The Past, Present and Future of Justification
Text: Rom. 5:1-11
Introduction
1. This morning we are going to talk about…THEOLOGY! “Now wait a minute Pastor Mark, we don’t want to talk about theology, we just want to talk about Jesus!” Well, you can’t talk about Christian theology and not talk about Jesus! When we talk about what we believe about Jesus and what he did for us we are talking about theology. When we talk about Jesus Christ, we are talking about the theological concept called Christology, which means the study of Christ (anything “ology” means the study of).
2. What we are going to talk about this morning is the concept of justification.
a. Now before you get all bent out of shape with this big theological word, I have good news for you.
b. Justification = Just As If I Never Sinned!
c. Now isn’t that good news? You bet it is. In fact, it’s not only good news, it’s awesome news!
3. Proposition: Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, it’s as if I never sinned!
4. In our text today, Paul talks about…
a. Present Results of Justification
b. Past Basis of Justification
c. Future Promise of Justification
5. Would you stand with me this morning as we read Rom. 5:1-11.
Transition: First, Paul talks about…
I. Present Results (1-5).
A. Justified By Faith
1. So, Paul’s topic of conversation this morning has to do with this concept of justification. Now, we have already established that it means “just as if I’d never sinned. But let’s go a little bit deeper.
a. It literally means “to set or put something right.”
b. In a judicial sense, it means to be declared not guilty!
c. All of our past sins are no longer counted against us.
d. Now, I don’t know about you, but that is a good deal as far as I’m concerned.
2. Paul begins this chapter with, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
a. Paul's opening statement is a summary of everything that he has said from 1:18-4:25.
b. Notice that he is using the past tense here, since you have been, referring to their conversion.
c. This is the heart of the gospel message: once we were sinners deserving judgement, but now we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus and declared right with God because of our faith.
d. The first blessing of our being made right with God is peace, referring to the OT sense of shalom, "a state of well- being."
e. As a result of what Christ has done, we have had our sins forgiven and our guilt removed. We are now "good" with God again.
f. All of this comes through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is both the avenue of our salvation and the Lord of our life.
g. There is no way to experience this peace with God without a relationship with Jesus.
3. Then in v. 2 Paul says, “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
a. The second blessing of justification is access by faith into the grace in which we stand.
b. What Paul means by access is that we have access to God's presence, like having access to royalty, in this case, access into the chamber of the King of kings.
c. There are two reasons we have this access: first, because of what Jesus did, and secondly, through faith.
d. Paul refers to this access as the grace in which we stand.
e. Paul is referring to this free gift that we could not earn or deserve.
f. We have been given this free gift because of Christ's work and our faith, and this is the situation we find ourselves in right now.
g. We not only have peace with God, but we also have a place in God's very presence.
4. Now, what Paul says in the next three verses seems a little hard to swallow at first, but hang with me on this one. He says, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
a. At first glance, this verse might make us wonder if Paul wasn't a few fries short of a Happy Meal! Seriously, Paul, rejoice in our sufferings?
b. Don't forget, this is the same guy while sitting in a Philippian jail, around midnight said to his companion Silas, "hey, let's sing some worship songs!"
c. Paul here says we should rejoice in our sufferings, and by that he means general difficulties.
d. What he means by this is not that we should be happy when bad things happen to us, but rather that we should be grateful for what these things accomplish in our lives.
e. Just to show that Paul hasn't lost his marbles, we should know that he isn't the only biblical writer to make this statement.
f. 1 Peter 1:6-7 (ESV)
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
g. James 1:2-3 (NLT2)
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
h. The point of all three biblical writers is that we need to look at the difficulties in our life through a different set of lenses.
i. Instead of seeing them as bad things happening to us, we need to look at them as opportunities to grow in our faith.
j. The first reason that Paul gives us here to rejoice in our sufferings is that they produce endurance.
k. By endurance Paul means the ability to stand and hold up under the pressures of life.
l. In times of difficulty we should display a steadfast hope that enables us to remain faithful to God and run the race of faith that God has put before us.
5. Another reason to rejoice in our sufferings is that endurance produces character.
a. Character is to try to learn the genuineness of something by examination and testing, often through actual use
(Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains, 332).
b. One of the ways this word is used in Scripture is that of testing gold. When gold is mined it has a lot of impurities, so the way that they remove the impurities is to heat it to the point of boiling.
c. This causes the impurities to rise to the top where they can be easily skimmed off.
d. That's what Peter was talking about in 1:7, where our faith is tested in the fire of life.
e. Trials test a Christian and give them both endurance and character.
f. You know, like they say about the weather in Ohio, it produces character!
6. Tested character produces hope. This word was already used in 4:18 to describe how Abraham "in hope believed" and became the father of many nations through Isaac.
a. It's interesting how this all works together. Hope makes it possible to endure, and at the same time the process of enduring and the godly character it produces increases our hope by causing us to constantly reflect on what God has in store for us.
b. Paul then clarifies hope by saying that it will not put us to shame. This is a reference to OT passages that teach the child of God does not need to fear shame or judgement because of our relationship to God. Paul gives God's love as a reason for our hope.
c. This is the first and last time that Paul mentions God's love in Romans, but it's a biggie!
d. Notice that Paul says God's love has been poured out on us. This verb refers to a flood of love that God pours out on our lives.
e. Paul says that this love is poured into our hearts, meaning that God's love is an inner spiritual experience at the deepest level of our being.
f. In Scripture the heart refers to the center of our being. So, God's love is poured out on the center of who we are.
g. Furthermore, Paul tells us that the way we experience this love is through the Holy Spirit.
h. Usually we read of the Holy Spirit being poured out on us, but here it is the Spirit who pours God's love into our lives, and He makes it possible for us to know God's love.
i. Augustine said, "It is not by ourselves but by the Holy Spirit who is given to us that this love, shown by the apostle to be God's gift, is the reason why tribulation does not destroy patience but rather gives rise to it."
j. Do you see how this all works together? The reason we can rejoice in suffering is that it produces endurance, which produces character, character produces hope, and hope reveals more and more of God's love to us through the Holy Spirit!
k. You ought to be running to the altar right now saying, "Lord, give me more problems so that I can see more of you!"
B. Declared Right with God
1. H. A. Ironside told the story of pioneers who were making their way across one of the central states to a distant place that had been opened up for homesteading. They traveled in covered wagons drawn by oxen, and progress was necessarily slow.
a. One day they were horrified to note a long line of smoke in the west, stretching for miles across the prairie, and soon it was evident that the dried grass was burning fiercely and coming toward them rapidly. They had crossed a river the day before but it would be impossible to go back to that before the flames would be upon them.
b. One man only seemed to have understood what could be done. He gave the command to set fire to the grass behind them. Then when a space was burned over, the whole company moved back upon it.
c. As the flames roared on toward them from the west, a little girl cried out in terror, “Are you sure we shall not all be burned up?” The leader replied, “My child, the flames cannot reach us here, for we are standing where the fire has been!”
d. What a picture of the believer, who is safe in Christ! On Him Almighty vengeance fell, which would have sunk a world to hell.
e. He bore it for a chosen race, and thus becomes our Hiding Place.
f. The fires of God’s judgment burned themselves out on Him, and all who are in Christ are safe forever, for they are now standing where the fire has been (Ironside, Illustrations of Bible Truth, Moody Press, 34-35).
2. The present results of justification are we are declared right with and forgiven by God.
a. Acts 13:38-39 (NLT2)
38 “Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins.
39 Everyone who believes in him is declared right with God—something the law of Moses could never do.
b. The great thing about justification is that our slates are wiped clean.
c. The sin that has separated us from God has been eliminated by Jesus death on the cross.
d. We have been declared not only “not guilty,” but also right with God.
e. We are no longer strangers and enemies of God we are now friends of God!
f. It’s just as if we never sinned as a result of Christ’s death for us on the cross!
g. And because we are now in a right relationship with God we can rejoice when difficult things happen in our lives because we know that God is using them to make us better.
Transition: Next Paul talks about…
II. Past Basis (6-8).
A. While We Were Still Sinners
1. The awesome thing that Christ did for us is that he didn’t wait until we got it all together.
a. Too many people have this bad idea that we come to God once we get our act together.
b. The problem with that idea is that we can’t get our act together. We can’t on our own get right with God.
c. The good news is that we don’t have to because God act on our behalf while we were still wallowing in our sin.
2. I love what Paul says in v. 6, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
a. The word "for" shows that this is connected to the conversation of hope and shows the basis for that hope.
b. Paul begins this foundation of hope with while we were still weak.
c. The focus here is on the word "still," which actually appears twice in the Greek text for emphasis.
d. The point Paul wants to make here is that we were all still lost in our sin when Christ died for us.
e. In the midst of that lostness and weakness is where God brought action to the situation through Christ.
f. There are two words that illustrate this state of sinfulness. First, is the work weak, which here refers to our inability on our own to accomplish anything of eternal significance.
g. This doesn't mean that we are incapable of doing anything good, but rather that we are not able to do anything to make us right with God again.
h. Second, is the word ungodly, which means that we are living without regard to proper religious beliefs (Louw and Nidda, 533).
i. Here Paul uses it describe the ones Christ died for. What do we mean when we say that "Christ died for me?" In biblical times, if a person was a slave, it required someone to pay the price to set them free, usually referred to as redemption.
j. This is what Jesus did for us on the cross. He stood in our place and took the punishment for us.
k. But the part of this verse that has always stuck out to me is right smack dab in the middle...at the right time.
l. The reason that this has always spoken so loudly to me is Jesus reached in a way and at the time I so desperately needed.
m. His timing was perfect, and if he hadn't saved me when he did, I am convinced I wouldn't be here. Jesus saved me at just the right time!
3. The reason that what Jesus did for us on the cross was so amazing was that we wouldn’t have done what he did. In v. 7 Paul says, “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—”
a. In contrast to Jesus death for the ungodly, Paul talks about the fact that humans may on occasion die for someone righteous or good.
b. A righteous person would be someone a godly person, someone we hold in high regard for the spiritual way they live their life.
c. The good person might be someone that we have a close relationship, maybe a family member or a close friend.
d. Paul's point is that someone might be willing to die for a good or a righteous person, but Christ died for us when we were neither of those things!
e. It is the highest level of human love to on rare occasion die for a righteous or a good person, but Christ showed his love when he died for the ungodly who deserved nothing and wanted nothing to do with him.
4. Then Paul says one of the most amazing statements in the history of the world. In v. 8 he says, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
a. Paul now shows the depth of Jesus love for us. He says, "but God shows his love for us," which means that he absolutely proved his love for us in the greatest possible way.
b. This famous verse, and justly so, is the epitome of what the Bible teaches on divine love.
c. God proved his love for us in a way none of us would ever do, by sending his own Son to die for people that not only didn't love him but rejected him in the strongest way.
d. The point Paul is making is that Jesus didn't die for righteous people, people who already had it together, but rather he died for people who didn't deserve it! HE DIED FOR US WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS!
e. We deserved eternal punishment, but Christ took our punishment for us and paid the price that we should have had to pay.
f. We owed a debt we could not pay; he paid a debt he did not owe!
B. God So Loved
1. A small orphaned boy lived with his grandmother. One night their house caught fire. The grandmother, trying to rescue the little boy asleep upstairs, perished in the smoke and flames. A crowd gathered around the burning house. The boy’s cries for help were heard above the crackling of the blaze. No one seemed to know what to do, for the front of the house was a mass of flames.
a. Suddenly a stranger rushed from the crowd and circled to the back where he spotted an iron pipe that reached an upstairs window. He disappeared for a minute, then reappeared with the boy in his arms. Amid the cheers of the crowd, he climbed down the hot pipe as the boy hung around his neck.
b. Weeks later a public hearing was held in the town hall to determine in whose custody the boy would be placed. Each person wanting the boy was allowed to speak briefly. The first man said, "I have a big farm. Everybody needs the out-of-doors." The second man told of the advantages he could provide. "I’m a teacher. I have a large library. He would get a good education." Others spoke. Finally, the richest man in the community said, "I’m wealthy. I could give the boy everything mentioned tonight: farm, education, and more, including money and travel. I’d like him in my home."
c. The chairman asked, "Anyone else like to say a word?" From the backseat rose a stranger who had slipped in unnoticed. As he walked toward the front, deep suffering showed on his face. Reaching the front of the room, he stood directly in front of the little boy. Slowly the stranger removed his hands from his pockets. A gasp went up from the crowd. The little boy, whose eyes had been focused on the floor until now, looked up. The man’s hands were terribly scarred. Suddenly the boy let out a cry of recognition. Here was the man who had saved his life. His hands were scarred from climbing up and down the hot pipe. With a leap the boy threw himself around the stranger’s neck and held on for life. The farmer rose and left. The teacher, too. Then the rich man. Everyone departed, leaving the boy and his rescuer who had won him without a word. Those marred hands spoke more effectively than any words.
2. The proof of God’s love for you lies in Jesus nail-scared hands!
a. John 3:16 (ESV)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
b. There’s no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend.
c. Jesus laid his life down for all of us.
d. Jesus laid his life down for us while we were still sinners.
e. Jesus laid his life down for us while we were still weak.
f. Jesus laid his life down for us before we had done anything to deserve it.
g. The question is this will we lay down our lives for him?
h. Will we lay down our lives for him when he has done everything to deserve it?
i. He died for us, now we need to live for him!
Transition: So, we have the present results, the past basis, and now…
III. Future Promise (9-11).
A. Much More
1. Paul now goes from the past basis to the future promise of justification.
2. In v. 9 he says, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”
a. God made us right in his sight through the blood of Christ shed on the cross.
b. Because God is holy, he could not accept us by simply disregarding or ignoring our sins. Instead, those sins had to be dealt with. And God did this through the sacrificial death of his Son.
c. Again, this justification is God’s approval, given to us only on the basis of what Christ did. It is an acquittal that sets free all of us who were otherwise hopeless prisoners of sin.
d. If Christ’s blood was shed on our behalf, then his blood will certainly save us from God’s judgment (Barton, Life Application New Testament Commentary, 597).
e. If God has done the more difficult task of justifying the ungodly, how much more can he achieve the much simpler task of saving those who have been declared innocent from his wrath.
f. Saved in this context does not refer to spiritual salvation but being delivered from God's wrath at the final judgement.
g. Paul picture us as having been saved, looking forward to being saved, and even in the process of being saved!
h. So, the news just keeps getting better and better! (Osborne, 134-135).
3. Then in v. 10, Paul introduces another great theological term, reconciliation. He says, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”
a. Here the death of his Son has resulted in our being reconciled to him. Now reconciliation is the natural result of justification.
b. But what do we mean by reconciliation? Primarily it describes the actions taken to end the struggle and anger between enemies, i.e., “to reconcile.” (Thoralf Gilbrant, ed., “2614. ?ata???ss?,” in Zeta-Kappa, (Springfield, MO: Complete Biblical Library, 1991).
c. For example, when a married couple that had been having troubles finally comes to a peaceful agreement, we say they have been reconciled. And this is what we mean in our relationship with God.
d. Once we were enemies, but now, through the blood of Jesus, we have been reconciled.
e. After God has declared us right on the basis of Jesus sacrificial death, he establishes a new relationship with us.
f. Paul says not only have we been reconciled with God, but also, we shall be saved by his life.
g. Before we were hostile towards God and he was hostile toward us because of our sin. But now, the hostility has been removed on both sides and a new relationship has come.
4. Then Paul ties the entire paragraph together in v. 11, “More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
a. Once again, as in v. 2, we return to the idea of rejoicing. We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
b. This is the natural result of all that God has done for us through Christ is joy!
c. Paul says that God not only saved us from a future filled with wrath, but he also has given us the joy of our present reconciliation.
d. We have both a future hope and a present salvation.
e. What a joy we have in us. And that joy is in God, showing that the highest action anyone can perform is worship, and that worship should be a continuous activity (Osborne, 135-136).
B. Reconciliation
1. Illustration: The preacher invites two people up on the platform. One represents “God the Father” and the other represents “fallen humanity.” The preacher plays the part of Jesus. He stretches out his hands like he is on a cross. He asks the two helpers to each grab one of his hands. Then he pulls his hands together until the two volunteers are touching. In the same way, Jesus bridged the gap between humans and God. Jesus reconciled us with God. Now, the believer does the same thing. We have the ministry of reconciliation which means we grab people by the hand and bring them closer to God. As “ministers of reconciliation” we bring God and people together.
2. As a result of his death on the cross, Jesus has reconciled fallen humanity to God.
a. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (ESV)
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
b. By his death we are forgiven.
c. By his death we are saved.
d. By his death we are justified.
e. By his death we are reconciled.
f. But in this reconciliation, he has given us a task; the task of reconciling the world to him.
g. He has giving us the task of bringing people closer to God.
h. He has given us the task of taking people by the hand and bringing them to God.
i. Scripture calls us to compel people to come to God, and that literally means taking them by the hand.
j. Will we take them by the hand and bring them to God?
Conclusion
1. In our text today, Paul talked about…
a. Present Results of Justification
b. Past Basis of Justification
c. Future Promise of Justification
2. THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER…
a. STOP LISTENING TO THE LIE OF SATAN THAT YOU ARE NOT RIGHT WITH GOD!
b. HE DIED FOR YOU; NOW YOU’VE GOT TO LIVE FOR HIM.
c. WHO WILL YOU TAKE BY THE HAND AND BRING THEM TO JESUS?
