NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - Jesus Christ Is Praying
Aired: 2023-12-04
Duration: 01:09:37


=== Praise of God's Glorious Justice (05:05) ===

[00:00:00]  All right, please stand for the reading of God's Word.
[00:00:02]  Our text for today is going to be Romans 5, verses 9 11.
[00:00:06]  I'll go ahead and read our text in its entirety.
[00:00:09]  When I finish reading it, I'm going to say, This is the Word of the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying, Thanks be to God.
[00:00:16]  Again, our text for today is Romans 5, verses 9 11.
[00:00:21]  The Bible says this Since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.
[00:00:31]  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.
[00:00:40]  More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
[00:00:50]  This is the word of the Lord.
[00:00:52]  All right, please be seated.
[00:00:54]  By way of introduction, I have the following Christ dying was not due to any goodness found in man, but only due to the mercy that is found in God.
[00:01:04]  Christ's death was not merely for those who were useless, but for those who were guilty and vile, such that their everlasting destruction would have been to the praise of God's glorious justice.
[00:01:17]  It is not only that God, at the cost of the blood, the death of his only Son, chose to redeem and restore and reconcile those who were useless.
[00:01:27]  It is not only that we were without value, but we were worse than useless.
[00:01:32]  Trash would have been an upgrade, it would have been an improvement, a step in the right direction.
[00:01:38]  Trash doesn't have much value.
[00:01:40]  I guess it depends on whose trash we're talking about.
[00:01:43]  One man's trash is another man's treasure.
[00:01:46]  But in general, trash doesn't have much value.
[00:01:49]  It's useless, but it's at least not a detriment.
[00:01:54]  It's not necessarily attacking you, opposing you, an enemy.
[00:01:58]  We were enemies of God.
[00:02:00]  So not only those without utility or value, but we were opposing God, rebelling against God at every turn.
[00:02:09]  The one time in all of history that God ever made himself vulnerable, namely Jesus taking on flesh, the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us, the only time that God allowed himself to be vulnerable to humanity, we seized that moment of opportunity and nailed him to a tree.
[00:02:31]  So humanity is not just without value apart from Christ or useless, but vile, actually at enmity toward God, apart from the saving grace that comes through Jesus Christ.
[00:02:43]  We are enemies of God.
[00:02:45]  And therefore, if God were to leave us in our sin, if every single last person on the planet died and went to hell and suffered under the conscious torments of the wrath of God for eternity, God would not only be just and fair in doing so, but this would also be not only permissible, but glorious.
[00:03:05]  It would be to the praise of God's glorious justice.
[00:03:09]  If you're familiar with the first chapter of the book of Ephesians, three different times you find this.
[00:03:14]  Phrase to the praise of his glorious grace.
[00:03:18]  Speaking of all the things that God does, those positive things, those loving things towards his elect, towards his people, that he does all these things for the good of his people, but also for his glory, to the praise of his glorious grace.
[00:03:36]  To make it a little bit more specific, what element, what characteristic of God is being most emphasized, most glorified in the instance of God being good to his people?
[00:03:48]  His grace.
[00:03:49]  To the praise of his glorious grace.
[00:03:53]  And likewise, although it's not explicitly in the Ephesians chapter 1 text, by way of necessary consequence, we can say that the opposite, the contrary, is also true.
[00:04:04]  If God's goodness towards his elect people is to the praise of his glorious grace, then God's justice, his just judgments and punishments towards his enemies, is to the praise of his glorious justice.
[00:04:20]  That hell speaks volumes in regards to the character and nature of God.
[00:04:26]  That hell does not speak of God's cruelty.
[00:04:29]  Hell is not something that God is ashamed of.
[00:04:32]  It's not a character flaw.
[00:04:33]  It's not something that God's saying, hey, don't look over there because, you know, it kind of makes me look bad.
[00:04:39]  God is not ashamed of hell.
[00:04:40]  This is his justice eternally put on display.
[00:04:45]  And for those who are with him in right relationship with him, this is his grace, his kindness and mercy eternally put on display.
[00:04:54]  Goodness to his elect.
[00:04:56]  To the praise of his glorious grace, and justice to his enemies, to the praise of his glorious justice.
[00:05:03]  Going on, I've written this.

=== Saved From Wrath and Judgment (10:56) ===

[00:05:05]  Therefore, the design of Christ's death is intended by God to demonstrate a divine act of kindness that is matchless and incomparable.
[00:05:14]  God has demonstrated the magnificent extent of his love for us, which was previously only known to himself, in such a manner that there is no room nor reason to doubt it.
[00:05:26]  The divine act of love did not arise from any loveliness in us, nor from any love in us to God, but exclusively from God's own sovereign will and good pleasure.
[00:05:39]  In other words, God did not die for us because we had utility.
[00:05:43]  He did not die for us because we were lovely or beautiful or valuable in any way.
[00:05:50]  God died for us to make us lovely.
[00:05:53]  He didn't die for us because we were lovely, He died to make us lovely.
[00:05:57]  However, You must add this part.
[00:06:00]  He died for us to make us lovely because before we were lovely, we were still loved.
[00:06:07]  God did not die for us because we were lovely or valuable.
[00:06:11]  In his death, we are made lovely and valuable.
[00:06:15]  And yet, while we were not lovely or not valuable, God still loved us.
[00:06:21]  John 3 16.
[00:06:24]  Ample scripture, but this one we probably all know good and well.
[00:06:28]  John 3 16.
[00:06:29]  For God so loved us.
[00:06:31]  The world that salvation begins with the love of God, John, 1 John chapter 4, verse 19.
[00:06:38]  We love because he first loved us.
[00:06:42]  Elsewhere in the New Testament, we see that very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, good in this context is being used to describe perfection, though for a good man one might dare to possibly die.
[00:06:57]  But God demonstrated his love for us in this while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
[00:07:02]  So, in the midst of our unloveliness.
[00:07:06]  Before we had utility, before there was value, before there was beauty, no truth, no goodness, no beauty at all.
[00:07:15]  And yet, before that occurred, while we were his enemies, not just without value, but again, opposing, rebelling against him at every single turn, in that state, in our worst state, in a state of enmity, Christ died for us because he loved us.
[00:07:34]  God sent the Son, it was the Father's idea, as it were.
[00:07:39]  The Father loved us and sent the Son.
[00:07:41]  The Son loves us and willingly volunteers and goes.
[00:07:45]  And all of the Father's ordained plan of salvation, the Son, his accomplishment of that plan of salvation, is then applied by the Spirit, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, loving us before we were ever lovely.
[00:08:03]  So God doesn't die for us because we're lovely, He dies for us to make us lovely, but He's willing to die to make us lovely because even when we were unlovely, we were still loved.
[00:08:17]  Loved by God.
[00:08:19]  So the gospel begins with God and ends with God.
[00:08:23]  It is His mercy, it is His kindness, it is His grace.
[00:08:29]  Now, there are a few points by the grace of God I hope to bring out of the text today.
[00:08:33]  Three to be more specific.
[00:08:35]  The first is this justified.
[00:08:38]  We are justified by Christ's blood and saved from God's wrath.
[00:08:44]  Justification and salvation, very similar yet distinct in theological terms.
[00:08:50]  So, looking at justification by the death.
[00:08:53]  If we speak of Christ's blood, we're speaking of his death, justified by the death of Christ and saved also from God's wrath.
[00:09:02]  The second point will be this reconciled by Christ's death and saved by his life.
[00:09:09]  What is it about Christ's life that is saving?
[00:09:13]  We often speak of how we're saved by Jesus' death on the cross, and this is true.
[00:09:19]  But there is a very real sense throughout the scripture, especially in our text today, in which we are saved.
[00:09:24]  Not only by the death of Jesus, but we are continually saved in a present ongoing tense.
[00:09:30]  We are being saved by not only the death of Jesus, but the life of Jesus.
[00:09:36]  And then lastly, what does it mean to rejoice in God Himself?
[00:09:41]  Not only rejoicing in our salvation, which God brings about, not only rejoicing in the blessings of God, which He generously provides, but rejoicing in God Himself.
[00:09:54]  So, beginning with justification and salvation, justified by Christ's blood and saved from God's wrath.
[00:10:01]  This is verse 9 of our text, which says, Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
[00:10:12]  The apostle here argues from justification by Christ to salvation by Christ.
[00:10:18]  Whoever is justified by the blood, that is, the work of Jesus on the cross, shall be saved by the person of Jesus.
[00:10:27]  If you are justified by the work of Jesus, his work at Calvary, his substitutionary death, dying in your place, your sins imputed to him, that means your wickedness, your sin against God, transferred, accredited to his account, and then him receiving the wages of our sin, which is death.
[00:10:47]  If his work has covered you and justified you, whoever's justified by the blood of Jesus, the work of Jesus, shall also be saved by the person of Jesus.
[00:10:59]  Notice that this particular verse does not speak of Christ saving us from wrath in regards to the wrath of our own sinful hearts or the wrath as it appears among the people of God towards one another, which is a sad reality.
[00:11:15]  But there is often wrath amongst believers, even towards fellow believers in the context of the church.
[00:11:22]  There's a very real sense in which God saves us by that because we're reconciled to God, we should be reconciled to one another.
[00:11:29]  But that's not the predominant wrath that's in view.
[00:11:33]  In verse 9 of our text today, it is not the wrath of our own sinful hearts or wrath that appears horizontally from believer towards believer.
[00:11:43]  Neither does this verse speak of Christ saving us from the wrath of our avowed enemies, that is, unbelievers, or even the wrath of devils, the wrath of our great enemy, Satan, a spiritual war, which constantly surrounds us as the roaring of a lion.
[00:12:01]  But rather, this verse speaks of the glorious salvation of Christ from the white hot wrath of a thrice holy God.
[00:12:09]  Christ promises even to save us from the fear of God's wrath as it exists in our own hearts.
[00:12:16]  And our consciences in this life.
[00:12:20]  One of the questions that Christians have to be able to answer, and I'm sure that many of you have asked this question, at least subconsciously.
[00:12:28]  When it comes to salvation, the gospel, you need to get saved.
[00:12:34]  You need to get saved.
[00:12:35]  You need to be born again.
[00:12:36]  One of the questions that we have to ask, a very simple question, is this What do we need to be saved from?
[00:12:44]  What do we need to be saved from?
[00:12:46]  And the reality is that.
[00:12:48]  Our salvation is a multifaceted salvation.
[00:12:51]  God saves us from much.
[00:12:54]  But we do need to be able to answer that question in a primary sense.
[00:12:59]  What is the predominant thing that mankind needs salvation from?
[00:13:06]  Is it salvation from a purposeless life, from meaninglessness?
[00:13:11]  Is it salvation from boredom?
[00:13:13]  Is it salvation from dissatisfaction?
[00:13:17]  Is it salvation from our fellow man and those who would be against us?
[00:13:22]  Is it salvation from even ourselves, our own sin nature?
[00:13:28]  Is it salvation from corruption?
[00:13:31]  Is it salvation from Satan?
[00:13:35]  What is it that we need to be saved from?
[00:13:38]  And again, there is a sense in which God saves us from all the things that I've just mentioned.
[00:13:44]  But in the primary sense, what mankind most needs salvation from is not Satan, it's not ourselves.
[00:13:54]  It's not our fellow man.
[00:13:55]  It's not a corrupt world that's subject to decay.
[00:13:58]  We need salvation first and foremost from God.
[00:14:03]  We need to be saved from God.
[00:14:07]  Because our greatest threat, apart from saving grace that comes through Christ Jesus alone, for the unbeliever, the unregenerate person left in his sin, his greatest enemy, his greatest threat is not the devil.
[00:14:23]  His greatest enemy and greatest threat is not himself.
[00:14:26]  And his greatest enemy and his greatest threat is not the world, even if every single human being on the planet conspired against him.
[00:14:35]  His greatest enemy is God.
[00:14:40]  That before salvation, we were enemies of God.
[00:14:45]  God was our greatest threat.
[00:14:49]  God was at war with us, and justly so.
[00:14:54]  We were children of his wrath.
[00:14:57]  As Ephesians says, we were dead men walking underneath the just condemnation of a just and holy God.
[00:15:07]  The greatest thing, if we are to say, what are we saved from?
[00:15:11]  The greatest thing to be saved from is the wrath of God.
[00:15:14]  Or if we were to ask the question, who do we need to be saved from?
[00:15:17]  The person that we need to be saved from, most of all, is God Himself.
[00:15:25]  And in justification, in salvation, in the Christian gospel, The first reconciliation that we receive is a reconciliation not with ourselves, not with our fellow man, but with God.
[00:15:38]  That we have been reconciled with God, that He is no longer the judge condemning us, but He has become our adoptive Father.
[00:15:48]  That through Christ and His finished work, we have been adopted as children of God, no longer children of His wrath, but children, beloved children, adopted children of God as our Heavenly Father.

=== Confidence in Right Standing (06:54) ===

[00:16:01]  That we have right standing with Him, that we're no longer at enmity with Him, but rather received and loved and blessed by Him.
[00:16:11]  So that's the first question, or one of the first questions that must be asked and answered.
[00:16:16]  What is it that God saves us from?
[00:16:19]  He saves us from Himself, He saves us from His wrath.
[00:16:25]  But beyond merely saving us from His own just punishment, His own just wrath, God also saves us not only in the objective sense from His wrath, but in the subjective sense, He saves us from the ongoing perpetual fear of His wrath.
[00:16:45]  That we no longer are under the wrath of God.
[00:16:47]  If you are in Christ, if you've been saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, God is your adoptive beloved Father.
[00:16:56]  You are his beloved Son.
[00:16:59]  There is no enmity between you and God anymore.
[00:17:02]  You've been reconciled with God.
[00:17:04]  So the wrath of God no longer hangs over you.
[00:17:08]  But also, there is freedom, not only in the life to come, the life after, but there is freedom in this life as well from not only the objective wrath of God.
[00:17:19]  But the subjective fear of the wrath of God.
[00:17:23]  1 John speaks of this in chapter 4, verses 17, 18, and 19, which says this By this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment.
[00:17:39]  Not only that we may be spared objectively, declared righteous rather than guilty on the day of judgment, but today.
[00:17:50]  As it pertains to the present, now in this life, looking forward to the day of judgment, that we can have confidence now.
[00:17:58]  By this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for looking toward the day of judgment.
[00:18:05]  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
[00:18:11]  For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
[00:18:17]  We love because he first loved us.
[00:18:21]  That's 1 John 4, verse 17 through 19.
[00:18:25]  It's important that the Christian understands there is a vital distinction when we speak of fear.
[00:18:32]  There is a vital distinction between the fear of God Himself and the fear of God's judgment.
[00:18:40]  The Christian is not to possess fear of judgment, but we are to continue to possess a righteous and holy fear of God.
[00:18:51]  It is right for the Christian to go on fearing the Lord, to fear God.
[00:18:55]  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
[00:18:58]  But in fearing God, as we seek to answer that question well, what is this healthy, proper, righteous fear of God?
[00:19:06]  Well, one thing that we can mark off the list is that a proper fear of God for the Christian is not a fear of God's judgment.
[00:19:15]  We know this because the scripture forbids it, it's explicitly removed.
[00:19:21]  1 John 4, 17 through 19.
[00:19:24]  By this is love perfected with us that we may have confidence.
[00:19:29]  That the standing, the position, the heart default for the Christian should be a position not of presumption, not of arrogance, not of vain conceit, but a Christ rooted confidence looking forward to the day of judgment.
[00:19:46]  So, as it pertains to God's judgment, our standing is confidence.
[00:19:51]  That we don't shrink back.
[00:19:53]  1 John goes on and says that elsewhere that we're not shrinking back at the day of his coming, but we're standing firm.
[00:20:00]  And we're standing firm, not in our own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ, which we've been clothed in by grace through faith.
[00:20:08]  So, the position, the heart position, posture of the Christian as it pertains to the judgment of God should not be fear, but rather confidence.
[00:20:18]  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment.
[00:20:26]  And for the Christian, there is no punishment.
[00:20:30]  The Christian in this life.
[00:20:32]  May be, and in fact will be, it's simply a matter of how and when rather than if the Christian will in this life be disciplined by God as his heavenly father, per Hebrews chapter 12.
[00:20:47]  That's actually a sign, an evidence, and a proof that the Christian is in fact a Christian and that you have in fact been adopted as God's son, that God is in fact your father, because all loving and good fathers discipline their children.
[00:21:06]  One sign of not being a child of God or an illegitimate child of God is that you are not disciplined by God.
[00:21:15]  Fathers discipline not other people's children, but their own.
[00:21:19]  So the Christian will receive God's discipline, but discipline is distinct from punishment.
[00:21:25]  For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
[00:21:32]  But we love, our response to God is love for Him because He first loved us.
[00:21:38]  So, if you're in Christ, you're not an enemy of God, but rather his child.
[00:21:42]  And therefore, as his legitimate child, you will in this life receive discipline, but you will not receive punishment.
[00:21:50]  And as we look forward to the life to come, to that day of judgment, our heart posture should be a posture of confidence rather than fear.
[00:22:00]  We fear God, we have reverence for God, but we do not fear God's judgment, not because of our own arrogance and presumption, trusting in our own work and our own righteousness.
[00:22:13]  But our confidence, the source of that confidence, is Christ Himself.
[00:22:17]  That what Christ has done, what Christ continues to do, and what Christ has promised is sufficient.
[00:22:25]  So we are justified by Christ's blood, and in being justified, that is declared righteous, because of the finished work of Christ, His death on the cross, we're justified by His blood, but also, necessarily, as a necessary consequence, saved from God's wrath.
[00:22:43]  And in the subjective sense, further applying that salvation from God's wrath objectively means being saved from ongoing present tense fear of God's wrath in this life.

=== Justification: A Past Reality (03:08) ===

[00:22:56]  The Christian does not live under fear of God's judgment, but perfect love casts out all fear.
[00:23:05]  The next thing that we see in the text is this that we've been reconciled by Christ's death and saved by his life.
[00:23:13]  This is verse 10 of our text, which says, Using similar language as in verse 9, the apostle now argues from reconciliation by the death of Christ to salvation by the life of Christ.
[00:23:37]  Now, this is key.
[00:23:38]  We have been reconciled to God by Christ's death, and we are continually saved by his life.
[00:23:45]  Not just salvation in the past tense, which we often speak of, I've been saved, but there is a very real biblical sense in which the Christian has been saved.
[00:23:56]  It's past, it's done, it's finished and complete.
[00:24:00]  But the Christian is also being saved, present, ongoing.
[00:24:04]  And the Christian is promised by God that he will be saved.
[00:24:08]  I think of Romans 7 to illustrate that point.
[00:24:12]  The Apostle Paul speaking, I believe, the Apostle Paul speaking as someone who is already saved, a Christian.
[00:24:19]  This is not pre conversion, but this is the Apostle Paul, already converted, already born again, already adopted as a beloved Son of God.
[00:24:28]  And yet he says, I find this law at work within the members of my being.
[00:24:32]  When I want to do good, evil is right there present with me.
[00:24:36]  So that the good that I want to do, I cannot carry it out.
[00:24:39]  Oh, what a wretched man I am.
[00:24:41]  Who will, so future tense, looking forward, who will save me?
[00:24:46]  And so some would read that and say, oh, he's not saved.
[00:24:49]  But Paul gets more specific and says, Who will save me from this body of death?
[00:24:56]  Praise be to God.
[00:24:58]  And then he ends in exaltation of God and his covenants and his promises and his character.
[00:25:05]  What Paul's essentially saying is this this may be a little bit oversimplified, but I believe it's generally true.
[00:25:13]  In the past tense, if you're a Christian, you have already been saved, speaking of your justification, declared righteous, your soul.
[00:25:23]  Your soul, if we're thinking of the soul, the soul has been saved.
[00:25:27]  In the past tense, it's already done.
[00:25:29]  You've been justified, declared righteous in the heavenly court because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.
[00:25:36]  In the present sense, you are still being saved.
[00:25:39]  This references sanctification, this lifelong process from the point of conversion to the point of our physical death, the ongoing lifelong process for the Christian, sanctification.
[00:25:51]  And this, I think, if we were to sum it up in a realm, in a location, justification, soul, Past.
[00:25:58]  Sanctification, mind, present.
[00:26:02]  I think of Romans.

=== Sanctification as a Lifelong Process (09:24) ===

[00:26:04]  It says, Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
[00:26:12]  That so much of sanctification is a change in thought, it's a change of mind, it's a change in the way that we think.
[00:26:23]  Repentance, many of you are probably aware, the word repentance speaks of.
[00:26:28]  Change, but it's not merely a change in regards to the surface to our outward behaviors.
[00:26:35]  But that change is ultimately sourced from a change in the way that we think.
[00:26:41]  That we're not just doing different things and saying different things, a change outwardly in our behaviors and speech, uh, merely by gritting our teeth and clenching our fists.
[00:26:54]  It's not just that, well, I want to do the right thing, I still think this way, I still have these desires and these ambitions, and I still have.
[00:27:03]  This worldview and this way of thinking, but I've been told from the Bible that that's wrong, and so I'm just going to grip my teeth and clench my fist, and I'm going outwardly in my behaviors and speech.
[00:27:14]  I'm going to do this thing over here that contradicts inwardly what I actually desire and the way that I actually think.
[00:27:21]  Well, that's not a robust repentance.
[00:27:25]  Repentance is a complete overhaul, it's a complete change, both inward and outward.
[00:27:32]  Now, that said, I don't want to completely disparage.
[00:27:36]  Changing your behaviors and speech, even if your heart is not quite there yet.
[00:27:42]  I think that that's one of the problems that Protestants have created we're too introspective and too subjective.
[00:27:51]  And so we'll say, well, I don't want to do it unless my heart's in it, right?
[00:27:57]  Everything for evangelicals and Protestants is about authenticity and being genuine, you know?
[00:28:03]  And so then what we end up doing is nothing.
[00:28:06]  I don't really feel it, so I'm not going to do it.
[00:28:07]  I think God would prefer.
[00:28:10]  You know, I think God would prefer that I not be a hypocrite.
[00:28:14]  I, you know, I sure He would prefer if I actually loved Him from the heart and if I actually thought that the scriptures were true and it actually reframed, rehardwired my worldview and my thinking process, which shaped my desires and all these things that then flowed out to righteous behaviors and righteous speech.
[00:28:32]  That would be God's first preference.
[00:28:33]  That would be, you know, His first choice.
[00:28:36]  But given the choice, because that's off the table, that's not going to happen.
[00:28:39]  So given the choice between Between me doing and saying the right thing but not really feeling it, because God really cares about the feels.
[00:28:47]  You know, that's, you know, God's, He's a feeler, that God.
[00:28:51]  You know, and so given the choice of doing the right thing, saying the right thing, but not feeling it, and it not being authentic, or not doing the right thing, not saying the right thing, but being aligned and true to inwardly my heart, which doesn't feel the right thing, and my desires aren't, I don't desire the right thing, and I don't think the right thing, so at least my life is matching up with my heart.
[00:29:12]  That would be God's preference.
[00:29:13]  He would prefer that.
[00:29:15]  To hypocrisy.
[00:29:17]  Now, I'm not saying that God's a fan of hypocrisy because He's certainly not, but Jesus explicitly addressed that in one of His parables.
[00:29:24]  He talks about two sons of a father, and the father goes to both of His boys and He asks them to come and work with Him.
[00:29:33]  And the first son says yes, but He doesn't show.
[00:29:37]  And then the second son says no, but then He has a change of heart somewhere along the way and He ends up showing up.
[00:29:46]  And Jesus posits the question, you know, which one did right, which did better, is the precise wording.
[00:29:52]  And it's the latter, it's the second son who told his father no, but ended up showing up.
[00:29:59]  And we don't know if his heart actually was ever in it.
[00:30:02]  It could have been just completely out of dread.
[00:30:04]  He could have just begrudgingly, simply from just a sheer standpoint of commitment.
[00:30:11]  The no actually could have been his, in word, that could have been the more accurate reflection of.
[00:30:17]  Of the heart inwardly, how he actually felt no, I don't want to come.
[00:30:22]  And his actions of actually showing up and doing the work could have just been the outward manifestation.
[00:30:27]  So, in his behaviors, outwardly, I'm gonna do what the father wants.
[00:30:32]  But in his speech, reflecting the heart, which Jesus elsewhere says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
[00:30:38]  So, I feel like there's some decent exegesis there.
[00:30:40]  So, in his speech, he's revealing the actual inward, the heart, I don't want to work for dad.
[00:30:47]  But outwardly, showing up, I don't want to work for dad.
[00:30:50]  I still don't want to work for dad, but I will work for dad.
[00:30:54]  And what Jesus says, the moral of this parable, is that that is a vast improvement.
[00:31:00]  That is better than saying, I will work for dad, but then not doing it.
[00:31:06]  And here's practically the deal inward desires and thought processes and emotions and feelings, these things do shape the outward, both your speech and actions.
[00:31:20]  So if you inwardly love God, that is going to radically dictate and shape and compel.
[00:31:27]  Behavior and speech that is loving towards God.
[00:31:30]  But what Protestants often overlook is that the reverse is also true.
[00:31:35]  So, what do you do when you don't have a desire for God?
[00:31:38]  What do you do when you don't desire to obey His commandments?
[00:31:40]  You don't desire to seek your satisfaction in Him?
[00:31:45]  What do you do when you don't inwardly possess love for God and deep adoration and affection for Him?
[00:31:54]  Well, one of the things that you do is you ask God to change your desires, you ask for Him to change your emotions, your thoughts.
[00:32:00]  And in the meantime, with emotions, the thoughts, and the desires being completely absent, you go ahead outwardly in your speech and behaviors, and you do those things which would be loving towards God, whether you feel it or not.
[00:32:16]  It's the same as a marriage, right?
[00:32:18]  Well, the love is gone.
[00:32:19]  It's just gone.
[00:32:20]  Somewhere along the way, over the years, you know, we've just grown cold.
[00:32:25]  And, you know, we don't know what to do about it.
[00:32:27]  In fact, there's nothing we can do about it, you know, because we can't control our heart.
[00:32:30]  We're victims of our own emotions, you know, and this is just where we are.
[00:32:35]  Well, you can make a plan, a very practical plan of start doing these things on a daily basis, weekly basis, monthly basis with your spouse.
[00:32:46]  Well, but I don't feel it and I don't want to be a hypocrite.
[00:32:48]  Well, here's the counter argument who cares?
[00:32:53]  Right?
[00:32:54]  I mean, I've got a deep philosophical counter to I don't feel it.
[00:32:57]  I don't care.
[00:32:59]  You don't feel it.
[00:33:00]  Why does it matter how you feel?
[00:33:02]  Why is that so important?
[00:33:04]  So just start loving your wife.
[00:33:07]  Well, but it's not there in my heart.
[00:33:08]  Okay, well, then start doing the outward actions and speech of love toward your wife.
[00:33:14]  And here's the beautiful thing that the outward patterns actually work the other way around and will cultivate affection and desire.
[00:33:24]  It will.
[00:33:25]  Your outward behaviors and speech will shape your thoughts and feelings in a similar way that your thoughts and feelings can shape your outward behaviors and speech.
[00:33:35]  It's not a one way stream, but it's a two way street.
[00:33:39]  Both the outward affects the inward, and the inward does also affect the outward, so that we're not lost without hope and nothing that we can do, completely helpless and powerless.
[00:33:50]  We have a roadmap that we seek to obey God's commandments, even when our hearts aren't necessarily in it.
[00:33:59]  We seek Him and we meditate on His law day and night, even when we'd rather be doing something else.
[00:34:07]  The trick to delighting in the law of God is meditating on the law of God.
[00:34:13]  Before you delight in it, that's the secret.
[00:34:18]  The secret is doing something over and over and over.
[00:34:22]  It's called acquired taste.
[00:34:26]  We know that this is a reality.
[00:34:29]  Nobody is just born coming out of the womb enjoying kale.
[00:34:36]  Nobody.
[00:34:37]  Now, I personally don't think that anyone, even with training, enjoys kale.
[00:34:42]  But I've been told that some people do.
[00:34:45]  But that is not a natural thing.
[00:34:48]  Affection.
[00:34:50]  That is a well harnessed, disciplined affection that you shape over time by consistency, by patterns, by actions.
[00:35:02]  I'm doing something outwardly that does not align with my emotions and desires and thoughts inwardly, but over time, the inward will be cultivated by the consistent outward.
[00:35:19]  That's something that we need to be aware of.
[00:35:23]  So, all that being said, I can't even remember where I was.

=== Salvation Through Christ's Obedient Life (06:41) ===

[00:35:29]  But the point is this when it comes to, well, let's go back to the fear of God versus fear of judgment.
[00:35:37]  When it comes to these things, it's outwardly setting the patterns day in, day out, through obedience, through scripture reading, through accountability, through fellowship with the saints.
[00:35:48]  All these things eventually, slowly, over time, they shape the heart, they shape our emotions, they shape our thought processes.
[00:35:56]  And we begin to truly desire.
[00:35:59]  We begin to truly love the Lord.
[00:36:02]  Hypocrisy is not something that God ever affirms.
[00:36:06]  It's not something that he esteems.
[00:36:09]  But better to outwardly do that which inwardly you're not for than to say, I don't love God inwardly and I'm not going to do anything outwardly either.
[00:36:18]  That is not an improved method.
[00:36:21]  That's not the better option.
[00:36:24]  Okay, so reconciled by Christ's death and saved by his life.
[00:36:28]  Again, verse 10 if we were enemies, if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now are we reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
[00:36:41]  So it's a similar language to verse 9.
[00:36:43]  The apostle is now arguing from reconciliation by the death of Christ to salvation by the life of Christ.
[00:36:50]  We have been reconciled to God by Christ's death, and we are continually saved by his life.
[00:36:56]  That's where I was.
[00:36:57]  Okay, so past, present, future.
[00:37:00]  All under the banner of salvation.
[00:37:02]  If you think of salvation like this, think of salvation as the overarching category.
[00:37:07]  Underneath that, you have three subcategories.
[00:37:09]  So there's salvation, and then you have justification, sanctification, glorification.
[00:37:14]  So salvation, that's the big umbrella.
[00:37:17]  Then justification, sanctification, glorification.
[00:37:20]  Justification, the past salvation of the soul.
[00:37:25]  Sanctification, the present ongoing salvation of the mind, renewing the mind.
[00:37:31]  And then glorification, The future promised salvation of the body.
[00:37:37]  Soul, mind, body, past, present, future, justification, sanctification, glorification, all under the realm of salvation.
[00:37:49]  So, salvation as it regards the soul, it's justification, being declared righteous in the past.
[00:37:57]  Salvation as it pertains to the mind, it's sanctification, the renewing of the mind in the present.
[00:38:04]  Salvation, as it pertains to the body, this flesh, it's looking forward to a future resurrection of the body.
[00:38:13]  That this body of death, as the Apostle Paul says in Romans 7, we will be saved from this body of death one day.
[00:38:21]  It's the glorification in the future tense of the body.
[00:38:25]  Salvation can be spoken of biblically in all three of those terms.
[00:38:31]  So here, the Apostle does not merely speak of Christ's sinless life on earth, but of his interceding life.
[00:38:38]  In heaven, where he now ever lives to make intercession for his people to ensure that all the promises of God which Christ has obtained by his death are thoroughly applied to his people.
[00:38:52]  So, once more, verse 10, just to make sure that we get this.
[00:38:55]  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.
[00:39:06]  What I'm saying is this the most natural reading of verse 10 of our text is.
[00:39:12]  That we will be saved by his life is to think back of Jesus' earthly life 2,000 years ago, his sinless life, his life in which not only did he avoid all sin and maintain a state of innocence, but in which he, in his active obedience, he fulfilled all righteousness.
[00:39:31]  So we're thinking of his fully obedient life, his fully righteous life.
[00:39:35]  And that's true.
[00:39:36]  We are saved by the death of Jesus, dying in our place, our wages of sin being laid upon him.
[00:39:44]  Our sin goes to him, and then the wages of our sin go to him.
[00:39:47]  The just punishment for our sin.
[00:39:49]  He takes our death, he takes our sin, and the death which our sin rightly deserved.
[00:39:54]  All that happens at the cross and the death of Jesus.
[00:39:57]  But we're also saved in the life of Jesus because it's not just that our sin is removed, but our sin is actually replaced with a presence of Christ's obedience and righteousness.
[00:40:08]  So it's not just that we move from being sinners to being innocent or neutral, a blank slate, but our sin is transferred out of our account to his.
[00:40:17]  And he takes the just punishment for our sin, namely death.
[00:40:22]  And we're not just sitting here now out of a negative balance.
[00:40:26]  It's not just that we're no longer in the red, but now we have zero in the account.
[00:40:30]  We're not in the negatives, but we're also not in the.
[00:40:32]  No.
[00:40:32]  Then his righteousness, his perfect obedience, which comes by his life, his act of obedience in his life towards God's law, all of that is accredited to our account.
[00:40:42]  And we receive the just reward for his righteousness, everlasting life, adoption.
[00:40:49]  All these things, all these promises.
[00:40:52]  So there is a sense in which we are saved by Jesus' past life.
[00:40:56]  But I think what the author is getting at in this text today, Romans 5, verse 10, is not just speaking of the past life of Jesus 2,000 years ago, namely his perfect, righteous earthly life, but the life that he now lives.
[00:41:12]  Not just speaking of his past life here on earth leading up to the cross, but the life that he now lives after his resurrection and glorious ascension to the right hand of the Father.
[00:41:23]  That we are actually being saved not only by his life that ended in death, but his new life after his resurrection and glorification and ascension to the right hand of the Father, that Christ is ever living.
[00:41:37]  That we are saved by his continual life, his present life, his ongoing life.
[00:41:43]  And part of the question that's begged by that is well, what is Jesus doing now?
[00:41:49]  What is Jesus doing with his life now?
[00:41:53]  We know what he did with his life 2,000 years ago.
[00:41:56]  He fulfilled all righteousness.
[00:41:58]  He preached and taught, performed many signs and miracles, raised the dead, cast out demons, and eventually went to the cross.
[00:42:07]  So we know what Jesus did in his life on earth.

=== Two Wills and Perfect Faith (15:04) ===

[00:42:10]  But what is Jesus doing in his forever life, his eternal life at the right hand of the Father?
[00:42:16]  Well, one of the things that Jesus is doing is he is praying.
[00:42:21]  Jesus is praying, and he's praying for his own.
[00:42:25]  And we see the beginnings of his perpetual intercessory.
[00:42:30]  Mediatorial role that he plays at the right hand of the Father.
[00:42:34]  We see the beginnings of that, a glimpse of that, in John chapter 17, in his high priestly prayer.
[00:42:41]  His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest and going to his mock trial and then his crucifixion.
[00:42:49]  And one of the things that Jesus prays in the garden that offends many is this He says, I do not pray for the world.
[00:42:59]  Jesus doesn't just, in his prayers, offer up prayers and intercessions to his Father for the object of his prayers.
[00:43:08]  But he even takes the time intentionally to specify who his prayers are not to be applied to, who he's not praying for.
[00:43:17]  Again, John 17, Jesus says, I do not pray for the world, but I pray for my own, for those whom the Father has given to me and those that the Father will give to me.
[00:43:27]  My disciples, here, now, and future disciples, all those who will come to believe in me.
[00:43:33]  Jesus prays for the church.
[00:43:37]  Jesus prays for the elect.
[00:43:39]  Jesus prays for the church.
[00:43:40]  For Christians and future Christians, he does not pray for the world.
[00:43:47]  And part of the reason that Jesus does not pray for the world is because the prayers of Christ are efficacious.
[00:43:54]  In other words, the prayers of Christ work.
[00:43:58]  Jesus is successful in his prayer life, successful in his prayers in a way that you and I have never been.
[00:44:07]  That's not to say that you and I shouldn't waste our time praying, because we should pray.
[00:44:12]  We are commanded to pray.
[00:44:14]  But we are not nearly as effective in our prayer as Jesus is, and there's a number of reasons for that.
[00:44:21]  One, because when we pray, we never possess perfect faith.
[00:44:27]  We all, if you're a Christian, you have faith.
[00:44:30]  You want to be a Christian otherwise.
[00:44:33]  You are only born again, a new creation in Christ Jesus, because you've received God's gift of grace through faith.
[00:44:40]  But none of us has perfect faith, complete faith.
[00:44:45]  We have faith, and it is true faith, genuine faith, saving faith, but it is not perfect faith.
[00:44:52]  If you had perfect faith, then you would achieve a state of sinless perfectionism.
[00:44:58]  The reason you still sin is because you don't perfectly believe.
[00:45:04]  Every time you and I sin against God, even as Christians, go on sinning, it's because there is something in the character and nature of God, the covenants of God, the promises of God, that we don't actually believe.
[00:45:18]  Not fully.
[00:45:20]  That we in that moment believe that the momentary, fleeting, temporal satisfaction of sin is more fulfilling than the promises and the character of God.
[00:45:34]  The only reason you and I continue to wrestle with sin in this life is because we have not achieved perfection in the realm of faith.
[00:45:44]  And the scripture elsewhere testifies why do you not have?
[00:45:48]  Is it not because?
[00:45:49]  You don't ask.
[00:45:50]  You have not because you ask not.
[00:45:52]  And when you ask, you ask with wrong motives to spend it on your passions.
[00:45:59]  So there's another reason.
[00:46:00]  So asking with wrong motives, so selfishness.
[00:46:04]  Also asking without full faith, that the one who asks should not doubt, he should not be double minded, like a wave tossed to and fro in the ocean.
[00:46:14]  James speaks of this.
[00:46:15]  But when we ask, we should have confidence and fully believe that God will grant to us what it is that we ask.
[00:46:23]  Elsewhere, the scripture also testifies that the prayer offered in faith availeth much, it means it works.
[00:46:32]  So, the prayer that is filled with faith is a working prayer.
[00:46:35]  So, why do our prayers sometimes not work?
[00:46:38]  In absence of faith.
[00:46:39]  What's another reason they sometimes don't work?
[00:46:42]  Because impurity of motives, selfish motives, suspended on our own passions.
[00:46:47]  Here's another reason, the last reason why our prayers do not always work because of our finitude.
[00:46:54]  The first two, right?
[00:46:56]  Not having perfect faith and not having perfect desires or motives.
[00:47:00]  That speaks to our fallenness.
[00:47:03]  But it's also worth speaking to our finitude.
[00:47:06]  So, because we're sinners, we don't have perfect faith and we don't have perfect motives.
[00:47:11]  And that's a reason why our prayers do not always avail much, that our prayers are not always efficacious.
[00:47:18]  But also, even if we could reach a state of sinless perfection in this life, we would still be unlike Jesus, we would be finite.
[00:47:28]  So, even if we were sinless creatures, we would still be creatures nonetheless.
[00:47:34]  Whereas Jesus has only ever been.
[00:47:37]  The creator.
[00:47:39]  He is not made, but rather eternally begotten.
[00:47:42]  And so, as Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, John chapter 17, he's praying with perfect faith.
[00:47:48]  He's praying with perfect motives.
[00:47:51]  So, there is no sin corrupting his prayer, hamstringing the effectiveness of his prayers.
[00:47:59]  But also, he's praying as God.
[00:48:02]  And I don't just mean God in terms of sinlessness, but God in terms of the fact that he's infinite.
[00:48:08]  Particularly in the realm of knowledge, his omniscience.
[00:48:13]  So, you and I, even when we're praying with as much faith as we possibly can muster and with as pure of motives as we can possibly cultivate, we still do not know God's sovereign will.
[00:48:28]  Right?
[00:48:29]  The secret things belong to God, but those things which he has revealed belong to us and our children forever.
[00:48:39]  Many Christians struggle, I think, at times to understand, or perhaps have never been taught, is the two wills of God.
[00:48:46]  Did you know that God has two wills, not one?
[00:48:50]  God doesn't have one will, and also it's worth noting he doesn't have three.
[00:48:54]  So, if we're speaking of theology proper, so theology proper is just reference to the doctrine of God, theology as it pertains to who God is.
[00:49:04]  And as we're speaking of God theologically, it's important that we understand that will belongs to essence, not personhood.
[00:49:14]  So, we have one God eternally existing in three persons.
[00:49:19]  So, where do you place the will of God?
[00:49:23]  If will is belonging to personhood, then God who eternally exists in three persons would therefore have three wills.
[00:49:34]  But this is not correct.
[00:49:36]  And for not quite 2,000 years, it took about 500 years or so to understand the doctrine of God.
[00:49:43]  It's not an easy topic.
[00:49:44]  But for at least a millennia and a half, We have, the church has universally held that the will of God belongs to his one divine essence rather than his three distinct persons.
[00:50:00]  So the will of God belongs to the one essence of God, the divine essence.
[00:50:04]  So God has one will.
[00:50:07]  Now, some of you might object.
[00:50:08]  This was my objection as I was coming into these doctrines years ago.
[00:50:12]  Well, wait a second.
[00:50:13]  Doesn't Jesus pray?
[00:50:14]  You're talking about John 17.
[00:50:16]  What about the portion where Jesus is praying and he asks for the cup of God's wrath to pass?
[00:50:22]  But then he says at the end of his prayer, Not my will, but yours, speaking to God the Father, be done.
[00:50:29]  Well, doesn't that right there showcase an example of a distinction between the will of God the Son and the will of God the Father?
[00:50:40]  Great question.
[00:50:41]  Here's the counter for that.
[00:50:42]  No.
[00:50:43]  And the reason why it doesn't show a distinction between two wills is because there, once again, will is belonging to essence, or another word for that would be nature rather than personhood.
[00:50:54]  The reason why Jesus can say that is not because we're speaking of two different divine persons, the Son and the Father.
[00:51:02]  But because what we're seeing is two different natures within the one person of the Son.
[00:51:07]  So when Jesus says, Not my will, he is speaking of his human will.
[00:51:11]  Because remember, Jesus has two natures the divine nature, but also the flesh, the human nature.
[00:51:18]  So in Jesus' human nature, he didn't really want to go to the cross.
[00:51:23]  But the beauty of Christ as it pertains to his human nature is that Jesus demonstrates for us perfectly what it looks like for a man, for a human man, for the human nature to be in full submission to God.
[00:51:37]  And so he says, it's not my first choice, not really my preference to get crucified, you know, in a few hours, but not my will, but yours be done.
[00:51:47]  Now, Jesus, in his divinity, the divine will is perfectly aligned with the Father and the Spirit.
[00:51:53]  One divine essence, therefore one divine will.
[00:51:56]  But within the second member of the Trinity, namely the God man, Christ Jesus, the Son of God, there are two wills, not because of two persons, but because of two natures, divine and human.
[00:52:11]  So, no, Jesus is not arguing with his dad.
[00:52:14]  He's not arguing with his dad.
[00:52:16]  Okay, my goodness, I'm struggling today to get off track.
[00:52:19]  I usually can bring it back.
[00:52:20]  I got into the wills.
[00:52:22]  Why was I getting into wills of God?
[00:52:24]  Three wills of God versus, oh, two wills of God.
[00:52:26]  Here we go.
[00:52:27]  So it's not three wills of God belonging to three persons.
[00:52:30]  It is one will of God insofar as we speak of the one essence of God.
[00:52:35]  But within that one divine will, there is actually a sense in which there are two.
[00:52:39]  Here are the two wills of God.
[00:52:41]  His prescribed will or revealed will.
[00:52:43]  These are different names that we could use.
[00:52:45]  Revealed will, prescribed will, or you could call it his moral will.
[00:52:52]  And then there is his hidden or secret will or sovereign will.
[00:52:57]  Let me give you an example.
[00:52:58]  Okay, so God's moral will or prescribed, what he reveals Thou shalt not murder, sixth commandment.
[00:53:07]  We know that it is the will of God that no one ever murder.
[00:53:12]  But then you look at Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 4.
[00:53:16]  Which says, were not Pilate and the Jews and these Roman officials and soldiers and all these Gentiles gathered in this holy city, speaking of Jerusalem, to do to Christ Jesus exactly what your hand and your plan predestined to take place?
[00:53:39]  In other words, God planned, he willed the death of his son.
[00:53:46]  Okay, well, but how did Jesus die?
[00:53:49]  Was it a just death?
[00:53:51]  Did he receive a fair trial?
[00:53:53]  Did he actually do something worthy according to God's law of the death penalty?
[00:53:57]  No, they produced, they did a kangaroo court in the middle of the night, produced false witnesses, and then wrongly killed him.
[00:54:05]  What do you call that when you wrongly kill someone?
[00:54:08]  Murder.
[00:54:10]  So God, in his revealed will, Exodus 20, the sixth commandment, thou shalt not murder.
[00:54:16]  But then God, in his sovereign hidden will, He ordained the murder of his own son for his glory and the salvation of the world.
[00:54:26]  Two wills.
[00:54:28]  Two wills.
[00:54:28]  His revealed will, that's what we follow.
[00:54:31]  We follow the script, or in our case, namely the scripture.
[00:54:35]  We follow the script, that which he has revealed to us.
[00:54:38]  We don't try to play God.
[00:54:40]  We don't play the game of, well, the ends justify the means.
[00:54:44]  So, in terms of the path, I can do things that are blatantly sinful so long as I'm going to bring about a good outcome.
[00:54:52]  No, that's not given to man.
[00:54:54]  That's attempting to play God.
[00:54:56]  We don't get to play God.
[00:54:59]  That's a consistent common denominator with our crazy regime.
[00:55:07]  That's what you see on the world stage, in a nutshell, if you were to boil it down to one consistent denominator, it would be guys who do wicked things, but they think that they're justified in doing those wicked things because they think it's going to bring about a good end.
[00:55:22]  It's man wanting to play God.
[00:55:24]  That's what we see again and again.
[00:55:26]  But God is the only one who gets to be God.
[00:55:29]  So God has not three wills.
[00:55:31]  With three persons because it belongs to essence, not person, and not even just one will, one divine will that's unified between the three persons in the Godhead, but two branches, if you will, of that will namely, His revealed will, that which is written, His moral will, prescribed will, and also His hidden will, His sovereign will.
[00:55:52]  And so, in all of that, that's the third reason.
[00:55:55]  There it is, I remember.
[00:55:56]  The third reason why sometimes our prayers are not efficacious, our prayers don't work, is because in the fallenness category, the fact that we're sinners.
[00:56:06]  We're lacking at times in faith, and we also have a corruption of motive.
[00:56:11]  But in not just the fallen, sinful category, but in the finitude category, the fact that we're creatures, we're not omniscient.
[00:56:18]  We're not omniscient.
[00:56:20]  So, one reason why our prayers are sometimes not answered is because we're praying for that which God wills in His revealed will, but it is not in that given case what God actually wills in His sovereign will.
[00:56:34]  And in God's sovereign will, His secret will, God sometimes Allows for sin in order to bring about greater good for his people and greater eternal glory for himself.
[00:56:46]  And that is not given to us.
[00:56:48]  That's not in our purview.
[00:56:49]  And that's why we're taught when we pray to pray towards the end of our prayers as Jesus did in his human nature, not my will be done, but yours.
[00:57:00]  That's why when we pray, God, if you will.
[00:57:03]  So if we're praying for the sick, my daughter, I was praying for her a couple days ago.
[00:57:09]  She had a fever and prayed, Lord, will you heal my daughter if it be your will?

=== Christ Prays So We Do Not Fail (12:22) ===

[00:57:15]  It may not be.
[00:57:17]  I don't know.
[00:57:18]  And so I'm saying, God, your will be done.
[00:57:20]  I would like my daughter to be healed.
[00:57:23]  But you are good and infinitely wise.
[00:57:26]  And you may have a purpose in this moment to glorify yourself and do good to all those who have been called, who love you and are called according to your purposes, Romans 8, through this sickness.
[00:57:38]  So, at the end of my prayer, not my will, but yours be done.
[00:57:43]  But in the case of Christ, because he's not a sinner, because of not being fallen, perfect motives, perfect faith, and because he's also God, perfect omniscience.
[00:57:55]  So the prayers of Christ are efficacious.
[00:57:57]  They work.
[00:57:58]  Why?
[00:58:00]  Because he only prays what God wills, not only in his moral revealed will, but even knowing God's sovereign will, because he is God, and he prays without sin, distracting from faith.
[00:58:12]  Or corrupting his motives.
[00:58:14]  Again, in short, Christ's prayers are efficacious, aka the prayers of Christ work.
[00:58:21]  And that's precisely why Christ doesn't pray for the world in John 17.
[00:58:27]  Because Christ doesn't waste prayer.
[00:58:31]  He doesn't pray for the world because he's not going to bother praying for a group of people that he's not about to go and climb up and hang on a tree to die for.
[00:58:41]  Christ prays for the same group that he dies for.
[00:58:46]  He's praying for this group, the very group that he's about to pay for.
[00:58:50]  He prays, then pays.
[00:58:53]  We're saved by his life, not just the life he once lived on earth, his sinless life, righteous life, but also his continual ongoing life.
[00:59:03]  And in this life, what does he now do?
[00:59:06]  He prays.
[00:59:08]  And here's my point if Christ is for you, who can be against you?
[00:59:13]  If Christ is praying for the glory of God and your eternal good, Christ has never prayed a prayer that went by unanswered.
[00:59:24]  And Christ promises in his word that he is praying for all his people.
[00:59:29]  He is our high priest.
[00:59:31]  And one of the things that he does in his life, not his past life on earth, but his continual present life right now, as he's seated at the right hand of his Father, one of the chief things he's doing in his life is praying.
[00:59:45]  He's interceding on your behalf.
[00:59:48]  And all his intercessory prayers work.
[00:59:53]  Christ, if Christ prays for you, You're golden.
[00:59:57]  Even with Peter, Christ says this Satan has asked, so even Satan had to ask permission.
[01:00:04]  God is sovereign.
[01:00:05]  He's asked to sift you like wheat.
[01:00:07]  But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.
[01:00:12]  And when you have returned, that means you're going to fall a little bit, you're going to take a hard hit.
[01:00:18]  But when you've returned, go and strengthen your brothers also.
[01:00:22]  Go and encourage your fellow disciples.
[01:00:26]  Notice what Christ says to Peter in that moment is he's saying, Because Satan has to ask Jesus for permission to even go and tempt and prod Peter.
[01:00:36]  And if I was Peter, I would be tempted to respond.
[01:00:38]  Christ saying, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I've prayed for you.
[01:00:42]  I would say, you know what, Jesus, maybe you could save your prayers.
[01:00:46]  If he has to ask permission, instead of praying for me, why don't you just tell him no?
[01:00:51]  You know what I mean?
[01:00:52]  That would have been my thought.
[01:00:53]  Satan asked you permission to go and do something really bad to me, and you're really leaning in heavy on this, but I prayed for you thing.
[01:01:02]  But implicitly in that, You're also saying, and I told him yes.
[01:01:07]  Can we talk about that part real quick?
[01:01:09]  So, Satan asked to hurt me, and you said, go for it.
[01:01:14]  But don't worry, Peter, don't get bogged down on that part of the equation.
[01:01:17]  I've prayed for you.
[01:01:19]  Right?
[01:01:19]  And if it was anybody else but Christ, that's how we'd feel.
[01:01:24]  Right?
[01:01:24]  Somebody's saying, hey, I'm praying for you.
[01:01:27]  Well, you know, we usually receive that warmly.
[01:01:30]  Thank you.
[01:01:31]  But part of the reason we receive the prayers of our fellow saints warmly is because we're all finite.
[01:01:36]  And a lot of times, there's not a lot more that we can do but pray.
[01:01:40]  You know, so if I have a loved one who's sick and one of you says, Hey, I'm praying for your daughter, well, then I'm going to respond positively to that.
[01:01:49]  I'm going to say thank you.
[01:01:51]  But if you had superpowers and could snap your fingers and heal my daughter, but you deliberately refused and said, I'm not going to do that, but I will pray, then I'm not going to say thank you.
[01:02:03]  I'm going to be angry.
[01:02:05]  I'm going to be like, What?
[01:02:07]  Why?
[01:02:08]  Why wouldn't you just help?
[01:02:10]  Save the prayer.
[01:02:11]  Let's get some actual help.
[01:02:15]  And part of the reason we view prayer like that is because we don't understand Christ and his ministry of prayer.
[01:02:23]  When Jesus says to Peter, But I have prayed for you, that is the same as him saying, I gave Satan permission to do this, but he cannot do that.
[01:02:35]  Whatever Jesus prays is within the realm of his sovereign will and what will be done.
[01:02:42]  When he says, You will not ultimately fail, Your faith will fail for a moment, but I have prayed that it won't ultimately fail.
[01:02:49]  And when you return, go and strengthen your brothers also.
[01:02:52]  That is the same as Christ saying, I've allowed Satan to tempt and to prod and oppress, but I have not allowed him to do so at the point to which your faith would utterly fail.
[01:03:03]  And I will restore you and use you to restore your brothers.
[01:03:07]  When he says, I've prayed that this will happen, that's the same as saying, it will happen.
[01:03:12]  Because again, the prayers of Christ are efficacious.
[01:03:16]  Christ does not pray.
[01:03:18]  Prayers that fail.
[01:03:20]  And so we are saved.
[01:03:22]  That's the final thing that I'm trying to say, and I'm going to skip the last point.
[01:03:25]  But we are saved not only by Christ's death, dying as a substitute in our place, taking the just judgment that we deserved, but we're also saved not only by the death of Jesus, but we are being saved and will be saved by the continual life of Jesus, because one of the chief ministries of Jesus in his life right now, not the life he once lived,
[01:03:51]  But the life he now lives and forevermore will live is his intercession.
[01:03:58]  He is the mediator of all the promises of the new covenant.
[01:04:03]  He is the intercessor, the high priest who is actively, constantly, continually praying for his people.
[01:04:12]  And he has never prayed a single prayer that has gone unanswered.
[01:04:17]  And one of the things that we know he is praying for us, just as he prayed for Peter.
[01:04:23]  If you're a born again Christian, is that your faith would not fail.
[01:04:29]  So you're golden.
[01:04:31]  That doesn't mean times won't be hard.
[01:04:33]  That doesn't mean that you won't experience suffering in this life.
[01:04:36]  But what it does mean is that you are Christ's possession and he can never lose you.
[01:04:41]  What it does mean is that your faith, although tested and tried, purified by fire, your faith being refined like gold, it will not, in the final analysis, fail.
[01:04:56]  Utterly fail because Christ is praying for you.
[01:04:59]  And in that sense, if in many others as well, but in that sense, if nothing else, we are saved not only by the death of Jesus, but also by the life of Jesus.
[01:05:09]  Finally, verse 11 more than that, we also rejoiced in God through the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
[01:05:18]  Not only are we saved by Christ from the wrath of God, and not only do we rejoice in our sufferings and in the hope of the glory of God, but we also rejoice in God Himself.
[01:05:30]  We do not rejoice, brothers and sisters, merely in what God gives us, what God promises us, or what He provides for us.
[01:05:38]  We're not only using God as a channel, as a conduit to rejoice in the end, but God is the end in Himself.
[01:05:46]  Our rejoicing is not only in what God promises, but in God Himself.
[01:05:52]  We rejoice in God because through union with Christ our Lord, we now have access to God as our covenant Father.
[01:06:00]  He is the God of all grace, joy, peace, and salvation, and all his perfections are engaged on our side.
[01:06:09]  And the means by which saints come into this rejoicing in God is not by the light of nature, nor the law of Moses, nor any works of righteousness as done by men, nor is it through saints of old or angels in heaven, but through Christ the eternal mediator and through him only.
[01:06:29]  For it is only through Christ that God is now our covenant father, and all his many blessings rightly belong to us.
[01:06:37]  In short, we rejoice not only in what God gives, But we rejoice in God Himself, and our rejoicing in God comes through Christ.
[01:06:48]  We would not rejoice in God because God, again, see point A, all the way back to the beginning of the sermon, God would not be someone to rejoice in, but rather someone to be in dread of.
[01:07:00]  God was once our enemy, our greatest enemy.
[01:07:04]  The first and foremost thing or person we needed to be saved from is God, not the devil.
[01:07:11]  Not ourselves, not our sin, not the world.
[01:07:14]  The greatest thing we needed to be saved from is God Himself and His just wrath.
[01:07:19]  There is no rejoicing in your greatest enemy, but we rejoice in God because He is no longer our enemy, but the source of all blessing, the source of all love, the source of all acceptance and reconciliation, eternal life.
[01:07:38]  All the covenant promises are in Him, and we rejoice in Him, but He is only Positive for us, he is only our good through Christ.
[01:07:51]  It is only because of Jesus, what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf through his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, and his continual, forever ongoing life.
[01:08:03]  It is only through Jesus that we can truly, in a very real sense, say that we rejoice in God.
[01:08:11]  The only reason you, brothers and sisters, can rejoice in God is through Jesus Christ, apart from what Christ has done.
[01:08:19]  And continues to do, God is not worth rejoicing in.
[01:08:24]  He may be worth it, but God is not someone that we're going to rejoice in, but rather He is someone that we have nothing but dread and total fear of.
[01:08:33]  And not only fear of Him in a reverence capacity, but fear of His inevitable judgment.
[01:08:39]  But for the Christian, there is now, therefore, no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[01:08:45]  Let's pray.
[01:08:46]  Father, thank you for your word.
[01:08:47]  Bless it to your people.
[01:08:49]  Help us to believe in your covenant promises.
[01:08:51]  Help us to rest in Christ's finished work.
[01:08:54]  Help us to trust not only what Christ has done, but what he continues to do on our behalf at your right hand.
[01:09:00]  That he is praying for us and that his prayers mean something.
[01:09:04]  That his prayers are effective.
[01:09:06]  That his prayers never fail.
[01:09:08]  That if Christ is for us, none can be against us.
[01:09:11]  That you are no longer our enemy, but our beloved Father.
[01:09:15]  Help us to rest in this, to take hope in this, that all the challenges and trials that we experience in this life, that although real, although significant, Lord, we pray that they would pale by comparison to this glorious truth.
[01:09:30]  We pray these things for your glory and for our continued good.
[01:09:34]  We pray these things in the name of Jesus.
[01:09:36]  Amen.