WWUTT 134 Reconciled (Romans 5:6-11)

To be reconciled means to accept that which was not previously desired. So we have been reconciled to God through our

Lord Jesus Christ. And now we are supposed to be ministers of reconciliation 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.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We are in Romans chapter 5, verses 6 through 11 again today.

If you want to open up your Bibles and join with me there, we'll finish up this paragraph and then next week we'll be talking about the doctrine of original sin, beginning in verse 12.

But first, let's go back to verse 6. 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, and 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.

So going back to verse 6 here, while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

This is not talking about a moment in human history, but it is speaking into the life of the individual who repents from their sin and follows

Christ. How do I get that? Well, keeping it in context with verse 5, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the

Holy Spirit who has been given to us. So this is talking about people, not a moment in history.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. So the subjective experience of God's love that we see in verse 5 is grounded in the objective reality of Christ's death on the cross for us, which is articulated in verse 6.

While we were still weak is talking about a moment in which we lacked moral strength.

We had no ability to follow God's law on our own. We were walking in ungodliness, and at the right time,

Christ died for us, at the right time. I was saved at a relatively young age, experienced

God's grace really young. I did not have a moment in my life. You might hear somebody's testimony where they say something like, man,

I was on meth and on all these other drugs, and I almost OD'd and thought about taking my life into my own hands.

But then somebody shared the gospel with me, and boom, the light just came on, and so here I am, and I'm a new person now.

And I've heard some people hear testimonies like that and go, man, I wish I had a testimony like that. No, you don't.

That person should absolutely be grateful for Christ drawing them out of that really dark place.

Yes, but you also need to praise God that he demonstrated his grace to you early so that you would not have to experience something like that.

And I pray that for my children, that they would not have a prodigal child experience like what we read in Luke chapter 15, but that the right time for them would be early in life, that God would demonstrate his grace to them, the reality of his gospel.

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 and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So every once in a while we might hear about somebody laying down their life for another good person.

But God's love and the way that he shows sacrifice for us is not the way that you'll hear about a man showing sacrifice for another man.

He died for his enemies. That's the way we're described in verse 10, for if while we were enemies,

God shows his love for us and that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.

Since therefore, we have now been justified by his blood. We have right standing with God because of the sacrifice of Christ.

Much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. So Christ's death was a propitiation for our sins, which we read in Romans chapter three.

And that means that God's wrath has been satisfied. Whereas previously as talked about in Romans two,

God's wrath had been stored up against all ungodliness and is going to be poured out on the day of judgment.

That included us when we walked in those sins and that ungodliness because of Christ's death on the cross.

The wrath of God has been satisfied. It's been paid for and we are no longer under God's wrath if we are in Christ.

Verse 10, 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?

In other words, it's not just enough that Christ died for our sins, but that he came back from the grave.

Also not only is the sacrifice of his life necessary for our salvation, but also that he came back to life.

That is also necessary for our salvation. Now we'll talk a little bit more about being united with Christ in his life.

When we get to chapter six, Paul will elaborate on that understanding a little bit more later, but right now he's just simply stating that it's not just that Christ died for our sins, but that he also came back from the grave.

That's also necessary for our salvation because without that resurrection, we would not have any hope of eternal life.

There would not. I mean, Paul lays this down for the Corinthians by saying, if Christ did not rise from the dead, eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow we die.

So in other words, make the most of this moment now because there's nothing left for us on the other side. And we are above all men, the most to be pitied because we believed in something that never actually took place, that there was no resurrection from the dead.

But Christ indeed has been resurrected and we can know by this assuredly that we will also rise from the dead because we worship and follow the

God who paid for our sins by his own blood and then came back from the grave.

So we can know that we also will live with him forever in that same way. So we have been saved not only by resurrection from the grave, verse 11, more than that, we also rejoice in God through our

Lord Jesus Christ. So more than just celebrating that we're no longer under the wrath of God, we rejoice in God through our

Lord Jesus Christ because we have received reconciliation. We've been reconciled to God.

We're rejoicing not only that we're not under God's wrath, but that we're united with God in this fellowship now that we have through Jesus Christ, our

Lord. I love that word reconciled because in its definition, there is deep meaning.

And I have used that word reconciled to share the gospel with others before, like I might use

Colossians 120 to explain the gospel in one sentence. The gospel is the good news that God is reconciling all things to himself, whether on earth or in heaven through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And as I share that with somebody, they might say, well, what does reconciled mean? Well, reconciled is a beautiful word.

One of my favorite words in the English language, because in its definition, there is deep meaning. To be reconciled means to accept that which was not previously desired.

So when we were in our sin, God did not desire us in that state. We read in Habakkuk 113 that God's eyes are so holy, he can't even look at us in our sin.

And we've already seen demonstrated in Romans chapter two, that while we were walking in ungodliness, we were objects of his wrath, children of wrath, as it's explained in Ephesians 2, 3.

Not only did God not desire us that way, but we did not desire God. As we also read in Romans chapter three, no one even seeks for God.

So we weren't looking for him and he did not desire us while we were in that state of rebellion.

But fortunately, he loves us so much. He didn't leave us as the objects of his wrath. He sent his son

Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. He paid for our sins by his blood.

And so when God looks at us, he sees not our sinful rebellion, not he doesn't see us as enemies of God, but now as his friends, because he sees the righteousness of Christ.

And we have been reconciled. God didn't desire us in the state of our sin, but he desires us now in the righteousness that we have, that is

Christ, not our own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ. And we've been reconciled to God. Furthermore, we desire

God, whereas previously we were enemies of God. We were hostile to God, as it explains in Romans chapter eight.

We desire God because of this anointing that has been given to us in Christ and this transformation that has happened in the spirit.

So God desires us. We desire God. And we've been reconciled.

We have now received reconciliation and we rejoice that we have fellowship with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says to the Corinthians that we've also received this ministry of reconciliation.

He says that God has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation. That's second

Corinthians 519. Well, what does that mean? George Whitfield explains it this way. To us is committed the ministry of reconciliation.

As ambassadors for God, we are to beseech sinners to be reconciled unto

God. So just as somebody spoke the gospel to us and through that word, we repented of our sins and believing in Christ, we've been reconciled to God.

So it is now our responsibility to take that message to the whole world that they might hear it, believe, and be saved.

And we might see sinners reconciled to God by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the power of salvation to all who believe.

God, I thank you for this message today. And I pray that it wells up in our souls a deeper desire for God, deeper praise, praising you for saving us from that place of ungodliness that we were in, enemies of God, hostile toward God.

And you didn't leave us as objects of your wrath, but sent your son Jesus to die for us so that we might have a relationship with God, not just in this life, but forever.

And we look forward to that day, the resurrection of the dead, when we will be forever with our

Lord Christ in heaven in new and glorified bodies. Praise you, Jesus. In your name.

Amen. This is the protection of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.