This morning's message will be part one of three called The Benefits of the Benefits of Redemption. We're still in our study of God's decrees this morning. You might remember our study began with this 10th question and answer in Keats' Catechism. The answer to question 10 says the decrees of God are his eternal purpose according to the counsel of his will, whereby for his own glory he has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass." This might be one of the most broad sweeping statements in all the world. Just to say what I just said might be pretty sweeping of a statement, I suppose, but I think it's true. There's nothing more all-encompassing than the doctrine of God's decrees. Now, what have we learned about the decrees of God? God has literally foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. Think about that. This isn't the popular view in 2024, is it? No, it's not. Most people, both secular and religious people, especially in the West, don't believe in a God who is quite this involved or this powerful or this engaged in everything that takes place. Think about what we've heard since we were kids and from Arminian pastors and others. They say things like, God can't interfere with the human will. That's something you hear from Christian pastors. God can't make a person believe or love is another popular idea. These are incredible statements really. And it's probably an indicator as to why the modern world is so troubled. The modern world has forgotten their Bibles. They have forgotten the sovereignty of God too. If they believe at all, they believe in a God who is not in control of all the details. This isn't new. Even our founding fathers, lived in what would be considered modern, if not nearly post-modern times. I think this is why men like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson felt compelled to remove the supernatural from their own so-called Christian faiths. They believed in a God, they believed in a creator, and yet they had no convictions at all about a creator who was also intimately involved in every aspect of this world. Many of these men were deists. They believe in a God as kind of a clockmaker. He makes it, he winds it up, and then he leaves it to run itself. That is a satanic view of our God and his sovereignty. And that satanic undercurrent of postmodernism was at work even in the midst of the Reformation and even in the midst of the Enlightenment periods. I was thinking about this the other day. What is postmodernism? It has destroyed this world of ours, but what is it exactly? Most people just define postmodernism as a skepticism of what was once considered true. Postmodernists question everything. The ongoing conversation about genders might be a good example of where this has taken us. And think about that, we now have to debate the number of genders in this postmodern age. And we have rejected what was once considered unquestionable. Science and observation can absolutely prove that only one gender can have babies. And that gender requires the help of the other gender to do it. There's two genders. Animals have two genders. Even plants have two genders. One produces the seed, one fertilizes the seed. This is observable truth. But since the beginning, Satan has sown a deception among the people of God. And so even the people of God, all the way back to Adam and Eve, have been plagued with this kind of skepticism. The undercurrent of Satan and his deception. Even the most obvious and provable things come under attack as Satan attempts to undermine God, and his holiness, and his authority, and his sovereignty. And the doctrine of the decrees of God, which might be one of the most important things for us to grasp, has been essentially removed from this world because of that deception. Think about the mess this world is in. I'm not even talking about current events. I'm not talking about wars and rumors of wars and I'm not talking about famine and disease, although those things prove my point as well. I'm talking about the human soul. Look around. What do you see? You see hurt and broken people on all sorts of antidepressants and antipsychotics and people with eating disorders and drinking problems and other addictions. These aren't These things aren't just outside of the church either. These things plague every single child of Adam. Every single person who is born into this world is plagued by sin and the effects of sin. That means addiction. That means physical and mental illness. That means pain, physical and mental. That's the sad part about this life. It is hard. I'm not saying that to whine, it's just true. We are slandered, we are abused, and sometimes we slander and abuse others. We are sinners all. And as Paul makes clear, Christians are among the chiefs of them. But what Satan has done to us as a race, is he has stolen the only real hope we have on this earth, and that is the hope of a loving God and a Savior. and not just any Savior, but a Savior who is all-powerful and all-involved, the sovereign God of creation. Some might deny God's existence altogether. Some might say He's powerful but not caring. Others will say He's caring but not powerful. But almost everywhere you look, you will find a hurting, hopeless person with a wrong view of God and his decrees. That's why the study of God's decrees isn't just some intellectual pursuit we are on. We don't study these things because we want to know things. We don't study theology to win debates at Thanksgiving when family comes from all around the country. Think about the word theology even. It's the study of God. That's what that word means. As we study God, and we study God first because he deserves to be studied as our creator and our provider, but also because we benefit greatly in this life by studying him. When we study the decrees of God, we find a God who has ordained all things. A God who cares so much for his children that even the hard things in this life are given real meaning and purpose because he has given them real meaning and purpose by gathering us to himself through them, through those hardships. A person who understands the decrees of God can say with certainty, no matter what their circumstances are and no matter how awful the trials that God is using the events in this life for their good. We can believe that. Cancer, death in the family, hardship, disease, war, you name it. God isn't hustling around trying to make good out of the bad here. No, because even the things we see as bad are part of God's purpose in gathering all things together in one in Christ. And so when bad things happen in this life, it's not a matter of hoping that God is able to use these things for good. It's a matter of what is God doing? What great and wonderful purpose does God have for me in this trial? God is not surprised by anything because God is at the front of everything. When we suffer, we can literally look to God and know that He has a purpose in our suffering. Again, the catechism question that started this study, question 10, says, it is for His own glory that He has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. And that means everything. That means no matter how dark this world looks, God is using that darkness for our good. Pick the worst possible thing that could happen to you and think about that. And prepare yourself in your heart to know that when that day comes, you can face it knowing that God is there with you and God is going to use it for good. He is preparing us for eternity in whatsoever comes to pass. He's preparing us for a place without darkness and without suffering and without any kind of hardship whatsoever. And so whatsoever comes to pass comes to pass so that God may gather all things together in one in Christ. Imagine if the entire world faced hardships with that knowledge. Imagine the difference. There would probably be no divorce or war any of that. The reason this world is so contentious is because this world doesn't believe anyone has their back. This world has been blinded to the glory of God. As Christians, we know that we don't have to fight our own battles, at least not like the world does. We can let the Lord handle our battles while we simply bow before him on our knees. We trust him. to vindicate us. And so we find joy even in suffering. We'll talk about that more in a few minutes, but that's a real part of understanding God's decrees. You can almost smile as a Christian when hard things come your way because you can know that your own Heavenly Father is working in your life. That is a hope which surpasses understanding. And that's the topic of our time this morning. God's decrees and the benefits of the benefits of redemption. Let's pray as we begin. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are here with us. We thank you, Lord, that you have ordained even this day for us. You have ordained every part of it. You have ordained the hurt in our own hearts. You have ordained the trials and hardships in our lives. And Lord, you have done all of it for a purpose, a purpose to glorify yourself, a purpose to prepare us for our heavenly hope. And we just thank you, Lord, that your spirit is with us today. We thank you that he has promised to be our teacher. And I pray, Lord, that your word would come to find its way into our hearts and make real change and have its real power felt. I pray, Lord, for changed hearts and lives every time we open your Bible. And I pray that even for us right now, as we study it today. We thank you for Keech's catechism. We thank you for the men who have studied before us, who've left these things for us to ponder. And we ask you, dear Lord, that they would not be glorified, but that you would, as another generation comes to lay hold of the same truths that you've laid upon the hearts of your saints for decades and centuries. So we thank you, Lord, for who you are. We thank you for your promises. We thank you for your decrees. And we ask you, dear Lord, to open our hearts and minds to the benefits of redemption and even the benefits of those benefits as we are going to study today. We thank you for all these things in Christ's name, amen. Okay, question 39 is our catechism question this morning. Question 39 asks, what are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification. Those, of course, as we studied in the past few weeks, those are called the benefits of redemption. And so we see that there are actually benefits of these benefits, and that will be our topic in the next few weeks. And the answer this morning is the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification are assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end. So we begin with the benefits we receive in this life. That's where we will begin in our three-part study. In this life. That's where we begin our study. How do we benefit from Christ and his redemption in this life? So the benefits of redemption are justification, adoption, and sanctification. We are declared righteous in Jesus Christ. We are adopted into the family of God. in Jesus Christ, and we are made holy and righteous in the new man through sanctification in Jesus Christ. Those are the benefits of redemption. We are justified, we are adopted, and we are sanctified. And we see now that these benefits have benefits. And the statement here, in this life, tells us that there are benefits that we experience in different phases, so to speak. And our next two questions cover the coming phases. This one covers the phase of this life itself. This three message series will be split up according to the three phases in which we experience the benefits of these benefits. The first is in this life, the second will be at our death, and the third will be at the resurrection. So the Benefits of redemption are experienced in three phases. In this life, at death, and in the resurrection. So what is meant by in this life? Well, first of all, it isn't for everyone in this life, is it? No, it's specifically for believers. In this life. To be the recipient of the benefits of redemption, a person must first be redeemed. And the Bible is very clear that there are those who are destined for redemption as well as those who are destined to destruction. And so this group of people, these recipients of the benefits of redemption in this life, are the redeemed people of God. These are believers. These are people born of God, born-again believers, people who have experienced the power of the Spirit and changed and transformed lives. People who have been justified and adopted and sanctified. And so these redeemed people are receiving something from God. And so God has to actually give us something before we can dwell with Him in eternity. God has to sovereignly decree things before we can become partakers of redemption. We know that God cannot stand to be in the presence of sin. He won't be in the presence of sin, actually. And so he begins with justification. He begins by making sinful people holy and he begins that work in this life. We experience that, right? We experience justification in this life. Now I have a rhetorical question for you. Do you think the perfect holiness required by God is accomplished and experienced in this life? just based on what we see in ourselves and other Christians, we know that the answer to that is no, right? None of us are perfect, even though we have been given the perfect righteousness of God. We could almost despair at this, right? God requires perfect holiness. How can we ever stand, even the redeemed people of God? But that's the thing. He declares us holy and righteous, in Jesus when we believe. We are declared just, but that doesn't mean we have the experience of that perfect holiness, does it? No, it doesn't. There are hundreds of examples of the holy saints of God sinning. Those saints, even in the midst of their sin, were righteous, though, in the sight of God. And so there's a certain already and not yet aspect to these benefits of redemption. I'm already saved, but I'm not yet perfect. I'm already redeemed, but I'm not yet saved from this sinful body. I'm already righteous in Christ, but I'm not yet righteous in myself. But be assured, we will be. One day, When we are finally with Him in glory, we're going to be completely without sin. No sinful desires, no sinful acts, and we will be completely holy and righteous, both in Christ and in our own souls. In this life, we have an already and a not yet aspect of redemption and the benefits of redemption. In other words, don't lose hope when you see yourself as imperfect. That's what we can expect in this life. God will make you perfect when you leave this life behind. In other words, perfection is not the promise for the believer in this life. So what is the promise for this life? We'll start again by turning in our Bibles to Romans chapter five. We read the entire chapter this morning. I'm only gonna read a handful of verses in our message today. This is one of my favorite books in the Bible and probably one of my favorite chapters as well, Romans 5, starting in verse one. Therefore, having been justified by faith, that's justification, we have peace with God. And just to make a comment, we have that in this life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We can have that now. And not only that, but we also have, we also glory in tribulations. knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope. These are things we can lay hold of in this life. Paul goes on in verse five, now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. It's a benefit of redemption. Now think about this, having been justified, it says, we have peace. Now let's go back to our study of justification. What does it mean to be justified? It means God has made unrighteous people righteous in Christ, right? So we were sinners and we were at odds with God and enemies of God until we were redeemed by God and washed in the blood of Christ and made pure in his sight. Why do we have peace? Is it because we are suddenly able to keep the law and live righteously? Well, no. We don't live perfectly at all. And so we also can't have peace from our righteousness, right? That's why so many Christians struggle with assurance. You might remember those fancy theological terms I kept using in our study of justification and sanctification. Remember the words imputed and infused. Remember that imputed means it is put on our account, right? It's somebody else's righteousness. It's Christ's righteousness simply put on our account. That's the righteousness of justification. It's not ours. It's not even something we possess in a way. It's something that Jesus possesses and it's something he has given us in the sense that it simply covers us. We are covered in his righteous robes, but we are still living in this sinful body of ours. That's the already and not yet thing again. We are already declared righteous in Christ, but not yet righteous in ourselves and in our experience, at least not perfectly. And the peace that we have in redemption is a peace that comes from understanding this. We should certainly be living our lives as holy and righteous and blameless stewards and ambassadors for Christ. That's for certain. We're not to live as the heathen and pagans. But we're also not judged by our own righteousness. Not if we're redeemed. Because if we were, our peace would fluctuate every time we sinned. And that kind of peace is no peace at all. That would mean that the Christian life was something that was more like chaos than peace. Around every corner would be uncertainty and unrest every time we sin. But no, we are promised a life of rest here, of peace. Now obviously there's an already and not yet aspect to our peace too, right? We can have peace knowing that we are forgiven and not the enemies of God and yet live in a body of death with unrest all around us. We are already at peace with God, but not yet at peace with ourselves and the world. We are already at peace with God, and yet not at peace with our own flesh. Already and not yet. So what do we have already? Well, if you put your hope and are covered in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, and you have been born of God, you can already have a sense of assurance of God's love and a peace of conscience. You can have this as part of this life. Let's think about the already aspect of assurance of God's love. Assurance of God's love is found in one place and that is God's Son. Jesus Christ is the only person worthy of the Father's love. We know that, right? And Jesus Christ, in his earthly ministry, lived for sinners who were estranged from God, and enemies of God, and the recipients of God's righteous and just wrath. There is no promise of love for God's enemies, and so there can be no promise of assurance of God's love for his enemies either. But believers are not the enemies of God, because we are covered in Christ's blood. God literally loves us and adopts us into his own household as if we were Christ himself. When you are covered in Jesus' blood, you are loved as if you were Christ himself. Spend a lifetime wrapping your mind around that. That love transfers to you immediately when you are saved. That's something that we can say is already a part of our experience. So we can have assurance of God's love because his love for us is based on his love for Christ. That's how secure we are in him and that's how secure his love for us is. That's a remarkable thing. We ponder these things over and over. You are loved as much by God as he loves his own perfect son. We partake of that in this life simply because we are justified in the blood of his son. Romans 5 says this is through faith. How do you partake of this? By putting your faith in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, by trusting God's promises, by hoping in him alone and not in your own righteousness. Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. And then you can receive the benefit of assurance of God's love. That's something you can experience already in this life. Same goes for the peace of conscience. Conscience is the part of the soul that publishes the law for us, right? It's the voice inside that tells us right from wrong. It knows what is good and it knows what is bad. And the conscience is hardwired into us to keep track of the rights and wrongs. Ask anyone from any culture, particularly someone who is not a Christian, what they must do to be right with God, and what do they tell you? They say that you have to do more good than bad, right? Pretty much. Why? Why does everyone believe that, it seems? Because the conscience, which is given to all people at creation, is trying to keep the covenant of works. The conscience is constantly publishing the law to the soul, trying to persuade and convince the soul to do what is right. And so without Christ, there is no peace of conscience because the conscience torments the soul with its own record keeping. Think of the holy war by John Bunyan. Bunyan writes that after the fall of man's soul, Mr. Conscience, called the recorder, is put out of office and becomes, quote, very obnoxious, both to Diabolus and to the inhabitants of the town. This, of course, is a picture of the fallen soul. The fallen soul has removed Mr. Conscience from his office, but it can't remove him from its presence. It no longer heeds his counsel, but it cannot help but hear his warnings. The conscience torments the soul. It robs the fallen soul of comfort and peace. The law is literally published in the human heart. That's part of the image of God. And that law continues to publish itself there until the conscience is literally hardened. That's why the Bible warns us, harden not your heart. Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. But that conscience is what the Lord uses to bring his saints to peace. The same obnoxious conscience that annoyed us in our state of rebellion will be what finally breaks us from our dependence on our own righteousness. It's the conscience, it's the recorder, the one keeping track of our good and bad that the Lord uses to show us our lost and hopeless condition. And that's when we are finally able to trust in Christ alone because the conscience has showed us our sin at the direction of the grace of the Holy Spirit. And so the obnoxious Mr. Conscience who kept us from peace will be at peace finally in this life once the soul is settled in the hope of righteousness found in Jesus Christ. If you lack peace of conscience, that's a good thing. That means the conscience isn't yet hardened. Turn to Christ and be covered in his blood and you can receive peace today. That's the promise of redemption in this life. That's a benefit of the benefits of redemption. It's a benefit of the benefit of justification and adoption and sanctification. How about joy? Catechism says we have joy in the Holy Spirit in this life. This is another thing we can have already. If you're still in Romans 5, We pick up where we left off in verse 5. Verse 5 says, now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Then skip down to verse 17, for if by the one man's offense, Death reigned through the One. Much more, those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Death gives way to life. Chaos gives way to peace. Suffering gives way to joy in Christ. What is this teaching us? Well, once again, it's revealing that there is hope in Christ and a gift in Christ and a benefit in Christ, which is the joy of the Holy Spirit. The love of God, according to God's own word, has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. We have received him. That's a benefit of redemption. I read a book once called The Joy of Calvinism. And in that book, there's a definition for the word joy, and I'll never forget it. It's so helpful. It says, joy is the settled certainty that God is in control. Let me say that again. It says, joy is the settled certainty that God is in control. That's joy. So the joy in the Holy Spirit means that we have a joy which is literally poured into us by God himself in this life. The Holy Spirit will literally be your source of joy when everything else seems wrong in life. When hardship set in, or illness, or death, or war, or famine, or whatever, and the whole world is trying to rob you of your joy, the Holy Spirit will be our constant source of joy. The joy that we receive from the Holy Spirit is something poured into our hearts by God. That's a benefit of redemption that we can experience in this life. That's as sure a promise as salvation itself. That's as sure and settled as the righteousness we have in Christ. It is perfect and it cannot be thwarted, not by death or life or principalities or powers or anything else. Let me give you an illustration. If joy were a fire inside of us, the Holy Spirit is the oil which cannot be quenched. That's a promise in this life for the believer. That's a benefit of redemption. The source of our joy is God himself dwelling inside of us, promoting that joy, teaching us, guiding us, loving us, challenging us, giving us trials, and then revealing himself in the midst of them. Another benefit we can expect in this life is an increase of grace, an increase of grace. It's kind of an interesting statement too. What does it mean that grace is increased? Well, I don't think it means that the quality of the grace increases because the quality of God's grace is always and only perfect. And I don't think it really means a quantity of grace either. I think each and every person is given the exact amount of grace needed according to God's will and purpose. And so if I'm right and this grace doesn't increase in quantity or quality, what does that mean? What does it mean that grace increases in this life for the Christian? Well, Proverbs 4 and verse 18 gives us a little insight. It says, the path of the just is like the shining sun that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. So the Christian walk, this walk, this path that we're on, is like a shining sun. Now think about the sun. The sun doesn't shine brighter each day, does it? But every day the sun offers its light, right? And so grace is more of a more and more in the sense that it doesn't stop. It's a wave upon wave of grace. It's a grace upon grace. Each day that the sun offers its light is a day to explore and see more. And each day that we examine the brightness of the sun and the brightness of God's grace, the brighter grace is to us, right? And so an ever increasing grace means opportunity upon opportunity to walk in the light with the Lord himself, who is the true and eternal son of glory. God will strengthen us more and more, and give us peace more and more, and give us joy more and more, and give us assurance more and more. This is the increase of grace. And it is this more and more, it is by this increase of grace that we persevere also. 1 John 5 in verse 13 says, these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Grace upon grace fuels the perseverance that God requires of us, just like grace upon grace moves us on the path of righteousness and sanctification and assurance and every other aspect of our Christian life. These are the things we receive in this life. 1 Peter 1 and verse 5 says, we are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. We are kept by the power of God through faith. I'd like to end our message by thinking about our faith for a moment. Once again, what is faith? I think people struggle with the real meaning of faith, and I think that can prevent us from exercising it. Faith is not blind or easy, and yet faith is not a perfect understanding, and it's also not hard. Easy-believe-ism, which requires nothing of you, is just as wrong as legalism, which requires perfection from you. Faith is neither of those things. It's not just reciting a prayer and asking God into your heart, but it's also not a strict adherence to some ancient code of Jewish rabbis or even the covenant of works. Faith is belief and faith has a doctrine. Faith is not something arbitrary. It is exact. It is hope and it is trust. But the most important aspects of faith are its source and its focus. Faith is a gift of God. God is the source of faith. And so if faith is something that you desire, it is to God that you go to find it. He says, the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. God is the source of faith. And faith is coming to him. And Christ is the focus of faith. We believe in him. We believe that He is real. We believe what the Bible says about Him and His ministry. We believe that He is God, born of a woman, to live a perfect life to save lost sinners like us. And we believe that His death on the cross paid every debt that could ever need paying by men. And we believe that it is His righteousness alone and His blood alone that gives us a standing before the Father. And we believe that that same blood and righteousness is the reason that we can have assurance of God's love and peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Spirit and an increase of grace and a persevering faith. All that he requires of us is freely given in the gospel. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Those are the benefits of the benefits of redemption as we experience them in this life. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you again for our time each Lord's Day where we can come together under your word. And I pray, Lord, that you would bless our study today. And I pray, dear Lord, that these benefits of redemption that are clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures would be something that we experience ourselves in our own Christian walk. I pray, dear Lord, that day by day we might find more and more comfort and peace knowing that you are in control, that you are even in the midst of the hardships that we face in this world, that we can literally smile in a way as we see darkness and as we see hardship and trials, knowing that you are truly doing a wonderful work in our lives. So as hard as it is, and even through tears, we maybe can say that we know with assurance that you are working and that you are good and that you are faithful to us even when the world looks like it's about to swallow us up. So I thank you, dear Lord, for this kind of truth. for this kind of assurance, for this kind of doctrine of your goodness and your power. You are both caring and powerful. You are both loving and just and merciful and gracious. And for that, we thank you and we praise you. In Christ's name we pray, amen.