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Summary
The sermon is titled 'Living the Redeemed Life' and is based on Romans 5:1-5. The speaker discusses the importance of understanding our redemption and how it changes our perspectives and the way we live our lives. We are justified through faith and have peace with God, and we can boast in the hope of the glory of God. The speaker also talks about the process of sanctification and how we need to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to transform our lives. The goal is to become more Christlike and live a life that honors God in every sphere of life.
Sermon transcription
So for the past three Sundays we've been talking about some of the basic Christian teachings, Christian doctrines, particularly on the aspect of our salvation and the life of the believer. This is in line with our theme for the month which is going back to basics.
Last Sunday, if you remember, we heard about the assurance of our salvation, about repentance, and Pastor Angel talked about the gift of righteousness based on the book of Romans chapter 3, 23-26. Now let's refresh our minds if you are here last Sunday because I would like to jump off from here into our topic for today, which is how to live our lives now that we are redeemed as redeemed people of God.
We learned last Sunday that everyone, everyone of us, sinned, no exception, and that we all fall short of God's glory. It means we will never see God's glory in the fallen condition that we have, and there's no way to save ourselves through our own effort, not by religion, not by our good works or trying to be a good person, only by God's grace and the atoning death of his son Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sin.
So now we stand righteous, and not because we are in any way righteous, but because of Christ's righteousness. This is what Romans 3:22 said. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. And today we will still be in the book of Romans. We will continue on that at this time in chapter 5, verses 1 to 5. And our title for today's message is living the redeemed life.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character hope.
And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Now, while I was preparing this sermon, I was reminded of Pastor Boots. He is the international overseer of Wind, and presently is the pastor of Wind Singapore.
I remembered him because once he sent me a link to his podcast so that I can use his old sermons for my own preachings, and I remember that he always refers to his sermons as conversations. Have you heard Pastor B preach? He would say, 'This conversation we have today.'
I agree with him that we are like conversing to you, but in this conversation, we do not just bring something to you from our own opinions or from other people's ideas. Nor are we bringing intellectual propositions for you to agree or to disagree, but the very word of God. And our prayer would always be that our message will bring conviction and will cause transformation to the life of the hearers.
God said, 'His word will not return to him void, but it shall accomplish what he pleased, and it shall prosper in the things for that specific purpose for which he sent it.' And I say amen to that. That's why we are careful, like Pastor Angel said, that the responsibility is on us who deliver the message.
Now, in this text, we find the key to the Christian life, and although these are been repeated again and again in the many passages in the scripture, I think this is especially helpful in these days of difficulty and uncertainty. Now, let's go to verse one. It says, 'Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.'
Right away, we see there some big things like justified through faith, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. But first thing first, what does it mean when the phrase starts with 'therefore'? We've been through this before. And 'therefore' means for that reason or consequently.
Okay, that's the dictionary meaning of the word 'therefore'. But here, 'therefore' tells us that Paul is about to make a conclusion to what he had been discussing in the previous chapters. Okay, when he says 'therefore', he was referring to what he was writing in verse chapter 1 to 4, and then he made a conclusion here, he said, 'Now we have peace with God'. This is what Paul was saying. We are now reconciled with the father.
In the previous chapters, Paul has explained the gospel. If you remember the text explained to us last Sunday by Pastor Angel in chapter 3, it was talking about our redemption. In verse 24 of chapter 3, it says, 'And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.' So, we are now justified. It means we are declared not guilty again. Not because we do not have sinned, but because the punishment for that sin has already been paid.
We are redeemed. It is by grace, it is free, though, through the redemptive act of Jesus on the cross. But again, what does it mean to be redeemed? I've shared this topic of redemption many times over this month, first in the opening of the Amsterdam gathering. I've shared this briefly, and then again in our Bible studies.
Redemption is an act of purchasing back something that was ours before. Okay, we know that because we know when we pawn something in the pawn shop, we have to repurchase it back again so that it can be ours again. Something that we owned before, but once we found it in the pawn shop, that is not ours anymore. We need to repurchase it back so that it can now belong to us again.
And as I was saying, this is precisely what happened to us. Okay, we were God's possession before, intimately in intimate relationship with him. But then we disobeyed, and we were separated. We were dead in sins in our trespasses. Okay? And we are doomed. We are condemned, and we're now under the control of the enemy.
But God's God loves us so much that he sent his only begotten son for our redemption. We were repurchased by his atoning death on the cross by his own blood that was shed in the cross of Calvary. This is what Ephesians 1:7 is saying. It says there, 'In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.'
Now it cost us nothing. It is free. But it cost Jesus his life. He took the punishment for our sin. He has to bear the wrath of God and shed his blood and died as a ransom for our sins there. That explains it all. So, Paul was now saying, now, because of what happened to us, the Christ redemption, for the repurchase of his people, now we have peace with God.
This is what Paul was saying. We are now reconciled with the father. And this is especially important to understand, uh, in times like this, that being a Christian isn't just something that happened once a long time ago when we made a profession of faith, and now we just sit around and wait for the end to come. No, Christianity is for all of our lives, in every sense of what it means.
It helps us to understand who we are now in the sight of God, our identity in Christ, that even in the midst of the worst trials, even in the midst of all kinds of uncertainty, like uncertainty about our jobs, uncertainty about money, uncertainty about health, uncertainty about the future, in the midst of this, we have hope.
And this is what, uh, verse two now was saying. In verse two of chapter 5, it says, 'Through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.' It says through Jesus, we have access right now into this grace in which we now stand.
Now, we've been talking about grace in our Bible studies. I hope we can go deeper on this, that we do not have time. But it says that our faith in Christ gave us access to that grace that can and will sustain us. And with this, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. It means we can now look forward with confidence that we will see Jesus face to face and behold his glory in the time that will come, and also our own glorification.
Now, we can say amen to that. But all is well and good if things are going well. But what about when things are not going well? What about when we are under the attack of the enemy? Okay, when we are in pain, when we have struggles, not only in our health, maybe in our relationship, okay, in our workplaces, when we have financial problems, or when we lose someone dear to us, what then?
Now, Paul tells us in verse 3 to 5, okay, this is actually a very long sentence, actually, it is a continuous thought. No, this is what Paul was writing in verse three and four. It says, 'Not only so, but we also glory or rejoice in our suffering, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character hope.'
One thing that we need to understand, and I mean really understand, is that living the life of the redeemed is for the here and now. This is real. You know, our faith is for the real world. It is not just a theory or a theoretical thing. Our faith is sufficient to meet all this uncertainty.
Okay, not because of how big our faith is, but because of how big the object of our faith is. Christ is sufficient to meet all challenges. So much so that we are to rejoice in our suffering. Okay, because God, we know that God is there, and it helps us to endure, strengthen us to overcome, knowing that he is present in our affliction.
You know, and along the way, it builds our character, and this character hope that is so what that text was saying. Now, true character is the genuineness of our faith. That's what character would mean. It is revealed through our endurance in the midst of suffering.
So, you know, all these trials, all these things that we are going through, it actually builds our character. It makes us a stronger person. Okay, within and suffering is endured with trust in God, is leading us to a much deeper faith in God. Now, who have been in some trials in their lives know this, okay, that after we go through all of this, we come out more stronger, not only in our faith but in our devotion, in our commitment, in our, you know, we become more resilient.
And, uh, I've been there also. So, every time I face difficulties and problems, and you know, I always say, I have been there, you know, in mass war situations. So, whatever will come, I can overcome this with God, by God's grace, because I've been through already, you know, it helps us to become more resilient to face anything that will come our way.
Okay, so we've been redeemed, and verse, uh, in verse, our text was saying, in verse five, that hope does not disappoint us. Okay, in verse five, our hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
So, we've been redeemed, okay, justified, that's in the past already, that's in the past tense. We have been redeemed, justified, that's a done deal. Now we have peace with God, this is our present, this is our present condition. And then we are looking into the future as we wait for that blessed hope.
We still do not see it, but that's what hope is all about. Otherwise, we do not need hope if we already see all these things. As Romans 8:25 is saying, if we have hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. We become patient, and in this patience, we learn to wait on the Lord, really wait in full expectation for what he is doing, that what he is doing is for our good.
Now, let's go back to our title, 'Living the Redeemed Life'. Who are the redeemed? Yep, that's who we are, justified freely and now made righteous through the righteousness of Christ. Romans 4:5 said that those who put their trust in God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.
Again, we are not righteous on our own, but positionally, we are, because Christ's righteousness was given to us as if it was ours. Okay, this is our position in the sight of God. Then, you know, you know, the word imputation is something that the scripture was using, but it's like Christ gave us his righteousness, like something you can put on.
We take off our old self and then we put on the new self, okay, the new life that he has given us, his righteousness. And so, we are now standing in the sight of God, righteous, not because we are, but because Christ is, because of his righteousness. Now, the father can look at us and look at us as righteous.
That's why we are now reconciled with the father, the enmity was broken, and now we, you know, we are now God's once again, and we can now call him our father. Then, uh, when after we are redeemed, sanctification kicks in. This is where the time when the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, comes to each one of us, and it starts this transformation process in our life.
We know this already, okay, and it is some process that is going on, and it takes our lifetime. You know, you're not changed overnight, you're not transformed overnight, it takes a while, you know, it takes a process of transformation. And in this transformation, we need to cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
This is work, this is his work, really, to transform us, but we need to cooperate with him. He can only change what we allow him to change. Okay, we still retain our freedom to make that choice. So, uh, we, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit wants to take control of our lives, but we need to let him take control of our lives.
Okay, but, uh, when Jesus changed, he would change everything, okay, that's for sure. A redeemed man acts differently now, he, like, speaks differently, we think differently, that now that we are redeemed, that this is what I was like, uh, repeating again and again, that understanding our redemption would actually change our perspectives.
We, it changed the way we think, or we see the things happening around us, knowing that we are redeemed, we now, we are now owned by God, we have, we even have the indwelling Holy Spirit that is the presence of God in our life. And knowing that, you know, it changes everything.
Now, we do not have to worry, we do not have to be stressed, stressed, you know, to be stressed, because we know that we are not alone, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that will continue to minister upon us, okay, to guide us and lead us in everything that we do.
He opens up opportunities, you know, if we just listen to his voice, for his direction, okay, and, uh, we think differently in our life, we, we geared for something bigger than ourselves. A redeemed man also honors God, and he honors God in every sphere of life, okay.
We now want God to be a part of every aspect of our life, we do not need to compartmentalize our life, you know, and put God in just one compartment, that is what we always do, we all, we have God, uh, during Sundays, or maybe Bible studies, but the rest of the days, we're on our own, we live our life on our own.
He wants to be a part in all aspects of your life, when you draw a circle and put compartments in your life, do not put him in just one compartment, put him in the middle, so he touches everything that you do in your life, your relationship, your school, your, you know, your hobbies, your sports, and everything.
He wants to be a part of that, and, you know, again, when we, not, we understand that, uh, we, it changes, uh, the way we, we look at things already, okay, but then again, uh, as I was saying, these are all intentional.
The Lord is a sovereign God, you know, and he, as I was saying, he controls everything that is happening, but all these things that, uh, we are doing, these are intentional, okay, we, we, we make it our intention, uh, to live a life of a redeemed person, okay.
Uh, Paul was, as Paul was instructing Timothy, um, he said to Timothy, uh, to flee, to flee from all things that would, uh, that would pierce our heart, that would, uh, make us wander away from the faith, like love of money, poor sort of wealth, and many other harmful desires that could plunge us to ruin and destruction.
I was quoting this from 1 Timothy 6, uh, verses 9 and 10, but then in 11, he said, 'But you, oh man of God, flee these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.' And in this pursuit, we need to be intentional, okay, we just, we need to want to do it, okay.
We do not, uh, we know that, uh, the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, is transforming us, but we cooperate again, we cooperate with the Holy Spirit by doing all these things intentionally, okay, by cooperating with the Holy Spirit.
So, positionally, we are already righteous through Jesus Christ's righteousness, we have said that already, but, uh, practically, we need to pursue and develop that righteous righteousness on ourselves.
Let me explain a little bit, positionally, as I, we, as I am explaining, we are now righteous in the sight of God, but that is Christ's righteousness that was imputed upon us, but, uh, practically, we need to develop that righteousness on our own, by intentionally living the kind of life that God wants us to live, and all these things, uh, that, uh, Paul was, uh, telling, uh, Timothy to pursue, okay, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and, uh, the gentleness.
And, uh, we need to become, we need to have this goal of becoming more Christlike, as the days, uh, pass, okay, we need to bear the fruit of the spirit, living our life according to the will of the father, or to the things according to the things that would please him.
So, uh, let's keep on believing, let's keep on, uh, abiding, uh, in Christ, okay, continue to run the race that we are, uh, we are, that we are own, according to Paul.
Now, Peter has said that our main ambition as the redeemed people of God would be to live all our days in the fear of his God, in first Peter, uh, chapter 1, verse 17, and we end here.
I would just like to leave this verse to you, it says there, since you call on a father who judges its person's work impartially, lift out your time as foreigners here, in reverent fear.
Yeah, I hope you will agree that we all, we are all foreigners here, we are joking, this always, you know, when we are in some meetings, and you know, in our Bible studies, we're supposed to be, uh, like all Filipinos, then, then a couple joined us, another couple joined us, and I said, oh, there are more foreigners than Filipinos, and I said, they said, they told me, no, you are the foreigner, they are the, you are the foreigner, not them.
Yeah, but spiritually, we are all foreigners, okay, and, uh, this is not our final home, and he said, as a, for, as foreigners, we need to live our lives here in reverent fear of God, for you know, he said, for you know that it was not with perishable things, such as silver or gold, that you were redeemed from the empty way of life, handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
There it is again, reminding us of what the Lord has done to us in redemption, how he gave up his life as a ransom for, for us, for our sin, for the forgiveness of our sin, and by reminding us again and again of that redemption, it changes, it really changes who we are, and how we, how we, uh, with, how we deal with, uh, with the world, and how would we see things, with things around us.
And, uh, remembering that we are redeemed by the blood of the lamb, yes, that's what we are, and so now we know that we belong to him, and no longer of the world, again, yes, we are, you are, just foreigners in this world, as the text say, because our citizenship is in heaven, where our redeemer awaits, amen.
Take-aways
Food for thought
Let us reflect on these questions and seek to apply the principles of living the redeemed life in our daily lives.