Romans 5:1-11
1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
As we start this fifth chapter in Romans I need to remind everyone where we just came from in the past chapters. Paul has spent almost all of the last chapters telling us of our fallen nature, our sinfulness, and the just wrath of God. God has been at war with us and us with Him. We have been completely disobedient, we have been arrogant, and we have been sin lovers and God hatters since the fall of Adam.
But he had mercy on us and sent His only Son Jesus Christ down to bear the sins of all those who would have faith in Him. As Christians He took every sin that I brought against Him and every sin that you brought against Him and the full wrath of God was absorbed by a sinless loving Christ. One sinless perfect man absorbed the wrath of all of our entire sin. His suffering, His pain, His torment and His abandonment was equal to the combined punishment that all of us justly deserved.
It is said that the greatest pain in hell is that of knowing that God has completely abandoned you. That there is a total and complete mourning of the loss of Gods love. The absence of that love is in itself a torture of overwhelming magnitude that we could never comprehend.
And Christ Himself felt that torturous abandonment of His Fathers love for Him as He was nailed and hanging from the cross.
1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
John Piper
Justification – Being justified before God and being forgiven by God are not identical. To be justified in a courtroom is not the same as being forgiven. Being forgiven implies that I am guilty and my crime is not counted. Being justified implies that I have been tried and found innocent. My claim is just. I am vindicated. The judge says, “Not guilty.”
So being justified in Gods eyes is like God seeing us as never have even committing the sin.
The best we can do as humans is to try and forgive the person who has committed the wrong against us. And in most situations we have a hard time doing that.
1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
We are no longer at war with God and He is no longer at war with us. That doesn’t mean that we are perfect now, we are for sure still an imperfect rebellious people even as Christians. But now Christ has brought us as Christians closer to our God reconciling our differences. We are able now to enjoy Gods grace and love for us like never before.
2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
Now having been justified by God through faith in Jesus, we can know with certainty that our salvation is secured and that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.
(End of verse 2) And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
We are to know and rejoice that we will be with God in heaven one day, and we will be there with Him in all His glory.
3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
I have to admit to you that my life at one time was a complete disaster. Since I was about 12 until I was almost 35 my life was a total wreck. I was always getting into trouble and my life was packed full of sin.
Looking back on my life now I know that it was all a part of Gods plan in building me up. Without the experiences from my past both bad and good I would never be who I am today. God has made me a stronger Christian, and has instilled in me a driving desire to serve Him and Christ in building His kingdom. I am not a perfect person by a long shot but I am committed Christian who loves being a servant for Christ and a servant for you.
If you are a Christian you will for sure have conflict in your life. At times it may seem that you have more conflict now then before you came to Christ. But we must be assured and joyful that God is working in our lives to build us up so that we can be stronger warriors for Him.
I want you to know that I feel truly blessed by all of you. This church is a testament to your love and desire to bring glory to God. I pray that every one of you looks at this church that you are building and knows that what you are doing here is bringing Him glory.
6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Here is a question for you, do all of you realize the power that you have been given? Since Christ’s death and the Holy Spirit being given to us we have power.
1 Corinthians 2:14
14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
We are now able to understand to a certain extent God and His Word. We could not before.
John 3:3-5
3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." 4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!" 5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
We are now able to see the kingdom of God and enter it. We could not before.
7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God loves us even when we are at our lowest. God loves us enough to have sent His Son to die for us. Not because we deserved it or that we had been righteous in any way, but because of His mercy and grace.
9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Five reasons that we can be assured of our salvation
1) We can be assured of salvation because God has made peace with us through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
2) We can be assured of salvation because, through that same work of Christ, we have been brought into a new relationship with God in which we continue to stand.
3) We can be assured of salvation because of the sure and certain hope that we shall see God.
4) We can be assured of salvation because of the way we are able to react to sufferings in this life. We see God’s purpose in them and therefore rejoice in them, which unbelievers cannot do.
5) We can be assured of salvation because God sent Jesus Christ to die for us, not when we were saved people, as we are now, but when we were God’s sworn enemies.
We have included in to today’s hand outs these five reasons that we can be assured of our salvation. As you go through the week keep these in a place that you can look over them from time to time as a reminder of Gods promise to us.
