Morally Right, Spiritually Wrong (3)

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 in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, 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.

We were all enemies of/to God

Us toward Him

and

He toward us.

This is explicit in verse 10a:

Romans 5:10 ESV

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.

"For if while we were enemies .. ." Some have tried to make this mean that we are enemies of God, but he is not our enemy. We are opposing him, but he is not opposing us. We have enmity toward him, but he has no enmity toward us. Their argument goes like this: It says here in verse 10 that we were enemies, not that God was our enemy. And, secondly, it says in verse 10 that "we were reconciled to God," not that he was reconciled to us.

But there are two major problems with this interpretation that you can see for yourselves. One is that our way of speaking about being reconciled is different from the way the New Testament writers spoke about it. We think that if we are reconciled to someone, we were the ones who had the enmity, not the other person. But look at

Matthew 5:23–24 ESV

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

. Jesus says, "If you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you [Note well: your brother has the enmity], leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering."

Jesus says, "If you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you [Note well: your brother has the enmity], leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering."

So here you have a brother who has a grievance against you. How does Jesus talk about reconciliation? He says, "You go be reconciled to him." Now keep that in mind as you read , "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God. . ." So if "being reconciled to our brother" in :24means that our brother had something against us, then being reconciled to God in would mean that God had something against us.

So we were not merely his enemies because we were rebels, he was our enemy because we were rebels.

But you don't have to go to Matthew to see this. It is plain in verse 9. The verse ends with the promise that because of what Christ has done, "we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him."

Romans 5:9 ESV

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

There it is. God has wrath, or anger, toward the world of sinners. He is an enemy of sinners.

The greatest obstacle to our everlasting happiness is the wrath of God.

Because if God is against us, it doesn't matter who is for us, we are ruined.

So I conclude on this first observation that we were all enemies of God, we toward him in rebellion, and he toward us in wrath, and therefore we all needed to be reconciled to God. There would be no hope without the removal of his wrath and our rebellion.

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God the Father himself works to rescue us from his wrath.

Now, don't miss this remarkable part of the good news. The Bible makes it plain that God will one day pour out the full measure of his wrath on the sinful unbelieving world, and the unrepentant will be cast into what John calls the "lake of fire."

Revelation 20:15 ESV

And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

, "And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." And :10describes it like this: They will "be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever." It is like fire. It is torment. It is forever and ever with no end.

, "And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." And

Revelation 14:10 ESV

he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

:10describes it like this: They will "be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever." It is like fire. It is torment. It is forever and ever with no end.

It is like fire. It is torment. It is forever and ever with no end.

This is terrifying. If enmity ever had meaning, this is it. If this is not having an enemy, then there is no such thing as having an enemy. God will one day pour out his enmity - his wrath - on the whole world of humankind who have ever lived and not trusted him.

The question is:

Who can rescue us from this wrath of God?

The clear answer of this text - and the whole New Testament - is this:

Only God can rescue us from the wrath of God.

Where can we see this? Notice these five passive verbs. Verse 9: "having now been justified, [number 1] shall we be saved [number 2]." Verse 10: "If while we were enemies we were reconciled [number 3] to God through the death of his Son, much more having been reconciled [number 4], we shall be saved [number 5] by his life."

In all those actions we are being acted upon.

Who is acting?

Who is doing this justifying, reconciling, saving?

The answer is God the Father.

How do we know that? Because in verse 10 it says, "we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son." But if the Son was doing the reconciling, it wouldn't say he did it "through the Son." You wouldn't say. "The Son of God reconciled us to God through his Son."

No. The Father, himself, loves us. That was the clear point of verse 8, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Here's the good news: the love of God rescues us from the wrath of God. Don't try to defend the love of God for us by denying the wrath of God against sinners. If you do, you will undermine the love of God. Because the greatest demonstration of the love of God is the way it rescues us from the wrath of God. If you deny wrath to defend love, you lose love.

So this second point, so far, is that God the Father himself works to rescue us from his wrath. And the other part of this second point is that he has done this in the past, and he will do it in the future.

This is the way both verse 9 and 10 are built. Verse 9: "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood [that's the past work of God - "blood" referring to the death of his Son whom he sent], we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him [that's the future work of God]." Then verse 10: "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son [the past work of God in history], much more, having been reconciled [in the past], we shall be saved by His life [the work of God in the future]."

So the second point is that God the Father himself has worked in the past decisively and will work in the future infallibly to rescue us from his wrath.

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

The work of Christ, The work of God

How we should meditate on the work of Christ. Because here we meet the work of God. If you want to know the love of God, know the work of Christ.

Where do we see this? It is made explicit in both verse 9 and verse 10.

Romans 5:9 ESV

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Romans Verse 9: "Much more then, having now been justified [that God's work] by His blood [that's Christ's work in dying], we shall be saved from the wrath of God [that God's work] through Him [that's the work of his Son, Jesus Christ]." The Son bought our justification in the past when he died for us, and he mediates our salvation in the future because he lives for us. God saved in the past through Christ. He will save in the future through Christ.

Verse 9: "Much more then, having now been justified [that God's work] by His blood [that's Christ's work in dying], we shall be saved from the wrath of God [that God's work] through Him [that's the work of his Son, Jesus Christ]." The Son bought our justification in the past when he died for us, and he mediates our salvation in the future because he lives for us. God saved in the past through Christ. He will save in the future through Christ.

It's even more clear in verse 10: "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God [that's God's work] through the death of His Son [that's the work of his Son in dying for us], much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved [that's God's work] by His life [that's Christ's work]."

Romans 5:10 ESV

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.

Where do we factor into this?

Ephesians 2:

Ephesians 2:6 ESV

and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 2:8 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

We do not behave our way into heaven.

We believe ourselves into heaven.

We trust our way into heaven.

We believe and trust in the finished work of God through Christ.

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:10 ESV

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.

We need to stop relying on ourselves and start relying fully upon Christ.

The Good News is that this available to all because it is up to God and not man.

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