work in you. This is the closest you're ever going to get to hell, and a day is coming where you're going to stand before God, and you're going to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." It gives hope.
Paul says God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Pay attention if you're suffering. Pay attention to the moments in your suffering where you feel like God is just holding you. Pay attention to those moments. He's going to surprise you. On your worst of days, there are going to be moments where you feel like God just reaches in, puts his hand on you, and wraps you in his arms. It's not that he stops the storm; it's just in the middle of the storm, he's going to reach in. It might be through a friend. It might be sitting alone…whatever it might be.
There are going to be moments where God just reaches in and says, "I see you. I'm with you. I'm here. I'm working." Latch on to those moments, because you're going to feel loved in those moments, even though the world is crashing down around you. That's the Holy Spirit in you just like, "I'm here. Yeah, you belong to God. You can be affirmed. You're a real Christian. The Spirit is at work. You have hope." The fourth item on the showcase showdown is hope is yours.
5\. _Love is yours_. All of this is ours through faith because the price was right in Christ. Look at verses 6-8. **"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."**
The point is people don't die for others often. It does happen sometimes, but no one is rushing to death row to die for a criminal. Christ, who was and is God, died for those who didn't love God. Did you hear that? Christ, who was and is God, died for those who didn't love God. I think a lot of people in this room, whether you would call it this or not, battle self-hate. I think, if a lot of people were honest, a lot of their unhealthy habits and behaviors…
Just see if this is you. A lot of our unhealthy habits and behaviors flow out of wondering if we are truly lovable. So, I just want you to hear this morning: in love, Christ died for you. You need to sit with that reality until it means something to you. Christ, in love, gave his life to have you. He wanted you. He didn't need you, but he gave his life to have you.
I'll finish by saying this. Do you know what the reality is on _The Price is Right_? That Showcase Showdown is competition. One person leaves with everything; one person leaves with nothing. Every person in here today can leave with everything, but it comes through understanding that God himself entered into our humanity and endured our penalty so we could enjoy his victory.
If you don't know Jesus Christ, everything can be yours. Today, your war with God can be over. Today, you can begin to enjoy God's presence, pleasure, pronouncements, plans, power, and provisions, but it's only through Christ. Would you wave the white flag of surrender this morning through prayer?
If you do know Jesus, I'm especially talking to y'all right now. If you've tuned out, just come back for 30 more seconds. If you know Jesus Christ, all of this _is_ yours. Too many of us have a living room set of peace that we fail to sit in, we have a boat of God's grace that we fail to ride in, and we have a new car of hope just sitting in the driveway, waiting to be enjoyed.
So, let me just encourage you. This week of Thanksgiving, let's be the most thankful, joyful people on the planet. Sit with Romans 5. Just pray through it, thanking God through it. Take the six _P_s of grace. Ask God where his grace isn't reigning in your life. If you're suffering right now, pray through that progression and ask God to allow your sufferings to give birth to endurance that leads to character, that leads to hope. If you're one of those people suffering, I invite you to our Night of Prayer and Lament on December 4 in the Chapel. But this is what is yours in Christ. Let's pray together.
Lord, only you know what every person in this room needs. Everyone needs something different, yet everything everyone needs is found in the person of Jesus Christ. I pray, God, that you would have your way in our lives today. If anyone in here doesn't know you, I pray even right now, as I'm praying, that they would pray and just say, "Lord Jesus, you can rule and reign in my life today."
Lord, I pray for the people in this room who have known you for a long time. I pray that our lives would be marked by your grace this week. For those who are suffering in the room, would you be their hope? Would you be their strength? Thank you that you don't waste pain, you don't waste tears. Lord, I pray that you would make them very productive right now, that you would use their pain for your glory, and that you would bring about character that leads to hope. We just thank you for Christ today, and we love you. In Jesus' name, amen.