Sermon: Romans 5: 12-21 Grace abounding

 

Let’s pray:
Lord God almighty,
speak to us now, through your word,
help us to grasp the glories of your grace,
freely given to us
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

You might be looking forward to lots of different things in 2026. Some of us will be looking forward to the football World Cup. Northern Ireland still have a pathway to qualify, but England and Scotland have already qualified. And even now, five months to the day before the World Cup begins, already I can make a certain prediction. The commentators will keep banging on about England and 1966. 

The eleven players who were on the pitch won the World Cup, but they did it for the English - and we’ve never stopped hearing about it ever since! What the players did, they did on behalf of their people. And so, even people who weren’t around then, who weren’t born, live out the reality of the actions of their representatives. They’ll say, ‘We won’ even if they never kicked a ball in their life, even if they didn’t contribute anything to the decisive action.

It can work both ways. Fans rejoice when we win; but also feel it when the results aren’t going our way. I have a niece who delights to text me ‘haha, you lost’ when I definitely wasn’t playing football. Our ultimate destiny is tied up in who our representative is.

That’s what we see in our Bible reading today. There are two representatives; two options, and we are in either one or the other. Their actions have consequences for us. Our standing is tied up with theirs - for good or ill. The two men are Adam and Jesus Christ. What they did affects us. The question is - who is our representative? Which one are we in?

Last week we saw how we have peace with God (covering our past), and now stand in grace (securing our present), and rejoice in hope (guaranteeing our future). We have been reconciled to God, as Jesus died for us, his enemies, showing his love for us. Today we see how Adam’s sin drags us down with him; but that Jesus’ grace abounds to us even more than we could imagine.  We’re either in Adam, or we’re in Jesus - so which is it?

You might remember the road safety campaign - just one drink increases your risk of crashing. Well, in our first reading, from Genesis, we saw that just one bite brought the loss of paradise, and unleashed untold suffering on an innocent world. Adam had been told to not eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was his own command. And, he disobeyed. In Genesis 3 Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the serpent, and the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on - but the buck stops with Adam. He was given the command. He was the first man, the representative of all of humanity, and he failed. He disobeyed. But we can’t blame Adam - each of us would have done exactly the same. 

Actions have consequences. If you drop a stone into a lake, the ripples spread further and further out, far beyond the original impact. Listen to Romans 5:12: ‘Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…’

Sin entered the world through one man. Adam ate, and we’ve been living with the consequences ever since - and dying with the consequences ever since too. When we see the word sin here - don’t think so much of one wrong action. Rather sin here is a power, a slave master. And sin leads to death - and so because all have sinned, death comes to all. That’s the reality of life ‘in’ Adam - it’s what it is to be human. As verse 19 says, we were ‘made sinners’ through Adam’s disobedience - we’re not sinners because we sin, but rather we sin because we’re sinners. 

All of us are in Adam. It’s the human situation. And just as family traits are passed down - you’re just like your mum; you have your dad’s eyes or whatever; we’re all just like our first father, Adam. He has passed down his sinfulness to us - by nature, and by our choice too. 

It’s why Jesus had to come to rescue us. Adam is (14) a pattern of the one to come. So you have Adam, and his action affecting everyone connected to him;  but now you have Jesus, and his action affecting everyone connected to him. (Referred to as the gift, the act of righteousness, and the obedience)

Veres 15: ‘But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace… overflow to the many!’ One trespass led to death for many people; God’s grace overflows to many people in a how much more kind of way. 

Verse 16: ‘Again, the gift of God is not like the result of one man’s sin: The judgement followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.’ One sin led to judgement and condemnation. Jesus’ gift of grace gives us justification. 

Do you see how Jesus overturns what Adam had messed up? Jesus restores what was broken. But not just bringing things back to where they were before. By overabundantly exceeding how things were before. Just look at verse 17. ‘For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. The trespass meant that death reigned. You would expect it to say that through God’s grace, life now reigns. That’s not what it says! Rather, it says that we who receive God’s grace will reign in life through Jesus. We who were in Adam, with death reigning over us, are now, in Jesus, reigning in life. It’s a complete reversal! It’s even better than before. And it’s all because of what Jesus has done for us, on our behalf.

The result of Adam’s one trespass brought condemnation for all men (and women!); and the result of Jesus’ one act of righteousness is justification that brings life for all people. What is that one act of righteousness? The perfect life Jesus lived, obeying God’s law, and giving himself for us on the cross. Where Adam had followed his own will; Jesus prayed: Your will be done. And so whereas Adam’s disobedience made us sinners, Jesus’ obedience makes us righteous.

We need to be careful, though, when we see the words ‘all men’ or ‘the many.’ They’re not referring to the same group of people. Everyone is in Adam, but not everyone is in Christ. The representatives act on behalf of those they’re representing. All of us are in Adam, born into the human family. But to be in Christ, we must be born again; receiving what Jesus did for us - accepting the gift he gives, the grace he offers. 

And the glorious good news of our reading today is that where sin increased, grace increased all the more. There is always more grace for us than sins in us. God’s grace abounds to us, covering our sin, bringing pardon and peace and reassurance because of all that Jesus has done for us. We can be all too aware of our sin. We can wonder - could God still love and forgive me, for the number of sins, or the type of sins that we’ve committed? His grace abounds. Where sin increases, grace increases all the more. We can never run out of grace; there’s always more for us, in Jesus our Saviour. 

On my shelves I have the book written by Philip Yancey: What’s so amazing about grace? He wrote the book about grace, and yet this week, he admitted to an eight-year long adulterous relationship. In Adam, our sinfulness runs deep. May God’s grace in Christ abound to Philip Yancey, and to us too.

May we rejoice even more than England fans recalling the triumphs of 1966; as we rejoice in the grace of Jesus, and all that he has achieved for us in his perfect life, death, and resurrection. 

Let’s pray:
God of grace,
we thank you for your grace,
abundant, and abounding
covering our sin,
setting us free.
Thank you for Jesus, our Saviour. Amen.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday 11th January 2026.

Sermon: Romans 5: 1-11 Peace, Grace and Hope

 

Let’s pray:
Heavenly Father,
help us today to hear your word,
that we would rejoice in you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

It’s the start of a new year, the first Sunday of 2026. A new year brings the opportunity to take stock of where we are, what we’re doing with our life. It’s why so many people make resolutions - wanting to change something about themselves, correcting something amiss, having a fresh start, doing things differently from now on. 

This morning we’re returning to Paul’s letter to the Romans. From September to Christmas, we worked our way through the first four chapters. And this morning’s reading ties in with that idea of taking stock, of seeing where we are, of setting into the new year with a clear sense of purpose - no matter what this year will bring. And it’s all because of what we have through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Jesus, our past, present and future are all secure; it’s Jesus that makes all the difference to how we see things, and how we can live in 2026 and beyond - both now, and for ever. It would be helpful for you to have your Bible open - please turn to page 1132 with me.

Chapter 5 starts with the word ‘therefore.’ Everything that Paul is about to say is based on what he has already said. It’s because of chapters 1-4, therefore… And those chapters are summed up in the words that immediately follow the therefore: ‘since we have been justified through faith…’ (1)

Even though we, with everyone else, had rebelled against God, even though we had sinned, the good news of the gospel is that we can be justified - declared innocent, made right with God, because of what Jesus has done for us - and we receive this through faith, by trusting in Jesus, that he died for us. So if you’re a Christian this morning, if you’re trusting in Jesus, you have been justified - and here’s what else that justification brings:

‘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 rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.’ (1-2)

So what do we have? We have peace with God; we stand in grace; we rejoice in hope. First of all - peace with God. We were God’s enemies, we had rebelled against him, his wrath was being revealed against all unrighteousness, and therefore against us. But now, having been justified, we have peace with God. We have been reconciled to him. The war is over. Peace has come. That means our past is dealt with - God is no longer angry with our sin. So we have peace with God.
And we have even more. You see, you can have peace with someone, and that just means you never bother with them. You’ve stopped fighting, but you’re not in relationship. But peace with God brings us near to him, brings us close, gives us what we didn’t have before. ‘We have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.’ (2) We’re standing in grace - God’s good favour towards us. 

So after Christmas, the January credit card bill arrives, and you think - how much did I spend? You’re in debt. Being justified means that God has cancelled our debts. That takes us to a balance of 0. But God goes further, and doesn’t just cancel our debt, he also lavishes his grace upon us. He credits our account with the riches of Christ. And so, if peace with God means our past is dealt with; we now stand in grace for the present. God is for us, so our present is secure.

And on top of all that, ‘we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.’ If we have been justified, we rejoice in hope. We’re looking forward to all that is to come - the glory of God. What a turnaround! In 1:23 we saw that the problem was that we exchanged the glory of God for images. And in 3:23 we saw that we are sinners who fall short of the glory of God. But it is now guaranteed for us - we can look forward to being with God for all eternity, beholding his glory. Our future is secure. 

What a great word to hear at the start of this new year. Peace and grace and hope. And they’re all yours, if you’re trusting in Jesus, if you’ve been justified by him. And they’re available to you if you aren’t yet trusting in Jesus. What a great start to the new year, if you were to start to follow Jesus, put your faith in him, and be justified. Why leave it any longer?

Now, hopefully that all makes sense to you. Our past is dealt with by having peace with God; our present is sorted by standing in his grace; our future is secure as we rejoice in hope. But verse 3 doesn’t seem to make sense, at least not initially. Do you see how it starts? ‘Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings…’ 

Now, hang on, Paul, we want to say. Rejoicing in hope, yes, absolutely. Rejoicing in sufferings? Really? Notice that he’s not saying rejoicing for our sufferings - as if we enjoy suffering itself. But he is saying that we rejoice in our suffering. Why? Because of what God is doing in us through the suffering. ‘Because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.’ 

As we begin this new year, we may not know how we might suffer, what we might have to face, but even now, we can resolve to face it in this way. Not asking - God, why me? But asking - God, what are you teaching me through this? What are you producing in me through this? You see, suffering produces perseverance; which produces character; which produces hope. 

We use the word hope in lots of different ways. I hope it won’t rain tomorrow. I hope my team will win. But Christian hope is sure and certain. It’s guaranteed by what God has done to demonstrate his love for us. 

Verse 5: ‘And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.’ God has poured out his love into our hearts. We can feel, and know, and experience the truth that God loves us. The Holy Spirit confirms that love in your heart. 

And we can be sure that God loves us, not just by looking inwardly and feeling that love subjectively, but also by looking back to the cross to see that love objectively. What happened there? ‘But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ (8)

When we were powerless; when we were his enemies; when we had done nothing to deserve it; when no one else would have done it; Christ died for us. If we were only depending on our inward feelings of God’s love, they can change, depending on our emotions or our conscience or our performance. However we’re feeling, we can look to the cross and see that God loves us. 

But if we only had the cross to look at, we might imagine that God demonstrates his love, but could it really be for me? That’s why the Holy Spirit has been given to us, to confirm that love in our feelings; pouring his love into our hearts, so that we experience God’s love personally, reminding us that our past, present and future are secure because of what Christ has done for us.

And, as the last verses remind us, Jesus didn’t just die for us - justifying us and reconciling us; Jesus lives for us. The future is sure because Jesus lives. And so we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 

Thelma Howard died in 1994. When her will was read, there was surprise that she was a multi-millionaire. She had worked as a housekeeper, had lived a modest life, no signs of extravagance. She may not have even realised the fortune she owned. She was housekeeper for Walt Disney, and every Christmas and birthday, he would give her pieces of paper, which she would put away safely in the box under her bed. Those pieces of paper were shares in Disney - 193,000 in total, worth $9.5 million. A fortune!

Yet we, if we’re trusting in Jesus, we have something even more precious - if we would only realise what we have! Peace with God, standing in his grace, rejoicing in the hope of his glory; that even suffering cannot stop; given the Holy Spirit who helps us experience the love of God which was poured out on the cross as Jesus gave himself for us sinners. What a great reminder at the start of this year. Past, present and future, all secure because of Jesus - so let us rejoice! 

And let’s pray: 
Lord God, by your Spirit, 
may we know afresh your love for us, 
through Jesus Christ, who died for us,
that we may rejoice in you. Amen.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday 4th January 2026. 

Sermon: Romans 8: 18-27 Groaning for Glory

May the words of my lips, and the thoughts of all our hearts, be now and always pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

We knew it was probably coming at some point, but when the Prime Minister announced the current lockdown on Monday evening, it seemed to take many of us by surprise. The clear command is to stay at home, except for very limited and specific purposes, such as getting basic necessities, daily exercise, seeking medical help, and travelling to and from work where absolutely necessary.

In the same address, Boris Johnston made it very clear why these restrictions were being put in place. He said this: ‘From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction - you must stay at home. Because the critical thing we must do it stop the disease spreading between households.’ And near the end he said, ‘In this fight we can be in no doubt that each and every one of us is directly enlisted. Each and every one of us is now obliged to join together. To halt the spread of this disease. To protect our NHS and to save many many thousands of lives. And I know that as they have in the past so many times. The people of this country will rise to that challenge. And we will come through it stronger than ever. We will beat the coronavirus and we will beat it together.’

Did you notice the reason why the restrictions have been put in place? To stop the spread, to protect the NHS and to save lives. For a time, we endure a period of hardship, because it will be worth it in the end. We may suffer for a while, but it will end, and we’ll be glad we did. And that’s what Paul tells us in our reading from Romans chapter 8 today.

On Sunday evenings before the lockdown, we were in a short series in Romans 8. In Romans, Paul is writing to the Christians in Rome, setting out the gospel in its fullness. Chapter 8 is the summary of all that he’s already written, and draws out the implications of the good news of Jesus for the believer.

In verse 1, we saw how ‘therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’ We can already know God’s verdict on us here and now - as we trust in Jesus, the verdict is ‘not guilty.’ And as the chapter continues, we find that we’re not just forgiven, we are also given the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of adoption, who confirms that we are indeed God’s children - by him we call God, ‘Abba, Father.’ This is all amazingly wonderful news. And then in verse 17, just before our reading, Paul introduces the subject of suffering. He writes: ‘Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.’

And something inside of us reacts to that. We think - yes, we’re on board for all of God’s blessings and benefits, bring them on! But suffering? Maybe not. And that reaction might be even stronger when we hear verse 18 in our reading today: ‘I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.’ Really?

You might think that Paul doesn’t really understand suffering. Maybe he’s had a comfortable, easy life, hasn’t really undergone any suffering, and doesn’t really know what he’s talking about. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. In another part of the Bible, he shares some of his experiences:
beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, constant danger, toil and hardship, hunger, thirst, in cold and exposure. (See 2 Cor 11:23-29) He knew what it was to suffer, so he’s not making light of suffering, rather, he makes much of the glory to be revealed.

It’s as if Paul has a pair of balancing scales. He puts all of the suffering in one side, and on the other, the glory that will be revealed in us. It’s not that our sufferings are greater; and it’s not that the suffering and glory is about the same, perfectly balanced. No, there’s no comparison. The glory completely surpasses and totally outweighs the suffering. Anything we face or endure now will be more than worth it in the end.

And the word that expresses our current experience is the word: groaning. Is that the word that summarises your current experience of this lockdown? Groaning with frustration, perhaps, as your regular routine has been restricted. Groaning with boredom as you wonder how you’re going to put in another long day. Groaning with loneliness. Well that word, groaning, is the word that characterises today’s passage. Paul uses it three times, as he speaks of the current suffering and the incomparable glory that is to come.

First of all, the creation has been groaning. Verse 19: ‘The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.’ You know the way some people count down to their birthday, and know how many sleeps it is. Or you might wait for a delivery to arrive, and you’re watching out for it. Creation itself is on tip toes, watching and waiting, with eager longing, for the revealing of the sons of God. Why does the earth do that? Why are the animals and birds and trees and every blade of grass waiting in this way?

‘For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.’ (20-21)

At present, the creation is frustrated. It’s in bondage to decay. I don’t need to tell you that - you experience it every day. Things wear out and break down. The lovely banana you were going to eat has turned black and mouldy. Thorns and thistles and weeds spring up. ‘Change and decay in all around I see’ as the hymn puts it. It’s the world as we know it, but it’s not the way the world was originally made.

In Genesis 3 we hear of the bondage of creation - not by creation’s choice, but as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s decision to rebel against God’s good and gracious rule. The world is under the curse, but it’s done in the hope that one day bondage will cease, and creation will share in the glorious freedom of God’s children.

Paul describes creation’s groaning as in the pains of childbirth. The groans and pain are worth it, whenever the baby has been born. And that’s what is happening around us, as the creation groans, in anticipation of release and freedom. Can you imagine how glorious our world will be when decay has been stopped? When viruses are no more? When there’s no more sadness or sickness or suffering or sin?

The gospel is more than just me and my ticket to heaven. The victory that Jesus has won is for the whole creation. The natural world will share in our redemption. And in the meantime, the creation groans.

It’s not just the creation groaning, though. You see, we too share in that groaning. Believers are groaning too. ‘not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.’ (23)

We are living in the now, and the not yet. Already we have the firstfruits, the presence of the Spirit, and the final verdict. We get to taste what eternal life will be like, but there’s more to come. And so we groan, as we wait. We’re still weighed down with sin, and sorrow, and suffering. We long for the day when we receive our new resurrection bodies, when we see God face to face, and live with him forever. And so we groan as we wait.

But we wait in hope. Now, we use the word hope in lots of different ways. You might hope the weather will be good tomorrow; but it may not be. Often, our hopes are more like wishful thinking - wouldn’t it be nice if... But the Christian hope is not like those vague wishes. Our hope is sure and certain, as we trust God’s promises and wait for what he will give to us. ‘For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.’ (24-25)

If our present Christian experience is all that there is, then there’s nothing to hope for. But hope looks to the future, to what God will do. And we wait patiently, because the glory to be revealed in us is worth far more than anything we endure here and now.

The creation is groaning; and Christians are groaning. And, as Paul continues, we find that the Spirit is also groaning. Let’s read the last verses: ‘In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.’ (26-27)

All through this chapter, Paul has been reminding us about the power and presence of the Spirit in the life of the Christian. And the Spirit helps us in our weakness. Have you ever found yourself wanting to pray, but not knowing what to pray? You’ve promised that you’ll pray for a friend, but the words don’t come. Or you’re facing a situation in your own life, and you struggle to know what to pray for. You are not alone! When we struggle to find the words, the Spirit himself is praying for us, with groans that words cannot express. He takes our groaning, and groans our prayers for us, translating them into prayers in line with God’s will. He knows and understands our hearts, our sighs, our longings, and prays on our behalf.

Perhaps you’re struggling under the current restrictions - remember what Boris has said - it’s just for a time, and it’ll be worth it. So how much more, what God has said here in Romans chapter 8. Our present sufferings, characterised by the groaning of creation, and our groaning, and the groaning of the Spirit - those sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. A short period of pain, leading to an infinitely greater pleasure. Suffering now, and glory after. That’s our story, here and now, because it is the story of the gospel; the pattern that Jesus himself followed - the cross before the crown.

Jesus endured the cross, bearing our sin and shame; wearing the symbol of the curse, the crown of thorns; in order to enter his glory by overturning the curse, and ushering in life and peace; victory over death, and bringing his new heavens and new earth, where righteousness dwells. We are called to follow his pattern, as we wait for the glory to be revealed - his glory in us.

So let’s pray. Lord God, whose blessed Son our Saviour
gave his back to the smiters
and did not hide his face from shame:
Give us grace to endure the sufferings of this present time
with sure confidence in the glory that shall be revealed,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 29th March 2020 for the broadcast service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sermon: Romans 8: 12-17 Children of God

This evening I want you to take a chance on me. I’ll need you to gimme gimme gimme your attention, because knowing me knowing you, this is something you need to hear today. In fact, it’s better than money, money, money, and if you get what this evening’s sermon is all about, then you’ll get on like a dancing queen.

This evening we’re thinking about Abba - but not the Swedish pop group. Instead, we’re thinking about our Abba, and being able to call God Abba, as Paul says in verse 15. ‘And by him we cry, Abba! Father!’

We’re in a short series, as we work our way through Romans 8, and think about living by the Spirit. A fortnight ago, we heard about the wonderful good news that ‘therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’ We already know the verdict on the last day; we’re already confident that nothing can condemn us because we are in Christ. Now that is good, and great, and wonderful, but there is even more to the Christian life than just knowing that truth.

Tonight, Paul opens up a bit more of what that means for us, as we are brought into God’s family and receive the inheritance. So let’s dive in at verse 12, as we unpack the glorious riches of Christ.

Verse 12: ‘Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.’ Paul says that we have an obligation, that we owe something to someone. He doesn’t spell it out here, we’ll work it out in a second, but notice that he tells us who we don’t owe anything to.

‘Not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.’ I wonder if you’ve ever changed jobs. You’ve worked hard for your previous employer, but now you work for your new boss. And then your old employer comes round, asking would you do a wee something for them. Could you help out? You would be able to say, I don’t owe you anything. I’ve finished working for you, you don’t control me any more!

That’s what’s going on here. Paul has showed how we have been rescued from living according to the sinful nature, our natural flesh, living according to our own desires. We don’t owe it anything - our time for living by the flesh is finished. But you might still be wondering, well, who do we owe something to, what is our obligation?

Look at the contrast Paul sets out in verse 13: ‘For if you live according to the sinful nature you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.’

These are the only two ways we can live - either by the sinful nature (the path that leads to death), or by the Spirit. So it must be to the Spirit, to God, that we owe everything. We’ve been ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven - everything we have is because of God. So how do we pay our debts? How do we respond to God’s good news?

It’s by the Spirit, as we put to death the misdeeds of the body. Do you see how strong this language is here? It’s not just ‘don’t do those things you used to do’, it’s ‘put to death the misdeeds of the body.’ We’re not to cuddle them, or pet them - we’re to put them to the sword.The Puritan writer John Owen urged his readers to ‘be killing sin or sin will be killing you.’

At the minute we’re seeing the danger of a contagious virus, spreading and causing illness and death, fear and uncertainty, and bare shelves in the supermarkets. And behind the scenes, in labs around the world, scientists and medics are trying to find ways to stop the virus; and hygiene standards have been raised to try to kill the virus. We need to be fighting the threat of sin much as we’re fighting the threat of coronavirus.

But notice that it’s not something we can do by ourselves - it’s ‘by the Spirit’ - we need his power to lead us and change us, to kill off our sins. And it’s an ongoing process, not just a once-for-all event. Sin will spring up again, and needs to be killed again, over and over again.

When you look at the two ways to live, which do you think is the easy one? Living by what pleases you, or killing off your sin and living to please the Spirit? It would be far easier to do what you want. The struggle is to put to death the deeds of the body, because, deep down, we might still want to do those things. But there is encouragement here.

You see, if you’re struggling, if you’re fighting against your sin, then that’s a good sign. As verse 14 continues: ‘because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.’ If you’re struggling with sin, if you’re (by the Spirit) putting it to death, then you’re being led by the Spirit. And if you’re led by the Spirit of God, you are a son of God. (Or a daughter! The language of sonship is because at this time only the sons inherited from their father).

What an encouragement! Perhaps this week you have been discouraged by your weakness; by how easily you’ve slipped again. You know better, you try harder, and still you fall. The fact that you’re frustrated is a good sign! It shows that you’re led by the Spirit, and that you are a child of God.

And it comes through the Holy Spirit, verse 15: ‘For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’

The Holy Spirit doesn’t come to bring fear and slavery. Rather, he is the Spirit of sonship, or adoption. He brings us into God’s family, he makes us into a child of God, and teaches us how to call God our Father. Abba (not the Swedish pop group), Abba is the word for dada, daddy, dad, in Aramaic. It’s by the Spirit that we can call the God of the universe our dad. We who were on the outside are brought in by the sacrifice of Jesus, and the work of the Spirit confirms what has happened in our hearts.

‘The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.’ (16-17)

The Spirit confirms that we really are God’s children, and he also confirms that we are God’s heirs. God’s inheritance is for us, for all who believe, for all who are his children, and the brothers and sisters of Jesus.

What a transformation in a few verses! From owing everything for our very lives in verse 12, to inheriting everything in verse 17. Everything the Father has is ours in Christ. The glory lies ahead, and in the meantime, as children of our Abba Father, we are called to live by the Spirit, and put to death the deeds of the body.

Perhaps as you hear of what the Christian life looks like, you think to yourself, that sounds great, but I’m not there. I just do what I please. I live according to the flesh. Turn around today! Don’t stand around on the outside any longer! Come in, come home, and know the God of the universe as your Abba, your dad.

But maybe you are a Christian. You’re finding things tough. Sin keeps popping up. You keep doing things you don’t want to do. You’re struggling. Be encouraged by the Spirit living in you, leading you to keep fighting as you put your sin to death. You don’t need to live in slavery and fear; you’re adopted as a son, a child of God.

God gives you what you need to live for him - the power of his Holy Spirit dwelling in you. Keep going! Keep fighting!

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday evening 15th March 2020.

Sermon: Romans 8: 1-11 No Condemnation

I wonder if you can remember the feelings you had when you sat down in the exam hall at school. Maybe you were nervous, trying to remember everything you had learned on that particular subject. Maybe you felt sick, wanting to do well, or hoping you’d get through. How much better would you have felt, if you knew the end result before you sat down, or as you were furiously scribbling your answers down?

Or what about the moment when you drive up to the MOT test centre. How flustered you feel when they ask you to turn on your lights and you can’t think how to do it! How nervous you feel when they do the braking test, or when they lift your car up and give it a good shake. One time, the tester took ages with my car up on the lift, then he called over a colleague, then he disappeared into the office, and then came back, stood for ages before eventually letting me know the car had passed with flying colours! How much better, to already know the verdict before you drive the car in to the centre.

Or maybe Saturday night for you means sitting down to watch Match of the Day. You know your team’s result, and so even if they go down 2 goals in the first half, you know that they’re going to win 3-2. Knowing the end result changes how we feel about the experience. Knowing the final verdict can give us confidence, no matter what might be going on in the meantime.

Now if that would be true of exams, or MOTs, or Match of the Day; then how much more would it be true of life? How amazing to be able to know God’s verdict of our life here and now - without having to wait until we stand before his judgement seat. As we begin looking at Romans 8, this is what Paul tells us is possible, here and now.

Look at what he says in verse 1. ‘Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’ No condemnation. A ‘not guilty’ verdict. A declaration of innocence is available for us - for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now this verse is the summary of everything Paul has said from chapters 1-7 (and it might be good for you to read them, to see how it has come about).

You see, people may say lots of things about us; they can have their opinion of the things we do or say. Or maybe you have your own opinion about yourself - the shame or guilt for something you have done; the thing you hope no one ever finds out about; you see yourself as sinful, as guilty, as condemned. But the only opinion that really matters is what God thinks of us. It’s his verdict that counts in the end. And his verdict can be known now - no condemnation for those in Christ.

It’s as if we have been set free. The law of sin and death holds each of us - our sin leads to death. But those in Christ are set free, the prison doors opened, the chains removed, as we are declared innocent. But how does this happen? How can we know the verdict in advance?

Verse 3 shows us what God has done for us. He sent his own Son, the Lord Jesus, ‘in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering’. Jesus came in our skin, sharing our human nature, to die for our sins. He condemned sin in our flesh, and has taken away our sins. It’s as if we had a huge debt, and Jesus has paid our debt. He has dealt with our sin. But Paul says Jesus has done even more for us than just paying our debts. Verse 4: ‘In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.’

Jesus not only takes away our law-breaking. He also gives us the power to obey the law. He helps us to do the things we never could do before, when we walk according to the Spirit.

When you think of it, there are lots of ways we divide people. Men and women. Old and young. Rich and poor. Manchester United fans and ABUs (Anyone But United). But Paul says there are only two types of people - you’re either one, or the other, there is no middle ground, no sitting on the fence. So which are you - do you live according to the sinful nature, or according to the Spirit?

From verse 5, Paul helps us to see which group we’re in. ‘Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.’ The way to see which group you’re in is to see where you have set your mind. What is it you think about when you don’t think about anything? What is it that sets your goals, dreams and ambitions? Is it your sinful nature, your sinful desires? Or is it the Spirit - to want what he wants?

It’s one or the other. It’s as if you come to a fork in the road. Two roads lead to very different destinations. ‘The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.’ (6) It’s a matter of life and death, heaven and hell. And your thoughts are a diagnosis of your heart, your desires. To pursue sinful pleasure is to be hostile to God, to love the things God hates, and hate the things God loves, to be unable to please God.

Now, by nature, that’s all of us. We naturally are out for ourselves. It doesn’t take long for a baby to start to look out for themselves. And even if we’ve grown up, and know not to say it out loud, we can still think it, and work towards it: ‘Mine!’

But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are two groups of people in the world - people who live by the sinful nature, but there are also those who live by the Spirit. Paul says that the Christians in Rome, the people who received the letter, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. And how do you know? How can we tell if we’re in the Spirit? It’s ‘if the Spirit of God lives in you.’ (9)

If we belong to Christ, if we are in him, and he is in us, then he gives us the Holy Spirit, he gives us the power to change, and the guarantee of the final verdict. Do you see how Paul refers to the Holy Spirit here? He is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of Christ. (9) The Spirit of life. (2) The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead. Each points us to the work of the Spirit, in bringing the power of God to live in us, and in giving us life.

Living as a Christian can be frustrating. You know what you should be doing, but you don’t always do it. You want to change, but you stumble and fall into sin. You feel the power of sin, the pull of death, as you do that thing you hate once again. But look at what God gives us. He gives us his Holy Spirit - the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead to dwell in us. He will do the very same in our lives.

He gives us life. Satan may try to condemn you. He might try to bring you down with the weight of guilt. How could God really love you after you did that? But the Holy Spirit whispers into our soul that we already know the verdict of the last day - not guilty. No condemnation. Life and peace, because we stand in Christ’s righteousness, as we live by the Spirit, and follow his leading. It’s as if we can open our exam results before we’ve sat the exam. We already know the final result, as we trust in Christ, and live by the power of his Holy Spirit.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday evening 1st March 2020.

Sermon: Romans 12: 1-8 Living Sacrifices

In a few minutes’ time, you will be enrolled in the BB or the GFS. You will be accepted into membership for the first time, or for another year. And as you do that, you are making a commitment that you will be a faithful member; that you’ll turn up, and get stuck in, and be involved in everything that your section and company or branch is doing.

In our second Bible reading today, Paul is calling on us to make a commitment - not just to BB or GFS, but to God himself. Here’s what he says:

‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers (and sisters), in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.’

Now, there’s a lot in that one sentence, isn’t there? So let’s try to break it down, to see what God wants us to do. At the very centre of that verse are these words: ‘offer your bodies as living sacrifices.’

God wants us to give ourselves, all of us, every part of us, from the top of our head to our toes, to follow him and serve him. And we’re to live for him - as living sacrifices. In the Old Testament, people would sacrifice an animal - a bull or a sheep or a goat. But now, we offer ourselves, fully alive, to do what God wants us to do.

But please don’t think that God just wants you to follow him so that you can in some way earn his love and his favour. Every other religion is all about what you have to do - whether it’s going on pilgrimage, or giving, or fasting, or whatever - and then when you earn enough points you can be with God.

And it’s what we all work to all the time. Have you ever heard something like this: If you’re good today, then we’ll get a treat later on. Or, if you’re not good this week, then we’ll not do what you want at the weekend. When we live like that, then we’re always having to prove ourselves, trying to earn our own rewards for good behaviour. So, if I were to tell you now that I’ll give a bar of chocolate to the best GFS girl and best BB boy who listens during the talk, then would it make you want to sit up and listen in a little harder?

It might. And we’re so used to thinking in this way, that we think this is what God wants of us as well. Here’s what we think - if I go to BB or GFS and try really hard; and if I go to church, and pray and read my Bible, and help little old ladies across the road, and try really hard, then God will like me. That’s how I thought, when I was being enrolled in the BB.

But that’s not how God is. Every other religion is about what you have to do so that you earn your reward. But Christianity is different. Yes, we’re called to offer ourselves as living sacrifices - but only because Jesus has already sacrificed himself for us.

Jesus has already given all of himself for us, when he died for us on the cross. And Jesus has already offered us his mercy before we’ve done anything good or bad. Jesus took the first step - and we are called to receive his mercy and to offer ourselves in response to him.

That’s why the verse starts: ‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers (and sisters), in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices...’ Because we can see God’s mercy already given to us - then we can offer ourselves. Other religions say ‘Do this...’ But Christianity says ‘Done’. Jesus has already done all that is needed for us.

But what will it look like to offer ourselves as living sacrifices? What does it look like to follow Jesus day by day? Paul says:

‘Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’

Now, I’ve got a question for you. What’s your favourite dessert?

You might be able to tell that I have lots of favourite desserts. But one that I like is jelly and ice cream. Do you know how to make jelly? What do you need?

You need some jelly cubes, and some hot water and some cold water, and you mix them all together, and then where do you put the jelly? You put it into a mould. Whatever shape the mould is, the jelly will set in the same shape. So my moulds here have rounded bits at the bottom, but when it sets and you take off the mould, then the rounded bits will be at the top. The jelly is conformed to the mould, it follows the same pattern.

A while back we were at a friend’s 30th birthday party. And in their family, a special birthday tradition is that they get a jelly rabbit for their birthday. His mum has a jelly mould in the shape of a rabbit so when you take the mould away, you have a rabbit-shaped jelly.

And that’s what the world wants us to do - it wants to press us into its mould, to be conformed to its pattern - to do the same things as everybody else. And in school or in work, you might find yourself under pressure to be like everybody else in what you say, and think, and do. If you were to tell them you were in church, or that you go to BB or GFS, they might think that uncool or boring or stupid. And they want you to be like them. They want you to conform to their patterns.

But as we offer ourselves as living sacrifices (in view of God’s mercy to us), we’re not to be conformed - we’re to be transformed. We’re not to be the same as everybody else; we’re to be changed, to stand out from the crowd as we follow Jesus.

And that transformation - that change - comes about as our minds are renewed, as they are made new and refreshed. And we do that as we think about God, and read his word in the Bible, and as we pray to him.

Are you conforming to the world, or being transformed by God? Which voices are you listening to? Whose opinion is forming you and shaping you? Perhaps you need to change the channel that you’re listening to.

The world wants us to be like it, like other people, just the same. But Jesus wants us to be transformed, as we offer our whole bodies as living sacrifices to him - because he has already given himself for us.

So who are you following? Who are you becoming more like? The world? Or the Lord Jesus who loves you and calls you to follow him?

Today, as you make a commitment to be a good member of the BB or GFS, go further, and make the commitment to serve Jesus - and not just in BB or GFS, but in all that you do with all that you are - a living sacrifice in view of God’s mercy.

This sermon was preached at the BB and GFS Enrolment service in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 17th November 2019.

Sermon: Romans 3: 21-26 Redeemed

Have you ever stopped to consider just how strange it is, that Christians are identified with the cross? This morning we are singing some familiar and well-loved hymns about the cross, and we’re used to seeing a cross on buildings and books and Bibles, and maybe on a chain around your neck. But have you stopped to consider just how strange that might seem? Maybe you’re not a Christian - you’re very welcome to be with us - but you wonder why we go on so much about the cross. And well you might wonder.

After all, to be crucified was a terrible death. The agony was, well, excruciating - a word which literally means ‘out of the cross’. It doesn’t bear thinking about. In fact, polite Roman society wouldn’t even talk about crucifixion, much less think about it, so terrible it was. It was a death reserved for the lowest of the low, a form of execution. To give you a modern equivalent, it would be like having an electric chair or a guillotine on your necklace.

Given its gruesomeness, why do Christians sing about the cross, and talk about the cross, and rejoice in the cross? To help us discover just how important the cross is, we’re going to look at this short snippet of a letter written by the apostle Paul to the Christians in Rome. In these six verses, we see just how wonderful the cross of Jesus really is - and why it matters so much to us.

The passage starts with these two words: ‘But now.’ (21) That means that a change has been brought about. It used to be like this, but now it’s like that. And what is the change that has been brought about? Well, up to this point in the letter, Paul has been showing how none of us are in right standing with God. First of all, he showed how the Gentile world was far from God in a number of ways. And he could hear the Jews looking down on the Gentiles, condemning them for their sinfulness.

The problem was, though, that even the Jews were just as bad. They knew what God wanted. They had the Law. But still they failed to do it. And just before our reading, do you see, Paul gives a series of quotations from the Old Testament to show that ‘There is no-one righteous, not even one.’ None of us are in right standing with God. That’s the bad news. But now Paul gets to the good news.

‘But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.’ (21) The Old Testament Law and Prophets point forward to this righteousness, but it’s not earned by keeping the law. We can’t make it by ourselves. So how do we receive it?

‘This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.’ (22)

Just in case we miss it the first time, we’re given two related words to show how we can receive this righteousness. It comes ‘through faith in Jesus Christ’ and it’s ‘to all who believe.’ When we believe this promise, when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, then we receive this righteousness. And it’s available to all who believe - Jew or Gentile; no matter your religious background; no matter where you come from; if you believe you will be made right with God.

That’s what Paul goes on to show: ‘There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’ (22-24).

Maybe you remember learning Romans 3:23 as a memory verse at Sunday School. ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ It’s a helpful summary of our condition without Jesus - what Paul has been showing up to this point in the letter. It’s a picture of an archer firing his arrow at the target, only for it to fall short, to miss the mark, to fail to meet the standard.

But did you notice that it comes within a bigger sentence? And the point Paul is making is that there is no difference whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile, whether you’re male or female, whether you’re right-handed or left-handed - all sorts of people have sinned, and all sorts of people are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

That word redemption is a word from the slave market, where a slave is redeemed, bought back, freed. And that’s what Jesus does for us - he buys us back for God. He frees us from our slavery to sin. And how did he do it?

‘God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.’ (25)

Jesus gave his life on the cross as a sacrifice to pay the price of our sins. Jesus, dying on the cross, was ‘a sacrifice of atonement.’ To atone is to make ‘at-one’ - to bring together again, to reconcile. We, who have fallen short, have been separated from God, we are brought back to him through the blood of Jesus. We are made at-one with God. But did you notice again that it only happens when we trust the promise, when we believe that he did it for us, ‘through faith in his blood.’

In the cross, we see the love of God - Jesus dying to bring us back to God because he loves you so much. But in the cross we also see the justice of God. You see, God is so holy that he must punish sin. But God also longs for you to be with him and to glorify him and enjoy him for ever. How can the two fit together?

God punishes our sin in the Lord Jesus. Jesus, the only perfect man who never sinned, he stood in our place, condemned and guilty - dying the death we deserved. And he gives us his perfect righteousness. He gives us his life. God is just, and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Do you see again - it’s faith in Jesus that means we are justified, declared innocent, just-as-if-I’d never sinned. And it’s made possible through the cross of Jesus. This is why we delight to sing these songs about the cross. This is why we make such a big deal of Holy Week and Easter. This is why we are people of the cross. Because in the cross we are redeemed. In the cross we find atonement. In the cross we are free. In the cross we are forgiven.

Perhaps you’ve never really understood the significance of the cross before. Perhaps you’ve never knelt at the cross, and felt the burden of your sins roll away. Jesus offers you forgiveness and peace and life and so many more blessings today, if you’ll come to him, and trust in him to be your Saviour.

Perhaps you would find it helpful to pray this prayer. I’ll read it out first, and if you’d like to pray it, then you can join me the second time through:

Lord God,
I’m sorry for my sins, all the wrong things I have done.
Thank you that Jesus died for me.
Thank you that you will forgive my sins and make me new.
I trust in Jesus today.
Help me to live for him. Amen.

This sermon was preached at the Seniors' Easter Service in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Monday in Holy Week 15th April 2019.

Cafe Church Sermon: Romans 8: 18-39 How can I believe that God is good?

When you look at the world, you might be tempted to ask - what’s going on? You only have to watch the news, or read a newspaper, to see plenty of bad things happening. War and terrorism. Crime. Intimidation. Poverty and hunger. Suffering. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis.

Or maybe we don’t have to turn on the news, or go outside. We see bad things happening in our families, to our friends, or even in our own lives. And when we see bad things happen, it leads us to ask the question - why?

Why do bad things happen? Or rather, why does a God who is meant to be good allow bad things to happen? The question leads us to question what we know about God - the God who is good, and sovereign, and powerful, and love. If something had has happened, then there must be some breakdown in God’s character: Does God not care? Is God not powerful to stop them from happening? Or is God simply not good?

As we start to tackle that question, we need to work out what we actually mean by ‘good’. When we say that something is good, what do we mean? Is it just whatever feels good for us, something we like? Or is there an ultimate standard? There must be an ultimate standard, an objective good, beyond our feelings and desires and wants.

So imagine, two children being given sweeties. If one gets more than the other, then there’ll be cries of ‘That’s not fair!’ From we’re no age, we appeal to fairness, we know there is such a thing as right and wrong, good and evil.

Those notions and right and wrong, good and evil, they’re not just evolutionary concepts, passed along the line in order to ensure the continuation of the species. Right and wrong, good and evil, are external to us - they’re objective, a shadow of the divine image we were created with - an echo of the goodness of God.

Yet, when we hear that phrase - the goodness of God - you may well question it. And so the table talk discussion took you to the question behind the question. How can I believe that God is good when... you fill in the blank. You know the particular question you’ve been asking. It might be global, thinking about suffering and natural disasters and a world that seems out of control. Or it might be personal, in the face of illness, suffering or death. But it’s the question you keep asking. How can I believe that God is good?

We get an answer to both the global problem and the personal problem in the reading from Romans 8. In Romans, Paul sets out the gospel that he is preaching, so that the church in Rome will welcome him and support his efforts to move on to Spain to preach there too. And chapter 8 is all about the hope that we have in the Lord Jesus.

He talks about how ‘creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.’ How it is currently subjected to frustration, in bondage to decay. All that happened because Adam and Eve questioned the goodness of God, right back in the Garden of Eden.

God had provided everything they needed - an abundance of food, perfect relationships, enjoying God’s company - they were in Paradise. There was just one rule - they were not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The serpent (who we’re later told is Satan), comes along and starts asking questions. Why did God say no? Was he holding something back from them? Or, to put it another way, was God not good? He also doubts the goodness of God’s word - and says, you will surely not die.

Adam and Eve doubted God’s goodness, they believed the lie, so they took and ate. And immediately they realised their mistake. The world was different. They blamed each other; they were banished from the garden; and life and work became more difficult - thorns and thistles and death became an everyday experience.

This paradise lost world is our world. The creation is in bondage because of us. Verse 22 talks of the creation groaning as in the pains of childbirth. The world is waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus, and everything being made right.

But Paul goes on to say that, as well as the creation groaning, we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit (Christians), we also groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. There’s a frustration that we feel too, as we wait for the coming of the Lord, for our new resurrection bodies, when there will be no more sadness or suffering or sickness or sin.

Knowing that we have this hope, this glorious future, it almost makes the waiting and the suffering worse. And yet Paul gives a comparison back in verse 18. Imagine those old baking scales where you have the two pans. In one, all our present sufferings. And you imagine, that’s very weighty. They’re hard to bear, they weigh us down. Yet, says Paul, in the other pan is the glory that will be revealed in us. It doesn’t even compare - it far outweighs the suffering.

Knowing that we have this hope is great. But how do we get through each day? How do we react when something bad happens to us? What do we need to know? We have the Spirit, who helps us in our weakness, by praying for us when we don’t know what to pray.

But we can also know something else. Verse 28: ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.’ (28-30).

These verses tell us that no matter how things may appear; no matter what might be going on in your life; God is at work. It’s not that in some things God is working; no, in all things God works... And what is he working? ‘God works for the good of those who love him.’

In all things, whether we think that they are good or bad, God is at work. And he’s working for our good. Now, maybe you think to yourself, but that doesn’t really help. Because for my good should mean that everything runs smoothly, there’s never any pain or hardship or frustration, rather, that I’m always happy. Those are the only good things that I want.

But do you see what God defines as our ultimate good? The thing that God purposes for us is: ‘to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.’ In everything, in all things, God is at work to make us more like Jesus. This is the good that he is working towards. And he will use everything that happens - even the wrong things others do to us; even the everyday events of life; even the catastrophic, to make us more like Jesus.

With this perspective, the question changes from why is this happening to me? to what is God doing through this?Sometimes we may only see it in retrospect, looking back on a particular period or experience. Sometimes we may never know why. But we can be sure that God is still in control, and working out his purposes for our ultimate good.

Just think of the man in prison, for allegedly assaulting his boss’ wife. It’s the low point amidst much unhappiness. Attacked by his brothers. Sold as a slave. Far from home and family. Yet he continues to trust in his God. Eventually, he gets the most amazing promotion - from the prison to the palace; from prisoner to Prime Minister. Joseph is used to guide Egypt through the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine.

His brothers come calling, wanting grain. And years later, after his father dies, the brothers are fearful of what Joseph will do now. How does he respond? ‘As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.’ (Gen 50:20). God was working for good, even in Joseph’s experience of evil.

And that’s what we see in the events of Good Friday. Three crosses stand outside the city wall. The man on the middle cross - he had done nothing wrong. Rather, he had gone around doing good - healing the sick, driving out demons, even raising the dead. But now he hangs on the cross, his back lacerated from the flogging, his head pierced with the crown of thorns, struggling to breathe, in agony.

He saved others - let him save himself, the crowd mocks. Yet this good man - the only good man who ever lived - he dies, a cruel death on a Roman cross. The mocking continued - where is your God? Yet in the pain and the agony, the darkness and the desolation, God was working his purpose for good. In the very darkest day, Jesus died - to save you.

God did not spare him, so that you could be saved. No one will be able to bring a charge against you, because he has borne your sins. And no one will be able to separate you from the love of Christ - nothing that happens makes him love you any less.

How can I believe that God is good? When we look at the cross, and hear of God’s purpose, and the hope that we have in Jesus, how could we not believe that God is good?

This talk was presented at the Cafe Church event in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday evening 14th October 2018.

Sermon: Romans 1: 1-17 Not Ashamed

We’re getting into the time of year when people are either planning their holidays, or else they’ve already gone on them. The kids are off school, the Twelfth fortnight has arrived, so lots of people will be heading on holiday this week or next. Maybe you’re counting down the days, you just can’t wait until you head off. And you’re very excited to be going wherever you’re going. You’re telling everyone about your holiday.

Now, I realise this might be a strange question to be asking a congregation of mostly Orangemen, and maybe you don’t want to put your hand up or nod, but you can waggle your eyebrows or just wink at me... but have you ever been to Rome? I haven’t been myself, so if you’ve been and you’ve any tips for holidaying in Rome, you can let me know sometime. The reason I ask, though, is because in our second reading today, on page 1128 in the pew Bibles, Paul is a wee bit obsessed about travelling to Rome.

The Bible publishers have added in the section heading above verse 8 - Paul’s longing to visit Rome. Do you see in verse 10, ‘I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened...’ or in verse 13 ‘I planned many times to come to you...’

Paul has been wanting to visit Rome for a long time. He’s been frustrated by changed travel plans, but now, at last, he’s on his way. So why does he want to visit Rome? Is it for a decently priced citybreak? Does he want to do the touristy sites - the Coliseum, the Trevi fountain, the Vatican? Well, the Vatican didn’t exist at the time, but, no, he’s not interested in being a tourist.

So why is Paul going to Rome? He tells us in the passage. He’s writing a letter to the Christians in Rome, and he says that he longs to see them, to meet up with them, so that they can be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. When they eventually meet up, they’ll be able to encourage each other because of their faith - telling stories of how their prayers have been answered; sharing how they’ve been given grace to endure - being together with other Christians is a good thing to do. It’s one of the reasons why we meet together on Sundays as the church family.

The other reason why Paul wants to go to Rome is to preach the gospel in Rome. He wants to have a harvest (13), people becoming Christians for the first time, but it’s also because he owes it to people to share the gospel. Paul has been given good news, and so he needs to pass it on to others. They need to hear it too.

So Paul is going to Rome, he wants to share the gospel there. But there in verse 16, he says something strange. ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel.’ Why does Paul say this? Or, rather, why does he feel he has to say this?

I wonder if you’ve ever been ashamed of something? What does it feel like? You don’t want to be associated with it, or identified with it. Maybe this helps us to see why Paul says that he is not ashamed of the gospel.

It must be that some people in Rome were ashamed of the gospel. Perhaps these Christians in Rome were under pressure from their friends - you don’t really believe all that about Jesus, do you? Maybe over their tea break at work they were feeling the heat - You don’t really think there’s just one God rather than all the Roman gods and goddesses? That’s not very tolerant of you to claim there’s just one way to God!

Perhaps there’s the same pressure today for us. Just think back to the treatment of the Lib Dem leader Tim Farron on whether he thought gay relationships were sinful. Or the way people from Northern Ireland have been ridiculed by the mainland media for maintaining a Christian stance on abortion. Could we become ashamed of the gospel? Maybe tone it down to fit in and be accepted?

Paul felt the same pressures. By the time he’s writing this letter, he’s been in prison several times; he’s about to be arrested again. Maybe people were saying to him, do you really have to be so committed? Moderate your message and you might get on better with people.

But Paul declares, ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel.’ In doing so, he challenges the Roman Christians, and us gathered here as well, to echo his words. I wonder can you say with him, ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel.’? To help you do that, let’s look at why Paul says it - what the gospel is, and what the gospel does.

So what is the gospel? In order to be clear from the very start, Paul outlines the gospel in the very first verses of the letter. The whole thing is a fuller statement of the gospel, but even in the first verse, Paul gets to the gospel of God. This isn’t just a fairy story; it isn’t something made up to make us feel good for now, to give us something to do on a Sunday; it’s not, as Marx claimed, the opiate of the people, designed to keep the poor people happy until they die. The gospel is God’s gospel - his good news given to us.

This good news didn’t just appear in the first century. It doesn’t start with the birth of Mary’s baby in Bethlehem. The gospel was promised beforehand by God - through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. The Old Testament was laying the foundation for what would come later, just as you have to lay your foundation before you build your house.

The gospel is all about a person. ‘Regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God, by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.’ The gospel is the good news about Jesus, the God-man who is the Son of David, the Son of God. He lived, he died on the cross, and he was raised to new life. This is the good news, that Jesus has defeated death, that he lives forever. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then there is no good news. This is the gospel - Jesus died and lives.

So why does Paul hold fast to this gospel? Why is he not ashamed of it? He tells us the reason in verse 16. Here’s what the gospel does: ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.’

This message about Jesus is the power of God for the saving of everyone who believes. You see, without Jesus we are in danger. We are lost. We need to be rescued. We stand under judgement by a holy God, who cannot tolerate our sin. And yet, so often we don’t realise. We drift along, unaware of the danger. Like someone lying on a blow-up sunlounger, being carried closer and closer to the huge waterfall, we go through life unaware of our danger.

We need a rescuer. Someone to bring you to safety. And that’s what Jesus has done. He came into this world, took on our flesh, he took on our sin, and he gave his life so that we might live. The rescue has been accomplished. The victory has already been won. The good news is being told.

And all you have to do is trust in the Lord Jesus - to believe the good news proclamation. As Paul says, ‘it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.’ Everyone, anyone, all who will believe will be saved. Those like us and those we like; those we don’t like so much - all who believe will be saved.

It’s not about bringing a bit long list of reasons why you should be good enough for God to save you. You see, to trust in ourselves - our good works, our church attendance, our praying, our giving to charity, our paying in to church - to trust in ourselves and what we have achieved is to say that Jesus isn’t enough; that we can do it by ourselves - that Jesus didn’t really need to die. But there is only salvation in Jesus. Without the gospel, we are lost, both now and for eternity, no matter how good or decent we might think we are.

A German monk struggled to be good enough to please God. He could never be satisfied that he had done enough. The demands of God’s law weighed down heavily upon him, with no relief. He even grew to hate the God he tried to serve. But then he had to study Romans, to teach a class, and in 1:17 he found the key to his own changed life. This truth would lead to him starting the Protestant Reformation 500 years ago this year.

‘The righteous will live by faith.’ Martin Luther came to discover that it’s not about what we bring to the table. The good news of the gospel declares the finished work of Christ and asks us - do you believe this? It is by faith (alone!) that he trust the promise, and by faith we receive eternal life. This is why Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. It is God’s gospel from start to finish. It’s all about Jesus, what he has done for us. And it is the power of God for salvation for anyone who will believe.

Perhaps today as you hear of the gospel, you realise that you’ve never really believed the message. You’ve heard it many times before, but never received it for yourself. You can trust in Christ for the first time, just where you’re sitting. Take hold of the promises. Look to Christ, and discover that he did it all for you. Believe on him today.

But maybe you’ve been a Christian for a long time. You’ve been around a few corners and you know how life works. It’s far easier to keep your faith private. No one else needs to know. No one could even guess! Paul challenges you today - are you ashamed of the gospel? As we’re reminded of the glories of Christ, the marvellous good news of what he has done, the amazing promise that anyone who believes will be saved, may we know God’s power at work in our lives.

Be bold in your faith and in living it out. Count all else as loss compared to knowing Christ. Live in such a way that proclaims to everyone you meet: ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel.’ And may we all, on that last day, be joined with the great crowd from every nation, all who have received the good news and trusted the Lord Jesus, for his glory. Amen.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday afternoon 9th July 2017. The members of Richhill District LOL No. 2 were in attendance at the service.

Sermon: Romans 8: 31-39 More than conquerors

A few weeks ago, I managed to tick something off my bucket list - to ride the train from Coleraine to Londonderry, and enjoy the spectacular views along what Michael Palin has described as one of the best train journeys in the world. That’s a fairly leisurely one, compared to another target - to climb to the top of Cuilcagh, and stand on the highest point of Fermanagh (and Cavan!). To get up there, even with the new walkway, will take effort, but it will all be worth it, to see the view from the top.

Now to get to the top of Fermanagh would be one thing, but how much better to get to the top of Everest? Well, in a sense, that’s what we’ve been doing these past weeks as we’ve journeyed through Romans 8. A number of commentators remark that Romans 8 is the Mount Everest of the Bible, the high point of the truth of Christianity. Well now we reach the summit, the pinnacle of what it means to be a Christian.

So far we’ve seen that to be a Christian means no condemnation - we already know the end result, the verdict has already been passed. To be a Christian means living as a child of God, as the Spirit confirms who we are as he dwells in our hearts. To be a Christian means living with hope-filled hearts, as we long with creation for our renewal and redemption. To be a Christian means living by the Spirit’s help in our prayers, and taking refuge in the truth that God is working in all things to fulfil his good purposes for us - to make us like his Son.

It’s as if we’re going up and up, the summit of the mountain rising before us. It’s like an orchestra coming to the climax, the music getting louder and louder. And Paul in verse 31 brings us to today’s passage as he writes: ‘What then shall we say to these things?’ How do we respond to all we’ve heard? How do we summarise it all?

Here’s how Paul does it. You might have heard of the kids’ science centre in Belfast, W5. It’s dedicated to getting kids asking the 5 W questions - who, what, where, why and when. Well here, Paul asks 4 W questions - all starting with the same W. They’re there in verses 31, 33, 34 and 35. He asks over and over - ‘who’. And each time, the answer is the same. The answer is ‘no one’. But it’s as if Paul is playing the ‘yes no’ game - you know the one, we play it sometimes at youth fellowship, where you’re not allowed to say yes or no, and if you do then you’re out of the game. Well each time, rather than simply saying ‘no one’, Paul gives us a fuller answer, directing us to who God is, and what he has done for us.

So let’s dive into the passage, or lace up our walking boots and climb higher and higher as we stand on the solid rock of Christ, this Mount Everest of his love for us. Verse 31 is where we find the first question:

‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ That ‘if’ isn’t there to make us wonder if God is for us or not. This isn’t something that is in doubt for the Christian, for the one who trusts God. Rather, it’s asking, if this is indeed the case, if God really is for us (and he is!), then who can be against us? Who can oppose us?

And perhaps at times you might be able to supply a list of people who might be against you. You may even find that most people are against you! But Paul says, why would that matter, if God is for you? In the early church, a bishop by the name of Athanasius defended the orthodox teaching of the Trinity, while a number of church leaders embraced the Arian heresy (which taught that Jesus wasn’t fully divine). Some came to him and said, look, Athanasius, the whole world is against you, to which he replied, ‘Then Athanasius is against the world’ (Athanasius contra mundum). He knew that God was for him, so he could stand against all who opposed him.

And Paul gives us the evidence for God being for us - ‘He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?’ God the Father gave up his beloved Son, he did not spare him, as a sign of his love and attitude towards us. He will surely give us all things. So who can be against us? No one, because God is for us.

Question two: Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? And again, you might think, plenty of people, who know all sorts of things about us. But once again, our eyes are drawn to God, to what he has done and is doing for us. ‘It is God who justifies.’ That is, it’s God who declares that we are in the right with him. We have been declared ‘not guilty’ by the judge, the charges won’t stick. So who shall bring any charge against us? No one, because God has justified us.

Question three: Who is to condemn? And you might have a list of possible candidates, people who pass judgement on you or what you have done; perhaps you’ve been on the receiving end of someone’s stinging words. But do you see how Paul answers this one? Again he draws our eyes to what God has done for us. ‘Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.’

We’ve already seen that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and here’s why. Jesus is the one who could condemn us. He lived the perfect life; he obeyed where we all failed; he set the standard, and so could condemn us.

But as John 3:17 puts it: ‘For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.’ Jesus has died for us, been raised for us, is at the right hand of God for us, and is praying for us. By his life, his death, his resurrection, and his continuing ministry for us, we are under no condemnation. No one else’s opinion really matters! So who is to condemn? No one, because Christ died and lives for us.

Three questions down, one to go, and this is the big one, the last step to the summit. This is where we might stumble, might struggle to see it, and yet this is the pinnacle, the very top of all the truth, the secret of the Christian life. Here’s the question: ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?’

And straightaway, Paul gives us a list of possible contenders. ‘Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?’ And these might be the things that would make you question whether God loved you. Or perhaps you can come up with another situation, where it might seem like God had ceased to love you, that you had been cut adrift from God’s love.

That’s why Paul quotes from Psalm 44 here - ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ In context, the Israelites weren’t suffering because they had turned away from God - they might have seen some sense of justice in that. No, they were suffering, being slaughtered, because they loved God. ‘For your sake’.

But isn’t that the point? The very things that might seem to point to the absence of God and his love, are actually the things that prove God’s love. The times when God might seem to be furthest away are actually the times when God’s love is the nearest and most precious. It’s what makes us more than conquerors - winning when it looks like we’re losing. Knowing his love more when it would appear that he is absent from us.

So who can separate us from the love of Christ? Paul gives us a list - a list of things that he is sure cannot do it. ‘For I am sure [convinced, absolutely certain] that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’

Think through that list. Take time to read it over carefully later on after you get your dinner (and resist the urge to have a snooze). Think - is there anything at all that could separate me from Christ’s love? Not death nor life - so whether I’m living or dead, Christ loves me. Angels can’t affect his love for me, neither can rulers - the people in charge of the country, the Queen, the Prime Minister, even Donald Trump. Anything happening now, or anything happening in the future (and your past is already dealt with). Not the powers - spiritual powers, demons. Neither height nor depth - things high or low, whether we’re up or down. Now even if you think of something outside those categories, the last one will cover it: ‘nor anything else in all creation.’ Nothing at all. Nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus.

Four ‘Who’ questions. Each one answered ‘no one’ - because of all that God has done. And these four truths, this Everest is yours today, ‘if God is for us’. Perhaps you’ve been discouraged, facing opposition, or charges, or condemnation, or wondering if you’re beyond God’s love. Climb onto the rock of Christ, take in the view, and stand firm on God’s love. Find encouragement as we meet around the Lord’s table, as we recall his love for us.

Maybe you find yourself on the outside looking in. It’s like walking past a house and smelling a delicious meal being cooked, and you wish you were inside enjoying it. You wish you had all these blessings, and knew the love of God for yourself. Well, just step inside. Receive these promises as you turn to Christ, and realise what he has done for you, and trust in him, and revel in his love. Come today.

Who can be against us? Who shall bring any charge against us? Who is to condemn? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? No one. We are more then conquerors, because he has loved us. He loves us. He will always love us.

This sermon was preached in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 4th December 2016.

Sermon: Romans 8: 26-30 God's Good Purposes

Back in 2002, Donald Rumsfeld, the United States Secretary of Defence was giving a briefing to journalists, when he came off with a line that has gone down in history. Speaking about the situation in Iraq and the issue of weapons of mass destruction, he said this: ‘There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don’t know we don’t know.’

Now if you followed all that, you’re doing better than me! What he was trying to say is that there are things you know, and things you don’t know. And as I was preparing for this morning, Donald Rumsfeld’s line came to me, It seems to fit so well. You see, in our Bible reading today, Paul says that there are some things we don’t know, and some things that we do know.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working through Romans 8, as Paul describes what living the Christian life is like. It’s living with no condemnation - the end result is already known in advance. It’s living with as God’s children, with the Holy Spirit confirming our identity. It’s living with hope, as both the creation and we wait for the renewal of everything as God’s kingdom is revealed.

And now, Paul says, it’s living out God’s good purposes for us in his world. It’s not always easy, not always straightforward to live the Christian life, yet Paul gives us plenty of encouragement as we seek to do it - especially when things are tough.

In verse 26, we find the things that we don’t know. ‘For we do not know what to pray for as we ought.’ I wonder if you’ve ever found yourself faced with a situation, and you just don’t know what to pray for. Perhaps someone you love faces a difficult decision about work, and you don’t know which would be best. Or a friend shares some news with you, they ask you to pray for them, and you’re stumped. You don’t know what to say, you don’t know how to pray.

You see, sometimes we imagine that God is like a giant slot machine in the sky. You say the right prayers, in the right way, at the right time, and out pops your answer. But he’s not like that at all. As Romans 8 has been reminding us, he’s our Abba Father, our dad. He loves us and cares for us.

So Russell and Wendy, you don’t expect Arthur to say to you ‘My dearest mother and father, if it wouldn’t trouble you, could I at your earliest convenience have some milk, please?’ No, you just hear him crying. Or you just know what he needs, without him even having to cry. You provide all he needs (even if he doesn’t realise it).

God not only knows what we need, but he has also given us his Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness. Do you see what the Spirit does for us? ‘but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.’ Last time we saw how the creation groans, and we groan as we wait for God’s purposes to be completed. Here, the Spirit groans, as he prays for us. God the Holy Spirit prays for you to God the Father! When we don’t know what to say or how to pray, God does it for us. And God does it perfectly - verse 27, ‘according to the will of God.’

Now in other places in the Bible we’re told that Jesus is praying for us - here we’re told the Holy Spirit is praying for us, especially in those moments when we don’t know what to pray for. What an encouragement!

So even in that unknown there is a known - we don’t know what to pray for, but we know the Spirit is praying for us, according to God’s will. In verse 28, we move to something that Paul says we definitely can know. So let’s read it, and then think it through.

‘And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.’

So what do you make of that sentence? There might be some who think - how can we possibly know that? It might sound like blind optimism, someone who always tries to find the good in everything. Maybe it’s a bitter pill that someone has tried to get you to swallow when something that’s definitely NOT GOOD has happened. All things work together for good?

That’s what the Bible says here, and to be able to know this truth, to really know it, and be convinced by it, we need to see who it’s for, and what it’s promising. So who is this promise for? ‘For those who love God... for those who are called according to his purpose.’ There’s no ‘or’ in between - this is one and the same group of people - if you love God, you have been called by him. So it’s God’s people in view. And what is promised? All things work together for good. That’s good in God’s eyes, rather than our eyes. You see, we think of things that would be good for us, things like being famous, or rich, or popular, or successful. Never being ill, never grieving. (It’s like a grown up Santa’s list).

But the good that God has for us, his purpose for us, the reason he called us... is found in verse 29: ‘For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.’

The good that God is working out in our lives, in all things, is this: to be conformed to the image of his Son. Or in other words, to become more like Jesus. Now I can never really see family likenesses - I don’t know if Arthur is more like a Fleming or a Dunn (maybe the families can settle that later on over lunch!). But God’s purpose in our lives, his will for us, is for us to look more like Jesus

And he brings it about through ‘all things’ - the bad as well as the good; the difficult as well as the delightful. Sometimes on XFactor you get the contestant with the ‘sob story’ who might use it to gain some sympathy and more votes. But God uses all things, every detail of our lives, the ups and the downs, to make us more like Jesus.

If you are a Christian, if you love God, then this is God’s purpose for you. The story goes that the artist Michelangelo was asked how he had been able to sculpt his famous statue of David from a big rock. “It’s easy,” he said, “you just chip away the bits that don’t look like David.’ This is what God is doing with us, in everything that happens, working to chip away the bits of your life that don’t look like Jesus, so that you bear the family likeness.

Perhaps you’re experiencing this chipping away right now. You’re going through difficult days and you think - God, why are you letting this happen? God is using it for your (ultimate) good, and he knows what he’s doing. You see, verse 30 is like one of those moving walkways you get in airports, or maybe better, an escalator. You step on, and you’ll be brought the whole way to the finish. (v29: Foreknew), then predestined, then called, then justified, then glorified. What God starts, he finishes, to work out your salvation.

If you are a Christian today, you have been known by God from eternity past; he has already set your final destination to be heaven with him; he has called you to hear and repent and believe; he has justified you, made you right with him through the sacrifice of Jesus; and he (not will) has glorified you - already made your future certain and set his glory on you. All this is yours in Christ. And all this can be yours, if you’re not yet a believer - today you can hear his call, you can respond to Christ, and receive everything I’ve mentioned as your very own.

Donald Rumsfeld called his autobiography ‘Known and Unknown.’ When we’re faced with our unknowns (when praying seems hard, when life seems tough), we can rest on our knowns - the Spirit of God is praying for you, to become more like the Son of God, as the Father brings us along the golden chain of salvation. We know that God knows (even when we don’t) - so keep trusting and loving him as he works out his purposes in our lives, according to his will.

This sermon was preached in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 27th November 2016.