Welcome to Waymaker Church! We are so excited to have you join us today! We exist to Encounter, Live for, and Advance the Kingdom of God!

This morning as we continue in our series the Church Defined, I want to look back at what we have covered so far in the book of Romans. Remember, that Romans is the most systematic presentation of Christian doctrine.

I began by sharing with you this truth. The one who declares Jesus Christ as Lord of their life becomes a slave to Christ. It is a life where Christ is the head, and he has authority to determine the direction of your life. This core truth is rooted in 1 Corinthians 6:20 which says, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

The Lordship of Christ comes with a call to serve His purposes. Through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we live daily by faith in His name looking to bring honor and glory in everything we do. The call to serve is inviting when we consider the beautiful attributes of God.

That He is good (remember he does good because He is good), He is love (which is the essence of His nature), He is merciful (He has chosen a disposition of compassionate forgiveness), He is gracious (giving unmerited divine favor), He is Holy (pure and incorruptible), He is righteous (communicated in His nature and His righteousness sets the standard for how His people are to act), He is truth (he is the source), He is wisdom (the perfection of divine judgement and insight), and He is just (infinitely righteous in himself and all that He does).

Those who reject His salvation and Lordship choose to store up for themselves wrath in the day of judgment. Wrath will be revealed because men and women will choose to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The rejection of God’s goodness and salvation will result in His just judgement where He will Romans 2:6 “will render to each one according to his deeds”:”

God in his mercy has invited us into covenant with Him through the shed blood of His son Jesus Christ. This is important to grasp because good works won’t save you! Hear me again, you cannot earn your way to heaven through good works. That is self-righteousness. Your list of accomplishments means nothing in comparison to the righteousness of God, and by themselves will not save you.

Before God all have sinned and fallen short (Romans 3:23). There are none who are righteous in themselves. Righteousness comes only through faith in Christ, and it is through repentance of sin that paves the way for justification before God.

Romans 3:24–26 “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

This reality of sin and separation reveals that we must be born again by the Spirit of God, by putting our faith in Jesus Christ.

Faith in Christ produces justification before God and peace. These two by themselves would be enough for me personally but look what it also does. It also gives us an invitation with access to the presence of one who is superior. Through Christ we have gained access to the Father.

The beauty of the invitation is the revelation of God’s goodwill towards those who believe. Our confidence in His love for us causes us to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. What is the Glory of God revealed to us in this passage? Eternal life!

When the Christian life is founded on the bedrock of the love of God for us, and His promise of eternal life finds its way into our hearts. It repositions us with an expectancy to overcome in this life! We know that He is for us and not against us! The access we have received through Faith positions us to turn trouble into triumph! We have the answer to meet the challenge in front of us!

We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope. People may revile you, and persecute for his names sake, but you happily endure because you know the end result of your faith is the salvation of your soul!

One day when you stand before Him all the things of the earth will pale in comparison to the matchless beauty of who He is.

Matthew 5:11–12 ““Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

It is the joy of knowing John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Remember, this world is not our home. We like Abraham are looking for a city whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10).

Our endurance through faith is undergirded by the love of God poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 3:17-19 “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

As we pursue the kingdom of God the Holy Spirit comes and He reveals the nature of God to us. Jesus said in John 16:13–14 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”

Christ as our substitute has translated us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. He opened the door of access to the father; the Holy Spirit then helps us access the Father. Ephesians 2:18 “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”

This is powerful and we need to get ahold of it. We need deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit! He is the one promised in the book of Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The word power is the word Dunamis in the Greek. The overcoming nature of the believer is rooted in faith in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. It is through Him that we receive the ability to persevere, to pray for the sick and see them recover, to see God do mighty deeds and miracles. He is the one who reveals the knowledge of God to us and gives us wisdom. He is the one who leads us deeper into relationship with the Father.

Had it not been for Christ in our place, none of this would be possible.

This is something I love about the Gospel. God didn’t wait for us to fix things. While we were without strength, and the ability to change anything He demonstrated His own love toward us. While we were in sin, separate and without hope in the world. God in his mercy sent Jesus so that death could no longer reign, and we could be forgiven.

This morning, everything can change in your life! Beginning with surrender to Christ, and relationship with the Holy Spirit.