we turn tonight in our bibles to romans chapter 5 romans chapter 5 continuing our study through the book of romans if you're visiting tonight and uh tonight we come to verses 6 through 11 i'll back up and read verses 1 through 11 but this wonderful section here in romans 5 as we think through what it means to have peace with god let's give our attention tonight to god's word therefore since we have been justified by faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of god not only that but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame because god's love has been poured into our hearts through the holy spirit who has been given to us now our text 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 may the lord tonight bless on the hearing of his word i have always been moved by that man in the gospels who when he was rebuked and the disciples and the people around were rebuked for not trusting the lord's power that when the lord had confronted this the man cried out to the lord lord i believe help my unbelief i've always given a lot of thought to that because i think it expresses something that is very common to the believer it expresses an inward struggle that happens in the life of of the christian of one who has come to christ and the question is how does my continued failure in the christian life how does my continued weakness how does my continued struggle and ongoing problem of sin what does that mean when it comes to my faith in other words what i actually find myself thinking and doing and the weaknesses i experience how does that really demonstrate that i'm right with god that's what we struggle with we think that way and further can i be accepted by god today and tomorrow because of my unbelief could god cast me away ever had that thought we all fear this we've struggled uh with thoughts like that ultimately with the the great question how do i know if my life is still full of so much sin how do i know that christ's death is really for me it's an important question isn't it we looked at this last time romans is a very pastoral to explain how wonderful the gospel of christ is and the act of god to justify sinners and what it means for us but not just to uh to speak of this abstractly not just to to teach us about christian doctrine and leave it over there paul is is now bringing it right to us if you will and he's explaining the benefits and the fruits of this for the christian life the effects in the life of the believer and that's romans 5 that's why it's been uh so eye-opening he's applying it he's having us think through the fruits of justification by faith and this has everything to do with the christian's assurance doesn't it you remember how wonderful uh the first five verses of romans five were we considered last time after proving that great father abraham believed the doctrine of justification by faith he said at the end of chapter 4 but i'm not writing this just for abraham's sake i'm writing it for you it's for you who believe the greatest um blessing of justification and summary of everything that has been said right out of romans 5 verse 1 is that now you get to enjoy a relationship of peace with God. Paul begins to really lay it on thick here, doesn't he? And because you have peace with God, you get to no longer experience that enmity, that struggle, the fear of wrath. Paul begins to lay it on and he says, you get access before the throne. That's what you have right now. And everyone asks about history we looked at last time well how how can i have access who how can anyone stand before this holy god and here in romans 5 applying the doctrine of justification paul has just said now you get to stand what a moment the men of bet shemesh asked that question and then he goes further um you get to stand before him before this this holy god covered in the robes and the righteousness of christ and you get to stand before him and not just that you get to live in the hope of the glory of god in other words this peace has now affected how you live and think and you get to now go forward in the hope of the glory of what is to come and that hope is not wishful thinking it's certain you get to live knowing when you die you get to go to be with them god is committed to bring that kind of assurance to his sheep and then he goes on and he says well this changes your whole outlook of life doesn't it it affects how you think now through persecutions and tribulations you get to to view them not as god's punishment you don't have to fear that god is angry you get to look at them as god's way of bringing about fruit and patience endurance and hope and character it's wonderful stuff he's committed to do that and then he got to verse five and he i don't know uh what words to use but but verse five is about as wonderful as it gets verse five says everything that he's promised to you it won't fail all those benefits are not going to fail because the love of god has been poured out in your hearts by the holy spirit who he's given to you and we have the introduction of the spirit who is making sure that these benefits are understood and these benefits are enjoyed now the love of god poured out in our hearts were you struck by that last time it's wonderful we pay lip service to the love of god love of god is the key uh kind of teaching everyone talks about today in the american church but i would suggest very few understand it paul knew christians don't grasp the love of god as they should and if they did they'd never leave his feet this thing be packed out tonight if they grasped it really the way they should. They would never stop saying thank you. But the reality is because of the problem of ongoing sin, we're really dull to Him. We're really dull. We're earthly. Our minds are clouded with worldliness. This is our struggle. And that's why Paul would pray for the Ephesian church. I bow my knee and I pray. And I pray that these brothers and sisters would be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the high depth and love of God. Surpasses knowledge. The height of His love. The depth of His love. Wonderful prayer. Have you considered the love of Christ? No, no. Have you really considered it? Do you know it? I told you before that there was an older generation that never told their children that they loved them. Remember I told you my grandmother said that, that her father, old immigrant from Germany, Russian-German, tough man. Never once said it. God just said it. This is what Romans 5 is telling you. God has opened and said, am pouring out my love in your hearts and i don't know how that has affected you but this is overwhelming when you think of the implications of this and verse five you don't just move away quickly from you don't get away from verse five quickly and i believe that's why paul didn't stop there he now unpacks verse five uh through verse 11 to prove the love of god he's proving it you doubt it? Paul says, let me prove it. Because many Christians know that God loves, but they rarely live in assurance that that love is for them. But the Lord is telling us that an assurance of that love, there is wonderful blessings that he has poured out that he desires for us to enjoy because of that love. For the justified believer, the love is as unbreakable as the unity of the Trinity. and that's a remarkable statement think about it how strong this love is this is how much your god cares and desires for you to know this so let's look at verse 6 through 11 tonight it has everything to do with assuring your hearts proving god's love and to tell you it is yes and amen and it is certain look at verse 6 for while we were still weak at the right time christ died for the ungodly i would choose to uh to use the word helpless while we were helpless because i believe it better communicates what the lord wants us to understand here if you stop and ponder this it's remarkable when did christ lay down his life well he laid down his life you say in about 80 30 in the month of nissan at about the sixth hour of the day did and the point that paul is making here simply is we could do absolutely nothing to bring this about in fact it's far worse than that what paul has been saying about the human nature the whole time has been startling remember everyone's dead there's none righteous no not one but then he made that that also that very powerful statement in romans 3 there is none who seek after god everyone's turned aside and we felt that description we believe that description everything paul said in romans 3 the throat is rotten tongues are poison feet are wicked we had no ability to rescue ourselves we didn't ask for it we didn't accept the report we didn't demonstrate that we understood it when we were completely dead and blinded in our sin and unable to save ourselves because of sin christ because of the great eternal love that he has for us died for the wicked that's about as pastoral as it gets did you hear what the apostle is saying no strength he did this sheerly out of the motivation of the good pleasure of his will sheerly out of sovereign, gracious love. And what that means is that Christ had no delusions when He came here to die for us. He died for us when we were bad, bad, bad. If it had been any other way, think about it for a moment. If Christ had died for the righteous, those who were upright and those who were moral, it would have never happened. It would have never happened. Remember the woman at the well? We looked at that a few weeks ago. He had to go through Samaria, and he goes to save that woman, and he knew everything about her life, didn't he? Everything that she ever did. You've had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. He knew exactly what she was. Jesus knew everything about her. He knows everything about us. And because he loved her, He gave her life. And that's why grace tonight is so wonderful. It never had an eye to what you would do or what you would not do. It was completely rooted in the good pleasure of His will because He decided to love us. And then Paul makes this point that there's no other death like this. That's the next point of what follows. He says it's unparalleled. Think of how unparalleled this death is. for one will scarcely die for a righteous person though perhaps for a good person one would dare to even die you might have someone come along like a pat tillman who would go in the army and fight and die but paul is saying there's never been anything like this there's never been anything like this think about it think about the love of god for a moment fix your hearts on the love of god for a moment verse 8 he showed his love for us while we were still sinners christ died for us how do we think about salvation today well we think about salvation in a certain way how do americans think about salvation think about it this makes no sense we conceive of it in united States like this and around the world, we think that the blood of Jesus Christ becomes effectual when I make it so. That's what we think. And what we have in front of us here, if we understand what Paul's doing, this is nothing like the gospels presented today. Nothing like it. This is completely foreign to the way that things are presented today. The gospels presented, hey, Jesus died for everyone and the blood of jesus was deposited in kind of a great bank it's deposited in and then that blood becomes effectual when you go get it when you decide to get it when you accept jesus jesus himself did this because he looked down and add to this look down the corridor of time and he looked down to see who would uh who would accept him this is so far from what paul is teaching here think about what paul is saying here his main point was the death of christ had nothing to do with anyone who made a decision or runs or wills looking ahead down the corridor of time it was never because of somebody's own strength way back in AD 30 actually way back before time the father had decided with the son and they made this great covenant of redemption that the son would come and then in the fullness of time he came and in AD 30 when you never asked for it nor ever wanted it when none of us even existed Christ died for you he died Christ died for you knowing everything and every single sin and every single failure that you would commit before you were even born how does that make you feel tonight yes Paul has said we receive these things by faith and Paul is now saying now I can tell you how this all went and i love this because essentially if paul is proving verse 5 to you that god loves you under the inspiration of the spirit who was given so that you understand this what he just said is do you understand that you make absolutely no contribution in making god love you you never did you never could have and that love is so certain it's been poured out in your hearts it's the holy spirit's work to bear witness of the son he was mentioned to see and given to that we would be comforted to know this it was grounded in the death of christ a death that so pleased God when none of you were even breathing let that set in for a minute I was just thinking I'm so thankful that um that Christ died for me when I had no power because if he had waited around for me to accept him and have the strength to make that blood effectual it would have never happened never happened you can say this way if you're looking at the doctrine i'm so glad god chose me before i was born because he would have never done it after christ died for you when you were children of wrath have you thought about what it means for you then i'm stating all this tonight because i want you to draw the connection of what this means for you what is the one thing that we struggle with tonight sitting here i'll tell you i'll tell you what we in the back of our minds struggle with inside there's still this little fear of what what comes after death a little fear and there's still a lingering concern that goes on when it's all said and done will i get there and have to face wrath what about the judgment day people struggle with this and the question could be asking and i'm talking about christians here believers justified believers how does the death of christ affect the future what does it mean for us one of the things that i never experienced i thought i would experience and i'll just be a little open here for a minute i never thought i would experience up north was a group called the netherlands reformed i don't know how many of you are familiar with the netherlands reformed church in that church the supper happened once in a great time and when it happened only a couple people were permitted to partake in the whole church and the view was that you had to have some kind of great vision you you had to have some kind of response from God that validated that you're really born again. And this was tormenting to the young people. When I had to shepherd some of these young people who were coming out of that, they so struggled with the love of God. When that supper came around, they were deathly afraid of it. Deathly afraid. It was oppression. And there was no understanding of gospel. among that church what i'm so moved with here is how certain and assured the lord desires his justified saints to be and i don't say that in the careless way that it's thrown in evangelicalism today i say that rooted in what the scriptures are telling us here if we understand verse six to be saying that this death he made had absolutely no view toward our obedience and that it was done completely when we were without strength and not just without strength and helpless, but sinners. Do you know what that means? Do you know the consequence of that? Remember the blessing he rehearsed back in verse 2? We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. In other words, the blessing of peace of this reconciled relationship. Now I get to go forward living in the hope of the glory that is to come. I'm going to see that glory. That glory is secured for me in Christ. I'm going to see Him as He is. That's my reward. If that's true, that He secured that hope while we were enemies, that His love was poured out into our hearts, what does that mean for how you view God now? This is a really important question. How do you view God now? How does God view you? You say a friend, I say amen. But go farther. What did the Apostle John say in his little epistle to struggling Christians? Perfect love casts out what? Fear. Fear of what? Well, for those who do not believe, there's a certain fearful expectation of judgment so if perfect love casts out all fear for the believer what is the removal what has been taken away the fear of the dread of the wrath of god upon you it's gone now what does verse 9 say is the blessing of christ's death let me prove this since therefore we have now been justified by his blood much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of god did you hear that all future possibility of wrath is gone wiped away you will never stand before god as a believer who's looked to christ and trusted in him and been justified by his blood and have to give an account of your sins so as to face wrath and there are christians and even so-called reformed people trying to tell us that christians struggle with this paul just said wrath's done done period and paul phrases it in verse 9 how it should strike you notice what he said he did this on purpose and saying and again i understand this is the spirit justified by his blood now he's talking about faith in christ but here he means specifically he's focusing on what the blood accomplished what did the blood accomplish why would he mention blood because the whole bible taught us that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins so whose blood was this it's the son of god think about abraham for a moment now i want you to think about this for a moment abraham take your son your only son whom you love notice that language and sacrifice him abraham grabs the wood and the fire and he heads up mount moriah which is the very place of the later temple you realize and he hikes right up on the mountain and there he places the altar and he places his son there and he grabs the knife and he's ready to go And the Lord calls out, Abraham, Abraham. And there was a ram in the thicket, wasn't it? And the fire of God's wrath fell on that sacrifice. Can you imagine after the Hagar incident, God gets angry with Abraham and says, hey, because of your failure with Hagar, take your son back on up there. Put him back on the altar. what kind of message would we have today the message we have would be god was never satisfied with that first sacrifice move forward 80 30 month of nissan about the sixth hour of the day there the righteous one stands the mockery is terrible the crown of thorns the soldiers get in ranks they're mocking him and punching him this is god's son whom he loves his only begotten son He's carrying the wood up Mount Moriah on his back. He is shamed publicly. He is put on trial. He is judged under the law. Having no sin, he becomes sin. Charged as a seditious rebel against Caesar. Pilate condemns him. But a greater court was in session. God had taken his seat to judge his son. And there he goes to Golgotha, place of the skull. His clothes are stripped. He's pinned to a cross. And there, as everything goes black, in those hours, the wrath of God falls upon him in body and in soul. I have no idea what that was like. Neither do you. I can tell you, it was horrific. He says, I thirst, which means the fire has fallen on him. And then he says, it's finished. It's done. And he dies. Rises again the third day. Paul's been proving justification by faith alone. It's all grace. It's all a free gift received by faith. And the Lord wants you to understand tonight what it means that you're saved from wrath through Him. That scene on the cross was your judgment day. And this is why Paul says in verse 10, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. When? When He died. When He said it's finished. Much more. Having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. You have everything that you ever need in His obedience, in His righteousness, in His death. And the point is, I think this is the point tonight, God is not for a minute to make you take that on if He put His Son through that. wrath's done i say this respectfully it would be the greatest injustice wouldn't it to say that god gave his son to die to shed his blood he received him by faith and then because of your failures that he then will take you and shed your blood eternally in wrath doesn't work the old reformers would say god's not about double justice not about double justice as if the blood of his son was not good enough so christ is not a half a savior you see how horrible the teaching is then that we run around and we got to be careful how we present this that jesus laid down his life for everyone and then a large mass of those for whom he died will not make it i don't ever want to give the insinuation that jesus actually paid for the sins and because they didn't do their part they're going to have to face wrath do we really want that message out this is why the reform believed in a doctrine of definite atonement or limited atonement what they wanted to say and preserve was that those who were given by the father every last one not one of them will be lost that's good news that's great news and the apostle wants us to grasp this tonight the blessing of justification by faith is wonderful and he wants you to know that christ is absolutely committed to keep that in you and assure your hearts of his love all the way to the end that's why the spirit has come are you beginning to grasp it his love are you beginning to see what the heights and depths of love of christ really are perfect love casts out fear perfect love casts out fear bible wouldn't say these things all over the place if the lord didn't want you to believe it you say well that's overwhelming pastor i say it is peace access forgiveness a right standing before him and you can keep going hope of the glory of god all my tribulations now are blessed and sanctified and the love of god is poured out in my heart through the Holy Spirit whom he's given to us and now I can live in total and full assurance that he died for me and that nothing can separate me from his love. There's more. There's one last thing, isn't there? What would be the greatest way to respond to this? What's the way you can thank the Lord this week? You can trust him. You can believe him. Where will that be most evident? Look at verse 11. And not only that, I have more. I have a little bit more. But we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation. You know what he just said? Enjoy it. Enjoy it. You get to live a life rejoicing. This is what Jesus meant when he said, I've come that your joy may be full and that your joy may be complete. Enjoy the new relationship. Oh, we say with the Westminster Confession, what is the chief end of man? What is the chief end of man? To glorify God. But what we don't do very well, and I don't think we glorify Him very well, but what we don't do well is enjoy Him. And this is what the Apostle is saying. Enjoy this new status, this new standing, and don't doubt. Why? To sum up both sermons today, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing Your love and pouring out this love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit whom You've given to us. That we might, as we think upon the death of Christ, see, Lord, what was accomplished for us. When Jesus said it is finished. And that such an accomplishment is not hanging on the whims of man, but that any acceptance that we give to this is one of the great benefits and blessings that flow from your throne as you have given us the faith to receive this. So that tonight, there's no boasting as we're here. All praise and glory and honor and power. belongs to our God forever and ever who has saved us with so great a salvation. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.