I'm going to ask you to open your Bibles, please,
to Romans chapter 5. We continue our study in
Romans chapter 5, dealing with the blessings
that accompany justification by faith. Because
we have not a few people who are new with us
since the last time that we were in Romans 5,
I think it would be wise for us to review a little
bit this morning so that we can set the stage
for what we're going to look at. If you have
an outline in your worship folder, you will notice
that it has three points on it. No poem this
morning, just three points. And we're going to
cover point number one, but we'll reserve points
number two and three until another time. I think
the review will be helpful to all of us, but
especially to those who are new with us, our
collegiates and others. so that you can get up
to speed with us as we come into this marvelous
section of Romans 5. It's like a garden that
is filled with beautiful flowers for us to admire
and to enjoy. These doctrines and truths that
are revealed in chapter 5 are precious truths.
I think this must be one of the most compact
and filled passages in all of the Word of God.
Let's read together the 11 verses you followed
along in your Bible as I read, and then we'll
talk about the setting of it. Therefore, having
been justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also
we have obtained our introduction by faith into
this grace in which we stand, and we exult in
hope of the glory of God. And not only this,
but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing
that tribulation brings about perseverance. And
perseverance, proven character, and proven character,
hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the
love of God has been poured out within our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
But while we were still helpless at the right
time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will
hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps
for the good man someone will dare even to die.
But God demonstrates his own love toward us in
that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. Much more than having now been justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath
of God through him. And not only this, but we
also exalt in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
The theme of the book of Romans is the righteousness
of God. the righteousness which is God's because
he is God. In other words, his attribute of righteousness.
There's a marvelous aspect of God's being that
should cause us to respond with praise. His justice,
his purity, his righteousness are all brothers
and part of the family of God's holiness. We
marvel at this attribute of God's. It means that
he has no wrong in his person and he can do no
wrong. He is just and right in everything that
he does. We accept that by faith. Jesus prayed
in the garden, O righteous Father. And never
was the righteousness of God more displayed than
in the work that he accomplished on the cross
within a few hours after saying that. But the
theme, the righteousness of God, has another
meaning in Romans, and I think this is really
the more emphasized of the two. And that is the
Romans tells us how we may have the righteousness
of God ourselves. That is how we can be right
with God through the righteousness that God gives
us when we trust Jesus Christ. In Romans chapters
1 through 3 in general, the theme is sin. And
the apostle reveals to us how much we need the
righteousness of God. No one can go to heaven.
No one can be related to God unless he is perfectly
righteous. And what those chapters tell us is
that all of us are perfectly unrighteous. We're
all sinners. He speaks first about the pagan
idolater. He says that those... who have turned
from the truth to the lie, have now degraded
themselves in their idolatry to the point of
perversions. And the course that he outlines
in Romans chapter 1 is really a history written
in advance of our own civilization today. For
the Western civilization was founded on the truth
of God's word, and yet has strayed from that
significantly. I don't know that it could be
said that Western civilization was a Christian
civilization, but many of its principles were
founded by what the Word of God teaches. But
today we worship a new God, man himself. It's
called humanism. Man has deified and enthroned
himself, and the result of that most perverse
of all idolatries is immorality of the most wicked
kind. And that is where our society is today.
The value of life itself is as nothing in our
world. Whether you talk about the slaughter in
Lebanon yesterday, or you talk about the slaughter
of millions in our own nation by abortion, human
life is worth nothing. Why is that? Because of
the religion of humanism, idolatry, the worship
of man. He goes on to say that those who are
moral pagans are likewise under God's condemnation.
They have a conscience within that gives them
direction. They don't answer to their own conscience.
He says that the moral idolaters are stirring
up God's wrath until that day when his wrath
will be revealed. And then he moves on to a third
group, and here he talks about the Jews, the
moral Jews, those who are part of the covenant
of the law, they're bragged and boasted in the
law. Yet the apostle says the very law that they
boast in condemns them. And so the conclusion
is that all are under sin. Every person who's
ever been born into the world except Jesus Christ
because of his unique virgin birth. All of us
are sinners. We need the righteousness of God
if we're going to be right with God. And then
beginning with about verse 21 of chapter 3, the
apostle changes his theme to salvation. And he
begins to explain, after painting the picture
as black and as bad as it can be, he begins to
paint a new picture. A picture with life and
forgiveness through Jesus Christ. And he tells
us how God has provided for us perfect righteousness
so that we can be saved. He has done that, not
by overlooking our sins and kind of sweeping
them aside and ignoring them, but rather by dealing
with them once and for all through Jesus Christ.
Remember there are three major doctrines mentioned
there in the last part of chapter 3? One of them
is that of redemption. You and I, by our sin,
were enslaved to that way of life. We were sold
under sin, dominated by it. But by the grace
of God, the price has been paid, the blood of
Christ, and we have been bought, purchased out
of the slave market, and released. so that in
liberty then we might willingly give ourselves
in service to Jesus Christ. Another doctrine
he mentions is that of justification. Not only
has God released us from our sins, but he has
declared us righteous in his sight. That is,
justification is a legal declaration of God.
whereby the one who comes to him through Jesus
Christ is said to be righteous in his sight.
A marvelous thing. It doesn't mean that my life
is always righteous, that I never sin again.
It doesn't mean that at all. That's sanctification.
That's another subject. But this is a legal declaration.
God sees me as in Christ, and as far as he's
concerned, I'm without sin. And then there's
the doctrine of propitiation. It's the basis
of justification. Propitiation simply means that
God's holiness, God's justice has been satisfied.
The demands of the law for death upon the lawbreaker
have been fully executed on Jesus Christ. So
that now God is satisfied and he is able to save
the sinner. who comes to him. Now of those three
doctrines, which one is the one that Paul zeroes
in on? Those of you who are new might not know,
but if you've been here a while, you should know.
Is it propitiation? Is it redemption? Or is it
justification? But I should have given you a
hint when I lifted my eyebrows. You see, it's
justification. That's what he begins to talk
about now. And in chapter 4, he illustrates justification.
And he goes back to the Old Testament and he
picks out the most prominent figure as far as
the Jews were concerned of the whole Old Testament.
That's Abraham. And he begins to show that Abraham
was justified not by his works. not by his circumcision,
not by keeping the law, but by faith. Now there
are those who said that Abraham was justified
in God's sight by being a good man. But the apostle
says if Abraham were justified by his works,
then he could boast before God. Furthermore,
he says, if a man is saved by his works, it means
that God owes him salvation. And God will have
none of that. Salvation is by grace. It's a free
gift. And so he quotes from Genesis chapter 15
where it says, And Abraham, what? What did he
do? He believed God, and it was counted to him
for what? For righteousness. In other words,
Abraham trusted, he believed the promise that
God gave to him, and God said, Abraham, you aren't
righteous, but because you trust me, I'm going
to count that faith as righteousness, and here
it is. justification, and he saved him. Then
there were others who said, well, Abraham was
saved by his circumcision, by the ritual, the
rite that he went through. And so the apostle
reminds us that Abraham was declared righteous
when he was 85 or 86 years of age. That's when
he believed that promise in Genesis chapter 15
and was declared righteous before God. But it
wasn't until he was 99 years of age that God
commanded him and all of his household to be
circumcised as an evidence, a token, of the covenant
that they had made with God. And so it was 13
years between salvation and that rite, that ritual
of circumcision. Now why is that important today?
Because, dear friends, there are untold thousands
and millions of people in this world today who
are depending upon ritual and rites to get them
to heaven. It may be the rite of baptism. It
may be the rite of communion or some other ritual.
It's a part of their religious heritage. And
they think that somehow God is going to find
them more acceptable because of that. And it's
not true. You and I come to God the same way
Abraham did, by faith in Jesus Christ and by
faith alone. And remember those who said that
Abraham must have been saved then by keeping
the law. And once again, the apostle gives us
a simple lesson in history. He said, don't you
remember that Abraham lived 600 years before
Moses? The law was not even given in Abraham's
day. How could he have kept the Ten Commandments?
And so he concludes he was justified by faith.
And then he says, This was written not just for
him, that he believed God and it was counted
to him for righteousness, but for you, who will
believe on him who raised Jesus Christ our Lord
from the dead. You see, we are illustrated in
that particular chapter without any question
whatsoever that justification, being right with
God that is, comes by faith. And then in chapter
5, he begins then to explain the blessings that
come with that. Justification is basic salvation.
But along with that salvation come blessings
that are beautiful and marvelous to consider.
The first one is found in verse 1 of chapter
5, where he says, Therefore, having been justified
by faith, we have what? Peace with God. Now that's
not tranquility of spirit. That's the peace of
God. Christians can know that too. But he's talking
here about peace with God. That is the peace
that is the word describing our relationship
to God now. Before we were enemies of God. We
were hostile toward God. We were bold against
God. And God's holy response was inevitably wrath
and judgment. But now Jesus Christ has come to
make peace. And when we come to God through him,
we have peace with God. And that's a permanent
position that can never change. Never again can
a person be at war with God when once peace has
been declared. As far as God is concerned, the
war is over. It's settled. We have peace. Does
that describe your relationship with God today,
or are you still trying to make it on your own
in some way? You're still hostile and rebellious
against God, perhaps. Dear friend, today God
provides peace through Jesus Christ, peace for
you. And then he says the second blessing that
we have by justification is that of access, or
what he calls an introduction to God. That goes
back to a picture that is not too familiar to
us in our democracy. Let's suppose we live under
a monarchy for a moment, and the king is in his
palace. You, as an ordinary citizen, have no
right to go before the king. But there's a man
in the court of the king who is a friend of yours,
and he says to you, would you like to meet the
king? Come on. And so he takes you into the courtroom
and personally introduces you to your sovereign.
Dear friend, that's what Jesus Christ did for
us when we trusted him as Savior. He gave us
access to God himself so that we may now come
boldly before God. God does not intend for us
to slink into his presence. He doesn't want us
to come with our tail between our legs, so to
speak. God wants us to come boldly and confidently
into his presence. If we don't, then we're coming
in unbelief. Did you hear what I said? If we
do not come boldly into his presence, we are
coming in unbelief. Rather let us come boldly
to the throne of grace. Now that doesn't mean
to come brashly or arrogantly. But we are to
come with confidence that God is hearing us and
that we are received. because of Jesus Christ.
And then he says, the third blessing, is that
we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. When
he says we exult in it, we rejoice, and he means
this is something we brag about. You don't brag
about something unless you verbalize it, and
that's the thrust here. He's saying this is something
we talk about with a lot of confidence and joy
and excitement. God's glory is coming. Do you
realize that because you have received Jesus
Christ as your Savior, that someday you're going
to share in his glory? That's your calling. That's
your destiny. Now, those who have not trusted
Christ do not have that future. Theirs is just
the opposite. It's God's condemnation. But for
those who do trust the Savior, it's glory that's
coming. Now, that's a great thought. It means
that someday you and I are going to be body,
soul, and spirit, just like the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now as you look up here this morning, you don't
see a lot of glory, do you? Well, frankly, I
don't see a lot of it back there either. Why
is that? Because our bodies are lowly bodies.
Our bodies are affected by sin. But someday,
when Jesus Christ comes back, we are going to
get new bodies. that are said to be bodies like
his body of glory, Philippians 3, 20 and 21.
In that day, in every respect, you will be like
Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean you'll be God as
he is God, but you'll be like him, for you'll
see him as he is. And not only that, you're going
to live in a place that is specifically created
to reflect the glory of God. It's called the
New Jerusalem. It's that which Doris Adams sang
about a few moments ago. It's described in Revelation
21 and 22. It's a city that is built specifically
to reflect the glory of God to his new heaven
and new earth, the new creation. Personally,
I believe that that new Jerusalem is going to
be the only source of light to that new creation.
There will be a need for sons because Jesus Christ
is the light or the lamp of that new Jerusalem.
From his person is going to radiate such splendor
and such glory that it's going to go through
that city and out into the universe that God
is going to create. It's a marvelous thought.
We talk about the streets being of gold. It's
not gold like we have today. This is a transparent
kind of gold. We're able to see through it. The
city is not a little thing either. If you were
to put that city described in those chapters
in Revelation down on a map of the United States,
it would cover two -thirds of the United States.
Now that is the city that God is preparing for
the bride of his son, the church of Jesus Christ.
We might call it home, because that's going to
be home. Jesus said, I go to prepare a place
for you. That's where he's going. He's preparing
a place for you and for me. And maybe that's
why the songwriter said, Oh, that will be glory
for me. When by his grace I shall look on his
face, that will be glory. Be glory for me. Because
that's part of it, too. We're going to be able
to see his face. We'll behold his face, according
to Revelation chapter 22. The hope of the glory
of God. But it goes on to say we have a fourth
blessing of our justification. The working of
God. Now I can hear somebody say, oh, fabulous,
that means prosperity and success and good health.
Well, that's not what he talks about here. He
says that God is using our troubles to work in
our life. That's not quite so exciting, is it?
Or is it? Just think about that. The troubles
that you and I pass through in this world are
God's tools to work in our lives. Therefore,
he says, we exult in them too. Do you brag about
your troubles as much as you brag about heaven?
Well, I do. That's what he says here. He says,
we brag and boast and glory in heaven, the glory
of God. But he says, we also brag, we boast,
we glory in our troubles because we know something.
God is working in our lives. And here's what
he's doing. Out of those troubles, he's bringing
patience. The ability to endure, to bear up under
a load. And he said, out of that patience, He's
bringing proven character. A proveness, in other
words. Showing that you passed the test. Sometimes
it doesn't work that way. Have you noticed that
we have a lot of shooting stars in the evangelical
world these days? Let me explain what I mean.
Jesus told a parable about a sower one time.
Remember that parable? A man went out to sow,
and as he sowed, the seed fell on four different
kinds of soil. One kind was a superficial soil.
He says the plants took root. The roots went
down, but they hit rock, stopped growing, and
when the sun came out, there was no moisture,
there was no depth for the plants. Therefore,
the plants withered, they blew away. And Jesus
himself gives us the meaning of that. He said
that's like the people who hear the word of God
and who immediately receive it with a lot of
joy. And then when troubles come, they're like
the plant and they blow away because they have
no root. It reminds me of a shooting star. They
get saved, and oh my, we're dazzled by the brilliance
of that testimony. And then, it's gone. When
trouble comes. Why is that? It's evidence that
the person never really was saved. The word of
God was received superficially, but not genuinely.
For the child of God, troubles prove him to be
a child of God. Now that doesn't mean that we
will never fail in a trial. We all have experienced
failure, haven't we? We've all disappointed the
Lord and we've disappointed ourselves. That's
part of growing. But the fact is that God brings
us out of that. And he proves to himself and
he proves to us that we are genuinely his children.
Troubles do that. God is working through our
troubles. to give us patience and endurance,
which in turn proves our character, that we are
children of God. You know, sometimes we judge
things too soon. And some of you may be sitting
there today in the middle of a trouble, and you
see defeat and failure, and you say, well, maybe
that means I'm not a child of God. Well, that
may be something you need to examine in your
life. You may not be a child of God. But don't
judge an unfinished product. If you go into a
factory and you look at any product halfway through
the line, you're going to look at it and say,
what a pile of junk. What is that supposed to
be? Is it deficient? No, it's just not finished
yet. When it gets to the final assembly line,
it begins to fall into place, and then it comes
out what it's supposed to be. Don't judge yourself
in the middle of a trouble. Let God work in that,
and when it comes out to the end, if you're a
child of God, it'll be proven. It'll be proven.
And he says as that confidence then builds up
in us, again we focus on the hope, and it reassures
our hearts before God that we're his children,
that Christ is coming, and that heaven is a reality.
And we're going to be there. See, that's the
process. God is working through your troubles.
God still loves you. Don't ever think that God
doesn't love you because you're having problems.
In fact, God never loves you any more than when
you're right in the middle of whatever it is
that's the pressure cooker in your life. He says
that hope is not going to disappoint us. Why?
Because God loves us, and that brings us really
to what we want to look at this morning. We're
going to look at it and be on our way. He says,
Hope does not disappoint, verse 5, because the
love of God has been poured out within our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Do you know that the moment you were saved, the
Holy Spirit came to live in you? God himself
and the person of his Spirit came to indwell
you. And at that moment, he brought his love
to make it real in your life. God wants you to
sense and to know in your experience his love
for you. Do you? When he says it's poured out,
he means it's like an oil gusher. You've seen
pictures of that, haven't you? When they drill
down into the earth and they strike oil. We've
all dreamed that that might happen in our backyards,
I suppose. And when they strike the oil, with
a roar and a blast, it goes into the air and
it comes down and it covers everything. And what
he says is, the moment that you trusted Jesus
Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit came into
you and he brought a gusher of God's love. And
it overflows your life and out through your life
to touch other people. That's God's plan. God
wants to make his love real to you. Do you feel
it this morning? Why is it that people don't
feel the love of God? Why may you be here and
not really sense that God loves you? Let me just
suggest a reason or two. One reason may be because
you're tired. Did you know that when we are physically
run down, it affects us so that we don't respond
quite right, even spiritually? Your need really
is not to go to a prayer meeting. Your need is
to go home and go to bed and sleep. Please don't
sleep here. Go home and go to bed and sleep.
That may help you. It could be sin. Sin has a
way of hardening our hearts. In Hebrews chapter
3, he warns us against hardness of heart that
comes by the deceitfulness of sin. Do you know
sin can begin to encrust our hearts or to callous
our hearts so that we don't sense God's love
like we used to and we don't love God like we
used to? Oh, what a terrible condition that is.
And friend, if that describes you this morning
as a Christian, then your need today is to come
to the Lord in repentance and confess that to
Him. Then there are some people who do not feel
that God loves them because they have never been
loved by anybody. One of the most important things
for a parent to do is to raise a child so that
he knows he's loved unconditionally. It doesn't
mean the spankings are in order occasionally.
I think we all know that. But we need to raise
our children so they know we love them. Children
who have been starved for love. have a hard time
later if they become Christians realizing God's
love for them. Because they don't know how to
emotionally get a hold of it and to feel it.
Or how God wants to heal that. And he can and
he will. And then there are those who don't love
themselves. And so their response is, well, how
can God love me? I don't love me. I talked with
someone like that recently. He does not like
his body, the way that he's created. And because
he does not love himself, he does not comprehend
how God can love him. You know what God wants?
He wants that person to love himself in the right
sense, to accept himself as a special creation
of God, so that God then can Help him to understand
and to feel and to experience his love. We don't
often talk about feeling God's love. We're so
scared of emotions. And that's too bad because
emotions are part of us. And God wants us to
experience his love. Do you this morning? Or
do you sit there with a heart that's cold and
unfeeling? That is not God's will. The Holy Spirit
is in you to make real God's love in your life.
God has proven that love objectively. What has
he done? Well, he tells us here. He says, while
we were still helpless at the right time, Christ
died for the ungodly. Do you wonder if God loves
you? Then think back to what you were before
you were saved. The condition you were in. And
how repugnant your sins were to you, let alone
to a thrice holy God. And then realize this,
while you were ungodly, and while you were helpless,
and you were a sinner and an enemy, that Christ
died for you. And then doubt no longer, friend,
that God loves you. He has demonstrated his love
in a way that you cannot deny. He says in verse
7, One will hardly die for a righteous man. In
other words, for a stiff, self -righteous, hard
kind of a person. There aren't very many people
that will die in the place of a guy like that.
He says there might be some who would dare to
die for a good man. That's the guy that wears
the white hat. You know. The good old boy. The
friendly, generous, kind -hearted person. There
may be a few who would give their lives for that
kind of a person, but he says, God has proven
his own special kind of love for you. And while
you were a sinner, not righteous, not even good,
Christ died for you. Have you received that love,
my friend? Will you no longer reject it, but
will you receive it today? God has so loved you
that he has provided by grace a way for you to
be right with himself. If you have trusted Christ
and the love of God is in your heart, are you
returning that love to him? Or as God examines
your heart today, are you something like the
church at Ephesus? Or just filled with all kinds
of activity and good things? But you lack one
thing. You've left your first love. But love
for Jesus Christ is not there like it ought to
be. Will you realize today what a heinous sin
that is? Oh, I convict my own heart in that.
I judge myself in it. But my heart does not leap
more readily with love for Jesus Christ than
it does. Will you today as a Christian say, Father
God, I have been away from you. But I come back
today because I want that love to be warm and
real in my life. Remember the prodigal? This
boy was selfish. He took his inheritance early.
They went out and wasted it. And when he got
down so low that he was in a pig pen ready to
eat, the husks that they were eating, he said,
I'm going back home to my father. And I'll tell
him that I'm no longer worthy to be his son,
but I'll be one of his hired servants. But I
know my father will care for me. He got out of
that pig pen and he went back home. But do you
remember what the father was doing? The father
was standing there at the portal, looking down
the road for his son. Who knows how many days
that father stood there longing with an aching
heart to see the figure of his son come over
the horizon on that road. And finally there he
came. The father didn't even wait for him to
get back home. He rushed to meet him and threw
his arms around him and the son started to spurt
out his little speech. Father, I've sinned against
heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy
to be called your son. And he got that far. And
the father said, I love you. And he brought forth
the best robe in the house and put it on him
and shoes on his feet. I tell you, there are
some Christians I'm talking to this morning that
are prodigals. And you're in the pig pen. And
you know that God loves you. And God does love
you. He's on the portal, as it were, looking
out there longing for you to return. Will you
get out of the pig pen and come back home? And
let God warm your cold heart and soften your
calloused heart and get you back to that place
where you may experience his love. Father, help
us today, I pray, to respond to the Holy Spirit's
speaking and to take whatever steps, to make
whatever decisions necessary to be in the place
where we're right with you. and who are able
to experience your love so graciously poured
out into our lives by the Holy Spirit. In Jesus'
name, amen. We're going to close by singing a
verse or so of number 290. It's about the love
of God. But as we sing this, I trust the Spirit
of God has said something to every one of us
this morning and that we will confirm in our
lives and answer positively as we ought to. If
there's a need for you to make some kind of an
open and public commitment this morning, we encourage
you to do that. It may be to publicly profess
your faith in Jesus Christ. Or it may be, as
a Christian, that you want to publicly say to
the Lord and for others, that today you're coming
out of a pig pen and back to the Father's house
to be in fellowship with Him. It may be as a
Christian you want to be baptized to follow the
Lord in obedience, or that you want to be a part
of this church. But if the Spirit of God has
been dealing with you about a commitment, He's
been telling you to make that an open and public
thing, this is the time to do it as we sing number
290, The Love of God. Will you join me and stand,
please, as we sing together? And if the Spirit
of God has spoken, then come right now. I wait
for you here in the front.