Our Great Gain
Ten Commandments
July 28, 2024
Rev. Dr. Gabe Sylvia
Anchored by Charles Wesley's hymn and Romans 5, the sermon celebrates God's timely, self-giving love that died for sinners, secures believers in a covenant of salvation and new life, ends enmity with God, and calls Christians to trust, obedience, and worthy participation in communion.
Summary
Taking a brief pause from the Ten Commandments, the preacher uses Charles Wesley's conversion hymn and Romans 5 to highlight the surprising reach and timing of God's love: Christ died for the weak and ungodly while we were still sinners, demonstrating that God's love is rooted in his character, not our merit. That death, resurrection, and ongoing life in Christ bring justification, salvation from wrath, the end of enmity with God, and intimate knowledge of the Father—producing covenantal assurance. The sermon exhorts believers to lay aside doubt and anxiety, live in obedient trust, and respond corporately through prayer and discerning participation in communion as a visible seal of these truths.
Key Points
- Brief pause from Ten Commandments study to use two gospel hymns and Scripture (Romans 5 now; Ephesians 3 next week)
- Charles Wesley's 1738 conversion and the hymn "Can It Be" as an emotional anchor celebrating discipleship and God's love
- Romans 5: Christ died for the ungodly while we were weak—God's love reached us despite our sin and at the right redemptive moment
- God's love flows from who he is, not from our worthiness; Christ bore the sinner's death on our behalf
- The effects of Christ's death and resurrection: justification, salvation, protection from God's wrath, new and eternal life, and the end of enmity with God
- Believers are brought into a covenant with God that guarantees he will not forsake us—this should dispel doubt and anxiety
- Pastoral challenge: if you are saved but unhappy or anxious, remember the covenantal, securing work of Christ and respond in obedience
- Practical application: pray, examine the heart, and participate in communion with discernment as a visible seal of these gospel realities
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