WWUTT 1228 More than That, We Also Rejoice in God? (Romans 5:10-11)

Romans 511 says we rejoice in God through Jesus Christ.

Before Christ we didn't rejoice in God, but now through Christ we do. We love

God and He loves us when we understand the text. This is

When We Understand the Text, a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you Becky and greetings everyone. I hope that you have enjoyed our study of Romans chapter 5.

We've got a paragraph we're going to be finishing up today as we come back to Romans 5, 6 and read through verse 11.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church that was in Rome. For while we were still weak, at the right time

Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die.

But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.

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.

More than that, we also rejoice in God, through our

Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

We just keep going up, like things just get greater and greater and more and more awesome as we progress through this paragraph.

The verse here that we most often memorize and most often quote is of course

Romans 5 .8. After all, it is the love of God displayed in the cross of Christ, in the giving of His Son for us, for our sins.

God shows His love for us. In what way? In that while we were still sinners, while we were still rebels against God, Christ died for us.

But as we continue to progress through the paragraph, things just keep getting better and better.

And so we're going to look at that as we finish up this particular section here today that we've been looking at this week.

So back in verse 6, let me point out something here as we sweep through this again together.

For while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. And yesterday I mentioned that this understanding of weakness is sickness.

I mean, we're ill. We had that global pandemic scare this year, a worldwide fear of the same disease.

Everybody listening has probably never experienced anything like that before, right?

Haven't had a pandemic that has affected the world in a hundred years. And everybody scared of the same virus.

Well, there is a sickness that affects even more people than COVID -19 touched.

And that sickness is sin. Every single person is affected by sin. We're going to talk about the original sin when we get to the next half of Romans 5 starting in next week.

So we have all been affected, infected with this disease called sin.

And while we were still weak, while we were ill, while we were infirmed at the right time,

Christ died for the ungodly. See, there's an interesting thing going on there. We were certainly weak and powerless to cure ourselves, but Christ did more than just die for the sick.

He died for the ungodly. We were more than just wasting away in our bodies.

We were wasting away in our spirits. Paul puts it this way so that we understand it.

This is more than just about the fact that you broke the law and you couldn't keep the law. This is you were at enmity with God.

The reason why you were a lawbreaker is because you were a God hater. You were godless.

Christ died for the ungodly. Do you understand the measure of love that we're talking about here?

Christ died for those who hated him so that through his death, we would no longer be at enmity with God, but we would become friends of God.

We would be reconciled. That's the progression that Paul takes as we go through this paragraph.

One will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die. But remember, going back to Romans 3, no one is good.

So Jesus is not even dying for good people because we're not good. We had utterly rebelled against God, and what we had deserved was judgment and separation from him.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, while we were actively in rebellion against God, Christ died for us.

Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

So now being justified, right? We were sinners. We've been justified. So we've been saved.

So now even in that position of justification, don't you know how much more we will be saved by him from the wrath of God?

You were saved when you were a sinner. Christ died for you. By faith, you believe and you are saved.

God did this for you when you were sinning against him, when you were in rebellion against God. Now you're in a position of justification.

So having believed in Christ, you are justified. So don't you know how much more we can be assured that God is going to save those who have been justified by his blood from his very wrath?

We will not have anything to fear of the wrath of God if we are in faith in Jesus Christ.

If God was willing to save you from your sin, pull you out of that, rescue you from his own judgment.

If he was willing to do that for you when you were a sinner, don't you know how much more he's going to do that for you now that you've been justified?

So again, we're just climbing up. We're just continuing to ascend on the greatness and goodness of what

God has poured out for us in his son, Christ Jesus, as we progress through this paragraph, okay?

So we've been justified by his blood. Much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Now verse 10, for if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son.

While we were enemies, we've been reconciled. Now I've talked about this many times before.

I love talking about it because it's my favorite word in the English language. The word reconciled,

I love this word because even in its definition, if you tie that word to Christ, the gospel's in that word, reconciled.

It means to accept that which was not previously desired. And when we were in our sin, we did not desire

God, nor did he desire us in that state. See, as we're reading here about God showing his love for us and giving his son to die for us, this had to be done so that God in his holiness would make us in such a way that would therefore be acceptable to him.

See, God is so holy that he was not going to receive us in the sinful state that we were in.

We had to be justified. We had to receive a righteousness that made us worthy to stand in the presence of God.

And so even while we were in a state of being unlovable, God loved us and sent his son to die for us.

Our sins were placed upon him on the cross. His righteousness has been given to us, and now we're able to stand before God, justified, and we've been reconciled to God, wearing the righteousness of Christ.

God accepts that which he did not previously desire. He did not desire us in the state that we were in.

He loved us even though we were in that state. So he sent his son to die for us, but he was not going to receive us in that state.

So now that we have the righteousness of Christ, by faith in Jesus, you've been clothed in his righteousness.

We've been talking about that since Romans 3. Now in Christ, you have his righteousness and God receives you.

In fact, he even loves you with the same love that he loves his own son because the righteousness that you have is

Christ's righteousness. How can that be when I'm still fighting this battle against sin?

If I sin today, does that mean that now I'm no longer acceptable before God? Well, no.

And Paul's going to bring that home when we get to Romans 8. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our

Lord. Romans 8 .1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.

And in Christ, we are being sanctified. So we're continuing to be made holy, being prepared for that day when we will stand with God forever in glory.

And it's by his grace and his mercy that even though you might sin today, you do not fall out of the love of God.

As Paul said to the Philippians, I am confident of this, that he who began this good work in you will be faithful to complete it at the day of Christ.

At the end of Jude, the doxology that we have in Jude 24, to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy to the only

God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever.

Amen. It is God who saves you. It is God who keeps you saved. It is

God who is growing you in sanctification and making you more and more holy. So before Christ, before you came to faith in Christ, you are not acceptable before God.

He made you acceptable, righteous out of his love, out of his mercy and out of his grace.

On the day that you die, you will be more sanctified than you are now. But when you enter through the gates of heaven, you will not have perfectly confessed of every sin that you would ever done.

You would not have perfectly put it all to death. And yet God is going to receive you into heaven anyway, because he's just that merciful.

He's just that gracious. Now this should make us want to pursue the righteousness of God.

If you are wearing the righteousness of Christ, then show that. If you want to be holy as God is holy, 1

Peter 1, of course, God said that even to Israel in Leviticus. And Jesus says that at the end of Matthew 5, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.

If you love God, you want to be like God. You want to pursue godliness.

You want to pursue Christ likeness. So then you understand with Paul in Philippians 3, 12, where he says, not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

If you belong to God through Jesus Christ, you will pursue holiness.

You will want to stop the sin and you will want to do the righteous thing.

That which God calls right, not simply what you want to say is right. Not what the world is telling us right now is right.

If you want to be forgiven your sins, you need to bow the knee to this person or this thing or that idol or whatever, right?

That's what the world is telling us. What does God say is right? You want to do that because you want to please your father in heaven.

You want to be a worthy son or daughter of God. You want to be like Jesus.

Since Jesus gave so much for us, you are willing to give everything for him. I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

So first of all, we were unworthy to be children of God and God is the one who made us worthy.

The very thing he demands of us is the thing he gave to us. He demands righteousness of us.

He gives us the righteousness of Christ. We've been reconciled. We were not acceptable.

Now we've been made acceptable and we are loved by God. So that's one way that reconciliation works.

There's another way it works as well. See, we also did not desire God.

No one seeks after God. Remember, no one does anything righteous. There is no one good, not even one person.

So how could you be a seeker of God when that would unquestionably be a good thing?

If Romans chapter three, verses 10 through 12, tell us that there is no one who does good, then you were not seeking after God because that would have been good.

So no one does anything good. You were not even going after God. You were a hater of God.

Where we read here about being at enmity with God, when we read here about being enemies of God, for if while we were enemies of God, 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?

So we were enemies of God. We didn't want God either. You did not desire

God. Before you came to Jesus, you did not desire God. And so this reconciliation not only means that God has made us acceptable in his sight, but we have had our hearts transformed to desire

God where previously we hated God. We wanted to go the other way. We want to get far away from God.

Anything that was contrary to God, falling farther and farther into worse and worse sins as Paul kind of laid that out in Romans chapter one, when that was our state before we came to Christ in Christ Jesus, our passions have been reoriented and no longer are we going after the things of our flesh and the things of this world.

We're going after the things of God. So being reconciled to God also means that we accept

God when we previously did not desire him. God did not desire us. We did not desire

God and in the blood of Christ, in the faith that has been given to us through Jesus Christ, God desires us and we desire

God. That's reconciled. Is that not a beautiful word? When you look into the understanding and the meaning of that word and you tie it into Christ, you find a definition of the gospel.

For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God while we were warring against God, which is a losing battle, by the way, you will be utterly vanquished trying to, to, to do duke it out with God.

There's just nothing that you can do to win against God. He's got the upper hand here, but we're just that foolish.

Okay. That just shows you how deeply ingrained the sin is that you are foolish enough to think that you can fight against God, that I can get what

I want and what I want is even better than what God has said. Right? So that's just how ridiculous sin makes us.

It just shows you how prideful we are puny human, human beings here on this earth.

God is the one who has created all of the heavens and the earth, the entire universe itself. And yet we're trying to shake our fist at the one who sits enthroned over the universe.

Just how utterly absurd is that? But that's what sin does to us. So we didn't want

God. We were enemies of God, the most foolish and lopsided battle in the history of the cosmos.

But even in that place, when we were acting so pridefully and so stupidly, we've been reconciled to God by the death of his son.

God did that for us even when we were enemies. Much more than as we go on here in verse 10, much more.

Now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? We are even being sanctified by the life of Christ.

You have been justified by his death. You are being sanctified by his life.

By faith in Jesus Christ, you have been justified. The sacrifice of Christ, his death on the cross has paid for your sins.

We read in 1 John 2, 12, your sins are forgiven for his namesake.

In 1 John 4, verse 10, in this is love. Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

So his death on the cross has made us justified. More than this, his life, when he lived and kept the law and he did all of these things perfectly,

Israel couldn't do that. We couldn't do that. Christ did that. So all who are in Christ, we are justified and we're being sanctified.

Having kept the law perfectly. The only person who has ever lived, who never sinned, Jesus Christ, we've been justified by his death.

We're being saved by his life. Now that we are reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

And now let's bring this home with verse 11. More than that. See, we just keep on climbing up here.

More than that, we also rejoice in God. Now there's the other side of that reconciliation.

We were enemies of God. We hated God. We were not going after God. So when we get to this final part of the more than that, as Paul has been going through these more than that here in verses 6 through 11, as he's been climbing up and up and up.

Now we get to this last more than that here in verse 11. And he says, we rejoice in God.

We were hating God before we were shaking a fist at God. But now through Christ, we rejoice in God climbing up and up and up through our

Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. So again, that's the other side of that reconciliation.

We've been reconciled to God. He did not desire us and he made us acceptable. And now through all of this, we desire

God. More than that, we also rejoice in God. We were not rejoicing in God before we were going after our sin.

But in Christ, through our Lord Jesus Christ, we have received this reconciliation that we love

God, he loves us, and we have the guarantee of eternal life with him forever in heaven.

We're going to be saved even from the wrath of God. Since therefore, we have now been justified by his blood.

Much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. All of the things that were necessary for us to be reconciled to God have been bought for us and given to us in Jesus Christ.

This is real reconciliation. Our culture right now is clamoring for an imitation of reconciliation.

It's fake. It isn't real. And they're even going through these different rituals and procedures and bowing a knee and repeat after me and do this, that, or the other.

And mobs are storming in places and carrying signs and they're doing their chants and some are even rioting and destroying property and whatnot.

There is no promise of unity, even though that word might get used, but there's no guarantee that on the other end of this, all of this conflict is going to be over.

The conflict is constant and it will continue on as one group fights for power over another.

You have to put this group down in order to elevate the other one. And because there are people that are clamoring for power and control and money, they want the conflict because that's how they ascend to those places where they can promise these groups.

I'm going to give you this. And the group goes, yes, yes. And then elevates that person to the position of power. Whoever can represent these oppressed groups is the one who gains the power.

And so there's never going to be any promise of unity. That kind of system has a promise of nothing but division.

I'm going to keep you divided so that I can keep my power. So now the culture is clamoring after this reconciliation.

It's never going to happen. There's never going to be a resolve. People are confessing sins they didn't even commit.

So how can that possibly bring unity that isn't going to do anything? And the people they're confessing to are not turning around and saying, well, then

I forgive you. I pardon you. Here's some grace. This is all the fakery that our culture offers might be able to spin the words and sounds real good.

Love, peace and harmony. We stand arm in arm. We sway back and forth and we sing Kumbaya.

Well, one group might do that. The other one might threaten to kill you unless you bow the knee to them. You kind of have both sides of it.

But nevertheless, there's never going to be true reconciliation in this. It's always going to be constant conflict.

No one is unified, especially considering I just watched a funeral yesterday, a nationally televised funeral in which a preacher preached a message that had no gospel in it.

There was no Christ in that sermon at all. Where Christ is not preached, where there is not

Christ and him crucified for our sins, there can never be unity. There will never be any reconciliation.

You want to be reconciled to God? You want to be reconciled to the people of God? Believe in Jesus Christ.

And that's where we find true reconciliation. You were truly separated from God.

You were truly an enemy of God, whereas in the conflict that's going on in the culture, you probably did not commit the sins that the culture is saying you committed and therefore became an enemy.

But when it comes to our enmity with God, you really did commit those sins and you really were under his wrath.

But God showed his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, he gave his son

Christ who died for us. Whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

My friends, you've been reconciled to God by faith in Jesus. Romans 8, 1, once again, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

If you've been forgiven by God, forgive one another. If you have the grace of God, show grace to each other.

And in the words of Christ, go and sin no more. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.