God's tender mercies that guarantee our salvation in Christ - Romans 6-8

Romans 12:1 "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship."

Introduction:
I pray in our journeying through Romans you have found out how great our God is in the display of His tender mercies. Is it any wonder why Paul would use such mercies as the basis for being able to present one's body as a living sacrifice? We will only have the desire to live the life of worship to God insofar as we recognize how much mercy He has expressed to us. Jesus proves this point in Luke 7:47 "For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 

We need exposure to a fresh unfolding of God's greatness in His tender mercies. Romans is the perfect book to explore the theme of God's mercies, since Paul basis the remainder of His practical instructions in Romans 12-16 upon such tender mercies revealed in Romans 1-11. Amazingly enough there are roughly 70 such mercies listed throughout the first 11 chapters of Romans. We've considered 43 of them thus far in Romans 1-5 and in today's post we will explore more of these wonderful mercies in Romans 6-8. The tender mercies of God we have looked at deal with those mercies which draw us to Christ (Romans 1-3) and which keep us desiring Christ (Romans 3-5). Today's post will look at those tender mercies of God in Romans 6-8 that guarantee our salvation in Christ.

God's tender mercies that guarantee our salvation in Christ - Romans 6-8

1. Crucified life 6:1-4
2. Freedom 6:4
3. Eternal life 6:23
4. Christ our spouse 7:1-5
5. No condemnation 8:1
6. Spirit-control 8:5
7. Resurrection 8:11
8. God's calling 8:28
9. Election 8:29
10. Foreknown 8:29
11. Secure 8:39
12. Glorified 8:30

When we look at these 12 tender mercies, they all are used by the Holy Spirit to minister gurantees of assurance. When the Christian is aware of who they are and whose they are, they walk in victory. It has been said that the principle of the victorious Christian life is laid down in Romans 6. In Romans 7, we see depicted the struggle that comes in experiencing what it means to be an overcomer. Romans 8 spells out the reality of such a life and thus God's guarantee that we will not only persevere, but flourish under trial. God has so guaranteed our victory that such mercies empower us to run, not crawl, across the finish line of faith! (2 Timothy 4:7-8) These are the tender mercies that guarantee our salvation in Christ.

More tomorrow...