May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
epistle of Paul to the Romans, chapter 5, and we'll read verses
9 and 10. The epistle of Paul to the Romans,
chapter 5, and reading verses 9 and 10. much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. As I was pondering this text,
I thought of a good friend that I had years ago who was at TBS,
Brian Fels. He was a member of our committee.
When we had to do translation work in other languages, he always
considered that the test of the accuracy of translation was to
always compare it with the epistle of Paul to the Romans because
Romans is very strong in doctrine and it's a very blessed book
and it's perhaps one that is not read as often as it should
be but there is very much instruction in it and I suppose we might
often read the eighth chapter of the Romans which is very familiar
but we should also not forget the rest of it which is also
very instructive to us And as I mentioned, the fourth chapter
speaks about Abraham, who I'm sure we're familiar with, and
the faith that Abraham was given to believe that God would grant
him a son when it would seem impossible. Naturally it seemed
impossible but God gave him faith to believe that he would have
a son and of course through that son the Jewish nation had been
wonderfully blessed. And so we're very thankful, we
should be, that God in his mercy has given us the epistle of Paul
to the Romans to read and be instructed And this fifth chapter
commences with these words, therefore, it's referring, you see, to the
previous chapter, therefore, being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that is
a wonderful blessing, for us to have peace with God. You know, if you look at ourselves,
and if God shows us What we are by ourself, we're sinners and
we are aliens. We're not those who are friends
of God by nature. And yet what a blessing it is
if we have the evidence that we are justified, that means
being made just. And if we have the evidence of
it in our heart, surely that will bring with it peace. Peace
to know that you and I are justified. Isn't that an amazing and wonderful
truth? And it is a truth, and often
today people either glibly accept it or otherwise just turn away
from it. And yet it should be a soul strengthening
and encouraging truth, and to therefore enjoy this peace, the
peace of God which passeth all understanding. And the Apostle
goes on, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace,
wherein we stand and rejoice in hope. of the glory of God. Well, God does give faith to
believe. And how important it is, and
as we perhaps mentioned a few times recently with regards to
believing, it is an essential favour and essential blessing. In the previous chapter, We read
about Abraham, and this is what it says about Abraham. He staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what he
had promised he was able also to perform. We live in a day
which is not different, of course, to the days which have gone before,
when the evil one, Satan, endeavours to persuade us to not believe
the truth of God. And therefore many struggle on
in life, lacking this faith to believe and yet what a wonderful
mercy it is when God gives us and faith is the gift of God
it's not something you and I can work ourselves up into a frenzy
about and just suddenly grasp it. It's that which God gives.
But we should pray that we might receive it. The faith to believe. And therefore, as the Apostle
says, we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. It's a foundation upon which
we stand. And that foundation standeth
sure, having in this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his. What a blessing then to realise
that even today, as we think of and ponder the great truths
of God, to have this evidence that we do stand and we stand
upon that rock and that rock is Christ. And then the Apostle
just goes on, and just briefly in his introduction, because
it's worthy of our consideration, he says, and not only so, but
we glory in tribulations. Well, that may sound a very strange
thing to do, to glory in tribulations. That means difficulties and oppositions
and many battles, tribulations. And yet he says, we glory in
tribulations. And he goes on to clarify the
reason, and he says, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. You see, it's the opposition
that you and I face as we journey on through life, because spiritual
journey is a battle. It's not an easy life. The devil
never leaves us alone. He always pesters us and always
tries to turn us out of the way and always tries to persuade
us that, first of all, there is no God and we're wasting our
time and all the things in the Word of God are not true. He
always endeavours to continue and to bring evil and wrong thoughts
into our hearts and minds. And all these, you see, are really
tribulations. And so what does the Apostle
say? Knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Well, we are
to be patient under these temptations. We are to truly pray that we
may be turned away from them, but God gives us gives his people
patience to endure. And remember, those that endure
unto the end shall be saved. And that's a great blessing.
He goes on, patience, experience, and experience hope. And hope
maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. You see, faith is given to us. And here we have this other gift
also, a wonderful blessing, the love of God, God's gift to us,
and how important it is. And here we are, sinners of the
earth, undone sinners, ruined sinners, deserving no blessing. And yet God comes and gives to
us His love. And it's spoken like this, the
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. And what an amazing change that
brings. Whereas we were rebels, hard-hearted,
rebellious to the things of God, didn't want to acknowledge them,
Didn't want to have anything to do with them. And yet, you
see, when God brings to us His grace, His favour, and shows
us then His love toward us, it's shed abroad in our hearts. What a change. What a change. What a blessing. What an evidence
it is of the life of God in the soul. The love of God toward
us. And don't forget, it always emanates
from God's love to us and we respond with our love to Him
but it's not the reverse it always commences with Almighty God's
love toward us and it's very humbling to think that the Almighty
God the Ruler of the Universe should have looked upon us and
should have loved us. Well, may we indeed have the
evidence of it. And as we look into our hearts,
we observe there that God has loved us. Well, that gives us
that good and wonderful hope. And so we read, for when we were
yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die. Yet perventure for a good man,
some would even dare to die. And maybe those naturally are
willing to lay down their life perhaps for someone who's been
a very wonderful person and a very great influence perhaps in the
lives of many people. And people might be willing to
lay down their life for such. But then we read, But God commendeth
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. That means there was nothing
naturally attractive that God should love us. We were sinners. against God, continued to sin, disobeyed the
Word of God, followed our own way, our own inclinations. Well,
are we there still today? Are we still walking in that
way contrary to God and pleasing ourselves? Or are we amongst those who realize
this great blessing? But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And also, of course, when we
were dead, spiritually dead in trespasses and in sins. And therefore we come down then
to these two verses. much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we
were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Well, in these two
verses, we have two statements. Saved from wrath through him
and saved by his life. Well, every one of us without
any exception needs to know the great blessing of being saved. Now only you will know whether
the Holy Spirit has come and touched your hearts So you have
the evidence within you that the Blessed Saviour has come
and touched you and has indeed saved you. You see, no one else
knows what is going on within us. We can sometimes give a very
wrong impression. Some people like to think they're
saved and like other people to think they're saved, where in
fact they are not saved. They are still spiritually dead
and there's no life within them. And therefore they are enemies
to God. And so all of us here today,
we fall into one or two categories where we are either an enemy
of God or we are a friend of God. an enemy or a friend. What a
great blessing it is for us then today. If we can look into our
hearts and remember that we were an enemy to God. But there's been a wonderful
change and now we are a friend of God. He is our friend. because if we are an enemy of
God then we should endure the wrath
of Almighty God and that eternally, the anger of Almighty God how often people tend to ignore
the truth of the word of God and not to think that somehow
things are going to get easier and somehow God's word is not
in fact true. Well, the epistle of Paul to
the Thessalonians tells us about the amazing goodness of God. The first chapter, the 10th verse,
this is what we read. And to wait for his son from
heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered
us from the wrath to come. That means that when you and
I pass out of time, We should either pass into heaven where
it is eternal bliss and happiness or into hell where there is the
eternal wrath of God. It's a very fearful thing to
think of that, isn't it? And again, to realise that there's
no change because that is an eternal condition and eternal
state. And that's where we will be found.
Enduring the wrath of almighty God. And therefore, how necessary
and how important it is that we are blessed to be amongst
those who are saved, delivered from this wrath. Now the Apostle
tells us a little about this. He says, much more than being
now justified by his blood. This is a grand truth. This is
a glorious doctrine, to know that we are made just, just before
God. And we are justified, we are
made just in this way, as the apostle says, by his blood. You may say, well, please explain
that a little bit. What does that really mean? Well,
it's good, isn't it? It's a privilege to explain it
to you, especially young people, but not perhaps only the young
people. But anyway, it's good to explain it that it was necessary
that Jesus should come into this world to pay the price that was
required to take away our sins, because everyone who is not forgiven
will endure the wrath of God eternally. Now, the wonderful
words in John 3.16 are so appropriate. For God so loved the world that
he sent his only beloved Son, whosoever believeth in him shall
not perish, but have eternal life. And so God sent, God the
Father sent his only beloved Son, that Son who'd been with
him eternally into this sinful world, so that he might save
his people from their sins. And we might therefore then be
amongst those who are saved from wrath. And this was to be achieved
by the Lord Jesus Christ in paying the debt that was ours. Because sin is a debt to be paid. And it's one sin that produces
a debt that we ourselves cannot pay. And just one sin condemns
us to the wrath of God. So therefore, how wonderful and
how glorious it is to think that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, came into this world to justify us, to make us just
with God, to take away our sins. And how was it to be accomplished?
We're told, by His blood. That means by the shedding of
His blood. Indeed, we're told by the shedding
of blood. Without shedding of blood, there
is no forgiveness. There is no remission. We read
that in the ninth of Hebrews. Without shedding of blood, there
is no forgiveness. And so for us today, as we read
a word like this, much more than this is what the apostles really
homing in on. He wants us to understand and
appreciate the relevance and the importance much more than
being now. justified by his blood. And that means, of course, when
blood is shed, it's a sign of death occurring by his death,
the shedding of his blood. And that was completed upon Calvary,
that cross at Calvary. What a wonderful work that was. Never, never turn away from Calvary. Never turn away from the cross
at Calvary. Never turn away from what it
means to realise that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal son
of God, died upon that cross at Calvary in order to take away
our sins and to save us from the wrath of God. That is
the great plan of salvation. How relevant it is, how necessary
it is, and all of us here this morning must know that we are
amongst those who are indeed saved. And as the Apostle said,
as we read in the previous verse, but God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. What a mercy to think. And it's
very hard for us to appreciate and understand that Almighty
God should die, that you and I might be given the gift of
eternal life. To think that the almighty God,
the one who spoke the world into being, was so willing to come
in this world and die that death in order to save our souls. Because if we are saved, that
means saved, delivered from our sin, freed from the condemnation
of our sin. Because the Word of God tells
us, the soul that sinneth it shall die. And yet we know that
through the death of Christ, we are saved. And as the apostle
tells us in the eighth chapter of Romans, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. So this morning,
may it be the wonderful blessing of God to show unto us our need
of a Saviour and direct us nowhere else but to the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world, as the
Apostle Paul says, to save sinners And Paul said, of whom I am chief. Therefore, none of us needs to
give up hope. We read here, didn't we, about
hope, experience and experience hope. And if the Holy Spirit
gives us this experience in our soul, that we're convinced of
our need of a Saviour. And the Holy Spirit then leads
us to Christ. And there by faith we view the
blessed Saviour dying upon that cross to take away our sins. We have some little appreciation
of the wonder of this great and blessed work of the Saviour. Much more than, says the apostle. This is so relevant, so important. We need the Holy Spirit to apply
the word of God to our hearts, to convince us of our sin, and
to lead us to the foot of the cross, to view the Lord Jesus
Christ suffering there for our sin. You see, that's what it
comes down to. Your sin, my sin. Individually, we stand. We're
condemned. We need saving. Much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved. The word of God is very positive,
isn't it? If we are just justified by the
blood of Christ, we shall be saved. And that means we shall
be eternally safe. And that means we shall spend
eternity with Jesus, in glory, with all the saints of God. You
see, it's a wonderful prospect. It's a wonderful thought. It's
a blessed consideration to realize there is a heaven. The Lord has
prepared a place for all his people. It's a wonderful thing,
isn't it? to think of that. A place of
glory. a place of glory. Indeed, the
apostle speaks about it here in this chapter, indeed, about
this place of glory. What a wonderful, what a wonderful
thing it is to realize the Lord has gone to repair a place for
us in glory. And so the apostle moves on to
say, for if When we were enemies, there are
a lot of buts in the scriptures and there's also a lot of ifs. You see, this is counted in an
if. For if, when we were sinners,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Well, that's
an if. in each of our lives. If. Is it true? Or is it not true? We need it to be true. Blessedly
true. Reconciled to God, remember? At one time, enemies. but a wonder it is to be reconciled
because then we are a friend what a difference isn't it between
an enemy and a friend to be reconciled to this great God now we were
an alien opposite for if when we were enemies We
were reconciled to God. How was that done? How was that accomplished? By
our good deeds? By the wonderful things we've
done? Not at all. Because the Apostle tells us,
in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Nothing good naturally. We might think we're a pretty
good Christian, but you know, when the Holy Spirit shows us
more of our heart, we have to agree with what Paul said. In me that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. And so here we have this great
truth. If when we were sinners, we were
enemies rather, we were reconciled to God, how? By the death of
his son. That's the only way that you
and I can be reconciled to God. We can't reconcile ourselves. Because we're sinners. Sin is
mixing all we do. But here we have the glory of
the gospel. This is what surely is so attractive. Surely this makes the Lord Jesus
Christ very valuable to us, precious to us. And to think that this
blessed Saviour loved us, sinners of the earth, so much that He
came and died that we might live. We were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son. And he goes on to say much more. You see, there's a much more
in both of these verses. It's worth thinking about. Much
more being reconciled, we shall be saved. How? By His life. Yes, that life. of the Lord Jesus Christ, because
now you see the Lord Jesus is alive forevermore. He died upon that cross, but
he rose again the third day. He was laid in a sepulcher. But he rose again the third day
to die no more. And having risen from the dead,
after those 40 days on the earth when he was revealed to many
people, he then ascended unto his father
and to our father. You see, if we are those who
are reconciled to God, God is our Father. And therefore the
Lord Jesus Christ, He ascended to His Father there to claim
His rightful position on the right hand of the Father on the
throne. there to intercede for us. That means to present our prayers
to our Father. Almighty God cannot look upon
sin and he sees us through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament showed us very
clearly the need for a mediator in the form of the high priest
who went into the Holy of Holies on that great day of atonement
to present to God, confess the sins of the people, not without
blood, showing the death of the animal. And the blessed Lord
Jesus Christ has ascended into the holy place in glory. not
without blood. His blood shed upon the cross
at Calvary. But whereas in Old Testament
times there was the continual need for that shedding of blood. Yet Christ once offered himself
once. There was only need for that
one occasion. And that was acceptable to God
the Father. And there he is, my friends,
today. His life in glory. Just think, when you and I pray
to our God, we come through the merits of the Savior. for Jesus
Christ's sake. We are accepted in the beloved,
not because of ourselves. We're accepted through what the
Lord Jesus Christ has done. Well, what a wonderful thing
it is then that we have such a statement as this. We're reconciled
to God, brought to God, by the death of his son, much more being
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Yes, we shall. There he is now in glory, interceding
for us. It's something which is impossible
really for you and me to naturally grasp with our natural intellect. What we need is God-given faith
to receive these great and glorious truths because they will be food
for our eternal soul. We shall rejoice in them. And
that's why the apostle goes on and says, and not only so, but
we also joy in God. We joy in God. because of this
wonderful plan that is ours. And we've come here today to
hear the gospel. We've come to hear the good news
that Jesus came into this world to save sinners of whom I am
chief. So not only so, but we also joy
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom We have now received
the atonement. Atonement means, of course, at-one-ment,
being made one with God, reconciled to God, unworthy sinners. That's
who we are, black sinners. We can't reconcile ourselves.
We're aliens, but God does. What a mercy, what a blessing,
what a wonderful blessing it is. and therefore he clarifies
this in wonderfully clear words. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world. I'm sure we know that was Adam
all those years ago. Adam sinned, Eve gave him. Eve sinned, In gave him forbidden
fruit. He took of it, he disobeyed God.
He sinned. Oh, the hymn writer says, Oh
thou hideous monster sin. What a curse has thou brought
in! Sin entered. Tragic day in the
history of the world, wherefore as by one man sin entered into
the world, and because of that, death by sin. Death entered at
that time. You may say, well just explain
it. Well, just very briefly of course,
the Lord said to Adam and Eve, in the day thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die. And you may say, well okay, that's
quite clear. Well, Adam and Eve ate of that
fruit, didn't they? So did they drop down dead? No,
they didn't. So what actually happened? What
happened was this. They died spiritually. And they needed, therefore, to
be given spiritual life. Because they couldn't make themselves
alive. The Word of God was true. They
died spiritually. The effect of that sin was also
to mortify their natural body. and their natural body was also
to die. But the great truth was, and
sin entered into the wood, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for the all have sinned. How true it is. for until the
law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed when there
is no law but there was a law and sin was imputed now the great
blessing is this our sin was then imputed to the Lord Jesus
Christ and He imputed to us His righteousness, that pure
life, was an exchange. Why should that occur? Because
of His love toward us. No other reason is there. Because
He loved us. Wonderful, isn't it? Rejoice
in it. Praise God because of it. If
you and I have the evidence in our hearts that all those sinners,
unworthy sinners, Christ has died to bring us to God in union
with the Lamb from condemnation free. What a wonderful, wonderful favour
and what a blessing that is. Well, you know, we can't go through
this, but just very quickly, the Apostle says, but not as
the offence, so also as the free gift, the gift of eternal life. For if through the offence of
one many be dead, much more the grace of God, the free unmerited
favour and the gift by grace which is, by one man Jesus Christ
hath abounded unto many, and not as it was by one that sinned. So is the gift, for the judgment
was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences
unto justification. Just think that Almighty God
has given this great and glorious free gift. What a wonderful gift
it is. The last verse in the sixth chapter
of Romans tells us this. For the wages of sin is death. But, I said there were glorious
buts and ifs and here's a but. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Well, may we go on our
way this morning rejoicing in what the Lord Jesus Christ has
done in order to save our soul so that we are saved from the
wrath to come and saved to spend eternity with Christ in glory.