Much More

Alright, let's open our Bibles
for the message this morning to the book of Romans. I want to look at chapter 5.
Now, so many of you tell me that you are greatly blessed when
we study the Scriptures verse by verse, and I am too. I would say to our elders, and
I would say to preachers who may hear this message
on tape, that the best way to preach the Word of God, the best
way to preach the gospel, is to preach it verse by verse. I like this type of preaching
best of all. And I have in the message five
things that I especially want you to see, I want to give to
you. This is a message of encouragement,
a message having to do with assurance, assurance of and assurance in
the grace of our God. I'm going to show you five things. That will be very helpful to
me and to you. But first, let's begin with verse
1 and look at the chapter. Verse 1, Paul says, "...therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ." Therefore, being justified by faith. Now,
it's easy. to put faith in the wrong place
here if you're not careful. You can misunderstand this verse,
being justified by faith. We're justified by faith. Let
me say to you that faith didn't purpose and plan the redemption
of God's children. God did. Your faith didn't choose
you. God did. Your faith did not bring
Christ into this world as your Savior and representative in
surety. God did. Your faith didn't keep
the law. Christ did. Your faith didn't
die on the cross as your sacrifice for sin. Christ did. Your faith
is not interceding for you now in glory. Christ is. And your
faith will not raise you from the dead and give you a body
like unto his divine body and make you like Christ. God will. So when we say that
a man is justified by faith, we're saying this. We're justified
by the Lord Jesus Christ. His power, His person, His word. And we're justified by faith
as it looks to the Redeemer, as that faith lays hold of the
Son of God, as that faith receives Him and rests in Him. I often
say that this hand will never quench my
thirst. This water will. This water will
quench my thirst. Behind the world, is the water
going to get tender? Become mine. I'm going to reach
in and take it. I'm thirsty. I drank it. I satisfied my thirst by reaching
out and taking the glass. No, the water satisfied my thirst.
And the same way, some people read it this way, therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God. But being justified
by Christ, do you see that? We're justified by Christ, and
faith lays hold of Christ. Faith rests in Christ. Faith
loves Christ. Faith comes to Christ. And listen
to this, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace, we have
reconciliation with God. And this peace and reconciliation
comes the same way that justification comes. It's by faith. Peace comes by faith in Christ,
through Christ, because of Christ. Turn to Colossians 1, Colossians
chapter 1, verse 20. Faith didn't make peace with
God, Christ did. And having made peace with God
through the blood of His cross, By Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself. Christ made peace with God. Christ
reconciled all things to God. I say whether they be things
in heaven or things in earth, Christ reconciled us to God.
Now let me show you something. Hold Romans 5 and turn to II
Corinthians 5. II Corinthians chapter 5. Now
this is very interesting here. I want you to listen to it. In verse 19 of 2 Corinthians
5, let's go back to verse 18. And all things are of God who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, not by faith,
by Christ. and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation." He's given us this message to tell all men
that you reconcile to God in Christ, by Christ, and through
Christ. That's our message of reconciliation. Namely, here
it is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,
not imputing our trespasses unto us, and He had committed to us
this reconciliation, this word, this message, this gospel of
reconciliation. Now then, I am an ambassador
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by me, by us. I pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. That's where faith comes in.
You be reconciled to God. You see, there's enmity. God's
angry with the wicked. Because of Adam's fall and transgressions,
God's wrath is upon this world. Because we don't believe in Christ,
His wrath. Christ, because we've broken
the law, God's wrath is upon us. Guilty before God. Christ
came and put away the wrath. Put away the guilt. Reconciled
us to God. But we still carry that anger
in here and that wrath against Him. Saul of Tarsus was 40 years
old before he was reconciled to God, before God broke his
heart, before God brought him down, before God brought him
to say, who art thou, Lord? And that's what the gospel did.
And a person is God's child and he's reconciled to God by Christ. But we come and bring the gospel
and we say to that person, you lay down your shotgun, you put
up your sword, You stack your arms. You surrender. You be reconciled
to God. Do you see that? I hope that's
clear. Back to the text. Therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. We have justification through
Christ. We have peace through Christ. Now look at verse 2.
By whom? By Christ also we have access
to God. We come to God through Christ.
We approach His throne through Christ. We worship Him through
Christ. Everything we have is in Christ
and through Christ. If you'll turn to Hebrews 10,
that's what it says here in Hebrews 10, verse 19, it says, Verse 17 says this in Hebrews
10, "...and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." Now
where remission is for sins is there's no more offering for
sins. "...having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest,
into the presence of God, into the throne room by the blood
of Jesus." That's how we come. We're justified by the blood
of Christ. He has reconciled and made peace
through the blood of His cross. We have access by this same faith,
by His blood, into this grace wherein we stand. Now watch Romans
5, verse 2, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Everything is in Christ, justified in Christ, reconciled in Christ. accepted in Christ, access to
God, and rejoice in Christ. And all of it by faith, by looking to Him,
by believing on Him. And not only so, and I brought
a message on this not so long ago, not only so, not only is
this so, but we glory in trials, we glory in tribulations. We
glory in tribulation. Now, let me see if I can help
you with that. You say, Preacher, do you really
glory in tribulation and trials and suffering? In a sense, we
do not. In a sense, we do. Number one,
we do not rejoice in glory in pain. No one likes to hurt. We don't glory in pain. We don't
look for trouble. We don't glory in sorrow. You
don't rejoice in the sorrow. You don't rejoice in the death
of a loved one or a friend. You're made sad and sorrowful.
When John the Baptist died, his disciples took up his body and
buried it, and then the Scripture says they went and told Jesus,
we're sad. We're not rejoicing, we're sad.
Man has to be sadistic to rejoice
in sorrow and tears and suffering and pain. We don't rejoice in
persecution. We don't like to walk into a
crowd of people and have them all turn their backs on us and
hold up their noses and despise us because of the gospel we preach.
That's no joy. Well, what does this mean, we
glory in child, we glory in tribulation? I'll tell you what it means.
We glory in the one that sent it. You understand what I mean? We glory in the one that sent
it. It's not an accident. God sent it on purpose. And we
glory in the fact that He loves us. Whom the Lord loveth, He
chastened us. All right? That's true, isn't
it? You buy that? Glory in the one
that sent it. Secondly, we glory in the purpose
for which it was sent. Okay? I don't know why, but He
knows why. He knows why. And I don't understand
it, but He knows, and I'll understand it someday, so will you. But
we glory in the One that sent it, and we glory in the purpose
for which He sent it. He sent it that we might be strengthened
in faith, that we might grow in patience, that our faith might
be tried, and our faith might be revealed to us, that we might
give a good witness, a lot of reasons. You alright with that? Thirdly, We glory in what God
will do with this trial for His glory. John Bunyan, I don't know how
many children he had, but there were several children, wife and
several children. And they were poor. He was a preacher. And he preached this gospel of
grace and it didn't fit in with the establishment. It didn't fit in with the denominations
and the churches of his day and in Bedford where he lived. And
they told him he just had to quit preaching. He wasn't licensed
or ordained or recognized by the authorities and he had to
quit preaching. He said, I'll never quit preaching. Put him
in jail. He had a little blind daughter.
I do know that. The little blind daughter he
loved so much. And some of the greatest grief
he had being separated from his family is he couldn't provide
for that little blind daughter. They put him in jail and kept
him there 12 years. I've been over there and seen
the jail, the cell door that was in his... between him and
freedom. He could have walked out any
time he wanted to. But he had to agree to quit preaching this
gospel. Any time you want to, go out,
but close your mouth and stop preaching the gospel. But he
wouldn't go out. 12 years. Did he glory in that? Yeah, he did glory in who sent
it, the purpose for which it's sent, and I'll tell you, you
and I know the glory that has come up while in that jail cell
he wrote the Pilgrim's Progress. That's when he wrote that book.
It never would have been written, never would have been written
without him sitting in that cell 12 years. That's what he did
while he was there, he wrote Pilgrim's Progress. There was
a time, I have read in the history of the Reformation in And this
way, coming this way, there was a time after Bunyan's book was
written, that there were two books in the average home, believer's
home, a Bible and Pilgrim's Prophecy. Now, you've read that in the
last 150, 200 years. Two books. So who knows? And so, I'm telling you the truth. I read that a while ago. He knows
our frame. He remembers that we're dust.
And we don't glory and rejoice in sorrow, suffering, trials,
or pain. Let's put the glory where it
belongs. We're glad when it's over. We
anticipate the end of it. We anticipate the end of the
suffering. We anticipate, but also we rejoice
in Him who sent it, in the purpose for which He sent it, in the
glory that out in the future years will be accomplished as
a result of that particular situation. And you'll have to wait, and
I will have to wait, for a long time to find out why. He doesn't owe us an explanation. He gives no account of His matters
to me, in the Scripture says. But someday He will to you and
to me. Because we're not just servants,
we're sons. Fourthly, we glory in what the
trial does for us right now. Because he goes on, look at verse
3. We glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Which we need desperately. A
large dose of it. Perseverance and patience. And
patience, maturity. And how we need that. spiritual growth. And experience
hope, a good hope, a blessed hope, a sure hope, a firm hope,
a confident hope, because a good hope maketh not ashamed. A good hope gives courage and
confidence and rest and peace. A good hope maketh not ashamed.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I know whom I have believed.
All of this is because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us. That's why all
of this takes place. Because of His love. His love
for us. And we're justified, and we have
peace, we have access into His presence, and we have good hope. Because He loves us, and we love
Him. That's right. My friends, where
the Lord Jesus Christ is truly seen, truly seen, and truly loved,
and truly believed, there will be full joy and assurance, not
in ourselves, in Him. with genuine peace of conscience. Yes, we're sinners, but Christ
died for sinners. Yes, the law justly condemns
us, but He justly satisfied the law. Yes, justice has a claim,
but no more. Christ paid it all. Yes, we're
imperfect, So imperfect, so weak in faith. But thank God, the
strength is not ours, it's His. I can do all things in Christ
who strengthens me. We're in Him by His choice, not
ours. We're in Him by the power of
His Spirit, not the power of our faith. But we're in Him by
our faith which He gave us. And in Him there is no sin, no
condemnation, no charge, no death. In Him we're already seated at
the right hand of God. Do you believe that? I do. You do too, don't you? But preacher, pastor, I understand exactly
what you're saying. I understand that. I can read
that. And I understand it in my head. And I can say, I believe
what you're teaching this morning, what the Scripture says. I believe
it. I actually believe it in my heart. And there's not a doubt in my
mind that the Word of God teaches exactly what you're saying. Salvation
is by grace. Salvation is in Christ and Christ
alone. But there's so much sin in me. I say with the Apostle Paul, the
old wretched man that I am, the things I would do, I do them
not. The things I would not do, I do. I delight in the law of
God after the inward man, but I find another man of sin warring
within my members, bringing me into captivity to sin and death. There's so much sin in me. And
my faith is so weak, when Christ turned to the disciples and said,
O ye of little faith, he might as well have said it to me, because
that's me. Little faith. O little faith. Can you help me? Yes? These next
verses sure ought to help you. And me too. In the next several
verses, Paul uses two words, over and over and over again.
Two words. over and over and over again.
I want you to mark them. I want you to take your ballpoint
pen and mark these two words, because you'll remember them
if you do that. Verse 9, much more. That's the two words. Much more. Much more. Verse 9,
see that? Much more. Mark them. Verse 10, one, two, three, fourth
line, much more. See it there? Much more. Verse 15, fourth line, much more,
much more, the grace of God. Verse 17, second line, much more,
much more. Verse 20, last line, much more,
much more. Now let's see what Paul is talking
about here He stated the gospel, clear as
crystal, and we believe it. But then, this flesh is so much
closer than heaven, isn't it? It's so much closer to me than
heaven. Deal with it every day, 24 hours
a day, waking or sleeping, I deal with this old man. And here's the assurance. Here
in verse Verse 6, what does he say here? For when we were yet
without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
When Christ died for us, we were unbelievers, ungodly, without
strength. Without hope, without help, without
God. Isn't that right? Two thousand
years ago, when He died on that cross, we were included in a
human race that hated God from the sole of our feet to the top
of our head. Ungodly without strength. When He actually came
down here and died for us. And then He gives us an illustration
in verse 7. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die. In other words,
some fellow that's real religious and pious and holier-than-thou
and self-righteous fellow wouldn't die for him. Yet, peradventure,
for a good man some would even dare to die. Pick out a man who's
kind and lovable and generous and well-liked and loves people. Somebody might die for him. But
when Christ died for us, And nothing commendable could be
said. But God commended His love toward us in that while we were
yet sinners, not good men, sinners, not friends, enemies. Christ
died for us. You understand the picture now?
There was only one thing that caused Christ to love us, come
to this world, and die for us, and that wasn't found in us,
it was found in Him. Unworthy. Ungodly. Undeserving. He died for us. If that be true, look at this
verse 9. Much more now. Much more then. Being now justified by His blood,
sanctified by His Spirit, redeemed by His grace, accepted in His
person, We shall be saved from wrath through Him. You see that? Back yonder when Christ came
here and died for us, we were ungodly. Now by His grace, we
know God. We were enemies. Now by His grace,
we're friends. We're sinful friends, but we're
friends. We're weak children. We were
children of wrath. Now we're children of God. We're
weak children, but we're children. We were sons of sin. Now we're sons of God. But we're sons. So if He died
for us when we were enemies, corrupt, ungodly, children of
wrath, much more Now that we're children and justified, much
more shall we be saved." Huh? Isn't that helpful? Boy, if he'd come down here and
die for me in the shape that I was in in Adam, I ain't in
Adam anymore. I'm in Christ. I'm in Christ. Much more. Oh, look at the next
verse. Look at the next verse, verse 10. For if, when we were
enemies, you believe that, don't you? Sure, we were enemies. Doris
and I were driving down the road. I can't tell you where it was.
I can't even tell you when it was. I got enough brain left
that I know who I was with. I was with my wife, Doris. And
she saw a sign and read it to me, advertised in the church. And this is what it said. God is not mad at you anymore.
In fact, He never was. Now, part of that's true in reference
to some people. God is not mad anymore. But the, in fact, He never was,
that's not so. That's not so. It says here,
when we were what? Enemies. An enemy is someone
you're mad at. And an enemy is somebody who's
mad at you. And there was between us and God an enmity. That's
what the scripture says. Enmity. We were enemies. And we were reconciled unto him. Now watch this. By the death
of his son. When a person, when a man gives
his son, when God gave his son, if he cost the blood of his son,
if he took the blood of his son, to straighten out the problem,
it must have been a pretty severe problem. Our sins and our condition were
so hopeless and helpless and impossible and so desperate,
it took the death of God's Son, it took the death of the God-man
to straighten out the problem and to get rid of the enmity.
God's not mad anymore. That's a miracle. That's amazing. God is reconciled. That's extreme. That's supernatural. That's the
most glorious announcement could be made if it can be said of
us here. God is not angry. Man, I'll dance out of here. But I don't buy that he never
was. Yes, he was. Because it took
the death of his son to straighten it out. Isn't that right? It took the death of his son.
Alright, let's look at this now. Dan, verse 10. If we were enemies,
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the very
death of his son. Much more! Being now reconciled
friends. We shall be saved by His life,
by His intercession. He's at the right hand of God.
He lives. Because I live, you're going
to live. Being reconciled, we'll be saved
by His life. God spared not His own Son. How shall He not with Him? Much
more. Freely. Give us what He bought. If you can say this morning,
I do believe this book, I do believe this gospel, I do believe
Christ, I do honestly in my heart, I do believe. You forget about
your weaknesses and your infirmities and your conflicts and your problems.
That never had anything to do with God's love to start with. He didn't love me because I was
good. He loved me because he would. And that's why he loves
me now. My love for my children does
not depend on their character or behavior. I'd love them if
they were sent us to the electric chair. Wouldn't you? And God's love is not dependent
upon your religion and self-righteousness. Never was, never has been, never
will be. It's found in Him. Thirdly, verse
13, now let's look at this. For until the law, sin was in
the world, but somebody comes along and says this, but sin
is not imputed where there is no law. Is that so? In other words, that person saying
this, heathen lands and heathen nations do not have the law of
God. So therefore, sin cannot be charged
to them if they hadn't read the law." Oh, don't you bet on that
now. Because it says in the next verse,
nevertheless, I tell you this, death reigned from Adam to Moses.
When was the law given? To Moses. Well, what about before
Moses? No law. No law written, was there? Wasn't written. Nevertheless, people died. So
you can't say that where there's no law, there's no imputed guilt. They did die. The wages of sin
is death. And they died, even, listen,
even over them that had not sinned after the submittitude of Adam's
transgression. Who's that? That's infants. Infants
died too. You see what this is saying? From Adam's sin to Moses, sin
was in this world. Oh yeah, men were sinners. A
fellow comes along and says, well, where there's no law, you
can't charge them, you can't impute it, you can't count it.
Oh yeah, he said people died from Adam to Moses. People died. They died because they were sinners.
They died because God charged them with sin. They died because
God imputed sin to them. Even babies died who did not
sin openly according to what Adam did. They were born with
sin in them, and they died. And see, Adam is a figure of
Him that was to come. Adam is a type of Christ in several
ways. Adam was a man. gave two men, he gave the first
man Adam and the second Adam. God created the first Adam and
he put the second Adam in the woman's womb. The first Adam
is of the earth, the second Adam is the Lord from heaven. And
this first Adam is a type of Christ in a way, in a way, he was the first man of a race,
Christ is the firstborn of a race, a kingdom. Adam represented us,
Christ represents us. Adam's fall imputed us sin, Christ's
righteousness imputed us holiness. So he's a type of Christ. As
we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall bear the image
of the heavenly. But verse 15 tells us this, But not as the
offense, so also is the free gift. In other words, God's free
gift of life in Christ is not even to be compared with the
fall in Adam. Not even to be compared with
the fall. In Adam, we died. In Christ, we're made alive.
That's a whole lot different. For if through the offense of
one many be dead, you think about this, much more the grace of
God And the gift of grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ hath
abounded unto many." Oh my, I tell you, in Christ, no possibility
of perishing. In Christ, eternal life. Adam's fall, we think about Adam's
fall and how it was imputed to us and how the guilt was imputed
to us, but in Christ, much more. Not even worthy to be compared.
Not even worthy to be compared. Adam always had the possibility
of falling. In Christ, there's no possibility.
Life eternal. Alright, let's look at verse
17. Verse 17. For if by one man's offense,
Adam's offense, Adam's sin, death reigned by one, And oh, when
you stop and think about that, what great darkness and death
and disease the fall of Adam brought upon our race. When you
think of the fall of man, it staggers your mind to see the
starving people all over the world, the sickness all over
the world, man's cruelty, wars and conflicts and hatred, and
the jails are full of people and murders and cruelty. Death has reigned by one man,
Adam. Death has reigned. Literally
reigned. Literally reigned. We don't have
the least doubt or question about the power, the universality,
the totality of the results of Adam's fall. Death reigns. Look at that. If by one man's
offense, death reigned by him, his fall, The consequence of
his sin, his work, death has reigned over this world and reigns
now. Sorrow, sickness, darkness, death. It's awful out there. But watch
here. Much more. If you think the reign of sin
and the reign of death is something because of Adam's sin, much more. They which receive abundance
of grace, they which receive the free gift of righteousness,
you talk about a reign, you talk about a reign, much more they
shall reign in life by one Christ Jesus. See that? That's the way Paul puts it,
much more. They that receive abundance of grace, overflowing
grace, free gift of righteousness, right standing before God, shall
reign as kings in eternal life by Jesus Christ. Boy, the certainty of the reign
of death. But it's not even worth comparing.
Much more, get away, much more, the reign of life. Reign of life. The Ethiopian can't change his
skin. The leopard can't change his
spot. That's his nature. We who are born in sin cannot
do good. That's our nature. But, that
new nature, new heart, can never fail, can never fall, can never
perish. It reigns with Christ. Much more. And in closing, Look down here at verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience, Adam, thee many, were made sinners,
so in like manner by the obedience
of one Christ Jesus shall many be made righteous, holy, accepted. Moreover, the Law entered. The Law didn't make us sinners,
it revealed our sins. The Law entered that sin might
abound. The Law reveals sin. Paul said, before the Law came,
I lived. After the Law came, I died. It
killed me. It slew me. The Law reveals my sins. The Law also promotes sin. Did
you know that? There's one way to promote sin
from this pulpit, and that's to preach law. Did you know that? That's right. Promote sin. I gave this illustration before,
I'll give it again. There's a closet in your house. You've got children, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8 years old. There's a closet in your house.
Been there for years. Children wouldn't even have any
desire to open the door. No desire to look into that closet.
None at all. But try this sometime, when you
leave them at home with a babysitter, you say to them, you go lock
the closet door, leave the key in the door, just put it to lock
it, but lock it. And you turn to those children
and say, now while we're gone, do not go in that closet. Under any circumstances, do not
go in that closet. Do not look in that closet. Do
not open that door. And you leave. That door takes
on a shine that it never had before. That door takes on a
wooing and beckoning it never had before. They'll walk around
it and that babysitter goes in the back room, they'll open that
door. They have to open that door.
They hide Christmas presents under the bed. They have to go
and sample them. They just have to. Because it's
forbidden. Stolen fruits are sweet. The
law promotes sin. It reveals it. It promotes it.
It takes away all excuses. It strips us. What the law saith,
it saith to them that are under the law that ever amount may
be stopped. The law makes sin to overflow. It shows us what we are. The
more I read this book, the more I find out what I am. More over the law entered that
the offense might abound, but thank God, watch this, where
that sin abounded, where that sin overflowed, grace did much
more overflow. Where sin did overflow, Grace
did much more overflow. His grace is greater than our
sins. He giveth more grace when the
burdens grow greater. He sendeth more strength where
the labors increase. To added affliction He addeth
His mercy. To multiplied trials is multiplied
peace. Grace. That as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life. Much more through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So I say in the light of such
revelation and these words, much more, having all of us here who
have been exposed to the gospel of Christ, who had the truth
of God revealed to us and in us, having been born of the great
Spirit of God and given faith, weak as it might be, but it's
in Him, partakers of His Spirit of love and faith and hope, why
would we ever question His grace? Why would we ever say, well,
I guess I'm not saved. If I saved, I wouldn't have done
that. If I saved, I wouldn't have said
that. If I saved, I wouldn't have thought that. Is that how
you were saved? By not doing it. By not saying
it. By not thinking it. No. Saved
by Christ. And when He saved you, you're
in a whole lot worse shape than you are now. A bigger mess. But much more, if when we were
sinners, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His love. Isn't
that good news? I believe it is. So let's sing
the wonderful grace of Jesus, the wonderful Grace of Jesus,
and it is wonderful grace. Number 206, the wonderful grace
of Jesus.

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