Transcript
The book of Romans chapter 5. We are in verses 6 through 11 of Romans chapter 5.
In verses 1 to 5 we studied the privileges of justification. From chapter 3 verse 21 through chapter 5 verse 21 is the doctrine of justification. We have certain benefits and privileges. Remember what justification is. Justification is when God imputes or credits righteousness to our account. The righteousness of Christ is now on my account, and my sins were put on Christ’s account, and He paid that debt therefore the ledger is clear. Justification is positional. To be just, or right with the Lord means to be lined up with His requirements to actually be in His presence and that is through His Son Jesus Christ.
But sanctification is when we have been imparted, when God imparts the Spirit to us and we become sanctified.
But again in Romans chapter 5 as we talk about justification – there are some privileges in justification, that is verses 1 to 5; and there is some provision in justification, and we will pick that up at verse 6. And we will read from verse 6 to 11 right now.
(verse 6) For while still being without strength. That is you and I. You are going to see four conditions here, at the time while being in a condition to be without strength. That is spiritual strength to do anything about our particular situation.
In due time, (literally: according to the right time, that is the way it reads) Christ died for the ungodly. There is no word the with the word ungodly. And those of you in the Greek class you know that if it has the definite article it is talking about a particular class of people meaning the ones who are ungodly, which means there some that are not. Well there is no definite article here. It is: for ungodly people, that is everybody, no definite article.
At the proper time Christ died for ungodly people. The word (asebeia) means to not show reverence to God. While we existed in a state of being without strength, while we were ungodly and had no reverence for God, Christ died for you and me.
Verse 7, For scarcely (or more literally: with difficulty) for a righteous man someone will die: yet peradventure (or more literally: scarcely) for a good man – That is (agathos), the best you can get – some would even dare to die. (verse 8) But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while being sinners – there is your third one. While existing in a state of being a sinner, Christ died for us.
Verse 9, Much more. This term for much more is found five times in this chapter. And some people, some commentaries they will they will label Romans 5 as the much more chapter. So you remember where much more is in comparison. Much more then, after having been justified in His blood, much more we shall be saved from the wrath through Him.
Verse 10, For if while being enemies, there is your fourth condition, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, after having been reconciled, we shall be saved in His life. (verse 11) And not only this, but we also joy (or that we are boasting) in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom now we received – King James says atonement, but it is the word for reconciliation – we now have received reconciliation.
Back in chapter 5 verse 1 those five privileges that we have in being justified:
1) We have peace with God.
That also is a permanent position. We have peace with God. We do not experience the peace of God but we always have peace with God. That is our position of being justified and lined up with Him. We are not His enemies anymore, though we once were. We have peace with God.
2) In verse 2, we have had access to Him by faith.
We have access to the throne of God, we saw from Hebrews chapter 4. Twenty-four hours a day God says you can come to the throne of grace and receive the help that you need in time of need. Anytime. We have access to the throne of God more than we do the President United States, maybe even the mayor of Santa Maria. We have access to God and with God at any time.
3) At the end of verse 2, we rejoice, more literally we boast, in the hope of the glory of God. See our boasting is not the earthly condition straightening itself up. Our boasting is that one day I am going, my hope is that one day that I am with Him in glory.
And not only this, but we also boast, the second thing, we boast in tribulations or afflictions also. Now that is kind of strange but as we emphasized last week, it is knowing something. Like James says in James chapter 1 verse 2, Count it all joy when you fall into various trials; knowing, that the trying of your faith worketh endurance. Here [Romans 5 verse 3] Paul says, Knowing that tribulation (or affliction) is working out endurance; (verse 4) and the endurance is working out proof; and the proof is working out hope. So we boast in that we are going to go be with the Lord, and we boast because God is preparing us to go be with Him.
Now the word in each one of these – the first word in the sentence: the afflictions, the tribulations, the endurance, the proof – those all have the definite article with it, which means not just difficult times but the afflictions and tribulations that God chooses to bring in our lives. It is ordained by God that we suffer difficulties. Because trusting Him in difficulties produces endurance. That means remaining under. Our big problem is that we are short termed at best. We can remain under and trust the Lord in our situations for a week or two, or a month or two maybe. But if it continues on, we get worn down. God brings trials and afflictions in our lives in order to teach us to remain under and trust Him. And, This endurance works proof. That is its literal translation. God proves Himself to me and God proves me to you because no one can endure the type of afflictions and tribulations that God chooses for a human being except the one who has God’s Spirit in him.
As we saw in Matthew chapter 24 verse 13 Thursday night, the Lord says, The one who endures to the end will be saved. That is not a requirement, that is a characteristic. Why do people endure to the end? Because they have God’s Spirit. He makes us make it.
Several times over the years you get a phone call with somebody saying, “Oh, I have just been experiencing such terrible difficulties and I just do not know if I am going a make it.”
“Well, how long has this been going on?”
“Oh, for at least six months.”
“And every night at the end of the day are you still with Christ and is Christ still with you?”
“Well, yeah, but…”
Nothing has changed. Christ will not leave you and nor can anyone take Christ away from you. Romans chapter 8 tells us that nothing – not even tribulation and affliction and not even death – can separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing. And we can flail and scream and yell and complain all we want to but we are going to make it. We dictate how we are going to make it. We are either going to make it hard on ourselves or we are going to say, “All right, I see that this is going to go according to the Lord’s will anyway, so what good does it do?”
But the purpose, it is knowing the purpose, God has put me in circumstances to experience Him and have Him prove Himself to me.
“Hey, look at this circumstance. What do you think?”
“I think I do not want to go there. That is what I think.”
“Hey, only God’s Spirit can do that, right?”
“Yup. I am out of here! Mm, mm.”
I want to prove to you who I am. And He starts us out with small trials and afflictions and tribulations. And as we get older in the Lord they get a little deeper and a little more serious. Still never coming close to His capacity, beyond His capacity. He takes care of it all. He created the universe. He can do anything He wants to. He is God. So He is like, “Watch this. Watch Me take you through this.”
“Oh no, I don’t like roller coasters!”
But in the end nothing has changed between me and the Lord, and the Lord and me. Nothing. So you look back on it – hindsight’s 20/20 – so you look back on it and say, “Well, if I had just trusted the Lord more, I could have made it easier on myself, but WOW, it was nothing for the Lord to take you through difficult times.” So He proves Himself to us, and He proves us to others because that is the testimony that somebody belongs to Christ.
In the parable of the sower – the person that gets all excited about the things of the Lord until trials come and then they want to quit. Trials and tribulations is the proving point. It is not what you do in church. It is when the Lord says, “Okay, the honeymoon is over now it is time to get to work. Let us go through some trials and tribulations so that your salvation will be worked out and you will learn how to trust Me.” And the person that says, “I am out here! I am not going to go through that,” and they leave. And they can leave, seemingly, without any concern. The Lord says, “See, that person did not belong to Me.”
(Verse 4) Endurance works out proof; and proof produces hope. Remember, we boast in hope, the hope of His glory. So He is actually preparing me. And when I see these things happening in my life, we will see in a moment that sometimes for some people they are ashamed. It is nothing to be ashamed of. This hope does not make people ashamed. When I go through trials, it means my hope is being realized. I am getting ready to go. God is preparing me to be there. So we also boast in our tribulations, because it produces the hope that I can base my life on.
Verse 5, and hope maketh not ashamed. When it is all over, I am not going to be ashamed to say that I put my hope in Christ. Even through the difficult times. Why? Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
So the first three privileges of justification is (1) we have peace with God, (2) we have access to God, (3) we can boast in two things – upon the hope of the glory of God and upon our tribulations that are specifically planned for me.
4) The love of God has been poured out in my heart. Did you catch that? Because it comes from God.
5) It is through the Holy Spirit who has been given to me. It is the Holy Spirit that produces the love and we will see in a moment why.
We have then, in verses 6 through 11, the provision of justification. We have had the privileges, five of them, of being justified. Now the provision of justification and we have two contrasts and two comparisons. Two contrasts and two comparisons that prove to us the provision of God’s love. Now take note of this, this is to influence us that the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Here is how God’s love works and His provision.
First Contrast – our condition, verse 6, For while we were without strength. While being without strength that is a condition, it is a lifestyle. That is our condition.
The contrast is to His conduct – while I am without spiritual strength to help myself does He say, “Work out. Get up to it.” Whatever. “If you are so weak, get out of here!” No. Our condition and contrast with His conduct, At the proper time Christ died for ungodly people. Wow! what a contrast. It was not: while I was good or getting there, or cleaning up my act. While I was without strength and I had no reverence for God whatsoever. Now, if I were God – of course you would be in trouble if I was God. But if I were God and you showed me no reverence whatsoever, I would say, “Well then, forget you. You know, I am trying to do you a favor.” But His conduct is the opposite of what His conduct should be because of our condition. He died for the ungodly.
It is interesting that in Matthew chapter 9 verse 13 Jesus said, I did not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners to repentance. He came looking for sinners to save them.
Second contrast, verse 7. For scarcely (or with difficulty) for a righteous man one will die. Verse 7 is man’s love, verse 8 is contrasted with God’s love. Man’s love: well, With difficulty somebody might volunteer to die for a righteous man; yet for a good man scarcely some would even dare to die. That is our love. I would not die for you. You would not for me either. We will help each other, we will sacrifice, but to die for you? Mm, mm. See, that is man’s love.
Look at it contrasted with God’s love in verse 8. But God commends His love toward us, in that, while being sinners, Christ died for us. We would not die for each other, even if you were a good person. He is showing the contrast. You were not even a righteous person or a good person, you were in a state of being a sinner that Christ died for you. Should not happen, should it? But that is how deep His love is. Again Matthew chapter 9 verse 13 Jesus told us, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So that is three, three conditions that we are in that He is showing the love of God. We are without spiritual strength; we had no reverence for God; and that we are sinners. It is while we are at our worst that Christ died for us.
Now, our first comparison. It begins with the words much more. We will see that five times in this chapter – much more. Meaning we are not showing contrast, we are saying, “Here was a good thing but something much more is being given to you.”
Much more then, I will read it to you literally, after having been justified – so he is talking about after being justified – in His blood. You see what the emphasis there is? My justification, my becoming right with God was possible because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Sacrifice. Much more… we shall be saved from wrath – that is judgment – through Him. Here is what he is telling us. If in His death He provided this for you, in His life He is going to produce much more. If He can save you completely because of His death, now that He is alive and living in you, cannot you expect much more?
I mean, it is a blessing to be saved and justified and have peace with God. And if the Bible were to say, “That is it. That is your gift.” I mean, that is enough, right? But much more! Now that He is alive He is going to preserve me from judgment. So He died to save me and He lives to preserve me.
Second comparison, verse 10. For if, while being enemies. There is your fourth condition: enemies of God. (1) Without spiritual strength; (2) having no reverence for Him; and (3) being a sinner, just living in sin twenty-four hours a day. You do not care about the things of God. (4) While being enemies, we were reconciled to God.
So we are introduced now to a new theme, it is reconciliation. Reconciliation means someone has been brought back to and into a relationship with somebody that they were enemies with. People with marriage problems, you try to reconcile the two sides, to come together. Now what is important about this is, it is not just another theological term. When Jesus died for me on the cross, while I was enemies, He reconciled me. What He had in mind was, “Not only do I want to make you right positionally with God, I want something personal.” We have position and we have personal.
Here is where my heart aches. A lot of Christians are in church and they claim that “I am saved. I am right with God. I have been justified. Positionally, I am right with God and because Jesus lives He is going to preserve me through the judgment.” And? No personal relationship. When Jesus died for me on the cross, not only was it so that I can stand right with God, but so that I can have a personal relationship. I am brought back to my Creator with whom I was enemies with. I am brought into a personal relationship with the Creator of the world. Wow. That is called reconciliation.
I struggle with that word. Some of you know the story. Many years ago a man stood up. I was visiting a church, I guess it would be considered a Pentecostal church and somebody got up to give a prophecy in his own twangy language. It was a message from God about reconciliation. And he said something like this: “Thus saith the Lord, y’all need to be reconcilated.” And I am going, what is that? “Reconcilated! Be reconcilated to the Lord today, thus saith the Lord.” And that is one of those things that clues you in, that if that was the Holy Spirit – I do not think he is stuck with the guys poor pronunciation. It was not anything different than he normally talked. He gets all confused with the words. Reconciliated. So whenever I read that in the Bible now… I mean that stuck with me for like, what? thirty-five years… I come to reconciliation, I go don’t… now, which is it now?
Much more, being now justified in His blood, were saved through Him. (verse 10) For if, while being enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Through His death I have been brought into a relationship with God; not just positional but personal. Two things. Much more, I mean there has got to be something, much more? Much more, after having been reconciled we shall be saved in His life. We always look back and we thank Him for what He did by dying for us. Look at all the benefits we have because of Christ’s death. Very rarely do we ever talk about all the benefits after He rose from the dead. He sacrificed Himself for us, but He is alive. He pours out His Spirit in us. He pours out the love of Christ in us. And we look back and we remember what He did for us on the cross. But remember, today we were saved by His death and you and I today are sustained by His life. He is alive. As long as He is alive I am going to be alive. Wherever He is I am going to be. Period. Because that is who He is to me and that is who He is to you.
Then in conclusion, verse 11, And not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. We are justified and we are reconciled to God. We have been brought back into a personal relationship. Not a religious position, but a personal relationship.
In I Corinthians chapter 1 Paul said that God saved us so that we would have fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ. Fellowship. Not only do I have access to the throne in time of need, but I can talk with and have a personal relationship with God Himself. And the more time I spend with Him, the more I get to know Him, and the more intimate our fellowship and relationship is. That is fantastic. Why would I want to take the time to do some of the other mundane things that are going to burn? We are going to leave it behind. You see why we have hope? We actually have fellowship with God Himself. And I can learn about Him, and grow close to Him, and experience Him even in a deeper way as I go through the difficulties of life. It is personal. It is not something you claim, it is something you have. That is His blessing to us.
Next week will continue with Romans chapter 5. As you might have guessed or noticed, this Thursday night in the book of Romans will be this entire section, chapter 3 verse 21 to the end of Romans 5. So we have caught up with ourselves. So you will get it all in one shot this Thursday night. But I encourage you to pray about coming. There is no doubt in my mind that God has – since at least the holidays on my life – placed upon my heart and commissioned me, teach the book of Romans. The body of Christ needs to be established in the doctrine of the Christian faith. Period. Believers are not established on the doctrines of the Christian faith.
So be praying for us as we continue to have opportunities to minister these things and we have the blessed privilege here of going through it a small section at a time. Thursday night going through it in survey. And if it is the Lord’s will, quite possibly the Tuesday night class going through the Greek text of the book of Romans – word for word, phrase by phrase. We are praying about that. So Romans will be out there for whatever dosage somebody wants. And it is important to get believers established, especially all the junk that is going on in the body of Christ.
And Romans chapter 4 is the most important study. This Thursday night and probably the most important study we will ever have together. It talks about true faith. What it means to truly believe versus man’s works. And we who are in the ministry – I will confess it for us, are untrained, not established in the book of Romans, not established the doctrines of the Christian faith. Because if we were, there would be no differences. And there are people publicly who are teaching false doctrine but Christians cannot tell the difference. And that is what we want to do, we want to show you what the word of God says and show you just how far we have gotten off. That will be this Thursday night and again next Sunday we will continue on with Romans chapter 5 in these small sections that we are taking together.
Let’s close with prayer.
