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Righteousness

The Blessings of Righteousness

John Carter · Sunday, 22 June 2025 · Romans 5:1-11 · 46:23 · 7,109 words

Romans S9 · 5:1-11 Flushing

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

Romans 5 is examined to show what believers receive after being justified by faith. Paul lists peace with God, access to His presence, joy that endures hardships, hope that does not disappoint, love poured out by the Spirit, and the promise of salvation and reconciliation. The pastor urges listeners to stop letting fear and guilt define their relationship and to draw near to God, walking in these gifts daily. Anyone who has not yet trusted Christ is invited to turn to Him for peace, forgiveness, and a restored relationship.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

peace 44 justify 38 access 26 reconcile 18 joy 19 support 12 aspect 16 highlight 11 green 7 vbs 7 wrath 17 walk 30

Topics

Justification 11 Faith 3 The Wrath of God 3 The Holy Spirit 2 Hope 2 Salvation 1 Judgment 1 Sin 1 Grace 1 Righteousness 1 Atonement & Sacrifice 1

Scripture referenced 23

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 15 5:02 Romans 15 5:18 Romans 5 5:28 Romans 5 5:43 Romans 5 5:49 Romans 5 6:00 Romans 5 6:05 Romans 1 6:50 Romans 5 6:56 Romans 5 7:33 Romans 5:1 8:16 Romans 1 11:21 Isaiah 53:5 12:00 Romans 5:2 12:54 Romans 5:2 16:36 Romans 5:3 17:48 Romans 5 25:14 Romans 5:5 25:14 Romans 5:7 26:25 Romans 5:8 27:04 Romans 5:9 32:32 Romans 2 33:40 Romans 2:10 37:31

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 9 lines, 0:39. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey, everyone. My name is Lorena, and thanks for checking out this message today.

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Thanks again for joining us, and we hope you are blessed by today's message.

Morning, everyone.

Man, I don't know if you noticed or not, but when you walked in, it kind of looked like the Wild West, didn't it?

Man, I'm excited about what's going on next week with VBS, and I hope you are as well, right?

If you're not a volunteer for that, that's okay.

You can help support by being in prayer for VBS.

Man, I've already heard reports from some of our other locations.

Pastor Jay from Waterford, he was sharing with me how he, I think it was his sister or his sister-in-law,

I can't remember exactly which person it was, but they got to lead two little boys to Jesus,

and that's what VBS is all about, right?

Pointing kids to who Jesus is and helping them understand that they, even at their young age,

can enjoy and have a relationship with God.

And so I want to ask you as a church to be praying for VBS.

This last week, some of you may have seen this, but we got to be a part of our local,

summer fest parade and sharing out invites.

We passed out just over a thousand toys into the community to help invite them,

come and bring their kids to VBS.

I, as a pastor, have been praying for over a hundred kids to come to VBS.

I'm just going to, I don't know if it'll happen.

Like, I have no idea if it'll happen.

It's in the Lord's hands, right?

But I really want to see us be a huge impact in our community,

for the kids in our community, and to let them know that Jesus loves them.

And so I'm excited to share with you.

All the things that are happening, and that's happening not just here in Flushing,

but across all of our different locations.

And so this morning, before I get in the message,

I kind of want to share some things, just be honest with you,

and open about our finances as a church, right?

And I know when we talk about money at church, it always gets uncomfortable, okay?

It's just as uncomfortable for me too.

But I want to be honest with you guys about where we're at and what's happening

and this excitement of things that God's doing in our community, right?

And so we have had a shortfall in our giving.

So we have an annual spending plan that we operate at the beginning of the year.

Our deacons, they approve it.

And we are falling short of that spending plan by 7%.

This is globally, right?

Across all nine locations.

And from year to year, our giving has fallen about 3% from last year in comparison to this year.

And I'm not saying this to scare you, to freak you out, or to even guilt you in any way.

I know a lot of pastors have done that and use that as an aspect of manipulation.

That's not at all what we're doing.

I just want to be frank, be forward with you, to tell you where we are as a church.

In Flushing itself, right, we are about 19% short from last year's giving to this year's giving, okay?

And so we as a church recognize that.

We know that.

Every single one of our locations falls into one of three categories.

They are either a church that is supporting another location or another church, right?

So they fall into the supporting.

They are either self-supporting.

Or they are being supported.

Now, here at Flushing, we've been part of the River organization for four years.

And so we fall in the supported category.

And I'm super, super grateful for the other locations that help support this location.

Because I see God doing incredible, incredible things here in this community.

But my goal as a pastor, and you can ask the deacons, we pray about this often, that we will become a self-supported church.

Not only just a self-supported church, but a church that is able...

That is able to support other churches.

And so that's our goal.

That's our desire.

And again, I'm not saying this to scare anybody, to guilt anybody.

But I want you, just as we're praying and being excited about VBS, be praying about how you or God can use you to help support this location.

And so I just wanted to throw that out to you, give you kind of an update of where we're at.

Not that I'm prodding for your money.

Please know that.

But I want to be very frank.

And I want to be very straightforward about where we are.

Where we are as a location.

And I think that there are many in here that desire to see God use this location for his kingdom.

Right?

I think of the church in 2 Corinthians, the Macedonian church.

You can read it in 2 Corinthians.

I think it's in the 8th chapter.

Where their heart's desire and their giving was to worship.

In fact, Paul speaks about it in Romans 15.

As he's carrying this gift to the Jerusalem church.

Right?

This church in Macedonia is supportive.

Supporting and encouraging the very church in Jerusalem.

And you see their heart's desires because they did it.

I think Romans 15 says it pleased them to do it.

And that's the heart we want to do it.

We want to do it with joy.

This heart of sacrifice.

This heart of intentionality in our giving.

So I just wanted to give you that little update before we walk into a Romans 5 chapter.

Thanks for letting me share that with you.

And I want to encourage you to keep praying and asking God to use us in this location.

Okay?

So if you have your Bibles, we're going to get into where Paul is preaching or teaching in Romans 5.

So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and open it to Romans 5.

Speaking of giving, this passage is actually, this isn't a giving message by any shape or form.

But there's a lot that correlates in this aspect of giving that you're going to see tie into Romans 5.

Because Romans 5, as we've walked through the first four chapters of Romans,

Paul has laid down the foundation of what justification.

Is and how justification works.

Talks about the condemnation that happens to fall on all of humanity.

Right?

Every human being falls short of the glory of God.

And so we find ourselves in this place where we need a Savior.

And so when we walk through what Paul has laid down, this aspect of faith plays a huge part in what justification is and how it works.

And Paul walked through that aspect of justification and faith and the promises.

That are laid out for us who put our trust and faith in Jesus.

So really all of chapter 1 through 4 is how does justification work.

And now we're going into chapter 5 that's going to talk about what happens after we have justification.

And man, I hope you know this.

I had three cups of coffee this morning.

And that's not what excites me.

Like I might be a little rowdy this morning.

I might be a little energetic.

It's not because of the coffee.

You're about to see the...

The benefits, if you will, of what comes with justification.

What comes with knowing Jesus and putting our faith and trust in Him.

And so we're going to be in Romans chapter 5.

We're going to read the first few verses.

Before we do, let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to help us see what Paul lays down as what happens after we have this justification.

Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to You so very grateful.

Amidst everything that's going on in our lives.

Lord, the busyness.

Lord, even in the struggles of the day-to-day.

Lord, we know that we can come to You at any time.

And You are with us.

So this morning, Lord, I just ask the presence of Your Holy Spirit.

Lord, remove me as a person and let Your Word speak loudly and clearly in the lives of all of us.

I ask this in Jesus' holy name.

Alright, we're going to start with Romans chapter 5, verse 1.

In the very first part of this, it says this.

Now, anytime you see a therefore, that's a connecting word.

Therefore, because of everything he's covered in the first four chapters, he goes into since we have been justified by faith.

Because of what he's laid down foundationally.

Because we have been justified by faith.

That's the therefore.

That's what everything he's talked about in the last four chapters.

You're going to see him start list some of the things that come with that justification.

In fact, I love to highlight in my Bible.

So oftentimes, I'll tell you to highlight certain things.

In this passage, I did it in this way.

I took two different color highlighters.

One is highlighted in green.

Everything that we get because of this justification.

Now, I know that sounds kind of maybe selfish.

Maybe that's the right word.

It's really to help clarify what comes with justification.

And so I used a green highlighter for everything that we receive, that we get because of the

justification we have in Jesus Christ.

And in blue, I highlight what that specific thing is.

And you'll see this layout over the next 11 verses.

So one of the very first phrases that I highlighted is this aspect of we have peace.

I highlight we have peace in green and the word peace is in blue.

So it helps me see, hey, what comes with justification?

One of the first things that Paul lays out is we have peace.

We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Man, peace is a wonderful thing.

I mean, I don't know if you've paid attention to the news, but we're in a world full of war, right?

When we talk about this peace with God, we're not just talking about a ceasefire.

We're talking about total peace, like the kind of peace that doesn't have any kind of enmity within each other's group, the group.

So when Paul says, hey, we have peace with God, it's not like God's just,

saying, okay, for now, I'm good with you.

No, it's true, genuine.

It's not a ceasefire with God.

It is true reconciliation.

It's true peace.

And Paul promises in this aspect, he's laying down what comes with this justification.

He says, we have peace.

And we got to know that we, before we have this justification, before we walk through what it looks like to put our faith in the work of Jesus,

we have to recognize we are.

We are at odds with God, not just sort of, kind of, but we are at war.

We're against God.

We are, the scripture says, enemies of God.

And because we are enemies with God, as Paul says earlier in chapter one, he says there will be a day when the wrath of God will be revealed from heaven on mankind.

This is part of what Paul laid out.

So when we receive this justification, again, I want to emphasize this, it's not just this temporary aspect of, oh, I have peace.

It is an affirmation.

It is an affirmation that God is no longer at war with me and you.

God is no longer our enemy.

We have genuine, true peace.

In fact, as Isaiah 53, 5 says it in these words, the chastisement that fell upon the person of Jesus at the cross, that chastisement brought us peace.

See, the work of the cross and what happens at the cross is so substantial.

And when we put our faith in that work, in the person of Jesus, and we receive this free gift that Paul has been laying out in the first four chapters, we receive this peace with God.

How many of you are excited that if you know Jesus, you have this peace?

Like this is something that we should be celebrated and excited about.

It's wonderful.

Here's the deal, though.

Paul doesn't just stop with this.

You see, this aspect of peace is not just the end of hostility.

It also is the.

Opening to a new relationship.

Let's continue and read what Paul says in verse 2.

He says, through him, that is the person of Jesus.

Here's that phrase you will see.

We have.

I highlight that in green.

We have also obtained access.

I highlight the word access in blue.

That's what we get.

Not only do we have peace with God.

No longer are we enemies.

No longer are we considered hostile towards God.

But God also opens up the door and he says, hey.

Come on in.

You have access.

Come on into my place.

Come on into my home.

That is real and true peace.

Right?

Like it's not just this front you're putting on.

It's authentic.

God says, hey, we're good now.

So come on in.

You have access.

Look at as he says.

You have access by this faith into this grace in which we stand.

We can stand in confidence in the house of God.

In the presence of God.

And have access to him.

Before we were enemies.

We didn't have any value of God.

We didn't even care about God.

And now as we are completely against him.

He says, while we were enemies.

We're going to see this in a few verses.

Christ died for us.

Not only does God give us and offer us peace through this justification.

He offers us access.

Come on in.

It's this relational aspect that he's laying down fundamentally here.

In fact, that word access.

If you go into it and look at the word in Greek.

It has to do with being ushered into the presence of royalty.

Here's the king of kings.

The maker of the universe.

Who says, hey, come on in.

Let's be friends.

He stakes it a step further.

And we'll cover this in a little bit.

He says, not only let's just be friends.

But I'm going to consider you as one of my own children.

We have access like a child has access to a parent.

Come on in to the royal courts of heaven.

Anytime you need to talk to me.

Anytime you're struggling.

Listen, I'm not just going to end the war and bring peace.

But I'm also going to give you access to me at any time you need.

I think it's in Hebrews where it talks about the aspect of approaching the throne room of God with boldness.

That's pretty amazing.

I don't know what you're going through in life.

Everybody has difficulties.

Everybody has struggles.

Everybody has things that kind of gnaws at them, if you will.

But to know that you have a God that you can go to at any time.

No matter what the struggle.

No matter what.

No matter what the anxiety.

No matter what the fear.

That you have a God that you can go to and talk to and consult and counsel with and receive encouragement from.

How wonderful is that?

How encouraging is that?

That's wonderful.

So here we go as we're walking through this.

We see Paul continue.

He says, not only once we're inside, does God not just tolerate us?

Okay, because sometimes that may seem like what it feels like.

God's tolerating me.

I know there are days when I feel that way.

Maybe you do too.

But God promises he'll fill us with this joy even when life is difficult.

Look at the next as we continue.

He says this, verse 2,

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into his grace in which we now stand.

He says, and we rejoice in hope.

I put that whole phrase in green.

The word rejoice is in blue.

That's what we get.

We get the joy of the Lord.

When we understand.

How justification works, which is what Paul spent the last four chapters in.

He also tells us what comes with that.

Once we receive it, we accept it.

This is what is promised to us by God.

Peace, access, and joy.

How many of you need some joy in your life?

I know I need it, right?

The scripture is very clear.

We receive joy.

We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Not my glory.

I've got nothing to...

There's nothing in my life that's really glorifiable.

But I can tell you this.

There's enough that God's done for me that I can rejoice in his glory.

And what he's done for me and for you.

Look at this as he continues, verse 3.

Not only that.

Not only do we rejoice in the hope, the good things, the good times.

Look at this next line.

But we rejoice in our suffering.

Well, that seems odd.

Now, that's not the way I normally think.

In our difficulty, we rejoice.

That's off.

That's got to be a typo, right?

I mean, that's what I'm thinking.

Definitely a typo.

Somebody translated that wrong.

It's legit.

It's the real deal.

That even in our difficulties, even in our difficulties, we can rejoice.

And when I think of this verse, and when I've worked through this in my own head,

I love, and many of you may know this, may not know it.

It's called the Fox's Book of Martyr.

It's a documented, some of them are very small.

They just talk.

They just talk about individuals that have walked in the faith

that had laid their life down for the very hope of the gospel.

It goes from the apostles, and you can see even into modern times,

some of the accounts that have happened for those who trusted in God

and lost their life because of their faith, because of what they believe in.

And I read that every time I have my own pity party.

Listen, it happens, even for pastors, believe it or not.

And the reason I do is because nothing assures me,

gives me more confidence, gives me more excitement

than reading those who have walked before me,

knowing that even in the suffering, they can rejoice.

In the most difficult times, you see the accounts recorded,

and they, listen, it's not like they're like jumping up, hooray, I'm dying.

No, it's they have the most confidence in the most difficult situations of life.

And they have a full assurance and hope,

and confidence in what God said he would do.

So whether they lose their life, which we would consider the most tragic thing,

they are still full of joy knowing that God is who he said he is.

So then when I compare that to maybe, you know, I don't know,

a project didn't go the way I wanted it,

or maybe my health isn't where it should be,

and it's a drag, and it's difficult, and it's hard.

When I read those stories, I go, okay, these guys knew what was up.

And it helps set me in a perspective,

of knowing, hey, listen, even in my difficulty,

maybe that week's work was extra stressful.

Maybe there's a little bit more to be concerned or fearful of because of circumstances.

In those days, I can still come back to and listen to this aspect of,

hey, I can have hope in what God did.

And here's what's really cool about that.

No matter what I go through in life, worst case scenario, losing my very life,

none of that compares to the joy we have in the gospel,

in this promise.

The promise that we get in the justification of God.

Did you hear what I just said there?

Listen to what I said there.

It's hard.

Listen, I'm not saying it's easy.

It's hard, but there's nothing we can go through in life

that even compares to the joy that comes in knowing that God has got me.

He's got me.

He offers me peace.

He offers me access.

He gives me joy.

Look at what he says as he says this, as he's talking about this,

knowing, this is kind of, if you will say this,

the chain of growth in our faith.

Paul lays it down very clearly.

He says, knowing that suffering produces endurance.

I don't know if you've ever gone through something hard

and the first response that comes to your mind is,

nope, I'm done, I'm out, right?

Listen, I've been there.

Like, man, this is way too hard.

I'm done.

Get me out of here.

So Bella, my youngest, convinced me to get goats.

Now, if you've ever had goats, they can be tricky.

They can be hard.

I would be lying if I told you I haven't

thought already several times in my mind,

we should get rid of these suckers, right?

Like, this is the reality.

When things are hard, our natural response is to say,

nope, EJAC, get me out of here.

I want it comfortable.

I want it easy.

I don't want to go through this.

Here, Paul says that, man, when we go through difficulties,

and listen, I'm being facetious and kind of joking

as I'm walking through goats, but man,

I know some of you are going through

some hard, difficult things.

But that produces, Paul says, endurance.

And endurance, as he continues, produces character.

It produces in us this confidence,

the character of confidence, not in ourselves,

but in what God has done.

This character that comes out of us

as we go through suffering is, hey,

I know that as I walk through that really difficult thing

in life, I know, I have the confidence,

I have the character that God is with me.

He doesn't leave me.

Maybe you're battling a sin, and you're like,

man, I don't know if I'm ever going to overcome this sin.

Listen, in that struggle, in that sin, in that suffering,

there is endurance.

Hey, I'm going to resist this.

This doesn't feel good.

I know my natural tendency is to want to walk this way,

but I have the confidence in what God said.

And that's going to produce a character in me that says,

even in the most difficult situations,

I can always fall back on God.

Does that excite you?

Does that encourage you?

This is what Paul is walking through,

what comes with this justification by faith.

And of course, this all leads to this character

producing us, in us, a hope, a hope that's not,

not built on or sustained by us.

It's built on and sustained by the person of Jesus.

When we put our confidence,

does that mean I'm walking 24-7 with a smile on my face?

No.

We get it, right?

We talked about this last week.

It's difficult.

Sometimes we go through this faith in delay

when we're waiting for and we're hoping for

and we're wanting the answer.

And it doesn't seem like it's ever coming, right?

Faith in delay.

Abraham is that example, even in life,

listen, we're not ignorant of the facts.

We go through difficult things in life.

But having a solid place to stand

where you have peace with God,

you have access with him,

and he, he promises that even in our suffering,

it's good.

We can rejoice in him and the hope we have in him.

I love this as Paul continues in this passage.

Yeah, our hope endures because God has already given us

the ultimate assurance of his love.

Look at the next verses in Romans chapter five, verse five.

And hope does not put us to shame

because God's love, I have love highlighted in blue,

has been poured out into our hearts.

What do we get?

We get God's love poured out into our hearts

and he continues through the Holy Spirit

who has been given to us.

There's what we get.

We get the love of God poured out into us,

into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

Now, what does this mean?

What does this mean?

Look at as he goes in here,

he gives us some understanding.

He kind of breaks it out for us.

He says this,

for while we were still weak,

at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

I just wanna, I know this isn't common

for pastors to say much,

but I am one of the ungodly.

We've walked through that in the first four chapters,

that there's none righteous.

Verse seven, for one would scarcely die

for a righteous person.

You know, like it's conceivable that man,

maybe there's a really good person,

somebody that you esteem highly

and they have good character and they're noble.

Man, maybe someone might lay their life down

for a righteous person.

That's conceivable.

And perhaps for a good person,

maybe he's not righteous,

but he's just like, man, he's my buddy.

He's good.

We're good.

We're on good terms, right?

Like I might do that.

You might do that for a good person.

But look at this in verse eight.

But God showed his love for you and for me,

for us.

And that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us.

While we were still enemies of God,

he chose to lay his life down for me and for you.

This is how he shows his love to us.

This is what we're talking about when we talk about,

hey, I've received this justification by faith.

What now happens to me?

I change from a person that is selfish,

motivated only for myself,

for my own well-being,

for the things that I want in this world.

And there's this love of God

that is poured into me

and it starts to change me

through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We will get into this later in Romans.

It's called sanctification.

But it changes me

because I'm no longer thinking of myself

and my selfish motives

and everything that's all about me.

And I start to think like God thinks,

his love for me,

where I am able to think of,

let's go through what is the two main commandments,

loving God and then loving others.

It changes us.

Our priorities shift,

not because of the love that I had,

because the love,

that quite frankly,

when we are without Christ,

we're all focused on ourselves.

That's the worldly definition of loving myself.

When we have this love of God

poured into us through the Holy Spirit,

it shifts our mentality.

It shifts our priority

where we start to think about

what pleases God

and how we can show that love to other people.

This is why we as a church

are so excited about sharing the gospel

to our community,

to our families,

to our friends,

to our coworkers,

to our loved ones.

Because we have received the love of God.

Think about this.

What Paul's walking us through

is this aspect of where we have peace.

Not only do we have peace,

but we have access.

And that access,

it shifts to this aspect of

in our own lives where we go to,

man, I had a joy.

That's the word.

That's what I was looking for.

Access to joy that comes in us

and that joy goes into love, right?

Like this is a process that Paul has shown us,

hey, because of the justification we have

in our faith,

in our hope,

we receive these things.

It's transformative.

Who doesn't want peace?

Say, I'm good.

I love being at war.

So I'm going to make a confession

and I didn't run this by Liz.

Believe it or not,

but me and Liz fight sometimes.

Sometimes it's tough.

It's hard in a marriage, right?

Like this is, listen,

sometimes this might be a shocker too.

Me and my kids,

we don't see eye to eye.

I know, big shocker, right?

So in that,

in that tension, right?

In that disruption,

that chaos that exists within our house,

there's no peace.

That's not what we want.

That's not what we strive for.

I'm sure you guys can understand this, right?

Like when there's tension,

when you're in a marriage

and you're there like,

okay, I'm not talking to you for a while

or you're insisting on,

hey, listen to me.

I am right.

You have to listen.

Liz puts up with a lot, guys.

Pray for her.

The point is this,

that in that tension,

there's no peace.

Man, we desire as a people,

we want that peace in our home.

Listen, you're not going to have that peace in your home

if you don't have peace with God.

You want to be able to work out your differences

in your marriage or even with your kids.

That's where access comes in.

And as you have that access

and you work through your difficulties

in relationships,

right?

It's no different with God.

He's going to start working on us

because God's perfect and we're not.

And he does it in a gentle,

caring, loving way.

He gives us the joy

even through,

through difficult things

we have to hear sometimes.

Like, I don't want to hear

that I'm wretched.

I don't want to hear that,

but the Lord's kind and gentle

and caring enough to say,

hey, wretched Carter, you.

I love you.

I care for you.

Let's fix this together.

This is incredible.

What he is laying down for us,

what comes with the Holy Spirit.

Not only is his love a gift,

but the access through the Holy Spirit

itself is a gift.

As he continues in here,

he says this,

as we see this,

this was God's love for us

was demonstrated

in why we were still his enemy.

He didn't say, hey,

fix it up first

and then come see me.

How many of you are glad?

That's, that's,

God didn't come to me

and say, hey, Carter,

fix it up before you come see me.

And then maybe we have a chance

to talk it out.

He said, listen,

I'll take you right where you're at

while you're still a sinner.

And listen to what Paul

then carries us into verse nine.

Since therefore we have now

been justified by his blood,

right?

He said,

he's bringing us back to this,

what we have got in this justification,

what we receive because of the work,

the faith that we put into Christ.

Much more shall we be saved

by him from the wrath of God.

You see, the promise of salvation

is not just in the here and now,

but it's also in the future.

Praise the Lord.

Look at, I highlighted,

we, we will be saved by him

from the wrath of God in green.

What do we get out of that?

What's the blue line, so to speak?

The blue line is that word saved.

We have salvation

when we walk in this faith,

in this justification that comes

by trusting in what Jesus did at the cross.

We are justified now

and we're saved from the wrath to come.

And Paul talks about that wrath

that is to come earlier in chapters one.

And he lays it out even deeper

in this, this aspect of chapter two,

where, listen, you could be,

you could be the righteous priest.

You could, you could be the teacher

and miss this whole point of who God is.

If you think somehow you're the one

that's making you good enough,

you're missing it.

If you think I am, I am got it under control.

I'm good.

Me and God, we're tight.

And you've never actually trusted

in the work of Jesus.

I'm a good person.

It's a very common thing to say.

And I'm not saying you're a bad person,

an evil person in that sense.

But when we recognize what sin is in our life,

when we recognize what we have done

to a holy, righteous God,

There's not a single person,

not a pastor, not a Sunday,

school teacher, not a deacon,

not a single person that's ever going

to be able to stand before the Lord

and say, hey, Lord, I'm good enough.

Give me access.

We're already at peace, God.

It's not how life works.

And here, Paul says, we get,

we get the salvation.

And I want you to understand

when God's wrath is being poured out,

it's not like that's an impulsive wrath.

Like oftentimes we think of God's wrath

in our own terms as humans,

where maybe somebody cuts us off

we're angry.

Well, I'll show them.

And the next thing you know,

you've got road rage.

Or somebody doesn't do something

the way you wanted it to be done.

And it irritates you and it irks you.

And so instantly you're in this spit of rage, right?

That's not how God's wrath works.

It's not impulsive.

God's wrath is nowhere near impulsive.

His wrath is what we would consider

a righteous judgment

that falls down on humanity

that has ignored him

time after time after time after time.

His wrath falls as a judgment

for those who have not only ignored him,

but have rebelled against him

time after time after time after time.

Scripture speaks of God's character

as one who is patient and slow to anger.

That describes his character

as it pertains to his wrath.

He's not somebody that loses his lid,

flips off the handle,

just nilly-willy however he wants.

That's not his character.

His character is offering this grace,

this mercy, this forgiveness,

that we don't even have to do anything for.

And when an individual chooses

to continually over and over and over

and over and over again

reject what he is offering,

God says, okay, you can have my judgment then.

That's a terrifying place to be.

Reality is, for those who put their faith,

their justification in the person of Jesus,

his wrath has been fulfilled,

been satisfied.

God doesn't just call us not guilty.

He calls us his children.

He doesn't say, nope, you're, you know,

like you think of a courtroom scene.

The judge says, okay, you're not guilty.

That's not what, that's, yes, God says that.

But not only does he say that,

but he says, hey, come on,

I'm going to bring you into my family.

I'm going to adopt you into my home.

And he treats us no longer as enemy,

but as a reconciled people,

fully accepted and belonging to his family.

I don't know if that excites you,

but it excites me.

Look at what Paul says as we continue in verse 10.

For if while we were enemies,

we were reconciled,

reconciled to God by the death of his son,

how 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,

here's what I highlighted in green,

we have now received reconciliation.

We have peace.

We have access.

We have joy.

We have love.

We have salvation.

And here Paul brings this list

to this,

aspect of now we have reconciliation.

We are reconciled.

See, justification fixes our legal problem.

Reconciliation fix our relational problem.

This is what Paul is laying down here.

We have reconciliation from God.

He doesn't just tolerate us, guys.

He loves us.

He accepts us.

And he includes us.

It's not just a,

hey, we're no longer at war.

You stay over there and I'll stay over here.

No, it's full on.

You're over there.

We're at odds.

Come on in.

Let's be friends.

In fact, let's just be more than friends.

Let's be family.

I don't know if this excites anybody else

or maybe I'm the only one in the room

that understands this aspect of what Paul is saying.

What we have in justification by faith in Jesus Christ.

We have a lot to be grateful for in this free gift

that Jesus offers you and he offers me.

If you're here today and you're a Christian

and you're following Jesus

and you love the fact that, you know,

like here in the church,

and honestly, over the last several four chapters,

we walked through a lot of this repetitive understanding

of what justification is.

Paul has done a very thorough job

in laying down how we are justified.

If you're here today and maybe some of that

just is on repeat.

Maybe that's just something you've gotten used to hearing.

Maybe it's just something that,

yeah, yeah, I've heard it a million times

before I understand it.

I get it.

And you just need to be reminded today

what comes with that justification.

Maybe you need to just be reminded

today and knowing what that justification

should be bringing into your life.

And I want to remind you to walk in these things

that Paul teaches us as believers to walk in.

Stop letting fear and guilt

define your relationship with God.

Walk in access.

Draw near to God in this prayer

knowing that you are welcome.

Walk in joy, even in your difficulties,

your trials, your hardships in life.

Allow God to shape you

with this endurance and hope

that Paul taught you.

That's what Paul speaks of.

Let the Spirit of God pour into you

and then through you to others.

Walk in confidence.

Walk in this confidence

that you have this salvation offered

not just for some time in the future,

today and the future.

You're safe from God's wrath.

Your future is secure.

Walk in relationship.

You've been reconciled.

That should encourage every single one of us.

You have been reconciled.

The relationship

has been restored.

I want to encourage you as a believer.

Cultivate your communion with God.

Don't do it just as some obligation to God.

Lean into that relationship.

Just as when me and my wife

sometimes, listen, nothing better than

after we make up and there's peace in the house.

Right?

Like we can create a lot of chaos in our home

when we are at turmoil with God.

When we're at turmoil with each other

and what God is saying,

hey, we can fix the problem.

We can solve this issue.

We are reconciled.

Let's work through it.

And nothing better

than when there is peace in the home.

And maybe you're struggling today with God

because He's been telling you something

and you've just kept ignoring it.

He's offering you this path of reconciliation

and you just choose to ignore it

and walk away from it.

Nothing better than being in relationship with God

where you experience that peace.

And if you're here today

and you've never walked through

being justified by faith,

I want to encourage you

because today you can move

from the wrath of God

to the peace of God.

You can move from being guilty

to being forgiven.

You can move from being separated

to being reconciled

and welcomed into His home.

Does that excite anybody else?

I'm going to close just to tell you this.

Man, if you're here

and you've never made that step of faith,

there's no magic trick involved.

There's no special words

that you have to say in a certain sequence.

Nothing like that.

It's just being real.

It's just being genuine.

It's just being 100% clear with God.

You don't have to say it out loud.

You can have literally.

This is who God is.

He's all-knowing.

He's all-powerful.

He is present even in this room.

And all you have to do

is have a real genuine conversation with Him.

Say, God, I want reconciliation.

I want to be at peace with You.

I want access to You.

Lord, please let me receive Your free gift.

And watch the Holy Spirit

start working in your life.

Getting in His words.

Starting to understand who He is

and what His words mean to you.

This promise is mean to you.

Man, I hope today you're encouraged

to really pursue and follow after

this encouragement that Paul gives us.

How justification works

and what comes with justification.

Listen, there's nothing in this world

I'd rather trade.

I wouldn't want anything else

but to have peace,

to have access,

to have joy, to have love,

to have salvation and reconciliation.

And there's only one place I can get

and that's through Jesus.

And that promise for me

is the same promise offered to you.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father,

Lord, thank You so much

for this passage of Scripture

that lays down so very clearly

what You give us in this free gift.

This gift of peace.

Lord, we don't deserve it, man,

when we're standing in that throne room.

Honestly, Lord, I'm intimidated and overwhelmed.

I'm in a room where I feel like I don't belong,

but Lord, You say, "Come on in.

"Sit with me at my table."

Lord, thank You.

Thank You for the work of Your Son.

Thank You for the work of the Spirit

that gives us joy even in difficulties.

Thank You for the love that You have poured out

and shown and demonstrated,

not just with Your words,

but with Your actions

for me and for everybody else in here, Lord.

Thank You for the promise of salvation

to come in the future

where Your wrath will not be poured out on me

because of the work of Your Son.

Thank You, Lord,

for reconciling mine and Your relationship through Jesus.

Lord, I pray if there's somebody in here

that doesn't know that,

that doesn't know that that can be for them,

that Your Spirit would move in their heart,

that You would show them that this is an offer for them

just as it was given to me and many in this room.

We love You.

We thank You in Jesus' name.