The Law of Faith, Part 6 - Assurance

Romans 5:1

Preached March 22, 2009, Grace Family Church of Americus

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What is the peace that is spoken of here in the Scriptures?

This is peace with God, in whom there is no falsehood. When God declares peace, it is certain peace. It is a peace in which there is no hidden resentment, nor any measure, however minute, of unforgiveness. This is peace with God….in whom is all power. One who has peace with the One who is all powerful can never come to fear another, for there is none greater who can come against Him! Ah, Lord God, cries the Psalmist, thou hast made the heavens and the earth, by Thy great power! And those hands in which lie so great a power….how sweet is it that they be at peace with me! This is peace with God….in whom lies all the treasures of the earth. If our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, if the world and everything in it are His, and if this God looked upon all of these things as pocket change…of the vast ores of silver and gold, of precious stones and all things of beauty…..if this God looked upon these things, and yet chose nothing of the sort of this world, but chose that which was infinitely more valuable than these….even the One who stood at His right hand…His precious Son, and gave Him up for us all……how can there be any man or angel which can demand a higher price for our souls?

This is peace with God….who is love. To have peace with someone who claims to you love is one thing, but to have peace with the One who loves the world so much that He not only claimed it, but God demonstrated His love for us in this…..in that while we were yet without strength….CHRIST DIED FOR US! Oh! this is peace indeed!

This is peace with God….in whom is perfect justice. When our sins deserve infinite punishment, only infinite punishment will do. And the perfectly just God will do no less. So God, in His wisdom and justice, has reserved infinite wrath for all who have sinned and fallen short of His glory. And that wrath will be poured out….but who, says the Scripture, shall bring any charge against God's elect?
For it is God who justifies….pouring out the measure of wrath deserved by His elect on His perfect Son….so that no one may condemn….for it is CHRIST who died, and more than that, was raised from the dead, who is now at the right hand of God indeed interceding for us! And if Christ be interceding for us, then no request of the devil can be granted that can take us from Him, for it is He who interceded which said, "And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." Oh! What sweet immeasurable peace this is!

Great is Thy Faithfulness! Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not.

As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be!

The Law of Faith - Part 5

Romans 4:9-22

Preached March 15, 2009, Grace Family Church of Americus

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Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

What is it to believe God? To believe God is to believe Him for who He claims to be. This is why faith cannot be separated from the Word of God….God reveals Himself…His character and nature….His divine attributes and wills….to us through the Scripture….and so to believe the Scripture is necessary for salvation. God is One who cannot lie. If He says of Himself that He is merciful and gracious …then we can trust that He abounds in these in such as way as to always see our faults, yet in His grace, always forgiving them and in His mercy always restoring us to Himself. If He be abounding in lovingkindness, then He always has in His provisions not only those things which meet the needs of the slave, but also those things which a loving Father desires for His own children. If He be longsuffering, then He will surely meet our needs in exactly the right time, patiently enduring our rushing and lovingly correcting us back on the right path. If our God be abounding in goodness, then we can be sure that all of His purposes for each and every thing we go through are good, and perfect…that we can say to all His providence yes and amen, for all things do indeed work for the good of those who love Him. If He abounds in truth, then there can be no falsehood in Him, nor any degree of turning, that He be not like we are, but a God in whom all of His ways are truth, and can be trusted completely and followed unwaveringly. If He keeps mercy for thousands, and if I be in those thousands, then surely His mercy can be kept for me. If He is One who is a forgiver of iniquity and transgressions and sins, then I can believe and know that He can do so completely, even in such a wretched wretch as I. If He by no means clears the guilty, yet is said to be the One who is just, AND the justifier, then I, being one who has faith in Christ Jesus crucified, can know that because Christ is the victim for my iniquity, transgressions and sins, then I can never suffer for them.

I can also believe God by treating Him like who He is in truth. Scripture tells us here in our text that we grow strong in our faith as we give glory to God (Romans 4:20). Believing the things above, and acting as if we believe them to be true, even in the teeth of circumstances that seem completely to the contrary….as the Scriptures say of Abraham…in hope believing against hope….we give glory to God, and God therefore gives us more faith. No distrust….this means that this faith is through and through, not just on the surface….

Does God save you to the uttermost, and you follow Him in religion, yet not in practical life? Can God save your soul, yet is His hand short when it comes to the salvation of your children? Of course not….then give glory to God and believe God that He will do it through the means by which He has prescribed in His word….through YOU having the Scriptures on your heart, and YOU teaching them to your children and grandchildren, speaking of the truths of Scripture when you lie down, when you rise up, and when you walk along the way. Can God give you the ability to worship Him on the Lord's Day, to pray and sing and do all things well that day, but not rest of the week? Of course not…then give glory to God and in everything you do, in word or in deed, do all to the glory of God in your workplace, with your friends and neighbors. Go your way, and give glory to God by making melody in your hearts all week long, in hymns and songs and spiritual songs. Has God given you reason to thank Him for salvation? Then thank Him for bread too, always giving thanks to Him in EVERYTHING in the name of the Lord Jesus.

 

Sermon for March 8, 2009

Preached March, 8, 2009, by Chase Ostrander
Luke 22:1-13

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The Law of Faith – Part 3

Romans 3:31

Preached February 15, 2009, Grace Family Church of Americus

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You can download the complete sermon manuscript by clicking here. Here is an excerpt:

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Years ago, I had a dear friend who challenged me on something. We were discussing end times theology, and I gave him my "most certain" interpretation of what I believed. He listened politely, and then said very confidently yet humbly, "You believe that because it's what you've been taught. You didn't learn this from the text. You're a
premillennial dispensationalist."

Now, I may as well have thought he had said something about my mother. I had no idea what he was referring to, but continued to assert that my argument was right….but after we were done with our discussion, I did go home and study….for a week! And I found out what he had called me was not a dirty name, nor was he insulting my mother. He was simply speaking the truth to me, in love. And now, I see so clearly what this man was saying to me. I had learned a system of hermeneutics (way of interpreting the Scriptures), simply by hearing teachings of others, and believing them. I would therefore go to any text I would preach, and interpret it in the particular bent of the teachers I would be following at the time. And the teachers I was following at the time were ALL followers of the teaching my friend had accused me of following……dispensationalists.

Now what does this have to do with our text today? And what difference will this make in your life, and in how you read and study and teach the Scriptures and in how you understand God and salvation? You need to know that God is a God who never changes. He does not change His mind. You need to understand God as He is in Scripture, Because a dispensationalist cannot deal with this verse without contradicting it. Here's what dispensationalism teaches:

the dispensation of innocence (or freedom), (Genesis 1:1 - 3:7), prior to Adam's fall,

of conscience, (Genesis 3:8 - 8:22), Adam to Noah,

of government, (Genesis 9:1 - 11:32), Noah to Abraham,

of patriarchal rule (or promise), (Genesis 12:1 - Exodus 19:25), Abraham to Moses,

of the Mosaic Law, (Exodus 20:1 - Acts 2:4), Moses to Christ,

of grace, (Acts 2:4 - Revelation 20:3), the current church age, and

of a literal earthly 1,000 year Millennial Kingdom that has yet to come but soon will, (Revelation 20:4 - 20:6).

 

So what is the problem with that? Here it is, in a nutshell. Dispensationalists teach that men were saved differently in each of the dispensations.
C.I. Scofield:

"As a dispensation, grace begins with the death and resurrection of Christ....The point of testing is no longer legal obedience as the condition of salvation, but acceptance or rejection of Christ, with good works as a fruit of salvation"-- C.I. Scofield, Scofield Reference Bible

Friends, this is simply a false teaching. Salvation has always been "by grace, through faith". The OT saints were saved by the grace of God, because they stood condemned by the Law, and through the ceremonies they looked forward to the coming of Messiah, having faith in God's provision of a Lamb which would not cover, but take away their sins. The Law was NEVER intended to save…..only to condemn, it was a standard set up high….so high that no man could attain it……its very purpose was to show men their sins and need of a savior. Jesus affirmed that when He told the Jews of His day…which according to the dispensationalists was the dispensation of salvation by Law, that they would by no means enter heaven….not if they kept the Law like the most rigorous of Lawkeepers of His day, the Pharisees and Saducees…..but unless they EXCEEDED their Lawkeeping! Impossible! Salvation has NEVER been by keeping the Law! And to introduce that as truth is simply an error that leads far astray, because it in essence teaches that God changes, and that He structures His plan of salvation on man's ability to attain it.

The understanding of a constant, unchanging God affects everything you read in Scripture. Friends, we do not need to know what dispensational mood God was in at the time of whatever Scripture verse we happen to be reading in order to properly interpret it and apply it to our lives. No, WE NEED TO KNOW THAT GOD IS ONE WHO NEVER CHANGES, and that His plan is an eternal one, in which He set forth Christ to save His people from before the foundations of the world, and that He has never changed His plan, nor will He ever. God is not a God of moods, that He should repent, not is He a man, that He should change His mind. He does not set forth a system of salvation, hoping man will be able to live up to it, then see our shortcomings, and alter His plan, hoping we will see the light. No, God KNOWS THAT WE WILL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT, that we will NEVER LIVE UP TO HIS STANDARD, so from eternity past, HE SET FORTH CHRIST, as a propitiation for our sins. And He did so, so marvelously, in a way that did not change anything about Himself, nor of His plan of salvation…..not in a way that would make Him unjust to impose one standard on some because of the particular moment in history in which they lived, and then another on those who live in another time. No, God did what He did, setting forth Christ before the world was made, to fulfill all that the Law demanded and commanded, that not one jot of tittle shall pass away until heaven and earth pass away….and as far as I know, there is still heaven and there is still earth, and they are not going anywhere….and that there is still the purposes of God to be accomplished……

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18, ESV)

So, to answer the dispensationalist, has the Law passed away? God forbid! End of argument.

The Law of Faith – Part 4

Romans 4:1-8

Preached February 29, 2009, Grace Family Church of Americus

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John Calvin, speaking of the established church (The Roman Catholic Church) at the time of his writing, decries one of the great evils of that day, and strangely, as history tends to repeat itself, one that is currently perpetuated in our Protestant churches today. This evil that he speaks of is the teaching that faith is a concept or doctrine which is merely taught as truth, and not necessary to be completely understood or necessarily experienced personally in great measure….obscuring what true, biblical, saving faith is, and simply delivering it as fact to the people, as an example, and not to be personally experienced or lived out:

"…..Besides impairing, and almost annihilating, faith by their obscure definition, they have invented the fiction of implicit [hidden, mysterious] faith……they delude the [people] to their great destruction. Nay, to state the fact more truly and plainly, this fiction not only buries true faith, but entirely destroys it. Is it faith to understand nothing, and merely submit your convictions implicitly to the Church? Faith consists not in ignorance, but in knowledge, knowledge not of God merely, but of His divine will….By this knowledge, I say, not by the submission of our understanding, we obtain entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven…..it is not enough to believe implicitly without understanding….the thing required is an explicit recognition of the divine goodness, in which our righteousness consists."

Faith is personal knowledge of the divine will. And this personal knowledge is gained by personal, divine revelation. Matthew 11:

At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. (Matthew 11:25-27, KJV)