BLESSED ASSURANCE – PART 2 ROMANS 5:5-11

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Three more links in the Grace Chain of our blessed assurance FOURTH LINK: WE NOW HAVE DIVINE LOVE v. 5b-8 A fourth, marvelous link in the unbreakable chain that

eternally binds believers to Christ, and thereby gives us incredible assurance, is our possession of the divine LOVE OF GOD.

God’s love is divine love and is not characterized in receiving, but giving—IT’S GOD’S GRACE GIFT!

Example: Bridge on the River Kwai

WHAT KIND OF LOVE? When a person receives salvation through Jesus Christ, he receives a gift of a love relationship with God that lasts throughout all eternity.

The most overwhelming truth of the gospel is that God loved sinful, fallen, rebellious mankind so much. JOHN 3:16

“Poured out” refers to lavish outpouring to the point of overflowing. Our heavenly Father does not dole out His love in measured drops, but in immeasurable torrents.

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THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT The fact that God gives His HOLY SPIRIT to indwell believers is itself a marvelous testimony to His love for us, because He did not indwell those whom He did not love.

Speaking to His disciples about the HOLY SPIRIT, Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’” JOHN 7:38

Our spiritual security is not in our ability to live godly, but in the power of the HOLY SPIRIT to make us godly.

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The natural man has no such desires or experiences, and even Christians would not have them apart from being indwelt and led by the HOLY SPIRIT.

When the Lord is given free reign in our lives, the Holy Spirit will bear fruit in and through us, the first fruit of which is love. GAL. 5:22

When we live in disobedience, not only will we not feel loving toward God, but we will not feel His love for us. GOD’S LOVE IS AMAZING.

THE NATURAL MAN IS INCAPABLE

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HOW AMAZING IS GOD’S LOVE? Paul reminds us of the greatest manifestation of God’s love in all the Bible. ROMANS 5:6

While men were utterly helpless to bring themselves to God, He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, notwithstanding the fact that we were ungodly and completely unworthy of His love.

Natural human love is almost invariably based on the attractiveness of the object of love, and we are inclined to love people who love us. BUT NOT GOD!

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FIFTH LINK: OUR CERTAINTY OF DELIVERANCE FROM WRATH v. 9-10

As if the first four were not enough to completely overwhelm us with assurance . . .

Our certainty of deliverance from God’s judgment—I will never taste His wrath!

As part of His atoning work, Jesus delivered us “from the wrath to come” (1 THESS. 1:10), because on the cross He took upon Himself the penalty and suffered the wrath that we deserve.

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SAVING GRACE IS KEEPING GRACE If sin was no barrier to the beginning of our redemption,

how can it become a barrier to its completion?

If sin in the greatest degree could not prevent our becoming reconciled, how can sin in lesser degree prevent our staying reconciled?

If God’s grace covers the sins even of His enemies, how much more does it cover the sins of His children?

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SIXTH LINK: OUR GREAT JOY IN HIM And although this divine evidence is subjective, it is nonetheless real.

The abundant joy that God gives His children through the Lord Jesus Christ includes grateful joy in their salvation and simply in who God is.

Surely, one of the reasons David was a man after God’s own heart was his rejoicing in the Lord for the Lord’s own sake. PSALM 34:3

JESUS LOVES ME THIS I KNOW . . . WHAT JOY!

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BLESSED ASSURANCE The six links of God’s grace that bind us to Him forever:

1. His divine love

2. His deliverance from wrath

3. His incredible joy

4. His peace in your heart

5. His grace-filled living

6. Perseverance in tribulation while hoping in His glory

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