Join us as we explore the freeing aspects of life in the kingdom of grace as outlined in Romans Chapter 5. This conversation highlights the essential journey from wrath to reconciliation, where faith plays a pivotal role in overcoming the destructive forces of sin and death. Discover the assurance of peace with God through Jesus Christ, and how this assurance empowers believers to live in hope and confidence despite life’s challenges.
00:00:05 Review of Romans Chapter 5 and the Kingdom of Grace
SPEAKER 01 :
So we’ve come to the end of Romans chapter 5, and we need to review it. And why do we need to review it? Because we need to remind ourselves what we believe. Our human nature, our natural mind, hasn’t a clue what we believe. Faith in Christ does, and we therefore tell our minds how to believe. We direct our minds. We instruct our minds. And we first need to remember that this chapter 5 is one of four parts, 5, 6, 7, and 8, of Romans describing life in the kingdom of grace. Life in the kingdom of grace is freedom from wrath, chapter 5, freedom from the power and identity of sin, chapter 6, freedom from the condemnation of the law, chapter 7, and freedom from the power of death, chapter 8. So we’re looking at freedom from wrath. Well, let’s remind ourselves, first of all, what wrath is. Wrath is God’s love acting against the destructive forces of sin. God’s wrath is motivated by love. God never suspends his love in order to be wrathful. That wrath, motivated by love, is to hand the world over to the powers of sin because of their choice, humanity’s choice, to suppress him. So humanity says, no, we don’t want God. Adam created it, started it all off, and resisted God. And God, in his love… motivated or rather not motivated, expressed in wrath, hands people over to the choice that they make of rejecting him and choosing alternative gods. Now, why does he do that? because he’s seeking to win them back. God’s wrath is not sending people away and abandoning them so that they are in oblivion for eternity. No. God’s wrath is his tough love, and that tough love moves upon humanity to bring it to an end of itself by its idols. so that he can then give them mercy. For it says in Romans 11.32, you remember, that God has imprisoned all under sin that he might have mercy on all. That is the great goal of God’s creation and the great goal of his heart. So, what is Romans 5 telling us about wrath? that we have been reconciled to the heart of the Father, brought back. Now, do you understand how being reconciled and brought back to God is the opposite of wrath, which was to hand over to the powers of sin? If God’s wrath is to hand people over to what they choose instead of him, then his mercy, then the opposite of that wrath is to bring them back, to reconcile them to his heart. Well, how does he do that? Through Jesus Christ. Christ represents all humanity. Christ stands in for all humanity. When he dies, he takes the judgment of the human race. And then when he rises from the dead and ascends to the Father, he does so on our behalf, so that in him we are reconciled. Now listen to this. Even before we were born, even before the creation was made, even while we were enemies, Romans 5 verse 10. You see how the gospel turns reality on its head. And, I might say, the gospel turns our modern perceptions of the gospel on their head. Because this salvation of ours is not a choice for God by human beings, but it is God’s choice of human beings himself. Let’s say that in another way. Salvation is not… man’s choice for God, it is God’s choice for man. That is the wonder of the good news. God has a passionate, fierce love for the human race that he made, and he is determined to restore it, and he is sending his Son to atone for the sins of the world and to rise again for the new human race that will be made in him. We shall all be renewed. And thus, you see, Paul is saying here, we have been justified, that is declared innocent, by faith, which is shorthand for by Christ in whom we have faith. We have been declared innocent in that he took the judgment on the cross. And when he took the judgment, then we are declared innocent. You may struggle with all kinds of problems. You may worry. You may get depressed. You may have an addiction of one kind or another. And you may be in trouble with the law or in trouble with your family. And you feel that all is lost. And yet as you trust in Jesus Christ as your sacrifice, you are declared and counted as if you were innocent. And therefore you have peace with God. That’s verse 1, you see. But this is not a peace in the heart necessarily. You may still be troubled, but you are understanding now that you have peace with God by Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ. Jesus has established a peace pact between you and the Father. so that even though you are troubled, you can say, Lord God, I’m burdened with trouble, but I thank you that Jesus is my peace, and therefore this trouble that I have has no power to unsettle me. I praise you that in Christ I can be calm, I can sing, I can praise you, and when you do that and pray in that way, and exercise faith in that way, you slowly begin to realize, or you begin to realize that the disturbance in your heart is lessening. It is lowering its impact in your mind and heart, and you are realizing that faith has the power to redirect your mind. And so we have access, you see, into this faith, into this grace in which we stand. By faith we have access. This means we have entrance into God’s throne room, into his home. When you feel cast away, when you feel like an outcast, when you feel that you’re out there in the cold and God doesn’t love you, you counter that by the faith that God has given you, that you have access to the Father’s heart, access to his home, access to his throne room. You stand in this. The idea in verse 2 of standing is being secure. You’re not sort of hoping you’re there. You’re secure. You’re standing there, and you’re rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. You see how this faith of ours is simply superhuman. It is not an act of the will. It is a gift of God. That is why it is so strong. And you can say, Father, I, in my human heart, in my mind, have no faith at all. I feel weak. I feel hopeless. But I praise you that you give me faith to believe in Jesus. Now, you see, this is the second part that Romans 5 talks about. While we were without strength, ungodly, sinners, that’s verses 6 and 8, Christ died for us. But understand that that is more than a potential. In other words, I will die for your sins as long as you repent and have faith and believe. As if God and we had a bargain together, and he does one part of the bargain, and we have to fulfill the other part. That is not the truth. Because verse 10 is parallel with verses 6 and 8, and it says there, If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, oh, so you see, the death of Christ is the reconciliation of the human race. God has already reconciled the human race to himself before the human race even existed, before the creation of the world, and before you were born. The good news of the gospel is you are reconciled. Turn to God. Believe in Him. Reconcile with Him because you are reconciled to His heart. And you can be sure that God’s message of reconciliation will bring your heart around because God is the creator of faith. You will have faith either in this world or you will hold out against Him until you go through the judgment, and that’s a scary thing, and then you will have faith. So do it now to escape from the judgment. You see then how awesome all of this is. And then Paul goes even further. Having started with our individual hearts, presumably, now he launches into the world, into the stratosphere, into the universe. And he says that as in Adam—well, he doesn’t say that exactly here. This is first—I’m just about to quote 1 Corinthians 15. As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. But verses 12 to 21 of Romans 5— is rather an expansion of that. Verse 18 summarizes this passage by saying, Therefore, as through the one man’s offense, that is Adam’s, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, see, Adam brought sin and death upon the planet, Even so, through one man’s righteous act, that is Jesus Christ, the free gift came to all men resulting in justification of life. And so, the message of the gospel is that the wrath of God has been removed from the world in Jesus Christ. But then we look at verse 21 that makes it a little bit more precise. So that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So, you see, there are two realities. There’s the reality of this fallen, broken world in which our body and mind still exist, and that is under the reign of death. But there’s the reality now that we know by faith which is greater than that sin and death reality, and that is that we are now in the reign of righteousness through Christ’s righteousness to eternal life. And so the question then becomes, which kingdom are you living in? You, by faith, can know that all the troubles that you go through, the disappointments, the loss of your job, the worries of family life, the issues of ill health and finances, all of these issues, or addictions as well, They are now in the kingdom of life. You say, how can all these troubles be in the kingdom of life? Because Christ has conquered the power of evil. And therefore we lift our hearts up and say, Lord God, I thank you that this sickness, this loss of a job is not unto death. I thank you that it is unto life. I thank you that through this I will be drawn closer to you. I thank you that the future is bright for me. Not necessarily the future in this world, but the future of eternal life, which is now impacting your life in this earth. So you’re freed from this abandonment under wrath. You are reconciled to the heart of the Father. That is one of the wonderful realities of the kingdom of grace. Thank you. Thanks so much. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
