The Blessings of Our Justification

Transcript

GRM 802
7/21/2002
The Blessings of Our Justification
Romans 5:1-11
Gil Rugh

I want to direct your attention this evening to the book of Romans and the 5th chapter, Romans chapter 5. Talked about the Apostle Paul and his ministry, the trials and difficulties that came with a faithful ministry of the Word of God, some of the pressures and difficulties that he experienced in his testimony in II Corinthians chapter 11, and that the pressures of faithful ministry not only involve some of the physical difficulties he experienced in the form of persecution and so on, but he had the burdens that came with the ministry as well. The concerns he had for believers for the churches that he had established. I thought it would be good to look at Romans chapter 5 where Paul deals with this very subject of some of the trials and difficulties, some of really the blessings, if you will, of our justification in Christ which includes a proper perspective on the pressures of life.

Was looking over a brochure that I received a couple of in the last couple of weeks on a Christian counseling organization and their advertising a meeting they’re having. When you unfold the brochure it’s about yea long and it’s got a list of all the seminars you can get. You know there are just a lot of difficulties and pressures in life that they’re going to help you with. Paul acknowledges that there are pressures and that’s really the word he uses for the tribulations that we experience, and he talks about it in Romans chapter 5. But tribulation or pressure is not the subject of Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 is part of that larger segment of the book of Romans that began in chapter 3 verse 21 and will run through chapter 5 verse 21 which is talking about the matter of our justification, and he is continuing that emphasis and theme as we will see.

After an introduction to the book, he began in chapter 1 verse 18 to talk about the matter of sin. Through chapter 3 verse 20 that was his subject. Unless you understand the issue of sin, the issue of our depravity, the lostness of humanity because of sin, you cannot appreciate the work that God has done in providing righteousness. So having established the lost condition of mankind and sin and now under the wrath and condemnation of a Holy God he had moved, in chapter 3 verse 21, to talk about the righteousness of God which has been manifested that God is, in verse 26 of chapter 3, both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ. The word righteous, the word just, justifier comes from the same basic word in Greek. Justified is to declare righteous. When he talks about the righteousness of God has been manifested and now, we have been justified, we have been declared righteous, we’ve entered into the righteousness that He has provided for us in Christ.

You note the end of chapter 4 the last word is justification. You come to chapter 5 verse 1, “therefore having been justified.” That’s his subject, that’s what he is talking about. He’s talked about the provision of righteousness in Christ. He used Abraham as an example in chapter 4 of one who was justified by faith, and his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness. There’s a clear illustration for us of how we enter into the righteousness that God has provided. We do it by faith.

Therefore, having been justified by faith. What he is going to do is talk about the blessings of our justification. Justification is not the beginning of a series of blessings that God provides. But justification is included in that package of salvation which we enter into through faith in Christ. When we believe in Christ we enter into that salvation, we are justified, we receive the righteousness of Christ applied to our account. But we also in Him receive everything necessary for life and godliness. We have been blessed completely and fully. God is not just parceling out piece by piece, but He has bestowed on us all of the blessings of His salvation. Now there is growth as we enter into the fullness of those and the experience of what each of the aspects of our salvation entail. That will be part of what he is talking about in the section in chapter 5 we are going to look at.

“Therefore, having been justified by faith.” We pick up with chapter 5 verse 1, that has been established by him beginning with chapter 3 verse 21, that you enter into the righteousness that God has provided by faith and faith alone. There is no other way to be justified before God but by faith. Paul has driven this whole point home clearly. There is only one God, there is only one way of salvation. That’s the illustration of Abraham, then, comes into play. How did the one God justify anyone? How will He justify anyone? Let’s look for an example. Abraham is a clear example because there is a clear statement in Genesis 15:6, that Abraham believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness. That means that righteousness is applied to us by faith alone. Remember in the illustration Abraham was declared righteous by God in chapter 15, he’s not circumcised for a couple more chapters and several years. Circumcision cannot be required for salvation, circumcision cannot be required to be justified before God or by God, because Abraham was justified by faith apart from circumcision. We could include a lot of things there like church membership, baptism, and everything else. There is a place for some of those things, but it is not necessary for our salvation. Because Abraham believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness. As far as we know Abraham was never baptized, so therefore you cannot say that baptism would be necessary for salvation.

We have peace with God, having been justified by faith we have peace with God. So not only are we declared righteous when we believe in Jesus Christ, the provision that God has made, but we are also brought into a relationship of peace with God. The enmity, the hostility is removed. We who were the enemies of God are now the children of God, we have peace with God. Down in verses 10 and 11 of this chapter that having peace with God will be referred to as having been reconciled to God, brought into right relationship with God, having the enmity that caused the separation between God and us dealt with. We have peace with God. It’s out of that peace with God that we experience the peace of God in passages like Philippians chapter 4 where the peace of God stands guard in our hearts and minds. But first you must have peace with God, then you can have the peace of God stand guard at your hearts. There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked, Isaiah wrote, and so we cannot get over that hurdle. People want peace, they want tranquility of heart. Well first you have to have peace with God, first you must believe in the provision He has made. Then you are justified by Him, you are brought into right relationship with Him, a relationship of peace, then you enter into the provisions that are included in that salvation which include the peace of God to characterize our hearts.

This comes through Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ. This phrase with some variation is repeated a number of times in these chapters of Romans because Jesus Christ is foundational to everything God is doing in salvation. You cannot avoid Jesus Christ and have the provisions that God has made. It takes His death and that was greatly stressed in verses 21 and following in chapter 3.

Look at verse 2. It’s through Christ, He is the one through whom also we have obtained our introduction or access (that word translated introduction is used two other times in the New Testament, both by Paul. In the book of Ephesians there it’s translated access in our English Bibles, Ephesians 2:18 and Ephesians 3:12, introduction, access. Through Christ we have obtained our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. So, the grace in which we stand is our position of having been justified, now in a relationship of peace with God as those who have been reconciled to God, as he is going to go on to talk about. This is the grace in which we stand. We have entered into this position by faith, not by our works. By faith. Because we stand in this grace. A position we now have as a result of God’s unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor. We entered into that by believing in His provision.

We exult in the hope of the glory of God. To exult is to rejoice greatly. We rejoice greatly in the hope of the glory of God. What that does is move our attention from past, present, to the future. He’s talked about the past, we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God. He’s going to talk about some of our experiences in the present in a moment, but he leaps forward to talk about the hope we have in Christ. Because we have been justified, now we have peace with God and stand in His grace, we are filled with joy and rejoicing as we consider the hope of the glory of God, anticipating the time when we will be brought into His presence. The blessed hope of the believe is that time when we have the coming of the great God who is our Savior, Jesus Christ in Titus chapter 2.

Look over in Romans chapter 8 verse 18, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” We are anticipating that future glory when this body will be glorified, God’s work of salvation which includes justification, sanctification and glorification will be brought to its fruition and completion. We are filled with rejoicing as we anticipate the hope that is ours, the glory of God and when we will be unveiled before all creation as Paul went on to say in chapter 8, as the children of God, the sons of God. I John chapter 3 verse 2 says that when we see Him, we will be like Him and that involves the glorification of our bodies, even the glory that was given to Christ in His resurrection.

Come back to chapter 5. We talked about the fact that focused on what has happened to us in our salvation and the hope for the future that is given us which is glory; and that fills our hearts with joy, but what about now? Well now it’s a little less joyful. But verse 3 says, and not only this. Not only do we exult and greatly rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, not only this, but we also exult, rejoice greatly in our tribulations. So now we deal with this present time, the time when we have entered into our salvation through believing in Christ and have been justified, until the time when we enter into the realization of our hope which will bring us the glory that God has promised to us. Right now, today, is a time of tribulation and we have the same rejoicing. The rejoicing is not limited just to the hope, that rejoicing fills the present time now. In our tribulations we greatly rejoice. This word translated tribulation, thlipsis means pressure. We rejoice in our pressures. We talk about society as a pressure cooker, people are under a lot of pressure today, there’s a lot of stress in life today. Remember in John 16:33 Jesus told His disciples “In the world you have tribulations.” That was this world. You have tribulations, you have pressures. “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He was leaving them with His peace. Often the tribulations, the pressures that the New Testament is talking about, talking about the persecutions that come to believers. But God’s provision for us includes all the pressures that come to us as we anticipate the full realization of our salvation and the glory of His presence.

In the pressures of life, the trials, the tribulations, we greatly rejoice. Puts a totally different perspective on it. Somehow the church has lost its proper focus, I think, in this area which gets into the Biblical doctrine of sanctification which Paul is going to begin to develop in chapter 6 and will in 7 and 8 as well, God’s provision for our living out our lives as redeemed people. But believers are to be characterized by great rejoicing, in their tribulations, in their pressures. He is not promising us freedom from pressure, He has assured us if anything, more pressures as His children. Because now we are really out of step with the world, now we are going upstream. We have joined the war, and the battle is engaged. We are reminded, we greatly rejoice in our tribulation. We look at pressure differently than other people do. We’re not running for pills, we’re not running for counseling, because we have the salvation that God has provided in Christ which provides for the pressures of life. Now we are people not only greatly rejoicing in anticipation of heaven, but we are also a people greatly rejoicing even in the trials and tribulations, the pressures of this present life. Why? You know when we entered into God’s salvation by grace through faith, we were justified, we were brought into a relationship of peace with God. We now stand in His grace. We came to understand that now our heavenly Father is working His purposes for our good and His glory. The pressures and trials of life have a definite purpose as our loving heavenly Father brings them into our lives.

We greatly rejoice in our tribulations, not because we like to suffer, not because we like life to be difficult. We rejoice in our tribulations because we know that tribulation brings about perseverance. We know, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance. We know that these pressures that come into our lives serve a good purpose, they are necessary for us to develop and mature and become the people that God intends us to be. Tribulation brings about perseverance, a word that means perseverance, endurance, that ability to live under the pressure, which is literally what the compound word means, to live under. It’s when you have tribulations you deal with the pressures, the trials of life that you develop that ability to persevere and stay with it, whatever the persecution and trials. We’ve seen that in Paul’s life, the persecution and trials and pressures that came to him as he proclaimed the gospel. How could he keep at it? Well one thing he developed was the stamina, the endurance to keep going, that’s developed. So even though God has provided for us everything blessing in Christ, there is growth. It’s like the baby born into the human race. We say well he’s got everything now. Well, what? He has to develop. He’s not going to get anymore parts, they’re all there. He got them all at birth, but the development of those parts, the ability to use them, to mature, will take time. So here. Tribulations, trials, pressure produces endurance in the life of a believer.

Keep your finger in Romans, turn over to James, just after the book of Hebrews toward the back of your New Testament. James chapter 1 verse 2, “consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials,” when you encounter all kinds of trials, multi-faceted trails, whatever kind of trials you confront. Count it all joy knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. James goes on, let endurance have its perfect result. On several occasions, and in the scripture, numerous occasions really, the scripture reminds us of the importance of endurance, of developing endurance. Endurance is developed under pressure. Why won’t this go away? Lord, I’ve prayed about it, why won’t you change it, why won’t you take this away, Lord I can’t take this pressure. Well, His grace is sufficient for us, and I don’t say that to make light of pressure. I look at some people and say I wonder how they do endure what they have to endure. It is a great blessing to me as I see God’s grace is sufficient for them and it reminds me it is sufficient for me. The trials are developing endurance and that’s not the end.

Let’s come back to Romans chapter 5. Perseverance comes from pressure, tribulation; and perseverance brings about proven character; it develops us. The word proven character here: metals put to the test of the fire, to refine them and purify them. What God is doing is purifying us, making us of tested character as He refines us and puts us through that process. He is developing us and maturing us in much the same was as our children humanly do. We like to protect them, but we know we can’t totally shelter them. As they get older there are certain pressures that they have to learn to deal with, and as they mature more pressure, more pressure, we’re preparing them for the time what? When they will have to stand on their own outside of the shelter and protection we provide as their parents. We want them to be prepared by having been tested. That’s what God is doing with us spiritually. We have a heavenly Father so no trials, no testings come into our lives that are greater than we can bear. Sometimes it seems like a borderline case and sometimes I find myself wanting to talk to the Lord, I know Lord no trial no testing comes into my life that’s more than I can bear, but I think we’re right on the edge. As though I had to tell Him? He knows exactly what He is doing and as we tell our children, trust me. Maybe you’re teaching them to swim, and you know they’re swimming, swimming and then they get about this far from shore and say I can’t make it. What do you say? You can make it, keep coming. You’re not going to let them sink. You know they have to learn to go that extra space. Any danger, you’re going to let them drown? You don’t say oh you can make it; I’m going to go have a Coke. No. You’re there, they start to go under, you’re going to pull them out. But they have to learn, and they develop. God is developing our character.

We can rejoice. Why? We know the purpose of the pressures, the trials. Developing my endurance so my character will be refined and proved, and proven character brings about hope. Our exulting, our rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God parallels our exulting in the tribulation, in the pressures. Because it’s the pressures, the tribulations that develop and mature and produce steadfast Christians of proven character who have their attention even more firmly fixed on the hope. The Apostle Paul just didn’t wake up one morning and decide he was going to be a strong, mature, proven man of God. What did he tell the Corinthians in I Corinthians chapter 9, I discipline my body beat it black and blue; bring it into subjection. It was an ongoing process of maturing. What did he write to the Philippians in his testimony in chapter 3? I haven’t already arrived, but here’s what I’m doing. Constantly striving towards that ultimate goal. You know what happens to believers who are constantly running from pressures, trials? They don’t develop endurance. You know what happens to those who don’t develop endurance? They don’t develop proven character; they don’t get refined and purified and strengthened. You know what happens to Christians who don’t develop proven character? They don’t have their attention refined and fixed even more firmly on the hope they have in Christ; and so what? They’re subject to the storms of life, to being unsettled, being confused, to despair, to give up. We don’t experience that in our trials, in our pressures. That’s why the endurance comes. No, I have to keep going. God hasn’t given me the grace for next week, but He’s given me the grace for today. Now I remember what Jesus told me, don’t worry about tomorrow’s problems, today has enough trouble of its own. I am reminded Lord; I can’t handle tomorrow but you haven’t asked me to handle tomorrow. Lord, I believe you’ve given me sufficient grace for today, and I want to draw upon that grace and handle the pressures and trials of today in a way that will produce endurance and develop proven character and give me even a firmer grasp on the hope that I have in Christ that brings stability to my life in an unstable world.

Look over in I Peter chapter 1. If you are in James and keep going just after James, you’d be in I Peter. If I had thought of it, I could have told you to stay there, or keep a marker there. I Peter chapter 1. You find these themes keep coming up in different writers, Paul, James, Peter, the writer to Hebrews does it, and so on. Because this is where we live. In I Peter chapter 1 verse 5, we have to break into the long sentence here. Verse 3 he’s talked about God has caused us to be born again to a living hope, that living hope, you see that hope comes back, born again to a living hope. Go from the beginning of our salvation being born again to the culmination of our salvation, that living hope, and the glory that will be ours with the heavenly inheritance and so on. Verse 6, “in this you greatly rejoice, that blessed hope, the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, the hope of the glory of God the culmination. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now though for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire.” You see the same kind of analogy, proven character, that word to be tested, to be refined, you know that picture of the metals that are being refined and purified by the testing process, tested by fire. May be found to result in praise, glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Here he carries us back to the blessed hope, so we see our trials now in light of God’s purpose and plan in the hope that He has given us. It’s not that I just have to put up with life now waiting for the blessed hope. Oh, that the rapture would occur today. We do have that as the desire of our hearts. I understand that the pressures and trials of today are a key part of preparing me for the hope that God has given me in Christ Jesus.

Back to chapter 5. We don’t follow through in each of these other writers, you’d find though very much similarity because we have the same author, different human writers, Peter, James, Paul, but the same author, the Holy Spirit. We’re told in verse 5 of Romans 5, “and hope does not disappoint.” This is just not a crutch to help us get through a difficult time, there will be no disappointment, this is a reality. Some day we will be presented by Christ before the throne of His Father as holy and blameless and without spot. We will enter into the fullness of the glory, the heavenly inheritance that He has promised to those who love Christ. Hope does not disappoint, it’s a sure, settled thing.

We have that confidence because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. This is the first use of the word love, agape love, in the book of Romans. Now we have a form of it in chapter 1 verse 7, he referred to them as beloved. But here he’s referring to God’s love for us, the love of God has been poured out within our hearts, the love that God has for us. Down in verse 8 he’ll talk about God demonstrates His own love toward us. Over in chapter 8 verse 35, “who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Come to verse 39 and the conclusion of chapter 8, “nothing shall separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” God’s love for us was poured out, not just parceled out, poured out. It was a lavish, abundant provision of His love through the Holy Spirit whom He has given to us. It’s been given to every believer. He’s caused us to know and understand that He loves us. The Holy Spirit confirms that love to our hearts and minds as He has opened our hearts to believe the truth of Christ and enter into the fullness of that salvation; and the Holy Spirit has poured out that love in our hearts.

He’s going to elaborate that love in the following verses, as you pick up with verse 6. There is a process going on. At the ends of chapter 4, obviously Paul didn’t have the chapter divisions, but his subject leads naturally on. He’s talking about justification, and he now elaborates on the blessings of our justification, and that is the fullness of joy we have in light of the blessed hope that is ours and the glory in His presence. Even our tribulations don’t detract, the pressures that we experience don’t detract from the joy that we have in Him. We often have to remind ourselves. You know I have to talk with the Lord and say Lord, I need to remind myself that even as unpleasant as this trial is, even as difficult as the pressures are that I’m going through, I rejoice to know these are part of your purpose and plan to develop my character, to develop me in ways that I would not be developed otherwise, to prepare me for the glory that will be mine someday.

You come to verse 6, he’s going to carry on now with God’s love. God’s love has been poured out. Let’s talk more about that. “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” What he’s going to do in verses 6 to 8 is talk about that great demonstration of God’s love. But you know only those who have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them know and understand the magnitude of God’s love for us. The vast portion of the world, those who have not yet come to believe, are indifferent to that wonderful truth. But we know the greatness of God’s love for us, confirmed to our hearts through the Holy Spirit. When did we come to know something of that love and enter into an understanding of it? When the Holy Spirit took up residence in our lives, another of the blessings God has bestowed upon us. We’ve been justified by faith, we have peace with God, we stand in His grace, we have the hope of the glory of God, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we know His love has been poured out.

“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” While we were still helpless. There are debates that go on, Calvinism, Arminianism. What we were in our lost, fallen condition, we were helpless, we were without strength, literally. We had nothing we could do to resolve our problem. We were without any ability to deal with our sinful condition. In our arrogance and pride and rebellion we didn’t know how hopeless our condition was. You know it’s like a little child you take to the seashore, and they’ve just learned to swim. And they say what? Let’s swim to the other side. There’s no swimming to the other side, no one can swim to the other side. Oh yeah, I can, I learned to swim. They want to jump in and show you they can do it. How far are they going? It’s nothing, and no matter how developed the swimmer is, how far are they going? Not very far, comparatively. The developed swimmer will go farther than that beginner, as far as measuring how far across the ocean do they get? It’s not worth measuring. We were helpless, we were without strength, totally unable to deal with our sin and our wretched, lost condition.

But while we were still helpless, God wasn’t helpless. We were without power, without strength to deal with our sinful condition, but God could and did. At the right time God’s provision is at the right time. Galatians 4:4 says, “in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son.” God is sovereign and in control, and at the right time He sent forth His Son. Christ died for the ungodly. That’s where we’re talking about, how the love of God poured out upon us. We come to understand that great truth. Christ died for me. How great His love is for me that He would have His Son die for me. He died for the ungodly.

Now what he is going to do in verses 7 and 8 is elaborate what he just said in verse 6. “For one will hardly die for a righteous man.” He died for the ungodly. Do you understand. What he’s doing is displaying how His love was poured out, and we understand the magnitude of that love through the enlightening ministry of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. We have come out of darkness into His marvelous light. “For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man some would even dare to die.” You have a righteous person; people don’t step up to take their place and die. But maybe there’d be a good man, maybe there’s someone who touched your heart and you would die for them. There are those exceptional cases. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were, yet sinners Christ died for us.”

Recently there was a horrible crime committed against a child. You know you don’t see anybody being interviewed who thinks oh nothing. Everybody speaks of how horrible, vile and wicked such an action was. Just think someone step up and say you know I would like to take that person’s place and pay their penalty so they could go free, be absolved. You say they don’t deserve it. Well, that’s what Christ did for us-- wretched, vile, the filthy, the polluted. God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were, yet sinners Christ died for us. You understand how he can say in verse 5, the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit, He’s given us. That love, we’re not just talking about a subjective feeling, we’re talking about the objective, theological truth of verses 6, 7 and 8. The Son of God died for me, a helpless, hopeless, wretched, vile, hell-bound, hell-deserving sinner. He didn’t die for us because we were so valuable, He died for us because we were so hopeless. We were sinners, worthless, as described in chapter 3 of Romans. We understand His love was poured out in Christ. I didn’t understand that until the Spirit of God opened my eyes, and I believed in the Son of God and the Spirit of God took up residence in my life, and the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shone in my heart, Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Now we are overwhelmed, we sing of it, we talk of it, the magnitude of God’s love. We ought to speak to others about the magnitude of God’s love, that He would have His Son die for the ungodly, that they might be saved.

Verse 9, much more then. We’re not done. If God would do this for us when we were sinners, think of the greatness of His love and the blessings that will be poured out upon us now that we belong to Him. While we were sinners, He had His Son die for us, die for the ungodly. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, and that work of salvation. Having been justified, that’s where we started out in verse 1 of this chapter, having been justified by faith. Verse 9, much more then having now been justified by His blood. We’re justified by faith, we’re justified by His blood which is His death, because it’s faith in His death on our behalf that brings about our justification.

Verses 9 and 10 are giving the same truth in parallel statements as you’ll see in a moment. Having been justified by His blood we shall be saved. Well, I thought we were saved. Yes, we were, but we shall be also. We talk about the past, present and future aspects of our salvation. We have been saved from the penalty of sin, and some people think oh that’s about it. But we are being saved from the power of sin, that’s our progressive sanctification. We ultimately shall be saved from the presence of sin, when we shall have glorified bodies and be brought into the glory of His sinless presence. We shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. There is an aspect of the wrath of God that is already being poured out. He’s covered that in Romans chapter 1, where the wrath of God is being poured out in Romans 1:18. But there is a future dimension to the wrath of God, when men and women will be sentenced to eternal suffering in the fires of hell, and yet God’s salvation is so great, we have been saved from the wrath of God through Him. So, do we have any fear about the future? No, it is settled and secure. We rejoice as we contemplate the future because that is a future that holds for us the hope of the glory of God.

“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life.” While we were enemies. We were called helpless in verse 6, those without strength, helpless. We were called ungodly in verse 6, now we’re called enemies. Understand our true condition apart from the grace of God. Helpless, godless enemies of the living God. Jesus said he who is not with me is against me. Every person who has not bowed in faith before Jesus Christ is the sworn enemy of Jesus Christ. There are no people in between. Those who have not believed in Christ are the enemies of Christ. The elect are the enemies of Christ until they believe in Him. That’s what he’s talking about, we were enemies. If while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. That’s the same point in verse 8, God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, another word to describe us, Christ died for us.

We were reconciled through the death of His Son, that’s saying the same thing as having been justified by His blood. We’re justified, declared righteous, we were reconciled, brought into right relationship. How? By His blood, His death, the death of His Son. Much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life. The argument is simple. If God did that for us while we were His enemies, sinners, ungodly people, what will He do for us now that we belong to Him, that we’ve been declared righteous by Him, that we have become His children, partakers of the divine nature as Peter wrote, and so on. Well, we can be assured we shall be saved by His life, and the point is as Paul will develop later in Romans, it’s developed elsewhere in scripture as well, the fact that Christ lives assures us that we shall live. I Corinthians 15 talks about the fact that Christ’s resurrection is a guarantee of our resurrection. We are assured of coming glory. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 says that “Christ ever lives to make intercession for us.” We have a high priest who represents us in the courts of heaven, we have an advocate for the throne of God, who is the propitiation for our sins, as I John 2 says. The fact that Christ is alive assures us of the settled blessings. Much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life. He has much to say about the doctrine of what we call eternal security. God graciously, marvelously saved me when I was a wretched, lost sinner. I have the full assurance now; He won’t lose me. We shall be saved by His life. Christ is alive and I have been raised with Him to newness of life, so my ultimate salvation is assured and settled.

Verse 11, “not only this but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So now we’ve picked up that theme again. We exult, rejoice greatly in the hope of the glory of God, verse 2. Verse 3, we exult in our tribulations because we understand they’re a part of God’s purpose in preparing us for the glory. Verse 11, not only this, not only shall we be saved from coming wrath, but we right now have a present overflowing joy. We exult, we rejoice greatly in our relationship with God. That relationship has already begun, I have entered into a relationship with the living God. I don’t have to wait and say oh when I get to heaven it will be glorious, and it will. When I get to heaven I’ll be filled with joy and rejoicing, and I will. But you know what, God intends that to begin now. For sure, there will be a fullness of joy in glory that will be impossible for me now bound in this body of flesh. You see some Christians moping along complaining about the stress and pressures of life and the difficulties and gloom and glum. That’s not the salvation God has provided.

Not only this but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation. What do you have to be down about? What are the pressures of life compared to the fact I am reconciled to God? What a change. I am not His enemy; I am His child. I am not a lost sinner on my way to hell, I am a redeemed sinner on my way to glory. I am not a godless man, but by His grace I am a child of God and manifest His character as a godly man. He is our God now; it’s not He will be our God when we get to glory. All the pressures and trials of life are put into proper perspective, and the perspective of the blessings of the justification, salvation we have received in Christ. There are pressures in life and trials, but you know what? That’s part of the process to prepare me for glory. We can rejoice in our trials, rejoice in our pressures. Yes, but you don’t have the job I have, you don’t have the boss I have, you don’t have the husband I have, the wife I have, the health problems I have, the children I have, the children I don’t have and on it goes. You’re right, because our heavenly Father is doing His developing process according to what He determines is best for each one of us. He brings into my life what He knows I need to be refined and tested and purified and prepared. He brings into your life what He knows will accomplish His purposes in your life. But all of us together as the children of God can be rejoicing with a great joy because we all know in spite of the variety and differences in our life situation and pressures and trials and tribulations that our heavenly Father is at work. He is doing what is right and best and good and so every day can be a day filled with joy. Do I need something to help me deal with the pressures of life? What greater provision could there be? The God that I have has given me everything in Christ.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord for your great blessings. Thank you for your provision for me in Christ. Thank you that in Christ you have provided for us all that is necessary to have the fullness of joy, even under the greatest pressures, the most difficult trials, the most unpleasant situations. You are preparing us for the hope that you have promised us, and we are secure. The God who has loved us so greatly while we were sinners, we are assured you will bestow upon us all the blessings now that we belong to you in Christ. Lord may your overflowing joy be the characteristic of each of our lives. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.