Peace with God through the Resurrection (Romans 5:1-21)

Welcome and Announcements

Pastor Daniel and Natalie will be out of town April 21-22, in case of emergency, please contact Deacon Tom Medzie.

Josh Dickson will be preaching on April 23 during the Sunday AM Service.

Join us for Spring Cleaning at 10:30am on April 29th. We’ll need help with sweeping, mopping, cleaning windows, and touching up paint.

Reminder for giving; last day for Annie Armstrong

Call to Worship (Ps 118:19-29)

Please stand and read with me Psalm 118:19-29—I’ll read the odd-numbered verses, please join me in reading the even-numbered verses, after which, please join me in reciting the Apostles’ Creed.

Psalm 118:19–29 ESV

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. 20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. 21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. 22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. 27 The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! 28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. 29 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,       creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,       who was conceived by the Holy Spirit       and born of the virgin Mary.       He suffered under Pontius Pilate,       was crucified, died, and was buried;       The third day he rose again from the dead.       He ascended to heaven       and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.       From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,       the holy universal church,       the communion of saints,       the forgiveness of sins,       the resurrection of the body,       and the life everlasting. Amen.

You may have a seat. Natalie, can you read our Scripture Readings this morning?

Old Testament Reading (Isa 53)

Isaiah 53 ESV

1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

New Testament Reading (Matt 28:1-10)

Matthew 28:1–10 ESV

1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Congregational Singing

My Jesus, Fair (300)

Christ Arose! (307)

Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed! (308)

Preaching of God’s Word (Rom 5:1-21)

Introduction

If you have your Bible with you, please turn it to Romans 5:1-21.

While you’re turning there, let me assure you that despite Romans 5 not being a typical passage for Resurrection Sunday, this is truly a sermon focused on the resurrection of Jesus and what exactly it means for Christians today. While we aren’t focused specifically on the events of the resurrection itself, we’ll see just how the resurrection provides those who believe with hope.

As we study this text together, we’re going to look at it in two parts: (1) Peace with God through Faith (1-11), which shows us how Jesus’ death provides the means through which we have peace with God and (2) New Life in Jesus Christ (12-21), which explains to us exactly how Jesus makes peace for us through His sacrificial atonement on the cross—the comparison and contrast between Jesus and Adam.

It is a long passage but my hope is that by the time we work through the whole text, we get a solid understanding of just how much the resurrection (and really Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection) affects us today—that apart from His sacrificial atonement on the cross, we cannot be saved and yet, that is precisely how He saves us.

My aim is for us to leave this morning in absolute adoration of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and that we respond this morning with praise and thanksgiving—recognizing that He did for us what we couldn’t have done for ourselves.

Prayer for Illumination

Peace with God through Faith (1-11)

Romans 5:1–11 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 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. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 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. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Our text starts by emphasizing this idea of justification by faith alone.

But before it jumps into that, you’ll notice the text starts with a “therefore,” which tells us that this section builds upon the previous section and it’s the previous section that gives us the foundation for what we’re reading now.

The previous section of the letter to the Romans expounds on the truth that faith is absolutely required for salvation

Meaning, you can’t just know the right things and you can’t just do the right things, you have to believe the right things particularly about Jesus and His sacrificial atonement for you on the cross.

Paul spends previous chapters of Romans emphasizing the truth that no one is righteous, that we’re all in need of a Savior, and that faith in that Savior is what saves.

And it’s this idea of faith in a Savior that builds to the section that we’re currently in right now, where we read “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This implies that prior to our belief in Jesus Christ, we aren’t in peace with God.

Which is precisely what Paul is arguing throughout the beginning portion of the letter to the Romans—apart from faith in Jesus Christ as our substitutionary atonement for our sins, there is no peace. We can look at that statement in a number of ways, but let me encourage you to look at it the way that Paul meant it.

In context, when we consider vv. 6-21, this idea of peace is speaking about a spiritual peace that we attain when we become believers in Jesus Christ.

Meaning, that apart from faith in Jesus Christ, there is no peace with God—that is the state of your spirituality and eternal soul—there is no peace with God apart from Jesus Christ.

It is by His sacrificial atonement on the cross and it is through our faith in Him for salvation that He makes peace for us.

And it is through this faith in Jesus Christ in which we experience the grace of God, which causes great rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.

Vv. 3-5 then continues this idea by expressing what seems to be a counterintuitive notion—that once we experience the grace in which we stand, once we have faith in Jesus and He has justified us and made peace for us, the sufferings of this life don’t seem as tremendously terrible.

He speaks about how “we rejoice in our sufferings, [because 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.”

Or in other words, now that we’ve experienced salvation, then the struggles and sufferings of this life need to be seen through a different lens. They aren’t just difficult times and seasons in life that we need to get through or work through, they’re situations in life through which God sanctifies us—it’s how God matures us, or in the words of Paul, it’s how God causes us to endure and it’s how He produces character within us, and really how He makes hope more readily apparent.

Or in other words, the point that Paul makes here is rather simple—being justified by faith in Jesus Christ sets us up in a position in our life in which we can rejoice despite significant hardship in life because what He has given us is of far greater value and worth than the sufferings that we experience.

And what He will do to us and for us as a result of our suffering will be of far greater worth than the suffering we experience.

Now, you might hear all that and ask the question, “through what means does this happen or in what way does Jesus’ death facilitate our justification” and Paul answers that in two ways. He provides a general statement of how Jesus does that in vv. 6-11 and then in vv. 12-21, he expounds on what exactly he means. In vv. 6-11, we read that “while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Meaning that even before we actually came to know Jesus—before our genuine faith in Him, while we were still spiritually dead, Jesus died for us.

In vv. 7-8, we see a parenthetical phrase concerning the absurdity of a person dying for another person. The idea being that most people aren’t willing to give up their life even for good people, but God gave up the life of Jesus while we were the least of the least and the worst of the worst.

While we were still enemies with God, Jesus died for us.

And in vv. 9-11, we then see how that death of Jesus reconciled us and saved us.

That it is His blood that covers our sin and saves us from the wrath of God.

That it is through His sacrifice that we are no longer enemies to God but we’ve been reconciled by His death.

That we are now saved because of His life after resurrection.

There’s already a lot that can be said about vv. 1-11 but Paul doesn’t stop here, he continues with vv. 12-21 by explaining a significant result of Jesus reconciling us to God by His death, burial, and resurrection. Let’s read vv. 12-21.

New Life in Jesus Christ (12-21)

Romans 5:12–21 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul ties the idea of Jesus saving all who believe with the fact that sin and death had spread to all mankind through Adam. Vv. 12-14 explain to us that Adam’s transgression or sin resulted in what we call original sin.

That Adam sinned and because he acted as our federal head, his sin was passed on or imputed to all mankind.

Note how v. 14 tells us that Adam was “a type of the one who was to come.” Or in other words Adam has a similarity with Jesus—just like Adam acted as the federal head who imputed sin to all mankind—Jesus acts as our federal head who imputes righteousness and salvation for all who believe.

The difference between the two is that the free gift given by Jesus provides justification and salvation and righteousness, whereas the imputation given by Adam brought sin, the curse, and death.

This concept is explained and expounded on in vv. 15-21, which expresses not how the free gift spread but the result of the free gift and how it differs from the condemnation brought on by Adam’s sin.

Note the great contrast brought up in v. 17, “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”

Or in other words, Adam’s sin brought about death, but Jesus’ obedience even to the cross brought brought about grace and righteousness to those who believe in Him.

Or put in simpler terms—Adam’s sin brought into the world the problem of sin, which required death as it’s consequence.

That problem of sin was then passed on from Adam to all mankind, which means that death was passed on from Adam to all mankind.

But Jesus, through His death, burial, and resurrection on the cross brought about peace between God and man—He reconciles anyone who believes to God and He offers this reconciliation, this salvation, this righteousness as a free gift to all who believe, all who have faith, all who follow Him.

Vv. 18-21 then sums up this whole text by stating that just as one sin led to the condemnation for all mankind, so one act of righteousness (meaning Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection) offers justification.

And it is through Jesus’ obedience and death on the cross that leads to all this.

It is through Jesus’ obedience and death on the cross that gives you new life in Him and Him alone.

Now there is one verse that I think warrants us spending a few extra minutes on and the reason for this is because of the confusion that the verse might cause. In v. 20, we read “Now the law [meaning the law of Moses] came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”

And the confusion arises because many read this verse and they make the assertion that it was unjust then for God to provide the Law if the Law or knowledge of the Law causes more sin.

Paul actually answers this assertion later in the letter to the Romans and in this case (much like many other cases), the best thing to do when a passage of Scripture is confusing is to simply let Scripture interpret Scripture.

Paul writes in Romans 7:7-12 “7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! Rather, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law. For I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, worked out in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the Law sin is dead. 9 Now I was once alive apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died; 10 and this commandment, which was to lead to life, was found to lead to death for me. 11 For sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (LSB)

He continues in Romans 7:13 “13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by working out my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.” (LSB)

Or in other words, Paul is making the argument that knowing what’s right and wrong increases our knowledge of sin; and when we know what’s right and wrong, sin starts to be more tempting to us.

For instance, when a child is told not to do something by their parents—how often does the child then choose to do it anyway?

In that situation, is it then wrong for the parent to prevent their child from doing something? No, it’s still right but sin seizes on the opportunity to tempt the child into disobedience because he has been given another way to act according to his flesh.

The Law isn’t wrong because it provides more knowledge and God isn’t unjust because He provides us with the Law—sin seeks to tempt us and it utilizes our knowledge of right and wrong to tempt us more.

Application

Now, in our remaining few minutes, I want us to take a look at specific application—and you might have been listening to me this evening with the thought, “man, I thought this was just going to be your typical rehashing of the resurrection, not some deep theological study on reconciliation, peace, justification, and righteousness. What does any of this have to do with Easter? And that’s where our application comes into play.

Paul makes it abundantly clear in Romans 1-4 into ch. 5, that apart from Jesus Christ’s sacrificial atonement on the cross for your sins, you are in complete and utter rebellion against God—you are according to the Bible a literal enemy of God.

And there’s no middle ground—it doesn’t matter if you think you’re a good person, it doesn’t matter if you seem to do nice things or if you think you deserve salvation because of who you are.

According to Scripture there’s no middle ground—you’re either with God or you’re against God; and according to the Bible, the only way to be with God is through faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus reconciles you, Jesus saves you, Jesus justifies you, Jesus redeems you.

And according to Romans 5:1-21, He does all this through His sacrificial atonement for you on the cross—meaning, the whole point of Easter is that without Jesus, you are without hope, but with Jesus and His cross, you can have hope.

So, the question then is, how do you apply all this in your life today?

If you’re an unbeliever, the application is rather simple—as an unbeliever, you are utterly opposed to God and even if you think you’re a good person, the alternative to being a believer in Jesus Christ is to be an enemy of God—and that’s precisely where you are.

In this passage, you’ve learned that apart from Jesus, you cannot be reconciled to God, you can not be justified, you cannot be saved because it is Jesus who saves.

Thus, your application, if you’re an unbeliever this morning, is to repent of your sins, call on the name of the Lord, and follow Jesus.

This is where your faith has to start, otherwise, you aren’t actually a believer, you aren’t saved, you’re still an enemy of God.

Jesus has provided a way for you to be reconciled with the almighty, all-powerful God—so take advantage of that way, call out to Him for salvation.

And, of course, if you want o talk about all this, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me as soon as possible.

For those that are believers, your application really is simple as well and it ties into the whole point of celebrating Easter.

You know that apart from Jesus there is no hope—you were an enemy of God, you were caught in your sins and you were deserving of death.

But you also know that Jesus saves—He redeems, He justifies, He brought you into reconciliation with God—He did what you couldn’t do by His obedience and HIs death, burial, and resurrection.

So, this is all your application right in a simple sentence—don’t take your salvation for granted.

Give Him thanks, praise Him, worship Him; and then live your life in light of the fact that Jesus saved you from being an enemy of God and He has reconciled you with God.

Don’t treat the knowledge of what Jesus has done for you on the cross as something that is great to know but doesn’t really affect your life—understand it as the foundation for what your new life in Christ is.

Thus, remind yourself of His sacrificial atonement for your sin—give thanks for it, praise and worship Him because of it, then live in newness of life.

Resurrection Sunday is a reminder that (1) you need a Savior, (2) Jesus is that Savior, and (3) He offers that salvation as a free gift to all who would believe. Don’t take this for granted.

Praise Him for it, worship Him for it, and choose to walk in newness of life because of it.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

The Power of the Cross (272)