Romans 5:6-11 - What Reconciliation To God Means For You
Main Idea: The only suitable responses to Jesus’ reconciling work are praise and true worship.
REALIZE WHO YOU USED TO BE IN GOD’S EYES
REALIZE WHO YOU ARE NOW BECAUSE OF JESUS
Sermon Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)
But today, right before we enter into the Christmas season, start next week, we're going to be looking at Romans chapter 5.
Normally, I like working through, you know, a book of the Bible at a time and what we're doing, but for today, I want to remind us, as we enter into the Christmas season, of what reconciliation to God means for you.
As we enter this Thanksgiving season, many people are thankful for their jobs, their houses, their families, their friends, and we ought to be thankful for all of those things.
As the Apostle Paul told us in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, give thanks in everything because this is God's will for you in Jesus Christ. But the best thing that we could possibly be thankful for is our reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ.
For many people, that statement might be curious. Many people view God as all love and assume that they have a relationship with God based on their own existence, their religious background or their moral uprightness.
Other people might think of God strictly as the almighty judge with a gavel ready to destroy those who step out of line one too many times.
But the truth is that our holy, just, righteous God who will judge the living and the dead is also the merciful, compassionate, loving God whose mercy endures for a thousand generations. So why did we need to be reconciled to God?
And what does that mean for us today here in 2024? We're going to discover the answers to these questions from Romans 5 and verses 6 through 11.
This book is written from the Apostle Paul to several house churches in the capital city of Rome where the Jewish people had been exiled from Rome for a while, and they came back to the city, and they found there several Gentile Christian house
churches. So they had left, and maybe while they had initially been there in Rome, they'd accepted Christ, or when they left, they accepted Christ, and they came back in, and now you had kind of these two different types of Christian groups, Jewish
Christians and Gentile Christians. Paul wrote the letter to the Romans to help cement their identity, not in their ethnicity or in their religious preferences, but in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that's where we find ourselves in Romans chapter 5.
Let's read Romans 5, 6 through 11 together. The verses are there on the screen for you if you don't have a copy of God's word, but would encourage you.
If you do have a Bible, you can also use any of the pew Bibles that are right in front of you in those seats, and I would love to encourage you to open up to this passage of scripture. We're going to be walking through this together today.
For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person, though for a good person, perhaps someone might even dare to die.
But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more, then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath?
For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?
And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
From this passage this morning, we're gonna see two necessary realizations if we're gonna be thankful for our reconciliation to God through Jesus.
And we're gonna see today that the only suitable responses to Jesus' reconciling work are praise and true worship. Let's pray together. Dear Jesus, thank you for today.
God, thank you for the gift it is to be able to be out here on this morning. And Lord, thank you for providing the health that we need. Lord, thank you for giving us a place to come, that we have freedom to worship.
And Lord, we ask that we would make full use of it this morning. Lord, may we dive into your word. May we see Christ clearly.
Lord, if there's someone here today that does not know Christ as their Savior and their Lord. Lord, if they were to die today, they do not know where they would go. God, I pray that today they would make that decision and get that settled.
We love you, Lord. And we pray all this in your name. Amen.
So we're gonna see two realizations this morning from this passage. And the first realization that we need to come to is we need to realize who we used to be in God's eyes. Realize who we used to be in God's eyes.
We can see first from the passage that we were helpless. We can see this in verse number six.
For while we were still helpless at the right time Christ died, you were once unable to come to God because you were dead, separated from him, both by human nature.
That is, we as humans have been separated from God because of our sin, passed down from Adam and Eve, and we were dead and separated from God by our own choices. No good works or religious actions could bring you back to your creator's good graces.
The Bible tells us this again and again. We don't start off in a position of having a relationship with God and then losing it. We start off separated, dead, helpless, unable to come to God.
Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 1, you were dead in your trespasses and sins. That is, the things that you thought, the things that you said, how you treated others, your actions separated you from God.
Romans chapter 8 and verse number 7 says, the mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it is unable to do so.
Jesus even told us in John chapter 14 and verse number 17, talking about the Holy Spirit, it says the world is unable to receive him because it doesn't see him or know him. We were naturally hopeless, alienated from God.
But not only were we helpless, we were ungodly. We can see that there in verse, at the end of verse number 6, while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Not only were we dead and separated from God, but we were actively unlike him. He created us to be his image, the picture of what God is like through how we talk with one another, how we interact with our world.
We were meant to show everyone else what God is like. And we were not that. Galatians chapter 5 and verses 22 and 23 give us a list of all the things that we are not naturally.
It says the fruit of the Spirit, of God's Holy Spirit, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Sounds like perhaps the antithesis of what we might naturally experience at Thanksgiving on Thursday. We were helpless. We were ungodly.
But we were also sinners. We can see that in verses number seven and eight. Rarely will someone die for a just person.
Though for a good person, perhaps someone might even dare to die.
I know we honored some of our veterans a few weeks ago, and some of you put your life on the line for our country, or you put your life on the line to perhaps rescue a fellow soldier, or you know someone that gave their life for this country or for a
loved one. We can read stories in the news about people that go into burning buildings and save others, and we might think about the incredible sacrifice that someone is making for someone that's in immense danger.
But when we think about perhaps criminal justice, we've never heard of an example of someone that would say, okay, this person robbed a bank. I'm going to go to jail for them. Put me away.
We've never heard of someone saying, well, this person committed a murder, and so I am going to receive the death penalty. For a just person or a good person, perhaps someone might give their life for that kind of person. But it says we were sinners.
We weren't just unlike God. We were actively in defiance of him. And yet, he loved us while we were still sinners.
Christ died for us. You were not just dead and separated and actively unlike God. You actually violated his holy law and became a criminal in the cosmic justice system of the creator of the universe.
You brought sin and evil into his world through what you thought about others, through how you thought about yourself, and how you thought about God.
We have used unkind and demeaning words to others, tore them down to their face and behind their backs. We've used foul language or spoke about dirty things when we felt like it.
And we've even used the very bodies that God gave us to glorify him and to serve others. We've used those bodies for our own ends.
The Bible tells us this about our sins, things that perhaps the world might not view all of these things as bad, but in the eyes of a holy God, these are violations of his holy law. 1 Corinthians 6 says, Don't be deceived.
No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males. No thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God's kingdom.
Galatians chapter 5 tells us, The works of the flesh are obvious.
Sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar.
That does sound like some of our thanksgivings. I am warning you about these things, as I warned you before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So we were helpless.
We were ungodly. We were sinners, but then we were also an enemy of God. We can see that over in verse number 10.
For if while we were enemies, your separation, your ungodliness, and your sins meant that you were not simply away from and unlike God, it meant that you had positioned yourself as his enemy, actively fighting against his sovereign will for your
life. An unwitting participant in a millennia-old battle of human and spiritual rebels against the Creator, we were all under a sentence of eternal condemnation from the presence and eternal life of God.
James chapter 4 tells us, don't you know that friendship with the world, with this world's systems, with their way of doing things and their behaviors and their beliefs, friendship with the world is hostility towards God.
So whoever wants to be the friend of the world, becomes the enemy of God. Or Philippians chapter 3 in verses 18 and 19, many live as the enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction.
Their God is their stomach. Their glory is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things.
Or in John 8, what Christ said, he said, you are of your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning that does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.
The Bible tells us that there is eternal condemnation. There are consequences for our sin and our alienation from our holy God. That we were helpless, that we were sinners, that we were ungodly and an enemy of God.
And the Bible says that the consequences for all these things is not just when you die, it's game over, lights out.
The Bible says that our souls will live forever in one of two places, either in heaven, where God is, where perfection is, where good is, or in hell, a place completely bereft of any of the benefits that God gives us in this life, punishment.
But the Bible says in John 3, 16, that God loved the world, in this way, that he gave his one and only son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, is what Paul told us.
If you are condemned, if you have failed, if you look at your life and you have regrets, or maybe you should have regrets and you don't, if you look at your life and you say, man, I have not measured up to God's level of holiness.
When I open the Bible, when you read through that list of like, hey, here's what God's like, and here's what the world and the flesh is like, and I model one way more than I model the other, I've got good news.
Jesus came for you to rescue you, to reconcile you to God. And that's what we can see in our second realization for today.
Not just realize who you used to be in God's eyes, or perhaps for some of you, if you have never turned to Christ, if you have never accepted his payment that he paid on the cross for your sin, taking your place, that phrase in there, Christ died for
us, that he took the condemnation, he took the alienation from God, crying out on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from me?
He exclaimed that so that you may never have to, that we who once were far off have been brought nigh by the blood of Christ. Realize now who you are if you have accepted Jesus. Realize who you are now because of him.
First, we are rescued by Christ's death and his resurrection. In verse number six, we can see that Christ died for the ungodly. Or again, in verse number eight, God proves his own love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
You were condemned, and so Jesus took your place and was condemned and judged and killed for you.
Second Corinthians five and verse 21, God made Jesus the one who did not know sin to become sin for us, that in him we might be made the righteousness of God. You are rescued.
First Peter one, the verses I started off with this morning, you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life, inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold.
There's no amount of money that can get you into a relationship with God. There's no amount of money that can keep you out of hell and condemnation.
There's no amount of church attendance that you can do that would get you from death into life, but Jesus accomplished it all. I say it often, but it's because it's probably one of the best lines in all of hymnody.
Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
You are redeemed by the blood of Christ, but you are not just rescued by Jesus' death and resurrection. That would be a wonderful thing. Hey, you're rescued.
You were dead. Now you are alive, but you are beloved by the Father, Son, and Spirit. Verse number eight again, God proves his own love for us.
You are not begrudgingly forgiven by God. God isn't looking at you going, yeah, I guess I gotta forgive Gwen. Like I said, I was gonna do it.
So I suppose, no, no, no. You are intentionally rescued and beloved by the Lord. God planned to save you from all eternity past.
You can read in the book of Revelation. You can read in the book of John.
You can read in the book of Ephesians that from the foundation of the world, God set his eyes on you to rescue you, to redeem you, to save you, to bring you from death into life, to bring you from the kingdom of Satan and this world to bring you into
his kingdom. You are beloved. The father planned to save you from all eternity past. The son bought your salvation with his own blood, and the Holy Spirit applied that salvation to your account the day you repented of your sin and turned to Jesus.
1 John chapter 4 and verse 10 says, Here is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us.
Romans chapter 8, when you think about your life and you think about the failures that you have had or the struggles that you're currently going through, and you wonder if it's just too much, if God can get past all of your flaws and your failures,
Paul would tell us this, who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Your sins not strong enough, your past isn't strong enough. God's love for you poured out through the blood of Jesus on the cross, given the stamp of authentication through his resurrection from the dead. It is sufficient.
You are beloved by God and that love can not be taken away. He knew you from all eternity past.
There is nothing that you will go through today or tomorrow or this next week or this next year that God will look at you and say, man, I did love you up until this point, but now you're kind of on my hate list and I don't care for you anymore.
No, no, no, my friend, if you are loved from all eternity past, he will love you to all eternity future. You are secure in Christ, not because you are so lovable, but because he is love. He can do no other.
Not only have we been rescued by Jesus' death and resurrection, not only are we beloved by the Father, Son and Spirit, but we have been eternally declared righteous in God's eyes.
This comes from several different points through the chapter, verse number nine. And how much more than, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath?
Or in verse number 10, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, and we will be saved by his life. It's not just you have been, it's also you will be.
You don't just have an empty slate now that you hopefully don't mess up. You are forever justified in the court room of heaven with all of Christ's limitless righteousness applied to your account.
As good as Jesus is, is how secure your standing is before God. I love the modern hymn that was written by Bethany Bernard, All-Sufficient Merit. It says, All-Sufficient Merit shining like the sun, a fortune I inherit through no work I have done.
My righteousness I forfeit at the Savior's cross, where all-sufficient merit did what I could not. In love, he condescended eternal now in time, a life without a blemish, the maker made to die.
The law could never save us, our lawlessness had won, until the pure and spotless lamb had finally come. I lay down my garments, any empty boast, good works now all corrupted by their sinful hosts.
Undressed in my Lord Jesus, a crimson robe made white, there's no more fear of judgment, his righteousness is mine. All-sufficient merit, firm in life and death, the joy of my salvation shall be my final breath.
And when I stand accepted before the throne of God, I'll thank him for my Jesus and praise him for the cross. It is done, it is finished, no more debt I owe, paid in full, all-sufficient merit, now my own.
You have been eternally declared righteous in God's eyes, not through your good works, but through the good works of Jesus. Then you're saved from both eternal and temporary wrath through turning to Jesus.
That's through all of the statements that are made of you were saved, you were reconciled, and you will be saved, you will be justified.
You see, today, you no longer have to fear hell, but you also don't have to fear God's condemnation and rejection of you today. As Romans 8 and chapter 1 tells us, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
What a wonderful truth.
Hebrews chapter 12 and verses 5 and 6 tell us that even in our hard times, even if in our difficulties, when God has to take us to the shed, so to speak, it is not because he hates us or has disowned us or doesn't love us anymore.
Instead, he says, do not take the Lord's discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives.
If I love my daughter, who is apparently asleep right now, if I love my daughter, it means I'm going to tell her no when she hits her bubba, like you were doing yesterday.
I'm going to tell her no because I want her to continue to grow and to be a good person. And so I'm going to have consequences for bad things that are done.
And certainly the Father, our Heavenly Father, does the same for us and our lives, and that isn't a sign that He no longer loves us or that He has condemnation for us. Instead, it is empirical proof that we are, in fact, His child.
So we're saved from both eternal and temporary wrath. We don't have to fear the wrath of God anymore. Instead, we know that we are His child forever, accepted.
We are brought into a family relationship with God Himself, that we're no longer just not condemned by God. And yeah, we're loved, but He actually adopts us into His family. Romans chapter 8 and Ephesians 1 all tell us that you are adopted.
John 1 and verse 12, To all who did receive Jesus, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name.
Or 1 John 3 and verse 1, See what great love the Father has given us, so that we should be called God's children, and we are.
One of our friends from actually back in Oregon, they just adopted a little boy that they've had in foster care for the past several years. And they were so excited that they could now finally call this little boy their son.
I don't know how many of you have seen the adoption process or heard it. When a child is adopted, they are given all the exact same rights as any children that are born from the actual couple themselves. They aren't lesser, you know, citizens.
They aren't lesser kids. They are the specifically chosen and beloved. Everything that belongs to the parents now belongs to this child just as much as any other kid.
And can I tell you something? God has a son, it's Jesus Christ. And because we are adopted, scripture tells us that we are joint heirs with Christ, that everything that belongs to Jesus belongs to us.
The Holy Spirit, the love of God, all of the fruit of the Spirit that Jesus naturally has, it's his birthright, so to speak. He gives that to us, that we have a home in heaven because Jesus has a home in heaven.
That we are beloved, we have a church family because we are the bride of Christ. And so just as Christ gets to enjoy his bride, so we too get to come every single week and enjoy the family of God.
Then we can see that our standing with God is consistently reinforced by Jesus right now.
Jesus is actively advocating for you, bringing your prayer requests to the Father and countering the devil's claims of your wickedness and your need to be condemned. Did you know that?
Jesus isn't just like sitting up in heaven doing nothing right now. Scripture tells us he is our advocate with the Father. He is the one that is interceding for us.
Romans chapter 8 says, who can bring an accusation against God's elect? God is the one that justifies. If you come before God as Satan would love to do in your life and in mine, and he would say, listen, Lord, don't you know what Roy did this week?
And he really messed up here and here and here. So you should punish him. And God goes, oh, actually, I paid for that.
Actually, he's forgiven. He's redeemed. He's adopted.
He's chosen. You have no claim for his destruction or his punishment because I'm the one that justified him. Says Christ Jesus.
He says, who is the one that condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died. But even more, he has been raised.
He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. When Satan comes into the throne room of heaven, ready to bring accusations against you, he's not finding a sympathetic court.
As he goes before the father, the father is the one that justified. As he goes to God the son, God the son is the one that paid for us. If he tries to go to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is the one that indwells us.
So who can bring anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. 1 John chapter 2, my little children, I'm writing you these things so that you may not sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. So how do we respond to this? We were helpless.
We were ungodly. We were sinners. We were condemned.
We were God's enemies. And now we're rescued. We're beloved.
We're eternally declared righteous. We are saved from eternal and temporary wrath. We're brought into a family relationship and adopted.
We are being consistently reinforced in our position by Jesus Christ himself. So, what in the world can our response be? The only thinkable response is to live your life for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Since you are forgiven, loved, justified, accepted, adopted, and advocated for, how could you do anything else? Since you have nothing meaningful to lose, your position in Christ is secure.
You've got nothing to lose, and you have absolutely everything to gain. If the worst in this world happens to you, if you die today, you're in heaven. If you live, you are still enjoying all of these benefits that Christ has for you.
So why not take the plunge into living your life fully for Jesus? Let him affect your family relationships this week. Let him lead you to forgiveness.
Allow him to determine even your weekend schedules that you would set time apart, as you all have done today, to worship him. Be a light for Jesus in your workplace, working hard, being kind and respectful to your coworkers like he would be.
Spend time with Jesus every day in the word and in prayer. Love your fellow believers. Invite them to your house.
Go out for fun or for fellowship. Forgive and love those that you wouldn't naturally or that sometimes rub you the wrong way. This is what Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true worship.
Or in Hebrews 13, 15, Therefore, through him, let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise that is the fruit of lips that confess his name.
Or in Philippians 4 and verse 18, as Paul told the Philippian Church that because of their love for the Lord and their love for Paul, it prompted them to action.
And he says, I'm fully supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you provided, he says, a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God. Are you living your life in obedience and worship and sacrifice to God?
Today, there's a few questions that are pressing for you. We've seen from God's word who we were, who we are now because of Jesus, if we've accepted him. So for you today, have you turned to Jesus?
Has there ever been a time in your life where you have repented, turned from your sin and said, God, I'm choosing your way instead. I accept Jesus' sacrifice for my sin and I'm going to go your way.
If you are a Christian today, are you repenting of sin and wickedness?
If those were things that exemplified you, if that's what you lived as before Christ, why would we return to that what Paul calls in Romans 6, the old man, the old nature that we had, why would you bring that back into your life?
Are you repenting of your sin? Are you taking advantage of your new position in Jesus? You have an advocate with the Father.
You have someone that hears your prayers. Are you praying to him? Are you going to him?
Are you asking for his forgiveness? Are you asking for his strength and his favor? Are you praising him?
That's why every single week we sing. It's not just to give, it's not just like to kill time until the preacher comes. When we sing, when we worship, when we exalt the Lord and we sing something like, I bow, we sing it because we have the words.
I didn't give you guys the words. I apologize. I bow before the cross of Christ and marvel at this love divine.
God's perfect son was sacrificed to make me righteous in God's eyes. This river's depths I cannot know, but I can glory in its flood. The Lord most high has bowed down low and poured on me his glorious love.
That's why we sing something like that, so that whether it's JC or whether it's Jam or whether it's Sherry, we can all sing to one another the praises of our God.
That those that are going through heartbreak and loss right now would be reminded of the hope of the resurrection. That those that are wondering like, hey, can I continue in this Christian faith or should I go back to who I was before?
So that they can be reminded that there's people in all sorts of life stages and walks with the Lord in this room, and they can see you and go, man, if they can keep on praising the Lord, if they can be praising, Ms.
Betty's not here today, but Betty Armintrout that is 95 years old and still coming, still worshiping, still praising the Lord as often as she can, that we can go, man, okay, well, I'm 27. I still want to be praising the Lord 70 years from now.
So we praise the Lord and it's an encouragement to one another that we challenge one another, stick in the fight. But can I tell you, it's not just like your praise that is worship of the Lord. What you do when you leave here today can be worship.
You praying perhaps before a meal and thanking God for giving you food is an act of worship that might tell other people in the restaurant or other people in your home that I believe in God. How you work is worship.
If you work hard, if you work with kindness, that can be an act of worship to the Lord. As the Apostle Paul would tell us in 1 Corinthians 10, whether you eat, drink or whatever you do, do everything to the glory of God.
So today, are you living your life in worshipful obedience to him? We have been reconciled to God. If we have turned to him and accepted his salvation.
So the only suitable responses to his reconciling work are praise and true worship. Praise, telling other people about how good God is. Giving a testimony.
Tonight at 5.30, we've got our praise and testimony service where we're gonna sing some of the songs that we've learned together as a church this year, as well as some classic hymns. We're gonna be praising the Lord together.
We're gonna be having times of testimony to be able to hear, here's how God has worked in my life. Here's what he's done for me.
It's an opportunity to praise him, but then also respond with true worship, to live your life today, tomorrow, this week, even at Thanksgiving for the Lord. That we'd say, God, you are worthy of it all.
