Romans 5:6-11 "God's Demonstrated Love"

Good Morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

As mentioned in our announcements… next Sunday after church there will be a meeting for Children’s Ministry.

This is an important meeting to cast vision and discuss Children’s ministry for 2025.

We are working on expanding to have a Toddler ministry and continue to grow Children’s church.

The meeting is not mandatory, but please… if you’re presently serving… please be there.

If you have kids who attend Children’s church… and you’ve attended Calvary Chapel Lake City for 6 months… you should attend as well.

If you’ve been attending Calvary Chapel Lake City for over 6 months and you consider this home… but you’re not serving anywhere… you should attend.... and prayerfully consider how you can use the talents God has given you.

If not in Children’s Ministry… where? Pray about it. You’re part of the body of Christ… God has given you talents.

So… that’s next Sunday… 11:45am. Please mark your calendar and be in prayer about how God would have you serve in 2025.

Well… let’s now open the word to continue in our study of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans.

Please turn to Rom 5. Romans 5:6-11 today.

The book of Romans could be outlined in five words… Condemnation, Justification, Sanctification, Vindication, and Application…

In chapters 1-3 (roughly)… Paul proved that legally all mankind is condemned… there is “none righteous, no, not one.”

That was the bad news… we all stand guilty before God.

B‌ut, then in Romans 3:21-5:21… Paul presented the Good News of “Justification”… how God’s righteousness was revealed “through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.” Rom 3:22)

And, how God’s righteousness is apart from works.

And, Paul cited OT examples of Abraham and king David… to prove the point that righteousness is through faith, and NOT by religious works.

We left off looking at the first five verses of Romans 5… which outline some of the benefits of Justification…

Peace, access, rejoicing… even glorying in tribulation knowing that God uses tribulation to produce perseverance, character, and hope.

We will see additional benefits of justification in our passage today…

That God demonstrates His own love for us… namely in that Jesus died in our place… therefore we are saved from God’s wrath.. and reconciled to God.

Thus, the title of today’s message is “God’s Demonstrated Love.”

Soak it in family… this is Romans… key theology important for our lives as Christians.

And, as we look at these things… my hope is you delight in these studies.

Last week Ty preached… and it always strikes me how excited he is about God’s word…

I pray that for all of us in 2025… that we would have that same passion… and enthusiasm for God’s word.

In Psalm 119 the phrase “Your word” appears 35x… that would be a good side study for you to kick off 2025…

Find the 35 “Your word” verses in Psalm 119… and observe what the Psalmist states about God’s word.

Ps 119:162 states, “I rejoice at Your word As one who finds great treasure.”

Let’s rejoice now and behold God’s great treasure… His word…

Let’s Pray!

In reverence for God’s word, please stand as I read our passage.

Romans 5:6-11 “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”

Praise God for His word! Please be seated.

In our passage today… we will see God pursued each of us… He extended love to us when we were ungodly enemies…

And, if He did that then… will He not preserve us since we now belong to Him?

Of course He will…

And, this week and next… we will observe an repeated phrase… “much more”…

V9 “much more” deliverance… V10 “much more” preservation… V15 “much more” grace… V17 “much more” reign in life… V20 “much more” abounding grace…

… and then after that… there’s not “much more.”

But, note those words… as Paul will use them to develop his theme of being eternally secure in Christ.

So, backing up to V6… Paul writes “For when we were still without strength...”

NASB states, “For while we were still helpless...”

That’s the state of mankind apart from Christ… OUR condition prior to Christ… and apart from the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit…

You could be the most successful… self-sufficient… dynamic… and wealthy person alive…

But, without Christ… you’re without strength… you’re helpless… because for all that one can muster up in their own strength… none of that matters when staring at eternity…

Rev 20 clearly shows that when the books are opened… all those not written into the Book of Life are judged according to their works… and their works are insufficient…

If salvation is not appropriated by faith in Jesus Christ… that person is cast into the Lake of Fire.

They are helpless and without strength apart from Jesus Christ.

And, that was the state of the whole world… including us before Christ…

So… continuing in V6, Paul writes, “in due time Christ died for [on behalf of] the ungodly.”

If you don’t know who the ungodly people are… re-read the first two and a half chapters of Romans…

Immoral people, moral Gentiles, and religious Jews were were focus of those chapters… they all stood condemned apart from Christ.

One verse earlier Romans 5… in V5 Paul shared the “love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

And, now in V6 Paul describes the character of God’s self-sacrificial love… as demonstrated by the perfect sinless sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

V8 states, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

And, God did this “in due time” … your Bible may read “… at the right time...”

When was that? Gal 4:4-5 states, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

The fullness of time is both prophetic and reflects the stat of the world at the time Messiah was born.

Prophetically, in Daniel’s 70th week prophecy, Daniel wrote about 7 weeks and 62 weeks… a initial total of 69 weeks… already fulfilled… which leaves 1 remaining week of years… 7 years for the future Tribulation.

In Dan 9:25-26 it was prophesied… “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem [This is where the clock to Daniel’s 70th week prophecy starts… Persian king Artaxerxes issued a decree to Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem (which historically was on March 5, 444 B.C.)] Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. V26 [begins] And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off… [fulfilled in the crucifixion]”

“Weeks” in Hebrew is shabua… meaning a “period of seven” (years in this context)…

If you are more of a visual learner… let’s go to the next slide depicting “Daniel’s Seventy Weeks” in a chart… and try to follow along…

And… fret not… if you don’t read this small… I printed this helpful chart from Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry… they are at the info table.

So, the math of the “fullness of time” first is… to calculate 7 week of years you multiple 7 x 7… which is 49 years… which was the initial 49 years from Artaxerxes decree to when Nehemiah rebuilt the wall in Jerusalem (you can read about that in Neh chapters 3-6)…

Then… an additional 62 weeks… until Messiah the Prince…

62 weeks of years (62 x 7 is 434 years)…

Add the initial 7 weeks of years for Nehemiah… lands us at a total of 69 weeks of years or 483 years…

… until the “fullness of time would come” (Gal 4:4)

Historically, when you start the clock from when king Artaxerxes decree for Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem (March 5, 444 B.C.)…

And, do the math to add 483 years (or 173,880 days)…

And, I know you’re doing the math in your head, but let me help you out… you land at March 30, 33 A.D. … the Day of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.

And, to that you should say, “Wow!”

Prophecy is amazing. It’s beyond statistical chance. And, it’s NOT a fabrication!

Prophecy proves the Bible is true…

So the fullness of time… it is undeniably prophetic.

But wait… there’s more… in God’s wisdom… He also waited for just the right time in the state of the world to allow the Gospel to spread… and take root…

Rome forced peace (the Pax Romana)… and developed Roman Roads… facilitating travel for the Gospel to go to the ends of the earth…

And Grecian culture provided a common language… Greek which became the lingua franca of the Roman Empire… the common tongue people of diverse tongues could understand… thus the Gospel could be communicated…

“How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation...” (Is 52:7)… which Paul quotes in Rom 10.

And, the time was right for Christ to come and die because Jews had been proclaiming a coming Messiah… and hope in Him.

David Guzik wrote, “The world was prepared spiritually, economically, linguistically, politically, philosophically and geographically for the coming of Jesus and the spread of the Gospel.”

And… how was it in your life? Was there a fullness of time that had come in your life?

Did Christ come at just the right time?

I know He moved like that in my life. Story time… A quick slice into my testimony. At age 21, I was a theist who had not yet accepted Christ and was invited to my friends Mormon church.

I had no idea what Mormonism was… and the Mormons I met were so friendly… they were so inviting…

The only problem was… besides the obvious that Mormonism is a cult (which young me didn’t know)… the problem was my friend’s church was an hour from my home.

So, I called my Mormon uncle to get plugged in locally… and he said, “I’m no longer Mormon, I’m born again. Let’s get together.”

He left Mormonism and accepted Jesus by reading the word of God… and realized the discrepancies between the book of Mormon… and the testimony of Joseph Smith… namely that he came face to face with the Father and Son in the woods of NY… but no one sees the face of the Father and lives (Exo 33:20; Jn 1:18).

And, Uncle Ralph shared scriptures and the Gospel with me… and I believed in Jesus.

At just the right time to avoid being lured into Mormonism.

May 12th, 1998… I drove to my Uncle’s home… arriving unsure about Jesus… but left confident through the word of God.

When I was without strength… when I was captive to sin… when I was being misled by the enemy… when I was heading down a road of destruction…

In grace… God intervened…

He sent Uncle Ralph… who is presently at home with the Lord…

He was a very kind man… but also awkward to be around.

He repeatedly told bad jokes… and make awkward statements… and made cartoon character impressions… and he would not let up.

You would approach him in kindness and engage him in conversation… and almost immediately cringed and thought, “how do I get out of this?”

And, Uncle Ralph did not frequent the shower.

Not saying this to be cruel, but he smelled bad.

It was an issue the family talked about because when we had family gatherings… and I come from a big family… Uncle Ralph would stink up the room. It’s just a hard fact.

And, his poor hygiene and awkward comments hurt his witness to my family. I watched them disregard his words because of how they thought of him… which was sad.

So… you now have a mental picture of my Uncle…

And consider this… despite how my family felt… Uncle Ralph was who God used to lead me to Christ.

Some people question if they can be used by God…

Please don’t…

It’s better to take a shower… and wear deodorant… but even then… God still used my Uncle despite his shortcomings.

Uncle Ralph uniquely understood the entrapment's of Mormonism… and accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior… and we had relationship as family… thus he was qualified to guide me to truth.

And, I’ll forever be grateful for my Uncle.

Christ died for the ungodly… formerly you and I and those presently without God…

He came from Heaven to Earth some 2000 years ago… in due time… at just the right time…

In love… because of God’s love for sinners.

Now dying for another person… paying the ultimate sacrifice… is NOT a common practice…

We read in V7… “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.”

Scarcely means “with difficulty” or “hardly”…

If one risks their life above the call of duty… Military branches award medals for valor…

The Medal of Honor, The Service Crosses, The Silver Star…

And, they award medals such as these for disregarding personal safety to save or protect human life.

It’s unusual… and therefore recognized.

Just on January 3rd, seven soldiers received the Medal of Honor and were inducted into the Pentagon Hall of Heroes.

Just 7… out of millions of service members… it’s not common…

Jesus said in John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

Jesus commanded His disciples “love one another as I have loved you” and used dying for one another as the greatest expression of love.

Some of us would die to save a loved one… or a friend… or a fellow service member…

But, to die for someone who is contrary to you… for someone at odds with you… that is rather unnatural…

And yet Christ… who is God… died for the ungodly…

God died for the godless.... for those contrary to Him.

He died for people who reject Him… who cauterize their conscience of God… people who are irreverent and profane towards God and His word.

Thus, we read in V8, “But God demonstrates His own love [agapē] toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

I love the “But God” Bible verses… so often they contrast human behavior to God’s behavior.

They distinguish natural from supernatural.

And, the death of Christ for sinners is a contrast to human nature.

We don’t tend to die knowingly for our enemies…

I don’t believe the military has a medal for such an act.

It’s contrary to the military objective. The enemy is to be taken out.

But God… demonstrates…

“Demonstrates” in V8 is written in the Greek verb tense (Present, active, indicative)… which describes an action happening in the present… being performed by the subject (God), and is a true statement.

God’s love is a demonstrated love…

And, the greatest demonstration of God‘s love is the cross of Calvary.

God established His agapē love toward us by sending Christ to die for us… meaning “in our place”… WHILE we were still sinners… while we were His enemy (v10).

You could compare the darkness and blackness of our sin to a blood covered savior… and what does it testify?

It testifies that despite your failings, Jesus loves you so much, He was willing to die for you… even when you were His enemy.

We will read in Chapter 8 of Romans… “… the carnal mind is enmity against God...”

Any person who has not accepted Jesus Christ as Savior does not have the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit and thus they have a carnal mind…

A mind that stands in opposition to God…

Enmity is a strong word… it means “hostility or hatred.”

An agnostic person might argue, “I don’t hate God… I just don’t know what I believe.”

When I was a teen… God was not on my mind… at age 15… right after I was confirmed Catholic… my parents gave me a choice if I wanted to continue going to mass… and NO was an easy decision for me.

I don’t look back on that time and remember hatred or animosity toward God… just indifference.

But indecision towards Jesus Christ IS a decision. It’s a rejection. And therefore you are not a friend of God… for you have not accepted His means to be saved…

In the context of salvation, in Matt 12:30 Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”

To enter the good side of eternity… there is only “Yes and Amen” to Jesus.

Neutrality and indecision are equivalent to rejection… because the free gift God offered… “eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23)… was not received.

Such a person desires their will, not God’s will… they want to be their own master, not to submit to Jesus as Lord.

AND YET, EVEN for those who stand in opposition to God… even to the enemy of God… to those at war with God…

Jesus still died for that person.

And, aren’t you glad? I am… I was a hot mess…

I know for some of you… you don’t have a dramatic B.C. moment… a ‘before Christ’ moment in your life.

You grew up in a Christian home… accepted Jesus at a young age… didn’t live a life where sin dominated and defined you…

And, praise God for that testimony… you don’t need to carry the battle scars and memories from a life of sin…

Even then with a relatively clean testimony… you’re not perfect. You still fall short of the glory of God.

And Jesus died for you too. You were just blessed to find and accept that truth at an early age.

And, that’s grace too.

Moving on… as we look back in our passage thus far… in vv 6-8, Paul reminds us of WHO we were formerly (helpless… ungodly… sinners)… and now in vv 9-10 he reminds us of WHAT we are now… justified and reconciled.

V9 “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

This is the first of five upcoming “much more” statement by Paul…

Paul will preface God’s great promises… like justification… with “much more” as His promises are greater than our faults and failures…

His promises are even greater than our ability to be confident in His promises…

Having been justified by the blood of Christ through faith… we shall be saved from the wrath of God.

Which raises a question… what is and when is… the wrath of God?

Wrath by def. means “mental bent, impulse, anger, indignation, vengeance, punishment.”

God is a Holy God… perfect in love… by definition “God is love”… and God is against sin, and unrighteousness.

A theological definition of “God’s wrath” is “His revulsion against evil, His settled displeasure with sin and sinners.”

There are many attributes to describe God… goodness, love, mercy, grace, holiness, righteousness, veracity, wisdom… AND wrath.

ALL of these attributes describe God in His activity towards His creation.

Many churches and Christians today are well pleased to focus on the first 8 of those 9 attributes of God and to completely ignore or deny that God pours out wrath on evil.

God passionately resists every will that is set against Him… because He would not be holy and good and righteousness… if He did not judge and set a standard against evil.

Without judgment and wrath… God would sacrifice justice.

BUT… God is not sinful in His wrath.

God doesn’t ‘fly off the handle’ like some earthly father…

He doesn’t ‘lash out and throw an angel across the universe’… reactionary against sin.

NO… God is perfect and righteous in meeting out judgment.

I like this quote from Bible.org where one scholar wrote, “He systemaaaaaaaatically and methoooooooodically and slooooooooowly gathers, sifts, weighs the evidence and then renders his verdict.”

And, as you can see on the slide… he adds a bunch of A’s and O’s to emphasize God’s careful weighing of each person and each situation… to render judgments righteously.

Nahum 1:3 reads, “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked.”

As a Father to Israel, God said in Jer 30:11 “But I will correct you in justice, And will not let you go altogether unpunished.’

He loved them too much to allow them to continue in evil and adulterous ways.

In this New Covenant time in which we live… generally speaking… God’s wrath is reserved for unbelievers… and believers are saved from God’s wrath…

As we read in V9… “having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

We are set free from God’s wrath through faith in Jesus Christ…

Now… there are some individual exceptions to the rule… should a believer sin so egregiously that God determines correction is needed… God may indeed step in.

Consider Ananias and Sapphira…

Hebrews 12:5-6 declares “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”

Another example… is a Christian who commits a crime.

Authorities, like law enforcement and Judges are agents of God’s wrath.

We will read in Rom 13:4 “...he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.”

Arrest and incarceration are expressions, therefore, of God’s wrath.

But, those are individual and micro examples.

On a macro level… in this dispensation of time… God’s wrath is poured out namely on unbelievers… and three key moments are… God’s wrath of abandonment (Rom 1)… God’s tribulation wrath (Rev 6-16)… and God’s final wrath at the Great White Throne judgment and the Lake of Fire (Rev 20).

You could also add the Sheep/Goat judgment prior to the Jesus’ Millennial reign (Mt.13:24-31, 13:47-50; Rev. 20:4)… as unbelievers will be cast into fire… and will not enter the Millennial Kingdom.

So… God’s Wrath of Abandonment… in this lifetime… for that stubborn person who resists and rejects the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit… to convict them of sin, righteousness and judgment (Jn 16:8)… that person who will not come to Christ for Salvation…

Eventually, gives them over to wrath…

We read in Rom 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness...”

And, in vv 24, 26, and 28 of Rom 1… we read “God gave them up to uncleanness”… “God gave them up to vile passions” … and finally “God gave them over to a debased mind.”

Repeatedly, the immoral person shuts God out… and God eventually gives them what they want…

And to be abandoned by God is a form of God’s wrath.

The Tribulation is the next major time when God’s wrath will be undeniably visible to the world…

Sometime in the future… which is likely soon…

There stands 7 years when the wrath of God will be poured out upon the unbelieving world… to fulfill Daniel 9… the Seventieth Week Prophecy for Israel.

Paul describes that time… the day of the Lord, and writes in 1 Thes 5:9 “For God did not appoint us to wrath...”

The church, the Bride of Christ, is not appointed to that time because prophecy declares that time is reserved for the nation of Israel (Dan 9, Matt 24-25)… and to judge the unbelieving world.

There will be a series of judgments poured out upon the world… described starting in Rev 6 as the Seal Judgments… and Trumpet Judgments… and Bowl Judgments… 19 judgments of God in all…

But, as Paul stated in 1 Thes 5:9 “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ...”

The church very well may experience some dark and turbulent times… in fact in much of the world that is the reality for the church… Christians are persecuted in much of the world today.

Horrible atrocities are commited against Christians predominately in the Middle East, Africa, North Korea, and China.

There may be a day when dark days are upon Christians here in the United States… you should be prepared.

But, that is the wrath of man… the tribulation is the wrath of God… and prophetically assigned NOT to the church.

Paul writes regarding the church, 1 Thes 4:16-18 “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up [caught up in Gk is harpazō; in Latin rapturo… in English Rapture] together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

This is not the Second Coming of Christ… there is no touchdown on earth… no splitting the Mount of Olives in two (Zech 14:4)…

This is the rapture where believers are taken up to heaven prior to the tribulation when God’s wrath will be poured out.

Multiple times in Thessalonians Paul writes to “comfort one another with these words.”

It’s not very comforting to think that God would beat up His bride just prior to the marriage of the Lamb.

But it is comforting to know the Church will be Raptured prior to this time when God’s wrath is poured out.

Hey… and it you hold some other position… we can still be brothers and sisters in Christ.

Feel free to think of me as an “escapist”… I’m ok with that. I don’t want to go through God’s wrath.

And, neither do you. If you’re a “stayist” and you think the church will go through the tribulation… I’m sure you hope you’re wrong because none of us want to experience the hell on earth that’s coming.

If the pre-tribulation position is wrong… and I don’t think it is… but if I see the unfolding of the four horsemen of the apocalypse… and the anti-christ… and the Third Temple built… and so forth.

I’m not going to fall away… I’m just going to modify my position… I’ll become pre-wrath or mid-trib.

And, if that’s wrong… I’ll probably be dead… off with his head… or I’ll adjust again to post-trib.

But, when I read scripture… I’m not there. I hope in the rapture of the church… I’m comforted with these words…

When I read scripture… pre-trib. is the position that best aligns with scripture.

And, that’s my distorted opinion… you’re entitled to your own distorted opinion… and we don’t need to divide over doctrines of eschatology.

Now… much further into the future… after the 1000 year reign of Christ… and stretching into eternity… there stands a day called the “Great White Throne Judgment” (Rev 20:11-15)…

Which is the final expression of God’s wrath…

Rev 20:15 states, “…anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

The lake of fire is eternal hell. It’s called “the lake of fire burning with brimstone” in Rev 19:20

Prior to the bowl judgments in Revelation, an angel warns against taking the mark of the beast proclaiming in Rev 14:9-11 “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

If you don’t believe in a literal hell… or believe in annihilationism… you really have to disregard the descriptors in those verses.... “torment… forever and ever”… “no rest day or night...”

Right before the Great White Throne Judgment… the devil is also cast into the lake of fire and again we read in Rev 20:10 “… they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

And I’m simple enough to take that literally… when John wrote “forever and ever”… I don’t feel the need to torture the text to make it mean something else.

Ask a child how long “forever and ever” is?

Well… it’s a weally weally long time Pastor Marc.

A child can understand this!

When Jesus warned about Hell in Mark 9… He describes “fire that shall never be quenched” and three times He quotes Isa 66:24…

‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’

What’s the worm?

Gk. skōlēx (Not Rolex… that’s a fancy watch… nome of them in hell)… but skōlēx… meaning a grub, maggot or earth worm…

Eternal maggots… good time.

Metaphorically skōlēx means “gnawing anguish.”

Isa 14:11 in describing Sheol (which is not the Lake of Fire), but equivalent to Gk Hades… a temporary hell…

Isaiah says in Sheol… “The maggot is spread under you, And worms cover you.’”

Hell is not a keg party.

Maggot and worms… no thanks.

And, “maggot” and “worms” are two different Hebrew words…

Hell will be a great time for worms… but not for unbelievers.

Hey… if you’re visiting today… you might be getting more than you bargained for!

One more thing on worms… and I’m almost done…

What’s interesting… is “worms” in Isa 14:11 and Isa 66:24 is the tôwlâʿ worm… the crimson worm…

In the highly Messianic Psalm… Psalm 22… which Jesus quoted from the cross “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

The Psalmist also prophesies Ps 22:6 “But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.”

Same worm… tôwlâʿ… which perhaps you recall my lengthy teaching on this worm in the past…

The crimson worm attaches itself on a tree once in it’s life to give life to it’s offspring… and in the process leaves the tree blood stained.

Study this in depth… it’s a clear type of Christ… and this is one of the type of worms in hell.

Forever a reminder of the one they rejected and despised in this lifetime.

Back in Romans… don’t miss the point of V9… “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

The wrath of God is incomprehensible eternal anguish…

But, for anyone who has received Jesus as their Savior… you will never know that wrath.

God does not pour out His wrath on believers. You are saved from wrath because of the blood of the Lamb.

He died so you don’t have to.

It’s Grace… G.R.A.C.E. … God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.

That acronym is an easy way to understand Grace… God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.

You are justified… declared righteous and put on Christ’s righteousness…

No longer are you legally condemned before God, but also you inherit glory and responsibilities in heavenly places.

You get a glorified body… you’re sin nature is done away with.

When we read “we shall be saved...”

He’s already doing it now…

At Justification… God saved us from the position of sin.

Right now in Sanctification… God is saving us from the power of sin.

And, in Glorification… when we get to heaven… God will save us from the presence of sin.

All things will be made new… there will be no more death… nor sorrow… nor pain… nor sin.

The old man of flesh will be eradicated.

There will be no more wrestling between flesh and spirit.

We could go on and on… but look… Paul summarized it well in V9 with three words… “Much more then...”

We don’t even have a clue how good it’s going to be… we have a glimpse… we can imagine… we can trust His word and hold onto His promises…

But man… the day we experience the “Much more than...”

The Psalmist wrote in Ps 30:11-12 “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.”

If you don’t dance now… when you get to heaven you’re gonna put on your dancing shoes… because our God has delivered us from a lamentable state… and there will be much to celebrate.

He does it now in this lifetime… and “much more than” in the ages to come.

Well… let’s look at two additional benefits of our justification to close… reconciliation and rejoicing…

V10 “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

This verse assures us that since Jesus died for the ungodly… His enemies…

Whom we formerly were… until we believed Jesus died for our sins… and received Him as Lord and Savior…

If His death… and our belief in Him had so much transformative power to change us from spiritually dead to alive…

If He can do that in death… then how much more will His life have power to keep us?

This verse testifies that we will be preserved by Jesus’ resurrection life… that we are eternally secure.

Jesus said in John 10:28 “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”

You’re going to mess up in this life… and repeatedly… and Jesus already paid the price for those sins.

If you truly believe in Jesus… You’re not going to lose your salvation… and nor does that give you a license to sin which Paul will discuss in Rom 6.

Because Jesus died… and we placed our faith in Him… we are reconciled to God! This is a great benefit of our justification.

Reconciliation appears 6x in the New Testament… and it is a banking term meaning “to change or to exchange.”

Through the diving act of Jesus dying on the cross there was a great exchange…

In our response of faith… God’s wrath is on us is put onto Jesus’ account… and Jesus’ righteousness is put onto our account…

Reconciliation is a work of God… where He removes the enmity between Himself and humanity.

Which tells us there’s a backstory to reconciliation.

Reconciliation suggest that at one time there was peace, and then something happened to sever the relationship.

At one time, there was a break in relationship… we call that the fall of man… which happened in Gen 3…

Adam, Eve, Apple, Serpent… remember that account?

We will talk about that next week.

And, as far back as Gen 3:15, God began to reveal a plan where God would restore friendship and harmony with anyone who accepts Jesus as their Savior.

A benefit not just for eternity, but also for this lifetime.

Oh what joy to have peace with God now… to be able to rest knowing we are going to heaven after this life…

And to inherit peace now… and many other blessings we have been reading about in these first 11 verses of Romans 5.

And, Paul felt the need to rejoice as well… closing out in V11 “And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”

We rejoice in Jesus Christ for He has saved us from sin. In justification, He saves us from the penalty of sin… in sanctification He saves us from the power of sin… and in glorification He saves us from the presence of sin.

He saves us from the penalty, power, and presence of sin. Past, present, and future…

This is our salvation… and it leaves us with much to rejoice in.

And so what should be our response?

Since God removed the enmity between us and Him… we should be zealous to tell everyone they too can be reconciled to God.

We should live as Christ’s ambassadors.

Which Paul encapsulates in 2 Cor 5:18-20 (and we will close with this)… Paul writes… “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”

That is your message as you enter into the world this week ahead… with joy and passion… implore the world… “be reconciled to God.”

Let’s Pray!

Our prayer team will be up front if you need prayer for anything… especially if you have never been reconciled to God.

It’s 2025 family… time is short… God has committed to us the Gospel… which is the message of reconciliation…

And I pray that God would open doors for you to share it… and that you would be faithful to do so.