A List of Riches - Romans 5:1-11

1:25The text will later say that Solomon became so wealthy that silver was just. Nothing in his kingdom because there's so much. But that's only where the list begins. The queen of Sheba also loaded him up with precious stones, exceedingly valuable riches. And then that's not it. She also gave him this vast quantity of expensive spices. And to us, you know, we're like spices. I've got so many spices in my pantry. But for them, it wasn't like that. They were so rare and so expensive. And it says in the text that the queen's gift of spices to Solomon was greater than anything Israel had ever seen and would ever see.

2:09Extraordinary riches, riches upon riches upon riches. And of course, you remember other passages in the Old Testament that are like this: gifts that are given to people of, you know, not just 200 goats, but also 200 sheep. Not to mention the 30 camels and the 50 cows and the 30 donkeys. You know, what a gift, riches upon riches upon riches. And every now and then we come across a New Testament text that's like that. A New Testament text that is a list of riches.

2:45I've used this illustration before because it's one of my favorites. But let's say you were on a Saturday, a slow Saturday morning. You're with your whole family playing a board game or something like that. And your friend calls. And it's getting near to Christmas time. Your friend calls and they just ask, Is it okay if I bring over a few gifts for your family? And so you say all the nice things you're supposed to say, like, oh, you didn't have to, that's so sweet. But yes, you can bring the gifts over.

3:16And but then you hang up and your smile goes away because you've got to scramble because you've never gotten this person a gift. And so, you know, you tell your kids, go get that book mommy just bought, and go find a candle that we haven't lit yet. You put together a gift real quick. But while you're scrambling, all of a sudden you hear this sound: beep, beep, beep. And you have no idea what it is. And so, confused and cautious, you open the front door and look out just in time to see the sun darkened by this dump truck raising up, pouring an avalanche of gifts into your front yard.

4:05Forget the smelly candle, right? You're not even going to bring that outside. You're speechless as your friend tells you to make room because she's going to bring five more truckloads of gifts. You know, that's what our text feels like today. It feels like a truckload of gifts, a boatload of gifts, like Ephesians 1 or 1 Peter 1, these unimaginable. Imaginable blessings that are just poured into the believer's life. An overwhelming avalanche of gifts greater than the riches of Sheba's queen. A flood bursting through the open door of our justification that was unlocked by faith.

4:56So far, in the book of Romans, in Romans 1 through 4, we've seen Paul's case that everyone is on the same footing in the judgment. Everyone is under condemnation and wrath because all have sinned. And therefore, everyone is in the same position. We all need justification by faith. In Romans 1, he says, I am not ashamed of the gospel, of the good news, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed or manifested from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

5:41For the wrath of God is revealed or manifested from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. So, since the wrath of God has been made known, publicly manifested, that all are under sin, all are under condemnation, we need this good news. That we can also have instead. We can have the righteousness of God. It has also been manifested. The phrases get repeated in Romans chapter 3. It says, But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. So again, the same truth. The key is faith. And this faith opens the door of justification, of forgiveness in Christ, of the righteousness of God in our life.

7:05Most recently, we saw in chapter 4 an example of this kind of faith in Abraham. It says in chapter 4, he did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old, or when he considered the bareness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that. God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. Faith is the key.

7:39And after last time, a perceptive young adult came and asked the question: how can Paul say that Abraham was unwavering in his faith? It's a good question, right? I mean, didn't Abraham do the thing in Egypt where he said that Sarah was his sister? Didn't Abraham do the thing with Hagar? How can we say he was unwavering in faith? But if you look at the narrative of Genesis, you would see that Ishmael is already a teenager by the time this happens. It's been 13 years since the incident with Hagar. He has grown in his faith, and by this time, Abraham's faith was unshakable. He took God at his word, even though it was impossible. He still believed God. And we know this because we see his faith tested when he's told to offer up Isaac, right? He obeys. He listens. He trusts. He's fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. And that is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness.

8:51This is the call for all of us to trust God and be convinced that he'll keep his word. That kind of faith leads to our full justification, our full forgiveness before God. And so now, having made that case, all are under sin, all need the righteousness of God as a gift in their life. And they access that by faith, which unlocks this door of justification. Having covered all of that, he gets to chapter five. And he says in verse 1: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, and then this just unleashes this list of all the blessings that follow, it bursts the gates open and allows this avalanche of blessings that come into the believer's life.

9:53In Romans 5, verses 1 through 11, Paul is going to give a list of glorious riches. And today, as we study it, we're going to see seven permanent blessings that belong to the believer. Seven permanent blessings that belong to the believer. But before we do, I want to give you a challenge. I want to give you a challenge, an application at the beginning instead of at the end of the sermon. And the challenge is this: that God put these amazing realities in Scripture, and He wants us to know them.

10:31Not just know about them, but to know them, to know that they're true of your soul, to find true encouragement for your soul. And so, yes, seven parts is a big outline, but my challenge for you is to choose one or two of these, if nothing else, choose one or two and meditate on them this week. Are you discouraged as a Christian? Are you tired? Do you feel like you have exhausted God's supply of love toward you? Do you feel like you've exhausted God's forgiveness toward you?

11:17Well, pay attention to these blessings and choose to chew on one or two that are unfamiliar to you. Reset your reality to these truths, to the final and true realities regarding your soul. Meditate on them. Remember that they're true. And follow along as I read Romans 5, verses 1 through 11. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith and to this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

12:00That, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Pray with me before we start. Father, we pray that you'd help us as we step through this passage. Help us pay attention. Help us stay awake. Help us understand.

13:12Help us see these things and know that they're true. That they're true even for our own souls, if we have believed in your gospel. Help us learn and grow as we study this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, the first permanent blessing for the believer, the first permanent blessing is peace with God. Peace with God. Look at verse 1. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

13:57A couple of weeks ago, Steve Doyle came and was a guest preacher for us. And one of the big emphases that he made in his sermon was that we have this union with Christ, this unity with Christ. We have died with him. We have been raised with him when we became a believer. And that has unlocked all of these blessings in our life. And we're not going to hammer on that same idea, but it is all over this passage. He says here, through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then in verse 2, he'll say, through him. In verse 11, through him we rejoice in God. Through him we have received reconciliation. This idea of it's all through Christ. It's by Christ. It's because we're united with him that we receive all of these blessings. And the first one is that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace with God.

14:56This peace is an objective fact in Your life that you have this peace with God. You used to be at war with God. You used to be his enemy. But now you have peace with God. You're reconciled to him. You're no longer his enemy. There's fool and total peace. And so now that that objective fact is true about you, the subjective response in your soul should follow, right? Be at peace with God. Be fully at peace with God. You can be at rest, knowing that there is this full reconciliation, total peace.

15:42Nothing left to pay to finish off restoring this peace or something like that. Nothing left between you and God. Jesus said, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Jesus says that for his followers, we don't need to be fearful. We don't need to be troubled. God is not against us. He's given us this peace.

16:20And so we can remember that trials in this life, for example, trials are not God's weapons of warfare against you. There is no warfare against you from God. You're on the same side. You've been reconciled. There's no hostility. You can be at peace. You can be at rest. The second permanent blessing for the believer is access into grace. Access into grace. Verse 1 again: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.

17:07Now, many, many commentators pause to point out this idea that the word for access, just like our word for access, can be used of gaining access to a king or someone in authority or something like that. And they'll say that that's what this verse is about: is now we can gain access to God. We have access to God, which is certainly something that's true, right? We do have access to God. But I think if you look again at verse 2, it tells us what he's talking about, that we have access to. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.

17:48He's saying that we have access into this grace in which we stand. So, since we have been justified by faith, Now we've got this access. We can stand in this grace permanently. There is never a sin that we can commit that makes it so we have to cower instead of stand, that we have to cower for months while we wait for our penance to be over or something like that. That's not true of the Christian's life. You do stand, whether you feel like it or not. You stand in grace.

18:29MacArthur writes on this verse: Standing in grace, we are in the sphere of constant forgiveness. So we've entered this zone where our sin is constantly forgiven. It's immediately washed. Later in this chapter, Paul will say, Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. For the believer, grace abounds all the more. Every time we sin, it abounds. Grace abounds. And of course, in chapter six, he'll have to deal with the inevitable question of, well, if that's true, then shouldn't we just keep on sinning since grace abounds and it'll be for the glory of the Lord? And he says, by no means. But still, this reality that we see here is true: that we have entered into this zone by faith because of our justification and through Christ. We have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And so, faith was the key that opened up this door of justification. And when we opened that door of justification, then immediately you entered this sphere of grace that you perpetually stand in, washed and cleaned permanently.

19:53Grace and grace and grace and grace over and over and over again in your life. Something we should remember. The third permanent blessing for the believer is hope of glory. Hope of glory. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice or boast in hope of the glory of God. We exult in hope of the glory of God.

20:36So, after the believer is justified, after they have this faith, they have a confidence that stays there. This faith and this confidence that was exemplified in the life of Abraham, who took God at his word, no matter what. This is not a wishful hope, but a confident expectation, right? This is the hope of the believer, a confident expectation. And what is it that the believer confidently waits for? What is it that the believer confidently expects? He says, hope of the glory of God.

21:19And so we wait for the day that God reveals his glory to all of creation. We wait for the day that even creation is longing for. The day when everything will be made right. The day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. We wait for God's glory, but our hope isn't just that God will be glorified. Our hope of glory is that we will be glorified. We'll read in Romans 8 that every believer who is justified is also glorified. It even says it in the past tense, right? Every believer who has been justified has been glorified. It's such a guaranteed reality that if you've come by faith and been justified, you will be glorified. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.

22:23Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, We shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. That's 1 John 3. We know that when he appears, we shall be like him. We're going to be made like him. We're going to share in his glory. Even now, we're being changed into this glory. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 says, We all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. But we set our hope on this day where we're going to be made into his image. We're going to be made like him. Listen to this. Our citizenship is in heaven. And from it, we await a Savior. This is Philippians 3. From it, we await a Savior. With all the expectation and the longing that comes with that, we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself. That's our confidence, right? We are waiting for a Savior who will make us just like Him. And even now, we rejoice.

23:42We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. That word for rejoice in our verse, the word for rejoice is actually the word to boast. But it doesn't have to carry the negative connotation that it carries in English, right? To boast or to ignore. Exult, to rejoice, to get excited about this hope, this confidence that we have as we wait for glory. If you're a Christian, you will be glorified, no doubt. If you've been justified, then you will be glorified. Your soul will be made perfect, never to sin again. Your body will be made whole, never to ail again, never to fear again.

24:35This is your hope, and you can rejoice even now while you wait. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings. There's a surprise, right? We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings. So believers have peace with God. Believers have access into grace. Believers have hope of glory. And fourth, believers have purpose in suffering. Purpose in suffering. We rejoice in our sufferings. The same word there: boast or exult or rejoice. We can be excited even in our suffering.

25:32Why? We rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance. And endurance produces character. And character produces hope. So suffering has a purpose now. This is one of the great blessings of becoming a believer: now all of your suffering is given a purpose. It is a tool that God uses in your life. A tool that God uses to build our endurance, is what he says. To build our strength and persistence, even in the day of adversity.

26:15And then this endurance that he builds through the suffering, this endurance is used to build character, to build your ethics and action, to make us more like himself, more like his character. And when we see this character evidencing itself in our life, when we see the fruit of God's work in our life through our actions, this leads to more hope. We can more confidently expect. And hope does not put us to shame. So we have increased confidence, more confidence because we have a stronger character. And we have a stronger character because we have endured in suffering. And so we can reduce. Rejoice in our sufferings.

27:05It's maybe not the thing that you would say first to somebody who's suffering, right? Somebody who's just experienced loss. You don't just go and say, be excited, right? It's not a kind thing to say, but nevertheless, as Christians, it's something that we need to remember, right? Even when we're suffering, even when it feels like it's the darkest days. The reality is true that if we thought about our suffering like God thinks about our suffering, then we would rejoice.

27:35He's using it in our life. So, Christian, are you suffering? Paul says that we can rejoice because we have a kind and gentle Father that has measured out these trials in your life with a perfect measurement. He knows just what you need. He knows the exact way to build your endurance and build your character and build your hope. So rejoice even in your suffering. Well, the fifth permanent blessing for the believer is a guarantee of love, a guarantee of love. What a blessing that is for us.

28:16Continuing on with the hope that we have, Paul says in verse 5, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So God's love has been given to us, and not just a little bit placed into our lives, right? God's love has been poured out into our hearts. I think this is a picture of lavish love. God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead and our trespasses made us alive together with Christ.

29:08As Ephesians 3 says, this is the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. The love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. This has been poured into your life. Well, how has this love been poured into our hearts? The text says, through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. So the Holy Spirit has been given to every single person who is a believer. Every single person who has been justified by faith has the Holy Spirit. He's been given to you.

29:46You have what Jesus promised, the rivers of living water flowing out of you. You have this great gift from the Trinity that Jesus said was better. For the disciples, than if he stayed with them himself. Better. The Holy Spirit is a gift of love, and the Holy Spirit testifies to us of God's love. In Romans 8, we'll read that the Spirit testifies to our hearts that we are children of God. He is a seal and a guarantee in our life. He is a permanent mark of God's love toward you.

30:35How else do we know that we have this guarantee of love? Look at verse 6. For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God loved us when we were unlovable. Christ died for us while we were still weak, while we were still sinners.

31:09Verse 6 says, it was at the right time. And, you know, elsewhere in Scripture, we read about how the death of Christ was at just the right moment in human history, you know, at the fullness of time. But here, what I think he's talking about is that it was at just the right time for you. He says, while we were still sinners, while we were still. Weak when we needed it the most. Christ died for us out of love.

31:40Nobody dies for an unrighteous enemy. Nobody does that. Even if there's a good person, a righteous person, it would take someone of bravery and courage and selflessness to die for that good person. But nobody's going to die for a wicked person, an enemy. But God transcends all of that by sending Christ. Christ died for us while we were infinitely unlovable. And so, if this has already been done, this greatest act of love possible, when we were the most unlovable possible, then surely we know that His love is guaranteed to us.

32:35Between this and the Spirit who has been given to us as this mark of love, we see that God had loved us with an incomprehensible love. Christian, do you remember this love? It's never going away. It's never diminishing in your life. It's already been poured into your heart. Heart. God loves you, guaranteed, for all of eternity. Sometimes, as believers, we can feel like our Father is too busy to pay attention to us. We can feel like we don't make it onto his radar or something.

33:19It's nonsense, right? He loves us with a deep and abiding love. Sometimes we can feel like, yes, the Father's going to save us. Yes, He's going to keep His promise. He's going to keep His word. But He kind of does it like this, right? You know, He's just barely plucking us out. We feel like we have failed so much that the Father must regret His decision to make us His child. It's nonsense. It's nonsense. You're spotless and you're clean. You stand in a sphere of constant forgiveness and grace. You're loved with an incomprehensible love. Your Father cares for you and loves you. Your Savior is gentle and lowly.

34:18For those who have been justified by faith, this is a permanent blessing. The sixth permanent blessing is salvation from wrath. Salvation from wrath. Look at verse. Verse 9, since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life. I love these verses. You know, this is irrefutable logic for our troubled souls. Irrefutable logic that conquers any doubts or fears. When we think about the wrath to come, when we think about the day of judgment on the earth, we don't have to fear that we're going to slip through the cracks. He will hold us fast, right? We will not be lost among those who are cast into the fire. It's impossible.

35:25Just like David and just like Jesus on the cross, we can commit our life into the Father's hands. We can commit our spirit into the Father's hands. Just like Stephen, when he's being stoned, we can beseech Jesus to receive our spirit. He'll take care of it. He'll take care of what we have committed to him. And we will be saved from the wrath to come. We have already been justified by his blood while we were enemies. This infinite separation. That existed between us and God, it's already been bridged. The impossible has already been done, accomplished through Christ's death. And so, of course, much more, much more, he says, much more shall we be saved from the wrath to come since we've already been reconciled. Of course, Christ is alive and he lives and intercedes for us permanently.

36:30We'll be saved by his life, and so surely we cannot fall back into the wrath of God. The greatest price has already been paid. He will take care of our soul. You know, one day we will close our eyes for the last time in this body. One day we will stand before Him. What are you going to do when you die? Do you walk somewhere? Can you walk if you don't have legs? Do you have legs? Do you fly somewhere? Are your sins exposed for everyone to see? What is it like to be dead?

37:22All of these questions can cause fear to swell up in our heart, but the Christian can rest because. We know that we have given charge of our soul to the Lord himself. We've committed our spirits to him. And so, even though we have no idea what to do when we die, he does. Christ has already paid the ultimate price to reconcile you. He will protect his investment. If he loved you while you were his enemy, will he reject you now that you're his friend? No. You're promised salvation from wrath. Finally, the seventh permanent blessing for the believer is reason to rejoice. Reason to rejoice. Verse 11: More than that, we also rejoice or boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. So he says, more than that, in addition to that, in addition to being justified by his blood, in addition to being saved from God's wrath, we also can rejoice. The same word as earlier. We boast, we exult, we rejoice in God himself now.

38:32This is again through the Lord Jesus Christ, because it's through him that we've received reconciliation. And so now we rejoice in God. We can joyfully boast about the victory that God has won. If there was a wealthy king and we were in his debt for millions, we owed him so much. We were in his debt for millions that we haven't paid back. That, but we've become his enemy. Not only that, we now live in the gutter with no manners and no possessions, nothing to offer but our offensive smell because we stink.

39:17And yet, that king took us in and he cleaned us up and he forgave our debts, millions. He made us his friend, he taught us manners, he gave us our food, he got us a job, he restored our dignity, and he gave us riches upon riches upon riches. We would rejoice, right? But we certainly wouldn't rejoice in what we had done. We would rejoice in what that king had done, and so it is with the Christian. We rejoice in this unfathomable mercy that God has had on us, these unimaginable riches that he has poured into our lives.

40:01Riches upon riches upon riches. And by the way, rejoicing Christians make the best evangelists, don't they? Those who love to tell the story, those who love to boast in God's victory over their own sin and their own condemnation, to rejoice in God. We have so much to rejoice in. Peace with God, access into Christ. Grace, hope of glory, purpose in suffering, a guarantee of love, salvation from wrath, so many reasons to rejoice, gifts that have been heaped upon us, poured into our lives greater than the riches of Solomon, and all of them permanent. You have a permanent standing in grace. You have a salvation that will never be revoked. You are eternally secure because every single person who has been justified by faith receives every single one of these blessings. And you might be thinking, that's too good to be true. That's too good to be true.

41:19And the truth is, you might be right. You might be right. You know, there are many who have none of these blessings. Not a single one of these blessings. There are many. Because if you haven't believed in the promise of God, if you haven't repented of your sins and placed your faith in Jesus Christ, then you haven't been justified and you haven't been forgiven. And so you have none of these blessings. But you can. Today you can.

42:06Today you can. Faith is the key that unlocks this door of justification. And when that door is open, this avalanche of blessings comes to the believer. For those of you who are already believers, all of these blessings are yours already. Don't forget it. All of these blessings are yours. They're wrapped and under the tree. They're waiting for you to open them again for the thousandth time and enjoy it again and meditate on it again. So know them and enjoy them. Meditate on them even this week, even just one or two.

42:54Think about this richness that's been poured into your life. These blessings will never go away. You are rich beyond measure. Pray with me. Father, we give you thanks. What a blessing and what a joy, so many blessings. And we do rejoice. So undeserved. So undeserved, and yet you pour it. Poured your love into our life. You poured your grace into our life. So, Father, help us remember, help us rejoice, help us boast in you. In spite of our circumstances, in spite of what may be going on in our nation, in spite of what may be going on in this world, help us rejoice.

44:14Help us find hope and joy. Help us remember our peace with you. In Jesus' name.