Sunday, November 20, 2022 AM

Sunnyside Baptist Church

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Good morning, Sunnyside. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, blessed be your name.

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You are the King of Glory, and I thank you for Jesus Christ, that he is the vine, and we are the branches.

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We have life in him. He has redeemed us.

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As a mighty Savior, he has redeemed us and saved us. He has justified us in your sight, and in you,

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Lord, we are now your children, saved forevermore, promised the hope of glory.

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We thank you for your word. We thank you that we find Jesus there. As we think on your word today,

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Lord, may we think on Christ. May your Spirit open our eyes to see him more. And it's in his name, your

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Son's name, that we pray. Amen. Amen. Through Christ we are saved.

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Through Christ we are justified. This is our greatest need as human beings, to be justified in the sight of God.

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What is justification? It's where God declares one to be right, to be innocent in his sight, to be just.

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It's to have the righteous approval of God. And we as sinners, as those who have walked away from God, who have chosen our own ways, who are spiritually dead, this is our greatest need, to be justified before him, to be right with God, to be reconciled to him.

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What does justification look like? Our text today shows us just that. What does justification look like?

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So please take up the word and turn with me to Romans chapter 5, 1 through 11.

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Romans chapter 5, 1 through 11. I encourage you to stand for the reading of God's word as we hear from our

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King and our Savior. Here is

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God's word. Romans chapter 5 and verse 1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

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

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And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope.

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Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the

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Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time

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

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

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Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

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For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

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

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This is God's word, you may be seated. The Apostle Paul writes this epistle to the

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Romans. He has not yet met this church face to face, but he has heard of them and of their faith that is spoken of throughout the world.

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He is thankful for them and he prays for them. And now, with the authority and the grace given to him as Apostle of Jesus Christ, he writes to them, preaching the gospel to the church at Rome.

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He writes to them about the gospel of which he is not ashamed, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.

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Paul says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

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Man is born a sinner and by choice is a sinner. And man lives in much sin and does not give

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God glory, is not thankful to God, but worships the creation rather than the creator.

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Man decides to live by his own ways and refuses God and his ways.

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Therefore, God gives them up to uncleanliness. In the lusts of their heart to dishonor their bodies, they do not acknowledge

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God, but suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They are full of wickedness, of covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, haters of God, violent and proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, unloving, unforgiving.

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Man is inexcusable. We all stand before God guilty as sinners, for we have done sin against the

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Lord and against one another. It doesn't matter if you are a Gentile with the law written on your hearts, knowing instinctively what is right, what is wrong.

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It doesn't matter if you're a Jew with the oracles of God and you have the law. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

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And God is just to have his wrath revealed from heaven against us as sinners, fully deserving of wrath.

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But praise God, the apostle also writes, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed.

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Though we have all fallen short of the glory of God, but through faith to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance

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God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

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It's by faith that we are justified before God, faith in Jesus Christ, our

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Lord and our Savior. It's by trusting in him and believing in him that we are saved through Jesus Christ, our

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Lord. Just like Abraham. For in the old covenant, Abraham was justified not by works, but by believing

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God. For contrary to hope, in hope believed the promise of God.

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Abraham looked at his situation and God said, I will give you many heirs, many children. And Abraham as an old man believed in hope, believed the promise of God.

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He expected this to come about and he trusted God's promise, which he did not yet see fully, clearly yet.

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That promise was Jesus Christ to come. And the Lord would bless the nations through Abraham, through Christ who is to come.

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Chapter 4 leads up to chapter 5 and in verse 23 of chapter 4,

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Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, that it was imputed to him.

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That is Abraham, his sake, that righteousness was imputed to him, was given to him because he believed, because he had faith in God.

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Verse 24, but also for us, it shall be imputed to us who believe in him, in Christ, in God who raised up Jesus our

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Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.

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Faith in Jesus Christ, through Christ we are justified, we are saved by our

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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And having been justified, there are a multitude of blessings that are involved with justification and are a result of justification.

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And chapter 5 begins that. Paul says, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. The word of God elsewhere talks about the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, which guards the heart and the mind.

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It guards from worry and from fear and from anxiety. And that's a true blessing, the peace of God.

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But we have to make note when we come here to Romans 5, this is not the peace of God, but this is peace with God.

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Indicating to us, showing us that we were not once at peace with God, but we had enmity with God.

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We had struggle with God. We had war with God. Man is sinful.

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God has created him and given him life, but man in his sin decides, I don't want you.

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I don't want the life that you give. I don't want your ways. I choose rather my ways.

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I choose my ways. Man in his sin sets himself against God, chooses their own ways, chooses ungodliness, lawlessness.

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They rebel against him. In the Old Testament, there was a rebel who raised up against David, the king of Israel, and said,

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Every man to his tent, O Israel. We have no share in the son of David. This rebel caused rebellion in the nation.

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This rebel said, We have no share in this king. We have no share in the kingdom of God. We want our own ways.

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We want our own kingdom. And just like that, sinful man says to God, I don't want

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Christ. I don't want you. I don't want the life that you give. I want my way. And man sins.

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And God rightly responds. He is angry with the wicked every day, Psalm 711 says.

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He is angry with the wicked. And rightly so. In this war that man starts,

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God is the good guy. And we are the villains. We set ourselves against God, and God responds rightfully by having his unrighteousness revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, all sinners.

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And all sinners include every single person, part of the human race. We are born into sin, and we choose to sin.

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And if it were not for the mercy and grace of God, you and I would reject God. We would say no to God.

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We would say yes to our own ways, to our lust, to our murderous thoughts.

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We would choose that over God and over the life that he would give us. We are sinners.

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Can there be peace with God? Can sinners be at peace with the Lord? Yes, through Jesus Christ.

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He is the one who brings peace between sinner and holy God. It was 1914,

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Christmas Eve. The First World War had started earlier that year, and a lot of people thought that it wouldn't last until Christmas, but it did, and we know from history that it lasted several years after that.

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The British had been engaged in combat with the Germans in Belgium. And this was

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World War I, so you have trench warfare. So you have the British on one side, and you have the Germans on the other, in their own trenches, and between them you have no man's land, where all the fighting took place.

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It was Christmas Eve of 1941, and the British, trying to stay warm, wet and covered in mud, trying to stay warm on that Christmas Eve, heard something very strange that night.

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Singing. Coming from the German trench. Germans were singing

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Christmas carols. And through cautious diplomacy, reaching out to one another, they come together, and they decide, let's stop fighting, let's have a truce this one day.

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And so they indeed do that. There's a truce between both sides. And they share carols, they share singing, they share handshakes, they even take time to gather the dead.

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They share gifts, and a soccer game even breaks out. One German lieutenant had this to say, remembering the event, he said, eventually the

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English brought a soccer ball from their trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued.

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How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way about it.

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Thus Christmas, the celebration of love, managed to bring mutual enemies together as friends for a time.

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A Christmas truce for, at the very most, a couple of days. Where mutual enemies came together as friends for a time, due to the season.

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How much more, with the coming of Christ, does he make peace between sinful man and holy

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God. Praise God, praise Jesus Christ. He brings peace between us, so that now we are justified with God, we're reconciled to Him.

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And there's peace that's brought, because Jesus Christ takes the enmity that is between us and between God. For Jesus Christ offers

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Himself up as sacrifice. He takes upon Himself all of our sins and all of the wrath that we rightfully deserve.

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He takes it out of the way, so that sinful man might be reconciled to God. There is peace now between man and God, through Jesus Christ, His person and work.

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And it's only through Jesus Christ that we have peace with God. There is one mediator between God and man, the man,

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Jesus Christ. And through Him, we have peace with God. Where once there was war, once there was fighting and enmity and struggle, there is now peace between God and man, through Jesus Christ.

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Paul continues in verse 2. Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.

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We not just have peace with God, as in God says, stay on your side, I'll stay on mine.

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We'll never again interact. There'll just be peace between us.

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But no, there'll be access to God. He comforts with the coming of His saints.

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There's not just peace between God and man, but now man has access to God. He now comes to God, not as an enemy, but as a son, as a daughter, because he is adopted through Jesus Christ, now part of the family of God.

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Now he has access to God by faith into this grace in which we stand. Access to God was very limited in the

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Old Covenant, in the Old Testament. There was only one man and one day out of the whole year where that one man could go into the place that signified

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God's presence. The high priest could only enter into the Holy of Holies, where the

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Ark of the Covenant was, on one day out of the year. But now in this new covenant, brought about through Jesus Christ, the veil is torn, and every member in the new covenant now has direct access to God through Jesus Christ.

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If you'll turn with me to Hebrews, we'll read a couple of passages that tell us more about that, about how we have access to God through Christ.

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Hebrews, first in chapter 10. Hebrews 10, starting in verse 19.

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Hebrews 10, 19. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

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Jesus Christ is our high priest, and through him we come boldly to the throne of grace.

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Chapter 4 of Hebrews. Chapter 4, verse 16.

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Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

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Our greatest need is sinners in need of grace, and through Jesus Christ we have access to approach the throne of grace to come directly to God for grace and for help.

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With confidence I now draw nigh, with confidence I now draw nigh, and Abba, Father, cry.

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And it's through Jesus Christ that we know God is Father, and we can come to him all the time, wherever we're at, with whatever we have in our mind.

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We can always pray to God through Jesus Christ's name and talk to him as our Father.

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We have access by faith, by believing in Jesus Christ, by holding on to him with our utmost trust, with all of our soul.

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By faith we stand in this grace. We stand here. By God's grace, by Christ's grace, we stand in this grace.

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We don't move aside to the right or to the left, but we remain here in Christ. We abide in this grace that Christ has brought for us.

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We have access to God through Jesus Christ, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God, the hope of the glory of God.

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We have peace with God. We now presently stand in this grace, having access to God, and looking ahead we have the hope, we have the future promise of the glory of God.

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On that final day, when God will make all things new, with no more pain, no more tears, no more sin, no more sorrow, when we shall experience the glory of God, and this is a hope, this is a certain expectation.

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The best illustration I ever heard of hope, it's like a sunrise. You know tomorrow the sun's going to rise, but how much more with thinking about Christ's return.

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Tomorrow's not guaranteed, but how much more of a promise, how much more of a hope do we have of the promise of glory, of God completing his work in us, completing the salvation that he has begun in us.

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How much more is that a certainty and a hope, to know that he will bring us to glory.

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A couple of verses on future glory, Philippians 3. Philippians 3, verses 20 and 21.

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For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the

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Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to his glorious body, according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself.

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There's our home, in heaven, future glory, there's our citizenship.

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There we eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be conformed to his glorious body.

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We should be like Christ to the fullest degree that we could ever be. We will radiate his glory, we will reflect his glory.

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As an image bearer of God, we will live to our fullest potential in the glory of God.

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1 John, chapter 3. 1

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John 3, verses 2 and 3. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

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And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. We shall not be of the same substance of God, we shall be like Jesus Christ, reflecting him in all his glory as an image bearer, as a fully restored and glorified human.

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We shall reflect and be like our Savior. In this life, oftentimes a believer wishes and follows through with the sanctification of the

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Lord to make him more like Jesus in this life. And how our hearts long to be more like Christ, I want to,

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I need to be more like Jesus. And in heaven, in future glory, we will be like Jesus Christ.

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That is a promise of God, to be in his glory forevermore, for all of eternity. And everyone who has this hope purifies himself just as he is pure.

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The finish line is coming. Jesus Christ is coming again, and he will bring us to glory.

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He will finish the work he has begun in us. He is faithful. He will bring us to glory.

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We rejoice in this. We know that even though we face many difficulties and trials in this life, glory is promised.

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It's coming. Jesus Christ will bring us home. We rejoice in that.

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Our light and our momentary affliction does not compare to the weight of glory that's coming. You're going home,

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Christian. You're going home. Jesus will bring you home. Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for Jesus Christ has defeated death and sin and freed us evermore.

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And he will complete that work he has begun in us. Praise God. In this we rejoice, in this blessed hope.

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And verse 3 of chapter 5 of Romans talks about that. And not only that, but we also glory, we rejoice in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope.

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Through life we experience many tribulations. We're put under much pressure. Whether worry is on the inside or trouble is on the outside, there is much pressure for the

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Christian, much affliction and much struggle. And that's something we'll have to face. That's a reality that we will face as believers.

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But we as believers have the promise, we have the hope that we can glory, we can rejoice in our tribulations.

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For we know that all things work together for good, to those who are called of God, to those who love him.

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Our tribulations produce in us godliness. This is one of the things that works out our tribulation.

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This is something that comes out of our tribulation as believers. Through Christ we rejoice in tribulation, knowing that it brings out perseverance, endurance.

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It builds up our faith so that we become stronger in our faith in the Lord. And the trials serve to drive us to Christ, to rely on him more, to abide in him more.

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And through that our faith is strengthened so that it can endure more, it can move forward more.

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It has perseverance. And perseverance results in character, proven character of the

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Christian, of the believer going through trials. His faith, his character will be tested and will be refined as gold, much more precious than gold even.

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If we turn over to James chapter 1, James 1, starting in verse 2.

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At the beginning of James he says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

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But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

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If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

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But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

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For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double -minded man, unstable in all of his ways.

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And jumping down to verse 12 of James 1, Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the

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Lord has promised to those who love him. The Lord's promised that crown of life.

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And the Lord also says, Blessed are you who go through trials. Count it all joy. Blessed is the man who endures temptation.

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The Lord will give you perseverance and endurance for the trials you face in life. He will strengthen you and uphold you through all that you face and all that you go through.

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And he will grow your endurance and your perseverance. Turning over to 1

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Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, a couple of pages over.

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1 Peter 1, verses 6 through 9. The Apostle Peter writes,

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In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be. You have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, you love.

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Though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

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Through trials and difficulties we rejoice, for we know that this works out for God's glory and for our good.

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No matter what we face, it will produce in us godly endurance, godly character, which will point us more and cause more hope to be given to us.

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More hope that as we go through these trials and as we endure and as we are proving our character, as the

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Lord proves our character, and as he tests our Christian faith, we look more eagerly to hope, to the promise that God will bring us home.

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Through all of our trials and all of our difficulties, God will bring us home. These trials and these tribulations produce in us more and more hope.

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It causes us to look forward and say, this world is not my own. This world is not my home.

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My home is still to come. The Lord will bring me to glory. And we know that this hope does not disappoint, as Paul says in verse 5.

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It does not disappoint. Proverbs says that hope deferred makes the heart sick.

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When you place your hope, your expectation, in things that don't come about, that fail, that falter, you are discouraged and rightfully so because your hope has failed.

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Yet we know this hope, this hope of glory, this hope to be brought home, this will not disappoint.

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Hope is an anchor that is cast upon Jesus Christ, that is cast upon the love of God, which has been poured out in our hearts by the

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Holy Spirit who was given to us. Through Jesus Christ we know divine love.

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Through the Spirit pouring out into our hearts, not drop by drop, not little by little, but He pours out the love of God into our hearts.

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He lavishly provides for us the love of God through the Spirit. And the love of God is most clearly seen in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice and His death for us.

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Verse 6 of chapter 5 of Romans says, For when we were still without strength in due time,

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Christ died for the ungodly. When we were without strength, when we were weak, when we were helpless, that's when

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Christ died for us. In God's right timing, Christ died for the ungodly. And Paul gives a helpful background, a helpful contrast to see how much and how wide and how deep the love of God really is.

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In verse 7 it says, For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.

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What's the best love that a fallen man can give? For a righteous man someone might die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.

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But here is the depth, here is the width, here is the mystery of God's love.

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In verse 8, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,

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Christ died for us. When we were enemies, when we said to God, I don't want you,

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I don't want your ways, I don't want your Christ. When we were enemies of God, when we were ungodly, when we were sinners, when we were helpless, when we were without strength, that is when

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Christ died for us. That is when God sent His Son to us.

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For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

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The love of God comes to us before our justification. We see that in the text.

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When we were still sinners, when we were still dead in our trespasses and sin, that's when the love of God came to us.

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Through Jesus Christ, His Son, dying for us, for our sake and in our place, so that we might be justified to God, we might be reconciled to God.

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Would you give your Son for a sinner? Would you give your

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Son for a murderer? Would you offer Him up to save the life of someone who didn't deserve it?

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God did. We don't deserve God's love. We don't deserve

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God's mercy. We don't deserve salvation. But that's the grace of God. That's the love that God has.

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Though He is angry with the wicked, He withholds that anger and gives to us love.

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He gives to us grace and mercy. Because God is that loving, God is that good.

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He is that good. He provides for us a way to be reconciled to Himself through Jesus Christ, His Son.

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Verse 9 of chapter 5, Much more than having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

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As God has sent Jesus Christ to die for us, having been justified by His blood, by His atoning work,

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God will keep us. And in that final day of judgment, that final day where each one is rendered to themselves for their own deeds, we shall be saved on that day.

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We shall be saved at the future wrath to come when God brings final judgment to sinners.

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For those in Christ being justified by His blood, we're saved. And on that day we won't be condemned for there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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We shall be saved from the wrath to come. God has done the greater work.

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If He has saved you while a dead sinner, He will bring you to glory. Verse 10 of chapter 5,

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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.

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God has done the harder thing by giving you spiritual life in Christ. And He'll be sure to bring you to glory to finish that work that He has begun in you.

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He will be faithful. Having reconciled you, you shall live. I appreciate the words of John MacArthur on this verse.

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If the dying Savior reconciled us to God, surely the living Savior can and will keep us reconciled.

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If God's grace covers the sins even of His enemies, how much more does it cover the sins of His children?

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And we see also in verse 11 that being justified, being reconciled to God, we rejoice in God through Jesus Christ.

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

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We rejoice in knowing who God is and what He has done for us. I think about the question that the disciples asked of Jesus at one point during His earthly ministry, who then can be saved?

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And Jesus responds, with man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

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And God has done the impossible by reconciling to Himself enemies, sinners, having taken away the struggle that was between us.

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We are saved in Jesus Christ. We now have access to God through Jesus Christ.

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We rejoice in our tribulations knowing that these produce good. These produce godliness in us and hope in us.

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It keeps our eyes forward and set on the glory to come, on bringing us home. Hope does not disappoint.

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The love of God has come to us while we were sinners, and we have received it in Jesus Christ. Having saved us in Christ, having reconciled us and justified us by Christ's blood,

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He will be sure to complete the work in us. Our salvation is secure, safe, and it will be brought to completion in Jesus Christ.

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Very much so. Oftentimes a believer can wonder if they've messed up and if there is no longer peace between them and God anymore, or if somehow the sin they've committed is a spiritual shot that will once again fire up the war between Him and God.

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Sometimes we can think that maybe a sin we've committed will cut us off from God, will deny us access, but that is never the case.

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Jesus Christ's salvation is sure, and He will cover our sins as the children of God, and He will bring us home.

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Our salvation is not dependent upon us, upon our works, or our performance. It's dependent upon Jesus Christ.

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And this is an eternal salvation because Jesus Christ is eternal. And in Him we have salvation forevermore, and this salvation will be completed on that final day.

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Our salvation is assured. God says, I will complete this. I've started it.

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You now stand in grace. I'm keeping you, and I will complete this grace I've begun in you.

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He is faithful. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, blessed be

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Your name, for You have saved us, Lord. Your love is greater than all of our sin.

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Your mercy is more. Your grace is greater. Father, it's through Your Son, Jesus Christ, alone that we are saved.

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And Lord, Your Word says, He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. And he who does not believe the

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Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Father, may

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Your gospel go forth. May Your Spirit soften the hearts of unbelievers to respond in faith to Jesus Christ, the only way to be reconciled to God.

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And may Your people know, Lord, that we are secure and safe in Jesus Christ, and that God will bring us home.

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Lord, You will bring us home. We thank You and we praise You for who You are and for what

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You have done, O Lord, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our reconciliation, our redemption.