Romans chapter 5 says, Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have access by faith into this
grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
Patience, experience, experience hope, and hope make us not ashamed,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us. 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 peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 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.
And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ by whom we have now received the atonement. Now, we are going
to make a few comments about these verses, but I wanted to
point out one thing to you, and that is that there is a Greek
word that is used three times in these eleven verses. And each
time that it's used, it's translated to a different English word.
Up in verse 2, it says, "...when we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God." Now, that's one of the words, is rejoice,
and I would tell you the Greek word, but it's pretty hard to
pronounce, so I won't do that. So we have that. In verse 2 he
says, we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
And then in verse 3 it says, and not only so, but we glory
in tribulations. And that word glory is the exact
same word, so he has used the word rejoice, glory. And then down in verse 11 it
says, and not only so, but we also joy in God. is most often translated in the
Scripture as boasting. And if you look at that and you consider
that, I believe we can see where in the ground of our joy is to
be had. Now, joy is a thing that all
people seek. Nobody likes to be sad. Have
you ever met anybody that said, boy, I can't wait until I can
go over here and get sad? No, that's not what we're looking
for. Men don't go out and do the things they do in the world
to try to become sad. They go out into the world and
they do the things they do seeking what they consider to be joy.
Now, the joy of the flesh and the joy that's spoken of in the
Scriptures are totally contrary to one another. Because what
Paul writes about when he talks about joy has a basis in something
that the world knows nothing of. And so the joy of the people
of God cannot be compared in any fashion to the joy that the
world might rejoice in. Now, the basis for all of the
joy of the children of God is Jesus Christ. and Him crucified. Apart from that, there is no
place for rejoicing for the sons of God. Now, up here in the beginning
of this chapter it says, Therefore, being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is the
place of our rejoicing. Now, most times when you hear
people talk about being justified by faith, they're speaking about
a subjective consideration of faith rather than an objective
consideration. Now, what am I talking about? Well, a subjective consideration
of faith is, well, brother, you've got to have faith. And if you'll
have faith, then God will justify you. Now, that's a pretty common
thought among religious men in the day in which we live, that
if you believe, then God will do something. It's as if once
you believe, God moves you from this column over to that column. Now that's a pretty common consideration.
I don't think I misrepresent what's usually taught when people
talk about being justified by faith. It's as if a man is not
justified. He believes. Well, now he's moved
over. God replaces the X by his mark
over here in the column that says unjustified, and now he's
moved over here to the column of the justified. Now that's
subjective faith. That's where men say you've got
to have faith. Faith is what moves you from
this column to that column. We're justified by faith. But
that's not what we read about in the Scripture concerning what
being justified by faith is. We are justified by faith, but
the faith by which we are justified is an objective faith. That is,
we are justified by the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. And
He is the object of the faith which we have been given. And
so that we are not moved from this column to that column. The
people of God have always been in this column. Now, they have
not always known that they were in that column. They certainly
have not acted like they were those that were in this column.
And in fact, they don't even act like it now. Here's a lady
that wrote a letter and said that she was wondering whether
or not that was even a God. Now, if she would be justified
by faith, she'd have had to have been unjustified, wouldn't she?
I mean, if she would have been justified by subjective faith,
by having faith, then she would most assuredly no longer have
justification, would she not, if she didn't believe in that
subjective way? But you see, the object of her
faith never changed. Even though she couldn't see
the operation of faith in herself, and she saw the doubtings and
fears that was in her by nature, yet it was according to the faith
of Jesus Christ that she stood. And that's the basis, dear brethren,
of the faith, of justifying faith. It is Christ and Christ alone. And it is in Christ that our
faith is. Now, we have the gift of faith
to believe Him. But it is not our believing Him
that causes us to be justified. It is Him and the work that He's
performed and the fact that we have faith is an evidence of
the justification which He has wrought. in us, and we are indeed
there, brethren, justified by faith. My hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Now, my hope is not that
I am hoping, My hope is my hope, you see. My hope is that the
One who said that He went to Calvary's cross and paid the
sin debt of His elect bride, whom He loved with an everlasting
love from before the foundation of the world, my hope is resting
there on Him and nowhere else, because your faith and my faith
Subjectively speaking, it will peter out. It will fail. It won't
amount to a hill of beans. It won't be worth anything. But
oh, amidst flaming worlds, arrayed in the righteousness of Christ,
we know we shall stand. And it is in Him that we believe. And so, therefore, being justified
by faith. Now, brethren, this is a ground
of rejoicing, is it not? I mean, it's the only place.
that a man who is convinced that he is a sinner and he has no
power of his own to believe anything. What a place of rejoicing this
is! But it is a place of rejoicing
that the world knows nothing of. Because until a man is brought
to that place to be shown what he is and who Christ is, how
can he have any knowledge of any such thing as that? Now most
people are going through life thinking that they are going
to somehow please God. Well, I'm going to do this to
please God. And they think the Lord is going to take notice
of all the things that they do. And yet the Scripture plainly
says that our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the sight
of God. Everything that we do that we
think is good is done in the sight of God. Therefore, being
justified by faith, what faith? The faith of Christ. the one
who perished that we might live, the one who rose again that we
might live, the one who ascended into the heavens that we might
live. That is the place of our hope and we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's where the peace that passeth
understanding comes. We don't get the peace that passeth
understanding because we do something, Well, I read the Scriptures and
now I've got the peace that passeth understanding. No, the peace
that passeth understanding that passeth understanding. It can't
be explained. It's the peace, dear brethren,
that is given to those whose faith is Christ alone, even in
the hour of their death. even in the time when they are
so weak that they can't speak a word, even in the time when
they have no understanding perhaps of all the things going on around
them, but they can hear that sweet
sound of the gospel and the mercy of Christ set forth and it is
a peace unto their soul. Now that is peace that passes
understanding because you see, men to say, well, you've got
to believe. Well, what happens to the person
who's got to believe when they can't believe? What happens when
they're in a place of dying and they can't believe? I mean, you
can't stir somebody up to believe in, can you? I mean, let these
guys come forth that's got all this power to give people all
this faith and you've just got to believe and they can knock
you out by touching you and all that junk. And they just let
them come forth. It's not the faith of Christ.
But the faith of Christ is that wherein we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. You see, the people of God, the
joy of the people of God is not their own glory. I mean, it is
a glorious thing there, brethren, to be raised from the dead. The
prospect of coming out of the ground is glorious, but what
if you just came out of the ground and then you had to go back and
plow the field the next day? I mean, there wouldn't be any
joy in that, would there? No, the joy for the people of
God is the glory of God. We shall see Him face to face. You see, that is the the evidence
of the faith of God's elect because it is said in that one. Heaven
wouldn't be heaven without Christ. Now everybody thinks they're
going to heaven when they die. I mean, you can go to a funeral
home and they'll talk about being in a better place and people
talk about, oh, well, he's better off now and all that stuff. I
mean, people just generally think that when they die they're just
going to a wonderful place. Everybody just goes to a wonderful
place, even dogs and cats. I mean, they all just go. But
what's the basis of it? Is the basis of it that men just
generally think they're just going to a better place? Why
would they think that? Nothing in the Scripture that
would indicate it? A man who is born a woman is
a few days and full of trouble according to what the Scripture
says. There is none that seeketh after God. There is none that
do us good. No, not one. What would be the
basis that a man would think that somehow or other he is going
to enter into some peaceful existence? But we have peace with God. How
do we have it though? Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. You see, that
is the place wherein our joy is found Not just thinking about
that one day we're going to go to heaven and see Aunt Maud and
Uncle Willie and Grandma and Grandpa and all of that kind
of stuff. That's just sentimentality. But the faith of Christ is that
which gives the people of God peace in the hour of their greatest
trials because it is the glory of God that they desire to see. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
patience experience. So we rejoice, he said, in the
hope of the glory of God, but we glory in tribulation. Same
word, we glory. We rejoice and we glory. I want to say we glory and we
glory in tribulations in the troubles of this life. Why? Now,
most people don't rejoice in the troubles of this life, do
they? They say, well, I'm going to
rejoice when all these troubles are past. Brethren, if you don't
rejoice now in the tribulation, you have no reason or basis to
think that you're going to rejoice in some blissful state wherein
you're relieved of all of them because you see the same basis
upon which a man Well, glory in the ages to come is the basis
wherein He glories now in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh
patience, knowing that these are the things sent from the
hand of God for our benefit, because our faith is not in what
we have, but is in who He is. You see, that is a place of true
rejoicing. It is no comfort to the flesh.
Look, our flesh recoils at every word that I'm saying. Oh, what
do you mean? We can't, you know, have some
joy in the flesh? Brethren, this flesh is passing
away. And this has been made oh so
real to my understanding this very week. This flesh is passing
away, but dear brethren, there's something that cannot pass away.
There is something that cannot be destroyed. And it is that
which is built and rests in the One who is eternal, that One
who has paid the price for sinners, the redemption of sinners. And
it is that, dear brethren, Because he says, we glory in tribulations
knowing this, that tribulation worketh patience, and patience
experience, and experience hope. Because you see, in the midst
of the troubles, we know that we are brought, if we are those
who have been given faith in Christ, we cannot be destroyed. We are brought to that place
where we always come back to Christ. He is our hope. Wasn't that what Job said? He
said, though the skin worms eat my flesh, they eat me up. I'm turned back into the dust
of the ground. He said, yet in my flesh shall
I what? See God. You see, he had a desire
to gaze upon Him whom he knew was his Redeemer, that One who
came to deliver him and hope make it not a shame, because
the love of God shall broaden our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly." For when
we were yet without strength. Now then he says something that
is important. He says, in due time. Now what is due time? Due time
is the right time. Due time is the appointed time.
Due time is the time which can't be any other time. It is appointed unto men once
to die. That's a due time. Every man
has a due time. Every man has a time when his
breath is the last one. Now you don't know how many breaths
you've got left and neither do I. Know how many I've got. But
it is a determined number. God has set the bounds of our
habitation that we cannot pass. And regardless of what men do
say or whatever, that can't be changed and won't be changed.
It is a due time. It is a proper time. And remember
this for the people of God, precious in the sight of the Lord's death
of the saints, because it occurs in due time. But he says here,
in due time, at the right time. There couldn't have been any
other time. This wasn't some general thing. But in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. He didn't die for the religious
folks. He didn't die for the good folks. He didn't die for
all the folks that have done many wonderful works in this
world. But he died for the ungodly. Now I for one am glad to hear
that. I mean, dear brethren, what a
glorious thing to think that Christ died for the ungodly.
Now the only man that that wouldn't bring comfort and help to would
be the man that didn't consider himself to be ungodly. And that's
exactly why men perish. because they think that somehow
or other they've got a little something. You know, the way
of Christ, I mean, that's okay for some people, but I can make
it on my own. I don't really need that. But
no, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died. Where else? Now, the ungodly
and sinners are the same thing. And the Scripture says that Christ
died for sinners. Now, there are those that say
that there are no parameters around the atonement of Christ,
that He just died for everybody. That's not what it says here. I know
plenty of people that aren't sinners. Oh now, I don't know
anybody that hasn't sinned, don't get me wrong. There's not anybody
I know of, but it doesn't say here that the Lord Jesus Christ
died for everybody that sinned. It says Christ died for sinners. Now there's a difference in those
that have sinned and a sinner. You see, a sinner is a man who's
been made aware of what He is. And that is why the song that
we sing, it says, Come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded,
sick and sore, Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity joined
with power. And He does save sinners because
He came and He died for sinners. And He purchased eternal redemption
for sinners. But not one drop of blood was
ever shed. for the righteous, for those
who think themselves somehow that they are going to gain an
entrance in the back door, or they are going to somehow circumvent
Christ, or they are going to come by some other way because
you know all gods are the same and everybody is just worshiping
the same one. Oh, no! It is Christ and Christ
alone. Christ died for the ungodly.
He died for sinners much more than being now justified by what? by His blood. We're justified
by His blood, dear brethren. We're justified by Christ Himself,
not by something we've done, not by some believing that we've
encountered or been able to come up with. But we're justified
by His blood. And if we're justified by His
blood, this is the absolute fact, we shall be saved. Now you hear
a lot of people say, well, I'm saved. I don't know if old brother
so-and-so is saved, but I'm saved. Well, are you now? The Scripture
says we shall be saved. Now, I bet if you asked Sister
Snow there, Sister Snow, are you saved? I believe I could
tell you exactly what she'd say. She'd say, I don't know for sure,
but I hope so. Now, dear brethren, I'm not saying
that you can't have assurance in the Gospel. But our assurance
is built on what Christ did. It's not built on what we did.
Now multitudes today will tell you they're saved because they
walked down an aisle or because they believed at some time or
they joined the church or they were baptized or they did something. Now, brother, I'm saved. I know
I'm saved. Well, why do you know? Because
I know I can go back and tell you the time and the hour and
all that stuff. Well, we shall be saved. Why? Because Christ,
it says here, much more than being now justified by above,
we shall be saved from wrath through Him. And, oh, there is
a present salvation that we rejoice in, no question about it. But,
dear brethren, our salvation is Christ. And we shall know
that when we see Him, we shall be saved For if, when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
now how were we enemies? Was God an enemy of us? The Scripture
never teaches that God was ever an enemy of His people. He has
loved His people with an everlasting love. God has never been an enemy
of His people. He has never breathed out wrath
and slaughter against them. He has loved them. And in a time
which seemed good to Him, He has drawn them with cords of
love that could not be broken. And He has brought them to a
place where they believe that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. But when we were enemies, we
were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Well, what
does it mean? It means that we threw down our arms of rebellion.
being sinners right while we were in the midst of it. We didn't
go out seeking the Lord, but we were reconciled to God, that
is. You see, the Apostle Paul, he
was reconciled to God on the road to Damascus, was he not?
He wasn't up until that time. Now, insofar as his justification
in the courts of heaven was concerned, he was indeed justified, even
while he was holding the coats of those that stoned Stephen. But you see, he was reconciled
on the road to Damascus. How do we know he was reconciled?
Because he said, Who art thou, Lord? And you see, when a man
throws down his arms of rebellion, when we were enemies, he said,
we were reconciled. You see, Paul was an enemy of
God. Now he didn't think he was an
enemy of God, did he? No, he thought he was a friend
of God. He thought he was doing everything God said to do. But
he was killing the people of God. And the Lord didn't love him
any less when he was killing the people of God than he did
when he stopped. Because you see, God ordered
all things to occur according to the good pleasure of his will
for the good of his people. And he bought the apostle Paul
by way which he knew not. And Paul threw down his arms
of rebellion on the road to Damascus and he said, I don't know what
to do. I don't know where to go. I'm
blind. And if you don't help me, I'm going to perish." He
was reconciled unto God. Oh, what a blessed place that
is there, brethren, when a man has no hope other than Christ
Himself. You see, that's what it is to
be reconciled to God. by the death of His Son. Because
you see, hearing about the redemptive work of Christ has caused the
people of God to be reconciled unto God. We don't want anything
else. I don't want another righteousness
except that which comes from that which Christ has performed. By the death of His Son, much
more being reconciled, we shall be saved. There it is again.
We shall be saved by His life. What is His life? His life, He
ever lived to make intercession for them that come unto God by
Him. You see, He presently is our
life. He is the reason we live. He
has given us life. And He causes us to live. And
He constantly by His very presence at the throne of God is our great
High Priest. We shall be saved by his life,
for, dear brethren, we have no other hope except that. If Christ
be not risen from the dead, we are of all men most miserable.
Isn't that what Paul said? He said, If the dead rise not.
We don't have anything left to say. I mean, if the dead don't
rise from the dead. He wasn't saying just because
the dead rise, because what he said, if the dead don't rise,
it means Christ didn't rise. If you go on to read what he
says further in the chapter, If Christ didn't rise, then what's
the basis? We have no hope. Everything we
believe has been in vain. But He did, dear brethren. He
triumphed over death and He rose from the grave. And we shall
be saved by that life. And not only so, but we also,
now here it is again, we joy in God's same Word. We boast. We glory. We joy. in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ by whom we have now received the atonement. Now how do we
receive it? How do you receive something?
You receive it because it's a gift. You see, it's been given to you.
That's what it means. He says we've received it. It's
come to us because of what Christ has done. We didn't go out and
buy it. We didn't earn it. We didn't
call God to give it to us on the basis of something we did,
but He gave it to us on the basis of what Christ did. And brethren,
this is the ground and basis of all of our joy. Our joy is
not in the same things that the world's joy is in. You know,
the world sings songs of religion and things and they join all
kinds of things and they're joy and happy and going around because
it just feels good to the flesh to do all those things. And I'm
not saying there's anything wrong with that, but don't ever think
or confuse that sort of joy with the joy that Paul's speaking
about here. There's a joy of the flesh that
has no basis in the work of Christ. But the joy of God's people has
all of its basis in Christ. And they might have some rejoicing
in the flesh, But it is not the same as the joy which the world
has in flesh. Oh, may the Lord give us grace
this day to believe and see in the Lord this feast that the
Lord has given to us and called us to partake of, remembering
the Lord's death until He comes again, the very basis of all
that we believe. is set before us right here on
this table. Now, this is pretty simple, is it not? I mean, there's
what he said, this bread is the body, which is my body which
is broken for you, and this blood is my blood which is shed for
you. He didn't say, and this dish
over here is for you to put your faith in. Brethren, this is our
faith. Not this bread, not this wine,
but what this bread and this wine represents, Christ. He is
our faith. He is the ground of our rejoicing,
the only ground of our rejoicing. And because He is the ground
of our rejoicing, when those whom we love have passed on from
us, we sorrow not as those which have no hope. Because you see,
our hope is built on a solid rock that does not change, though
men do, and we shall. And we'll be tossed about, no
doubt, before the final breath that we take. Some of us may
be taken in a peaceful sleep, momentarily and not even really
have any knowledge of the trouble, but I dare say that that won't
be the case with all of us. Some of us will struggle mightily
in the final hours, but it won't make any difference because,
you see, our faith rests in Him who is the Savior of sinners. And in His kind arms we cast
ourselves. And we fear not what men should
do to us, because it is Christ and Christ alone wherein we rejoin.