Love Worth Finding | Audio Program

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Romans 8:28-31

Salvation, from start to finish, is of the Lord. It is only by the grace of God that we can be sure of our salvation.

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

There are five foundational facts on which our faith rests.

The first fact is God’s foreknowledge of our salvation. God knew we were going to be saved before we did. When God foreknows something, it is not an educational guess; He sees the beginning, middle, and end of everything, all at once.

Second, we can be sure of our predestination to be like Jesus. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29).

Adrian Rogers says, “God doesn’t predestine some people to go to Hell, and God doesn’t predestine some people to go to Heaven. God predestines every child of God, everyone who is born again, to be like Jesus.” God wants everyone to be saved, but in order for love to be love, it cannot be forced. So God gave us free will; whether we want to be saved or not is up to us.

Third, we are sure that God foreknew we would be saved: “Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called…” (Romans 8:30). Whenever the Gospel is preached, God is calling people to salvation. Through His Word and His Spirit, God can make the spiritually blind see things they’ve never seen before.

Fourth and fifth, we can be sure of our settled justification, and finally, our eternal glorification.

“...whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Romans 8:30).

The basis of our justification is the blood of Jesus Christ; it becomes effective when we trust in Him. As a result, God no longer deals with us as sinners, but as servants. As servants, God already sees us in Heaven, in His heart and mind, settled and glorified. And what has been settled in Heaven cannot be annulled or undone in time.

Apply it to your life

Are you sure of your salvation?

Adrian Rogers says, “If you’ll put your faith where God has put your sins, on the Lord Jesus Christ, you can be absolutely sure.”

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Romans 8:26-28

As Christians, prayer is our greatest privilege and service, yet it can be our greatest failure. Too often, we don’t have the desire to pray, nor do we know what to pray for. Other times, the enemy interferes to keep us from praying.

Adrian Rogers says, “The devil laughs at our organization and mocks our schemes. He ridicules our good intentions, but he fears our prayers.”

Knowing this, God has given us an ally, an asset and a great Helper: the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:26-27 says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

The Spirit activates our will to pray. Our flesh resists prayer, but the Holy Spirit in us recognizes God for who He is and reignites our will to pray.

The Spirit animates our bodies to pray. When our minds wander and grow weary, we must yield to the Holy Spirit and receive His energy and power.

The Spirit adapts our requests. Sometimes we’re not sure how to pray; but, glory to God, the Holy Spirit is the ultimate transformer. Simply pray with a clean heart, and He will adapt our prayers.

The Spirit administrates our access to God. God has given us the royal invitation to pray, and the Holy Spirit is our guide into the throne room.

The Spirit articulates our words. The Holy Spirit understands our groans and wordless heartache. Even when we don’t have the vocabulary to express our thoughts, God knows our hearts. And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him. (See Romans 8:28.) His plans are for our holiness, not our happiness.

The Spirit amplifies our victory. When we pray in the flesh, we are no match for Satan; but when we pray in the Spirit, we remember: if God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31b)

Apply it to your life

Prayer is warfare. As you go to the Lord in prayer today, remember that you have a Helper who intercedes for you.

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Romans 8:11, 18

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is what turns every hurt into a hallelujah. And that same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now dwells in us.

Adrian Rogers says, “It is Easter that turns every tear to a pearl. It is Easter that turns every midnight to a sunrise. It is Easter that turns every Calvary to a resurrection.”

If we want to turn our hurts into hallelujahs, we must first consider our guilt. In His love for us, God gave us free will. Because we choose to sin, we are condemned according to the law of the Bible.

But through Christ’s death and resurrection, we experience grace instead. Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Jesus has freed us from the law of sin and death. There is no more condemnation for our sin, nor can it control us.

However, though we have been freed from the curse of sin, we can still feel the hurt of it.

Romans 8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

All of creation groans as a symptom that there is something wrong with this fallen world. Christians groan, for we are not immune to suffering, and there is a lot of it in our world today. We live in a cursed world with other sinners, in bodies that have the curse of sin upon them. And even though we have been saved, we still choose to do wrong and God must chastise us in love.

But there is comfort in knowing the Comforter groans, too. God sees our pain, and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we hurt so badly, we don’t know what to pray for.

Finally, we must remember that we’ve been prepared, predestined, and preserved for glory—that is the Gospel.

Because of Easter, no foe or fault can condemn us, and no fear can conquer us.

Apply it to your life

Are you facing suffering of any kind, or a hurt you want to turn into a hallelujah? Remember: because of Easter, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in our pain. Spend time with God, and ask for His victory over your life.

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Romans 8:9

The distinguishing mark of a Christian is the Holy Spirit in him. We can know a person has been saved if the Holy Spirit dwells in him. Romans 8:9 says, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”

This passage describes the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of life, of Christ, and of adoption. And if we want to get to know our best friend, the Holy Spirit, we must understand the ways He ministers to us.

As the Spirit of life, He gives us life. The people who are truly saved live by the impartation of life, while the unsaved live a mere imitation of life. Our spirit is the part of our nature that enables us to know God. We are spiritual corpses until God breathes His Spirit into us. From that moment on, God’s Spirit bears witness to ours that we are children of God.

Second, the Holy Spirit in us glorifies the Lord. His Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ. It is Jesus in us who is the Holy Spirit; His presence in us glorifies God.

Adrian Rogers says, “If you want to know whether a person has the Holy Spirit, don’t ask him to speak with tongues, ask if he is like Jesus.”

Third, He is called the Spirit of adoption. When we get saved, we are spiritually adopted into the family of God. Romans 8:15 says, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

The Holy Spirit guarantees our legacy as children of God. He is there to attest to and make real what legally transpired when we became sons and daughters of God. By law, a man could disinherit a natural son, but he could not legally disinherit an adopted son.

By adopting us into His family, God has locked himself into this new relationship with us. We not only have a new relationship, but we also have a new assurance and a new certainty of our riches as co-heirs with Christ.

Apply it to your life

Do you have the distinguishing mark of a Christian, which is the Holy Spirit? Remember this Good News: the Spirit gives us life, glorifies the Lord, and guarantees our inheritance.

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Romans 7:1-4

There seems to be a gap between what the Bible says we are in Christ and what we are in reality. We are called to be victors, yet so many of us live as victims.

Adrian Rogers says, “We need not to make the Bible match our lives but to make our lives match the Bible.” We must appropriate what God has already provided for us and learn to possess our possessions.

Romans 7:4 says, “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.”

By nature, we're married to the law, and it makes demands upon us that we cannot meet, no matter how hard we try. But when Jesus Christ died, we died with Him and became dead to the law. His death, burial, and resurrection had our name on it, and now we have a new life as the Bride of Christ.

The first step is to learn how to die and start living. We will never possess our possessions until we come to the end of ourselves.

Adrian Rogers says, “The reason that so many of us are not filled with the Spirit is we're so stuffed full of ourselves, there's not room for the Spirit.” We must go through something to get to something; we must go through death to ourselves to get to the victorious life.

The second step is to stop trying and start trusting. Even after we are saved, we cannot keep the law of God in our own strength. We will fail over and over again, because it is in our nature to sin. But because we are the Bride of Christ, every demand upon our life is a demand upon Jesus, who lives in us. He is able to cover the multitude of our sins and deliver us from the law of sin and death. We can quit crying and start praising, for now in Jesus, we have the law of the Spirit.

Apply it to your life

What would your life look like if you learned to possess your possessions—to appropriate what God has already provided? Learn dying and begin to live; stop trying and start trusting; quit crying and start praising!

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Romans 6:1-2

The grace of God enables us to live godly lives in Christ Jesus and empowers us to live in victory. Romans 6 reveals how to live in victory.

First, we must know our identification with Jesus, who gave Himself for us.

“For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Romans 6:5-6).

Jesus has acted on our behalf; when He died for us, we died with Him. When He was buried, we were buried with Him. And now, we have that same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, in us.

Adrian Rogers explains, “When Jesus came out of the grave, we came out with Him and we’ve been raised to walk in a new life.”

Second, we must reckon our appropriation of Jesus.

“Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:11). Reckoning is acting by faith, on what we know to be true, which is that we are dead to our sins and alive in Christ.

Third, we must yield our emancipation to Christ.

The victorious life is God’s work in us; we cannot do it without Him, and He will not do it without us. Yielding begins when we dethrone sin. We must choose against our old master. No longer will our eyes be a tool for sin, nor our ears be sin’s instruments, nor will our hands do its bidding.

We must also enthrone the Savior: “...but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God” (Romans 6:13). We must make Jesus Lord of our lives, enslaving ourselves to Him, as Romans 6:18 explains: “And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

When we become slaves of Christ, we receive new freedom, faithfulness, and fruitfulness. God will begin to live His life in us, claiming victory every step of the way.

Apply it to your life

Do you know that you identify with Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection? Have you reckoned your life to what you believe? Have you yielded to Him?

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Romans 5:6-9

This modern world is trying to obliterate the word “sin” from our language. Everything is excused by psychology, evolution, human studies, and behavioral science, yet the real root of the problem is sin.

If we don’t understand the bad news of sin, we’re not ready for the Good News of the Gospel—that there is so much more that we’ve gained through Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:6 says, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Presently, there are two kingdoms: one is of death and destruction, and the other is of love and life. Adam is the head of that old kingdom, and Jesus is the head of that new kingdom.

Adam is the head of the old kingdom. Being the first man created by God, Adam was given dominion over the earth. But when Adam sinned, he forfeited his dominion to sin. And because we are his offspring, we are identified with Adam in this slavery to sin.

Romans 5:8-9 explains, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

When we join the kingdom of light, we gain so much more through Jesus than we ever lost through Adam.

Through Adam, we received weakness rather than power, and we gained ungodliness rather than godliness. We also received wrath rather than approval and war instead of peace. We inherited our ability to sin from Adam: not only when we do as we shouldn’t, but also in failing to do as we should.

Yet in Jesus Christ, we receive much more in His redeeming blood. Because of His sacrifice, we are justified and reconciled with the Father. We have the fellowship with God that was severed when Adam sinned.

In Christ, we are also renewed and made righteous to reign with Him in the kingdom of life.

Finally, we receive His restoring grace, as Romans 5:20 says, “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more…”

Apply it to your life

Each one of us is either with Adam in the kingdom of death, or we are with Christ reigning in the kingdom of life. Choose Jesus today; there is so much more!

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Matthew 7:24-27

Life, in its very nature, is tragic; sooner or later, we all must weather the storms of life. The difference between a life built on the Word of God, and one that isn’t, lies underground.

Before the bottom falls out of life, we must examine the foundation.

In Matthew 7, Jesus describes two houses: one built on a rock, and the other built on sand. We do not see the differences between the houses until the storm comes. The results remind us why we must build our lives on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 7:24 says, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock…”

This passage reminds us to make sure our spiritual house is a sturdy building.

There are two things necessary to have a firm foundation: hearing and heeding to the Word of God.

The grace of God alone is what saves us; but someone who truly believes that will obey the Word of God. If they do not, their faith is a profitless profession and a barren belief.

Adrian Rogers says, “While we are saved by faith alone, the faith that saves is never alone.”

Once we hear the Word, we must do what it says, otherwise, our faith is dead. (See James 1:22.) Living by the Word of God is what sets the rock-builders apart from the sand-builders.

After we’ve established a sturdy building, we must expect a stormy blast.

Matthew 7:25 says, “...and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.”

Storms come to every life, saved or lost. But we must remember that God has not abandoned us in the storm. Remember Peter and Judas, two of Jesus’ disciples? Both were entrusted with responsibilities in Jesus’ ministry—but their differences run deep.

When the storm came, both disciples caved in different ways. However, Peter—despite his failings—had a foundation that Judas did not have. Peter experienced the steadfast blessing of a solid foundation: he was able to stand again.

Apply it to your life

People cave in during life’s storms when they don’t have anything solid to stand on. Make certain that you have a rock-solid foundation for your faith.

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Matthew 7:15-23

Wolves are the most dreaded and hated enemy of the shepherd because of their danger and deception.

Matthew 7:15-16a says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits…”

It is wise to heed to the Lord’s warning about false prophets and to beware of wolves that come to us in sheep’s clothing.

First, we must remember the fleece they wear.

Wolves come disguised in sheep’s clothing, appearing to be part of the flock. Jude 11 mentions three wolves found in Scripture: Cain, Balaam, and Korah.

Cain represents those who pervert the Gospel.

In Genesis 4, Cain murdered his brother Abel out of jealousy. Abel, who understood the things of God, pleased Him with a blood sacrifice. Cain did not understand the things of God, and instead, brought the fruit of the ground (his own efforts).

Balaam represents those who prostitute the Gospel.

In Numbers 22-25, the very gifted prophet Balaam exploited the message of God for his personal advantage. This story isn’t about paying vocational ministers; rather it is a warning to those who will do anything for personal gain.

Korah represents those who protest the Gospel.

In Numbers 1, Korah did not respect the authority of God’s appointed prophet and priest. He rallied others to defy the prophetic message and priestly mediator. False prophets seek to replace the truth with false religion, but like Korah, they stand on shaky ground; God is not pleased and will not be replaced.

We must also identify false prophets by the fruit they bear.

No matter how beautiful the tree is, there is no hiding bad fruit. Likewise, a false prophet can only deceive for so long before the fruits of his life reveal what’s inside.

Adrian Rogers says, “It is the root that determines the fruit, but it’s the fruit that reveals the root.”

Finally, a wolf can be revealed by the faith he shares.

Miraculous performances and good works do not replace scriptural truth. If a teacher does not teach from Scripture, he is teaching in vain. We must get in God’s Word and stand on it, so we will not be deceived.

Apply it to your life

Adrian Rogers gives us five things to remember, to make ourselves aware of wolves:

-Study the faith

-Show the faith

-Stand for the faith

-Support the faith

-Share the faith

Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: Matthew 7:13-14

The Holy Highway is the straight and narrow path we are called to journey on.

Matthew 7:13-14 says, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

First, these verses show us there is a decision to face.

Out of all the paths we could choose in life, there are really only two ways we can go: the broad way or the narrow way.

God does not categorize us according to our status or economic class—He divides us up by the path we’ve chosen. He sees whether or not we are following Jesus on the narrow pathway.

Because of God’s great love, we have the freedom to choose. But there’s no such thing as not making a decision—even the decision not to decide is a decision (and not a good one). We cannot choose the consequences of our choice. We will all face the good or bad outcomes of our decisions, so we must choose carefully.

Once we’ve decided to walk on the straight and narrow, there is a direction to follow.

The narrow way is a disciplined way. There is no easy, cheap, or lazy way to serve Jesus.

While salvation is free, discipleship is costly; but without discipline, there is no power. It is a different way; don’t expect crowds to be on the straight and narrow.

Adrian Rogers says, “It starts at a different source, it follows a different course, and it ends at a different conclusion.”

Though it goes against the tide most times, it is a delightful way. Only those who are living clean and certain lives can experience the joy of walking with Jesus Christ; on the journey, we become even more cheerful and confident in our faith.

Finally, there is a destiny to find at the end of the way.

No matter fearful or fabulous—life or death—it is final. It all depends on which path we chose today.

Apply it to your life

Have you made your decision to walk the straight and narrow path that leads to life? Remember: you are free to choose, you are not free not to choose, nor can you choose the consequences of your actions.