©2001 Larry Huntsperger
Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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1/14/01
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The Shadowlands Of Fear
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Romans 5:6-10
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1/14/01 The Shadowlands Of Fear
Too many Christians
live too much of their lives
in the shadowlands of fear.
There are so many things to fear in this world.
The worst ones involve irreplaceable loss.
What if I loose someone I love?
What if I loose my health,
or my job,
or my investments?
But everyone of those fears
carries with it an even greater,
more unsettling fear - the fear of God
Himself.
I'm not talking about the reverent respect
that every created being
owes to the Creator,
I'm talking about that nagging fear
that God is somehow out to get us.
Those of you who are Christians,
let me ask you a question as a little self-test.
Do you think God delights in His friendship
with you right now?
Do you think He takes as much joy,
as much pleasure in His friendship with you
as He does in His friendship with Billy
Graham, or the Apostle Paul?
For some of you
even the suggestion that God might delight in
His friendship with you
sounds altogether strange.
You can see Him forgiving you.
You can see Him allowing you to share in His
grace extended to the human race
through the death of Christ.
But the thought that He would delight in you
personally
simply does not fit with the way you understand
life to be.
And the problem we run into here, of course,
is that we know ourselves all too well.
We know our failures,
we know all those thoughts we have
that are far less than loving,
or righteous,
or pure.
We know all those times,
all those places,
all those events in which we have fallen so
far short
of who we wanted to be,
and who our God created us to be.
And we know that our God
knows about all of those, too.
And the truth is,
when we think about God's attitude toward us
personally,
we are far more comfortable with terms
such as "accept",
and "forgive",
and "tolerate",
than we are with the idea of Him delighting in us.
If we picture ourselves
standing in a crowd before God in heaven,
we might almost expect Him to approach us
and say,
"Now, what was your name again?"
And the truth is,
because we know that our performance
so often
falls so far below perfection,
we are certain it must affect God's attitude toward
us.
I began our time this morning
by mentioning that many Christians
live much of their lives
fearing so many things.
I am convinced that much of that fear,
in fact most of it is rooted in the fact
that, even as Christians,
we are still afraid of our God,
and we are still afraid of Him
because we know our performance falls
short of what we think it should be,
and there will be some way
in which He is going to make us pay
for those sins.
We are going to return this morning
to our study of the first 11 verses
of the 5th chapter of Romans.
And we are going to be looking at
what in many respects are the most remarkable 5
verses
in that 11 verse section.
It has been nearly a month since we were in this
Romans study,
so we need to take a few minutes
to get ourselves back into what's happening
here.
Even though this passage comes 5 chapters into this
letter,
these first 11 verses are structured into Paul's
writings
at a place
and in a way that is intended to provide
the reader
with the first words we hear from our God
following our entrance into His family
through faith in Christ's death for our sins.
Throughout the first four chapters of the book
we saw Paul begin his conversation with us
at the point where we all begin
in our relationship with our God -
separated from Christ,
with nothing but the hope that somehow our
good deeds in life
will bring us into good standing with our
Creator.
As we moved through those 4 chapters
we saw Paul use flawless logic
to show us how,
on the basis of our performance,
as measured by the moral law of God,
every one of us stands hopelessly,
but justifiably condemned before God.
Rom. 3:19 ¶ Now we know that whatever
the Law says, it speaks to those who are
under the Law, that every mouth may be
closed, and all the world may become
accountable to God;
Rom. 3:20 because by the works of the Law
no flesh will be justified in His sight; for
through the Law comes the knowledge of
sin.
Then, having forced us to the logical acceptance
of this terrifying truth,
he turns a major corner in his letter with the words,
Rom. 3:21 "But now apart from the
Law ..."
He then goes on to explain to us how through
Christ
God has offered us a way in which we can be
reunited with Him
in an eternal love relationship,
not on the basis of anything we do or don't do,
but rather on the basis of simply believing that
when Jesus Christ died on that cross
He was offering Himself as the full, eternal
payment for our sins.
He offers us ... the righteousness of God
through faith in Jesus Christ for all those
who believe ... being justified as a gift by
His grace through the redemption which is
in Christ Jesus ... For we maintain that a
man is justified by faith apart from works
of the Law. (Romans 3:22, 24, 28)
So, in the first 4 chapters Paul walks us through
both the reasons
and the means by which
every human being is invited into union
with God
on the basis of simple faith in Christ.
Those first 4 chapters
are directed to the entire human race.
They are a clear, open presentation
of God's offer of forgiveness and restoration
to all those who will accept it.
But then, with Romans 5:1
we saw Paul turn another major corner in his
writing.
It is at this point that his message
and his audience narrows considerably.
He begins that 5th chapter with the words,
"Therefore having been justified by
faith...",
and from this point on he is speaking exclusively
to those
who have accepted the offer God has made
us through Christ.
Romans 5:1 is the point at which
Paul's communication becomes closed circuit,
directed exclusively to the people of God.
I mentioned to you in the past
that a good way to visualize what's going on
here
is for us to picture our entrance into the
Family of God through faith in Christ
as being like our entrance into a literal
house.
As we enter the front door,
our Heavenly Father Himself
is there to meet us.
And before He shows us our room,
before He talks with us about our responsibilities
in the family,
before He talks with us about relating to our
brothers and sisters in the house,
or relating to folks outside,
before He says anything to us
about the family obligations
and special responsibilities He will entrust to
us,
before we even get out of the entry way,
He sits down with us on a little bench
right there by the door,
and He tells us about what has changed
between us and Himself.
And we have heard Him tell us about 5 of those
changes so far.
The first words we heard Him speak were these:
Rom. 5:1 Therefore having been justified
by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ...
Whether we believe it or not,
whether we accept it or not,
whether we understand it or not,
the truth is the battle has ended forever
between us and our Creator.
We may still be afraid of Him.
We may still run from Him,
and hid from Him,
and even fight against His involvement
in our lives.
But He will always,
with every action,
and every involvement of His in our lives
be fighting FOR us,
for our freedom,
for our health,
for our greater fulfillment in life.
The next thing we hear Him say to us
about our new life in His family
is that our faith has also resulted in our
obtaining...our introduction ... into this
grace in which we stand...
Our presence in the family,
and our continued life in the household of God
does not depend upon our behavior,
it depends upon the grace of God
which now becomes the foundation
of our life with the King.
And then, from there,
we heard our God begin to deal
with all of that fear we brought with us into
our union with Him.
And He just tells us right out,
that because we now have Him as our Father,
and because we now live in an eternal peace
with Him,
we never again have to be afraid
of anything He will ever do in our lives,
nor do we have to be afraid
of anything anyone else will ever do to us
because He both can and will use everything
that enters our life for good.
The fifth gift He gives us,
and the last one we looked at before we left this
study for the holidays,
was the gift of the Holy Spirit,
given to each of us
with the underlying purpose
that forms the foundation for everything the
Spirit does in us,
for us,
and through us -
that of pouring out within our hearts
the knowledge of the love of God for us.
Many years ago
I briefly visited a group home in Eastern
Washington
that took in boys in their early teens,
boys who, for a lot of different reasons,
had been forced into the state's foster
care system.
While I was there
the man who ran the home
introduced me to one young fellow carrying
firewood into the house.
The boy walked with limp.
When the boy returned to his duties,
the head of the group home said,
"Do you know the first thing that boy asked me the
day he came to us?
He said, 'Do you beat the boys who live here?'"
Most of us enter the family of God
with some of those same fears,
and with that same unspoken question for
our new Father.
Having been beat up by the world around us before
we come to Christ,
and knowing ourselves well enough to realize
that there is no way we are going to be able
to pull this new life off
even close to perfectly,
we can't help but wonder if our new Father is the
type of father
who beats the children who live here.
These first 11 verses in Romans 5
are given to us to provide us with crucial
knowledge
about our new life with God through Christ,
knowledge that provides us with the 7
basic operating principles
for everything that happens in the
Christian life.
But this passage is also given to us
to answer the emotional fears we bring with us
as well.
This is our God saying to us,
"Now at last you are safe,
and you never ever have to be afraid of Me
again."
And this message becomes even more powerful
as we come to the 6th gift given to us by our
God in this passage.
There are 5 gifts given to us in the first 5 verses of
the chapter,
an average of 1 gift a verse.
But then Paul takes the next 5 verses
to share with us the 6th gift.
The gift is eternal and absolute freedom forever
from the wrath of God,
but listen to the way
Paul communicates this gift to us.
Rom. 5:6 For while we were still helpless,
at the right time Christ died for the
ungodly.
Rom. 5:7 For one will hardly die for a
righteous man; though perhaps for the
good man someone would dare even to die.
Rom. 5:8 But God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom. 5:9 Much more then, having now
been justified by His blood, we shall be
saved from the wrath of God through Him.
Rom. 5:10 For if while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the
death of His Son, much more, having been
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
If ever a passage existed
in which our Creator sought to free us forever
from the fear
of His wrath and condemnation
it is this passage.
He begins it by reminding us of our condition
before any of God's redemptive work for us
ever took place.
For while we were still helpless, at the
right time Christ died for the ungodly.
He uses a powerful word in that verse
to describe what we had to offer God
when His love first came to us.
It's that word "helpless".
Do you know what I picture
when I hear that word?
I picture a baby 5 minutes after birth.
It can't feed itself.
It can't dress itself.
It can't clean itself up.
It can't communicate what it needs.
It doesn't even have enough mental content to
know what it needs.
That's us when God intervened in our lives.
And then,
just to make sure we understand God's true heart
attitude toward us,
Paul goes on,
Rom. 5:7 For one will hardly die for a
righteous man; though perhaps for the good
man someone would dare even to die.
Rom. 5:8 But God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.
When every thought we possessed,
every action we committed,
every desire within us was in every way
hostile to God,
and offensive to Him,
He stepped into our lives
and gave us the greatest gift,
the most costly gift we would ever receive
from Him,
His own death in our place for our sins.
And then comes the contrast he wants us to see:
Rom. 5:9 Much more then, having now
been justified by His blood, we shall be
saved from the wrath of God through Him.
Rom. 5:10 For if while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the
death of His Son, much more, having been
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
If God showed us His love
and His compassion
at a time when our every action was
offensive to Him,
why, now that we are His children,
with hearts that love Him and long to please
Him,
why do we still live in fear of His wrath?
We are just like my dog, Pepper.
Every night of His life,
for more than a decade,
we have given him a treat of people food
once we have finished dinner.
It is the absolute high-point of his doggie day.
But every night when we sit down to dinner
he starts literally pacing around the house,
letting out these agonizing little moans,
obviously convinced that this night,
for the first time in his life,
we will forget to give him his treat.
Even though every action on our part
points to the truth
that this night,
like every other night,
we will once again be kind to him,
he can't believe it.
And to those of us who still fear the wrath of God
in response to our sins after we come into His
family,
in this 6th gift He says to us,
"My child look at the facts!
When everything you thought,
and everything you did
was only sin continually
from the instant you woke,
until the instant you slipped off to sleep,
at that time I offered you My kindness,
My compassion,
My forgiveness,
Me acceptance,
and My eternal love.
Now that we are united through Christ,
now that I have cleansed your heart,
now that I have taken My own Spirit
and placed Him within you,
now that you call Me Father,
and I call you My child,
do you think when you sin
I will now suddenly turn against you,
and fling you out of My life,
and pour My wrath out on you?
What kind of God do you think I am, anyway?"
Creating within the child of God
the continued fear of the wrath of God
is one of Satan's most common
and yet most effective attacks on the Christian.
And remarkably he does it
by taking one of the gifts God has given to us
and then twisting it so that it works against
us.
God places within each of us
a new heart that has a hunger for righteousness
and a whole new sensitivity to right and wrong.
But unless we understand
the true nature of our walk with God through
Christ,
our enemy can take that new sensitivity to sin
and use it to create a fear of God within
us
when we fall short of the life we long for.
And so, from the very day we enter the family of
God,
our Heavenly Father wants it clearly understood
that, even though He will be working with us
to free us from the sin bondage in our lives,
we never need to fear
that our sin can ever again have the power
to separate us from the love of our God,
or cause Him to turn against us.