Reasons to Rejoice

Reasons to Rejoice

“Reasons to Rejoice”

(Romans 5:1-11)

Series: Not Guilty! (Romans)

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

First Baptist Henderson, KY

(6-14-09) (AM)

 

  • Take God’s Word and open to Romans, chapter 5.

 

If you’re visiting with us, we preach through books of the Bible, verse-by-verse wherever possible, because we believe it’s the best way to learn the Word of God.  From a pastoral perspective, I know of no better way to help Christians than by preaching verse-by-verse through books of the Bible.  Studying together this way ensures that we treat all the topics and themes God wants us to study.  Books like Romans feed us the theology we so desperately need to live our lives for God, healthy lives, healthy marriages, true success, and so forth, and so we’re preaching through the book of Romans and we’re in chapter 5.

 

The chapter begins with the word “therefore” and we have noted many times that when we see the word “therefore” we should ask what is the “therefore” there for?  There are four key “therefores” in Romans.  You may wish to jot these down and read them later: 3:20, here in 5:1, 8:1, and 12:1 are all critical “therefores.”  This morning’s “therefore” draws out the significance of Paul’s teaching from chapter 4 on justification by faith.  Remember that Paul has concluded in chapter 3, “therefore by the deeds of the law no person can by justified (3:20)” and then he talks in chapter 4 about being justified by faith.  So now he writes in the beginning of chapter 5, “therefore having been justified by faith” and so on.

 

And so we will read this morning of some of the blessings that accrue to the person who has been justified by faith, blessings that attach to the true believer in Jesus Christ.

 

  • Stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

 

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;

4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

10 For if when 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.

11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

 

  • Pray.

 

Introduction:

 

My devotion this morning from Charles Spurgeon’s Mornings and Evenings was a meditation on Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord.”  And it was a reminder that too many professing Christians, people who say they are Christians, but may not truly be, too many regard the Christian life as mere slavery, or joyless law-keeping, a duty-driven obligation.  But God says, “Delight yourself in Me.  Understand that you will find your greatest joy in Me.  I created you for this.”

 

The Baptist Catechism begins this way.  The first question: “What is the chief end or purpose of man?”  Answer: “Man’s chief end—or purpose in life—is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  Think of that—to enjoy Him!  Whatever glorifying God means, it is tied-together with enjoying God.  Our chief purpose in life is not to raise a family, build a business, make a lot of money, retire to the beach, live in luxury, but to enjoy God.  We’ll never feel fulfilled, never truly successful, until we’re living out our purpose of delighting in the Lord, enjoying Him by spreading His fame, spreading His glory in our homes, across the streets and across the seas.

 

So I want to help this morning connect us, or reconnect us to God and keep us there as we understand together some reasons we may joy in the Lord—reasons to rejoice.

 

I.  Rejoice in Justification (1-2)

 

Remember that the word “justification” means “declared righteous.”  If we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, God justifies us, God declares us righteous.  This state of righteousness is not something we earn, such as by being good or by keeping the 10 Commandments.  The state of righteousness comes as a free gift that is ours by faith.  And we learned that justified is more than God’s regarding us “just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned.”  That doesn’t tell all.  God also regards us “just-as-if-we’d-lived the life Christ lived for us.”  As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  So to be declared righteous means that God forever sees me “in Christ Jesus.”  Justified means “declared righteous.”

 

Now this first point, “Rejoice in Justification,” could really serve as a heading for the entire passage, because Paul is writing all about how we may joy in the Lord because of our having been justified—declared righteous.  But he takes care in these first two verses to spell-out three particular blessings that we may enjoy if we are justified.

 

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have (first) peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 

Note that: “peace with God,” not, “peace of God.”  Underline “with.”  There is a huge difference.  Paul writes in Philippians 4:7 about the peace of God, a peace of God that surpasses all understanding.  But peace of God is only possible when we have peace with God.  And peace with God is our first and greatest need in all of life.  We share the Gospel with lost people because man’s greatest need is peace with God.  Before we come to Christ, we are at war with God.  Because of our sin we are at enmity with God.  We are separated from God.  So we need to be reconciled to God.  When we are justified—declared righteous by God—we have peace with God.  We no longer live in anxiety concerning God’s judgment and wrath.  We have peace.  Why else may we rejoice in justification?

 

2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand,

 

Through Jesus Christ we have “access into this grace.”  The word “access” there describes the privilege of being introduced into the presence of a person high standing, like a king.  Jesus Christ is the one who introduces us, who provides access to the Father.  That’s what Jesus did by dying on the cross.  He made possible our being introduced to the presence of God.  It comes not by works, but by grace.  And this is a permanent state or standing.  Paul writes that this is a grace “in which we stand.”  It is forever.  We do not fear losing this privilege.  Jesus Christ has accomplished this for us once-and-for-all.  It is a grace in which we stand and continue standing.

 

and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

 

Because of justification, we may rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  Remember that the word “hope” in the New Testament is different from our usual English understanding of the word.  It does not mean, “I’m crossing my fingers and wishing it to be true.”  New Testament hope is an expectation that something will happen, an absolute, rock solid certainty that a thing is going to be fulfilled.  We are looking forward to the certain fulfillment of something.  It’s a sure thing.

 

And to what is Paul referring that is a sure thing?  He says, “The glory of God.”  And so we’re seeing that chapter 5 and chapters 6, 7, and 8 are primarily about the assurance of our salvation.  We can be absolutely confident that justification—being declared righteous by God—is a truth that will hold forever and ever.  Paul is saying we can rejoice in this hope, this certainty to be fulfilled in the future, that we will see the glory of God.

 

Peter, James, and John caught a glimpse of the glory of God on the Mount of Transfiguration.  One day we will be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ with all the glory of God restored to Him and we will share in that glory.  And so a real reversal of Romans 3:23 will take place.  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but in that day, that future day, we will stand with Christ in the glory of God.  We know it will happen.  We rejoice in it!  Secondly:

 

II.  Rejoice in Tribulation (3-4)

 

3 And not only that, but we also glory (or rejoice) in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;

4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

 

That’s actually what the Bible says there: “We rejoice in tribulations.”  The New Testament teaches that tribulation, trials, suffering, and so forth is the common, normal experience for the Christian.  How I wish we could get that down in our minds and hearts!  Don’t forget it!  If you are going through hard times this week it’s not because you’re some strange person.  Suffering is the normal, common, in some sense everyday experience, of the Christian.  And you may be living exactly as you should be, doing all the right things.  But you will still suffer because suffering is the normal, common, experience for the Christian.

 

Jesus said to His disciples in John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulation.”  Paul and Barnabas told new Christians in Acts 14:22, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”  Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:12, “All who desire to live godly lives will suffer persecution.”

 

Now again, what a difference a preposition makes!  Underline the word “in.”  We rejoice in tribulations, not for tribulations.  In other words, we don’t go around saying, “Oh, I hope God sends me some more trouble today!”  That’s not it at all.  Paul says we Christians may rejoice in our tribulations.  That is, when they come, we can actually have joy.  Why?  He says because we know something.  See it there again in verse 3: We rejoice in tribulations, knowing.  We know something.  What do we know?  We know where these trials lead.  See the order.

 

Tribulation first produces “perseverance.”  Perseverance is the ability to stick with it when the pressure is on.  That’s what it means, “to stay under pressure.”  Listen: perseverance is a proof that we are a Christian.  If you know a person who professes to be a Christian who has dropped out of worship or your Sunday school class and their sole reason is, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen,” or, “Oh, it’s terrible!  I’m mad at God.  Gloom, despair, and agony on me!”  Then we should lovingly correct their theology.  Because apparently someone taught them that they weren’t supposed to suffer.  Tell them Christians suffer.  Tell them that perseverance is the mark that a person is a true believer.  Lovingly encourage them to consider whether they truly are of Christ.

 

So tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance produces character.  The word character is used of the proving or testing of metals.  It is the firing process that removes impurities so as to refine the metal into a precious commodity.  That’s what God does in us through tribulation.

 

Do you see why we can rejoice in tribulation?  We know something.  We know how prone we are to stop thinking about God, to stop praying to Him, to stop witnessing for Him, to just get lazy and indolent.  So God allows a little tribulation and our tribulation drives us back to Jesus Christ!  Thank God for tribulation!  Tribulation drives us back to Christ.  It drives the man of faith back to Christ Himself.  It drives the man of the world away from Christ, but it drives the true Christian to Christ.  Tribulation reminds us not to fall in love with this world, with our investment portfolios, our houses, our stuff, or even our families.  Tribulation reminds us that there is no greater relationship than our relationship with God.

 

Tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope, the joyous certainty of future fulfillment, a resting in the fact that all will be well, that God will give us the grace necessary to continue persevering until that final day when we stand before our Lord Jesus.  That’s why Paul goes on to say in verse 5, “Now hope does not disappoint.”  And here is the third reason we may rejoice:

 

III.  Rejoice in Adoration (5-8)

 

Verses 5-8 are about the love of God for us and toward us; His adoration.  This is God’s love for us; not our love for God.  We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).  If we ask, “God how much do you love us?”  The answer is, “Verses 5-8.”

 

5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 

Paul says, “I’m going to tell you how much God loves you.  I’m going to tell you why this ‘hope does not disappoint.’”  That phrase simply means, “This future hope that you will remain forever justified, that your salvation is eternally secured, is a hope that will not let you down.  It will not fail to deliver.  It will not disappoint.  You can bank on it.”  Why?  Because of God’s love.  He loves you.  He’s not going to declare you righteous and then take it away.  He loves you.  He has poured out His love in your heart.  See that?  “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”  The Holy Spirit is the Agent of this love.  If you have received Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have received the Holy Spirit.  The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that the Holy Spirit dwells within you, in your body.  So through the Holy Spirit within you God has poured out His love in your heart.  Look further at this love:

 

6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

 

Do you understand this?  God’s adoration for us is so great that He sent His Son to die for our sins.  Now, just saying that doesn’t make it great.  What makes it great is what Paul reminds us of in these verses.  Christ died for us, verse 6, “when we were still without strength.”  That implies, “When we were weak, sickly, and unable to do anything to improve our standing on our own.”  We could do nothing to earn God’s favor, to merit His love.  We didn’t deserve it.  And there’s another word there to remind us of who we were: “ungodly.”  Ungodly!  Are you still holding on to your righteousness?  Do you still feel that you are a good person?  Paul says you are ungodly.  In God’s eyes you are without strength and ungodly.

 

So the Bible says that Jesus died for us, verse 6, “in due time.”  That is, at just the right moment, just when we needed Him most, we poor, weak, without strength, ungodly sinners.  Christ died for us.

And Christ died for us in spite of the fact that we were sinners.  Paul writes, “We may imagine a man dying for someone good.”  A soldier may jump in the line of fire to protect a man he highly regards, but who would die for a scoundrel?  Well, God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were scoundrels, weak, poor, sinful, ungodly, while we were like this, Christ died for us.

 

Rejoice in God’s adoration for you.  So much reflection on the love of God seems to me so man-centered and unhealthy.  Too often people talk of God’s love for them as though there were some good in them worth loving.  But you see that is just the point: there is nothing good in us and yet God loves us: “Amazing love, how can it be that Thou my God should die for me?”

 

And God continues to love us in spite of our sin.  The Greek grammar there is that, “God’s love has been and continues to be poured out in our hearts.”  He continues to fill our hearts to overflowing, torrents of love!  So Paul will conclude at the end of chapter 8, “What shall separate us from the love of God?  Tribulation, distress, famine, sword…neither death nor life…nor height not depth, nor anything shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (8:35-39).”

 

Rejoice in justification, tribulation, and adoration.  Fourthly:

 

IV.  Rejoice in Reconciliation (9-11)

 

9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood (his death), we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

 

Again, Paul’s primary point in chapters 5-8 is to teach the doctrine of assurance.  So in verse 9 he is teaching that this justification, this being declared righteous by God, this being reconciled to God, is something that lasts forever.  In essence, what Paul says here in verse 9 is that if God has accomplished the greater thing of dying for us that we should be saved, then we can be sure that He will do the lesser thing of keeping us saved in the end.  He says, “You can be sure that you will continue to be in right standing with God even on the final day of judgment.  You will be saved from wrath through Christ.”

 

Then, in verse 10, Paul says the same thing in a different way:

 

10 For if when 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.

 

He is teaching that we may be sure that this reconciliation will remain forever and ever.  If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through Christ’s death then we can be absolutely certain that He will maintain this justification so we will remain safe in the resurrected Christ.

 

So we can rightly say, “I have been saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved.”  It is a past, present, and future salvation.  I have been saved from sin’s penalty.  I am being saved from sin’s power.  I will be saved from sin’s presence.  That’s what Paul says twice, once in verse 9 and again in verse 10.  He is simply saying, as He puts it in Philippians 1:6, “We can be confident that He who has begun a good work in you will be faithful to complete it in the day of Jesus Christ.”

 

11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

 

And so here is the conclusion of the whole matter.  Paul is back to where he began.  He’s talking about the ground of our joy.  We have all these reasons to rejoice in the Lord.  But the ultimate reason is this matter of reconciliation.

 

We “rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  We rejoice in God because justification means more than “You are forgiven.  You may go.”  Justification means reconciliation with our Creator.  It means not just, “You are forgiven.  You may go.”  Justification means, “You are forgiven.  You may come.”  You may come!  You may enter into fellowship with the Creator of the universe!  You may know God, and know Him intimately—and know true joy.

 

  • Stand for prayer.

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: The text contained in this sermon is solely owned by its author. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name. The author intends to provide free resources in order to inspire believers and to assist preachers and teachers in Kingdom work.