I notice there's a pretty good breeze coming through here in some places. If you're a little cool, feel free to get up and shut the windows. It is nice to be cool for a change, isn't it? Would you take your Bible, please, and turn with me to Romans chapter 5. We have been looking at the blessings that accompany justification in the first 11 verses of Romans 5. I remind you that justification is a legal act on God's part whereby when we place our faith in Christ,
he sees us from that point on as righteous. It has nothing to do with whether we sin or not from that point on, because we do sin. Of course, the fact is that because we are God's children, we ought to be sinning less as we walk with him and mature in our faith. But justification doesn't deal with that issue. Justification has to do with our legal standing before God. Romans tells us how to be right with God, and justification
is the word that summarizes it. By our justification, God sees us legally, judicially righteous in his eyes. Someone has said that Christians aren't better than anyone else. They're just forgiven. Well, that's good as far as it goes, but in terms of what we're thinking about right now, it doesn't quite go far enough. Because forgiveness may bring us back to the point of zero on the ledger, but justification, you see, adds to us perfect righteousness. Forgiveness is only half of it.
God gives us the righteousness of Jesus Christ when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. Ours is a full salvation, and with that justification come many blessings. We've looked at peace with God and our access to God, the fact that we have the hope of the glory of God, we can rejoice in our tribulations because God is working in our lives, and we have the experience of God's love being poured out in our hearts. Those are some of the blessings
we have because we're justified. I think that's why Paul, in Ephesians chapter 1, He begins the book with a shout of praise when he says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. In other words, because we are in Christ, in the spiritual realm, we have every possible spiritual blessing. Therefore, we don't have to pray for a second blessing or
a third or a hundred and first. We don't have to ask God to add something to us, because in Jesus Christ he's already given us everything. Now we may not be experiencing everything, we may not be appropriating all of it, but positionally with our justification comes every possible blessing in Christ. Now we're going to this morning focus on verses 9 through 11, but I invite you to look with me at the whole paragraph as we set the
stage for it. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, proven
character, and proven character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if while 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. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now
received the reconciliation. The two blessings of justification that will conclude our study in the first paragraph of this chapter are the deliverance of God and joy in God. And as we're going to see this morning, only those who are justified may know those blessings. What do we mean by the deliverance of God? In verses 9 and 10, we have twice the same phrase. We shall be saved. We shall be saved. The word saved means to rescue or to deliver. And you'll notice that
it's pointing toward the future. We shall be saved. But up to this point, he's been talking about our salvation in the past. What's up here? In the New Testament, salvation is spoken of in three tenses, as you may know. There are times when it's spoken of in the past tense as something that has been accomplished, Ephesians 2 .8, for by grace you are having been saved, literally it says. And it looks to the past, at the work of God in saving us at that moment that we trusted
Christ. That's what we call justification. But there's also the present tense used in the New Testament when it speaks about something God is doing right now in saving us. For example, over in James chapter 2 and verse 21, it speaks about the word of God, which when it is implanted in our hearts, is able to save our souls. And there it's not talking about... salvation originally, but it's talking about saving our souls right
now from the pollution of sin in our lives. It's able to save us, therefore, from heartaches and griefs in this life. The Word of God is able to save us right now, present tense. And then there is the future sense. The Bible speaks about salvation that is yet to come. For example, in Hebrews 9, verse 28, it says that Jesus Christ is coming the second time for those who look for him unto salvation. The writer is saying in the future he is coming to bring salvation.
And so when we look at the word salvation or the verb save in the New Testament, it helps us to determine if he's talking past tense in our justification, present tense, sanctification. or our future tense, which we call glorification. Now the blessed truth is that once God has begun the work, he's not satisfied until it's completed. For you to trust the Lord Jesus Christ is for you to be glorified as far as God is concerned. You see, he's apart from time. He's eternal.
He can look at time and be separate from it. And therefore, when he sees us place our faith in Christ at that same time, he sees us in Christ as already being glorified with Christ. But we're down here in September 26th, I think, 1982. Time is a process for us. And for us, there is past, there is present, and there is future. Now here, the apostle is talking about something in the future. He's talking about the deliverance of God. with regards to something that is yet to
come to pass. What is it? Well, in verse 9 he says, We shall be saved from the wrath of God. So he's saying that there is some aspect of God's wrath in the future that we are going to be saved from, delivered from, because we have been justified. When we think of God's wrath in the future, often we think, to the very end of things, when the Lord is going to bring before his great white throne of judgment all of the lost, of all of the ages, for their final and full judgment.
And it says that on that occasion, those whose names are not written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. You see, that's the eternal destiny of the one who turns from God's provision of salvation in Jesus Christ. There is no other destiny. There is no other course for the soul than to head for eternal separation from God. And you see, that is the ultimate wrath of God. Now when we talk about wrath, we're talking about God's indignation
with sin. We sometimes get the idea that it's a flash in the pan. We sometimes express that kind of anger, don't we? Something hits us wrong and we respond sinfully, perhaps. There are times, I think, that we can respond righteously in anger. Jesus did. In fact, in Mark, this very same word anger is used of him. It's not used of a sinful anger. But most of the time when this word wrath is used, it's used of God. And it refers to his holy response to sin. You see, God is holy. He
is offended by our sin. He is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. Sin is darkness, and the two cannot dwell together. God's response to sin is wrath and judgment. That's the ultimate wrath that we've just talked about. But there are other aspects of God's wrath that are yet to come as well. For example, the tribulation period. When we use that word, tribulation, we're thinking of the last seven years of this age
in which we live. I wish we had time to go into details as to why it's seven years and some of the things that will occur during that period of time. A fascinating study in itself. That time is called in the Bible the tribulation. Christians are promised tribulation now, but that is the tribulation, and it's described in Revelation chapter 6 and verse 17 as the day of their wrath. Their, referring back to the previous verse, where it speaks about God and
the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. All the judgments are poured out in that period of time. God's wrath is delivered to a Christ -rejecting world of lawlessness. That is the tribulation. Zephaniah, the Old Testament prophet, in chapter 1, verses 14 through 18, speaks about the day of the Lord that is coming, and he calls it a day of wrath, a day of fury. He's talking about this. period that we called the Tribulation. Now what the promise is for us here is that we're going to
be saved from the wrath of God. And I believe that it not only includes that final judgment. We're not going to be there. Our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We are not going to be before God at that great white throne judgment. We're going to be delivered from that. And I believe with all of my heart that it also includes The wrath of God that's going to be poured out upon the world during the tribulation. That we're going to be delivered before the tribulation
through the rapture of the church. Now, what basis is there for thinking that we're going to be delivered from all of God's wrath? Well, you'll notice that he says here in verse 9, Having been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from God's wrath. And then again in verse 10, he says, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son. In other words, the apostle says, we are going to be delivered from the future wrath of God because of something that took place
in the past. And he points to Calvary. He says, because God's son died there, because his blood was offered up as a sacrifice for our sins, we shall be saved from God's wrath. You see, when the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross, he took all of God's wrath for you. He took the judgment for your sins upon himself. God's wrath fell on Calvary that day. And when you and I come to Calvary and receive the Lord Jesus Christ, we come to a place where God's wrath has fallen
once. and for all, never to fall there again. Let me illustrate it this way. Several years ago, I read about a forester in the West who was fighting a forest fire. And through carelessness really on his part, he got trapped in the fire. He found himself in a ring of fire with no escape. But because of his training, he knew one way that he might be able to save himself. And so he lit another fire and allowed it to burn over an acre or so, to burn all the brush off of it.
And he got into the middle of that scorched piece of earth and dug a hole and pulled that hot soil around himself and buried himself under that soil as best he could. And the forest fire came and burned around the patch that was already burned and went on. and that forester was saved. Why? Because that fire could only burn once in that spot. And you see at Calvary, God's wrath
was poured out upon sin. When you and I trust the Savior who died there in our place, then we don't have to worry about the wrath of God again. It can never fall upon Jesus Christ again. It came upon him once. He came the first time to deal with sin, and that was once and for all. The ground around Calvary, so to speak, has been scorched already. We stand on safe ground. We stand in grace. And we could go on to say this, too. You and I who are saved are members of the
body of Christ, aren't we? We are so identified with Jesus Christ that it can be said that whatever happens to us happens to Jesus Christ. Illustration. Remember when Paul was on his way to Damascus, he was going there to strike out against Christians. He was a zealous Pharisee. He had thrown many Christians into prison. He was on his way to Damascus to attack more Christians. But on his way, the Lord Jesus Christ met him. And Jesus said to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
who? Me. He doesn't say, why are you persecuting those Christians? He says, why are you persecuting me? Because you see, when Paul struck out against the Christians, he was striking out against Jesus Christ himself. Now think with me. God's wrath has already fallen upon Jesus Christ. It is unthinkable that God would allow his wrath, or that there be any reason for his wrath, to come upon his
Son again. Therefore, I am perfectly convinced that we, the body of Jesus Christ, we who are one with him, will be delivered from all aspects of God's wrath in the future. What guarantee do I have, though, that I'm not going to fall before then? Or that I'm not going to fail God? Or that with all the Christians in the world, God isn't going to forget little old me? How do I know that? We have a guarantee. And you'll notice that it says in verse 10 that we shall
be saved by his life or in his life. In other words, we are guaranteed deliverance from God's wrath and future glorification because Jesus lives for us. Because he died for us, yes, but because he lives for us, too. Turn in your Bible to Hebrews chapter 7 for a moment. As we look at a passage that deals with this wonderful subject
of Christ's present ministry for us. We often think of what he's done in the past, and we think of what he's going to do in the future, but we don't so often think about what Jesus is doing right now on our behalf. In this chapter, there's a contrast between the old covenant and its priesthood with the new covenant and Jesus Christ, the high priest, the great high priest. In verse 22, it says, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better
covenant. Notice that word guarantee. And the former priest, on the other hand, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing. But he, on the other hand, because he abides forever, holds his priesthood permanently. Hence also he is able to say forever or completely or to the uttermost, Those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession
for them. Do you understand that even in those times when you fail, as all of us do, that there is one in heaven who prays for you faithfully? You may think there's nobody who cares about you, there's nobody who prays for you, and friend, you're wrong. Because as a believer in Jesus Christ, you have a great high priest, the Lord himself, who stands at the right hand of God continually remembering you in prayer. You say, how can he remember me and all the other Christians?
He can do that because he's God. He is interceding for you and he is able to save you to the uttermost by his life. Roy Lauren, in his book, on Romans, has a helpful paragraph. He says, The assurance of salvation from sin is Christ dying, while the assurance of salvation from falling is Christ living. We were saved by Christ, the Lamb of God, dying. We are kept saved by Christ, the High Priest of God, living. If the death of Christ was the means of our reconciliation, The life
of Christ is the means of our preservation. How many of you have a will? Would you lift your hand? Well, we have at least one attorney here today that I know of. He's got fertile ground. You should have a will. As somebody said, if you don't have a will, the government has one for you. That's right. Did you know Jesus Christ had a will? He reveals his will in the Garden
of Gethsemane before he died. He said, Father, I pray that those who believe on me will be with me in glory, that they may behold the glory that I had with you before the world was. That's his will, that every one of us who trusts him someday be in heaven with him. Now, when you have a will, It's not brought into enforcement until you what? Right. You have to die. It's a legal document, but it's not enforced until you die. And then someone has to execute it or administrate it.
And you're wise if you select somebody who's going to do that for you. Obviously, you can't do it. And so somebody you trust, To follow through needs to do it on your behalf. Now let me share with you a wonderful truth about the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. His will is, Father, I want those who trust me to be in heaven. And then he died so that that might come to pass. Without his death, we could never be there. And
so his will came into enforcement. And then he was raised from the dead so that he himself could administrate his will. Do you think that he's going to allow one person who's trusted him to fail to show up in heaven someday, fully glorified? Not by any means. You see, he is the guarantee that we are delivered and shall be delivered from the wrath of God. Now there's a second blessing we're going to look at today. It's number seven
in our list, and it's joy in God. He says in verse 11, not only this, but we also exalt in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That word exalt means to glory, to boast, to joy. I think we could even say to brag. It's not a sinful bragging. It's a proper bragging. He has used this word twice before. He says in verse 2 of chapter 5 that We exert or we brag in the hope of the glory of God. And then in the next verse he says we also brag about our troubles. Now
too many of us do that, do we? We brag more about heaven than we do our trials, but he says we ought to brag about them evenly. Because our trials simply prove that God's working in our lives. Mary says that we... Rejoice, we boast in God himself. Not just in his working, not just in his blessings, but we boast in God himself. We may enjoy God. No unsafe person in all the world can do that. You and I are destined to
enjoy God in this life and forever. Perhaps the Westminster Catechism, Shorter Catechism, has put it, most succinctly, when it says, What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and what? Enjoy Him forever. And it's not talking about heaven only, though it says that in His presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand there are pleasures forevermore. But it's talking about right here and now, folks. You and I can enjoy God in this life. We can boast and rejoice in
him here. Are you doing that? Is that joy a reality to you? Why can we do this? Because it says we've received the reconciliation. The word atonement in the King James Version is a bad translation of the word. It is the word reconciliation. Jesus Christ has purchased for us not an atonement, a covering for sin, But he has made possible the reconciliation. What that means is that whereas before there was a barrier between us and God, now the situation has been thoroughly changed,
which is what the word means. So the man is rendered savable. He can now come to God through Jesus Christ. We have received the reconciliation,
and God intends for us to enjoy it. him why is it that there are so many christians who don't seem to be enjoying god there are some christians that i think i would almost swear were soaking pickle juice or lemon juice or some sour substance every night when they go to bed because in the morning they get up and all through the day miserable to be around As a friend of mine says, there are sorrier rascals. There are some Christians
who are pretty sorry. Why is it that there are some Christians who are not experiencing the joy of God? Do you want me to tell you? There are several reasons, but I've got time to share just one. And that is sin. You see, sin is a thief. It robs us of the joy of our salvation. I'm talking to some people today who are without much joy. And that reason hits you square in the heart. Because you've been living in sin. A Christian, yes, but you've been a prodigal
away from the Lord. God wants you to experience fullness of joy. It doesn't mean that you're always going to have a tickler going on down inside. But it means that there is going to be such an inner contentment that it will produce an inner joy that cannot be taken away by circumstances, by people. It's tragically possible for us to substitute cheap thrills and passing sinful pleasures for the joy that we may have in God. Is that
where you are today? I tell you, God wants you to know that fullness of joy, and you can know it if, as a believer today, you'll come back to that place where you started your prodigal journey and will come home to the Father. Will you do that today? All of the blessings of justification come through Jesus Christ. If you are trusting in anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ for your salvation, the blessings we've talked about in this paragraph cannot be experienced
by you. But if today you would trust the Lord Jesus Christ, you may become the heir of these blessings and know them. And as a Christian, Are you living in the place of blessing? The place of blessing is the place of obedience, isn't it? I heard a story several years ago about an immigrant. This man did not speak any English.
He came from a European country. His family was concerned about him, of course, and so from their city in the Midwest, which was his final destination, They sent a ticket to New York, and they had written him in advance saying, when you get off the ship, there will be a ticket waiting for you so that you may come to our city in the Midwest
and live with us. And so the man got to the city, got to the dock, rather, in New York where the boat disembarked, and he picked up the ticket, managed to find out where that was, and headed off on his journey. On the day he was supposed to arrive by train in the Midwest, the family was at the station, but he didn't get off the train. Of course, they were concerned about that, and so they began to trace where he might be.
And back up the line, they traced from station to station until finally somewhere in the state of New York, they found him walking along the railroad tracks. And so some people went up to him, and began to ask him questions. He couldn't really understand English, so he simply pulled out the ticket and showed them the ticket, that he had the right to walk on the tracks. You see, nobody told him that the ticket gave him permission to ride the train. That little illustration describes
some Christians. They've got the ticket of justification stuck in their pocket. They're walking through a dry, miserable experience in this life because they're living in their own strength and for themselves when God has provided for them to ride and to know the joy of the blessings we've talked about here. Christian, does that describe you today? Are you walking? Will you get on the train today? Let's bow together. Father, this
message finds all of us at some point. I pray that if we are at that place of disobedience and dryness and spiritual coldness, that you will bring us under such intense conviction that we will repent of the sins that have led us away as prodigals, so that we may come back into fellowship with you. I pray for that Christian here today, or for those several perhaps, who need to come and surrender to your Lordship and rededicate
themselves to a faithful walk with God. And then I pray for that one or several who may be here who have never trusted Christ. Pray that today they'll understand the joy that comes, the fullness of salvation that can be theirs by the simple act of faith in receiving your free gift. God bless in this invitation, I pray, and may we do business with you. Amen.