Expound: Romans 5-6:7 - Part A

Religion can't save you. Ritual can't save you.

Affiliation can't save you. We would even say to the Christian, baptism can't save you. Only Jesus can save you as an act of grace by dying for you and you believing that he died for you, that that was enough before God for you.

Then and only then can you be saved. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross allowed us to be in a close relationship with God. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares more about the benefits that you experience because of what Christ did. But first, did you know that Skip has important updates and biblical encouragement on social media?

Just follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get the latest from him and this ministry. That's at Skip Heitzig, at Skip, H-E-I-T-Z-I-G. Now, we're in Romans chapter five as we dive into our study with Skip Heitzig. Peter talks about Paul, talks about Paul's writings in 2 Peter. He talks about our beloved brother Paul. And he says about our beloved brother Paul that Paul wrote many things, some of which are difficult to understand. I'm grateful for that scripture because Peter said that what Paul wrote was hard to understand.

I don't feel so bad when I come across sections and I go, I better read that again and again and again. I find that some of the things that Paul writes are just tough to unravel. And even though Romans is this incredible treatise on salvation, I think if you take an honest read of it, all of us come to a place where we go, man, that's so deep, that's so heavy that I don't even understand a word he just wrote.

And it takes a little bit of untangling for us. We have to keep in mind is that the original recipients, this was a letter, this was not a doctrinal statement. They at first had no exposition of it like we're doing tonight. It was just a letter to the church at Rome and the letter was read and the recipients would grasp it, would understand it. So we have a gap of a couple of thousand years and we have a gap of language, of Greek language, Aramaic language to English language.

We have a gap of culture. And so what exposition does, what Bible study like this does is fill in the gaps so that we have the same aha moment that the original recipients of the letter had that they would understand it. Well, we're in chapter five of the book of Romans. We've been a couple of chapters a week. For those of you who are new to our Wednesday night studies, we have been doing this since we started the church. In fact, this is how we started the church. We started in a home, a Bible study that got to an apartment complex and we just covered a chapter or two a week going through the scriptures verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book, every single book of the Bible. We've gone through now the whole Bible as a church together a few different times.

So it's a format that we are used to and I find it to be very beneficial to go through it in a manner where we just can spend as much time as we like and then pick it up next time and just pick it up from there. We just stop wherever we stop and then pick it up and keep going until the book is done. Even though I have grand designs in my mind that I'm going to cover two or three chapters a week, sometimes it's a half a chapter or a chapter or a chapter and a half, but again it doesn't matter.

We just stop and pray and then come back again together and finish it up next time. So we happen to be in chapter five. Now do you remember by now the way the book is divided? By now you are Bible experts.

By now at least you have a working knowledge of the book of Romans. It's divided if you remember into how many sections? Four sections. Now again this is my outline.

There are much better outlines. This is just the Skip Heitzig easy garden variety outline of the book of Romans. Four sections. The first section of the book from the first chapter to chapter three verse 23 is all about the wrath of God.

Paul paints a dark picture consigning all humanity to guilt. But we are in the second section and after the wrath of God comes the grace of God in chapter three verse 24 all the way to the end of chapter eight. That's section number two. Section number three is the plan of God for Jew and Gentile and then finally the will of God. That takes it from chapter 12 to the rest to the end of the book.

So that's how I've divided the book. If you remember in chapter three verse 23 that statement that we all know so well. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We've come short of God's standard.

So Paul is saying no matter who you are whether you are a Gentile and you have no religious background whatsoever or you're a Gentile and you have a false religious background or you're Jewish and you have a true religious background you are all guilty before God. Religion can't save you. Ritual can't save you.

Affiliation can't save you. We would even say to the Christian baptism can't save you. Only Jesus can save you as an act of grace by dying for you and you believing that he died for you that that was enough before God for you. Then and only then can you be saved and when you are saved you are given a special status and that status if you remember takes us to the very last word of chapter four.

It bears looking at the word justification and if you remember last time we were together I explained what that means. It means that God declares you to be righteous declares that you are right with him declares that you are just before him even though you are not in and of yourself. He makes the declaration that you are not based on what you do but based on what Jesus did. So he declares you justified. He declares you right he declares you right with him. Then he treats you that way. He treats you just if I'd never sinned justified. He treats me like Jesus deserves to be treated because God treated Jesus like we deserve to be treated on the cross.

That's the exchange that's the substitution so we are justified. Now with that new status comes benefits. Chapter five begins a list of those benefits.

You know sometimes a company when they want to attract an employee or even a managerial position will list benefits the list the salary but also besides the salary yearly benefits that the employee has to look forward to. Now if you think about it we belong to the greatest company in the world the church of Jesus Christ. Think about what we have first of all we have a product our product works universally you can take the gospel into Argentina Afghanistan or America Albuquerque. The same message has the ability to transform a life.

It has been doing that transformation for the past 2,000 years in every conceivable culture around the world. So our company we have a product that works universally. Second we have offices worldwide. Worldwide go to any country on earth and you will find some representation of the church in that culture.

Even if it's underground you will have believers everywhere. Third we have a pretty awesome benefits package. We have peace. We have joy. We have purpose in life. We have a new community of believers that strengthen and encourage us. And number four we have a retirement package that is second to none because when this life is all over we have what it describes in this chapter as the hope in the glory of God.

So we belong to a pretty awesome company. Now with that in mind we get into some of the benefits of justification. So he begins in chapter 5 verse 1 therefore having been justified by faith he has spent a couple of chapters describing righteousness and justification that comes by faith even through Abraham and David gave those grand examples. So that is an established fact therefore having been justified by faith we have here's the first benefit peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. A few weeks ago on a weekend we discussed the meaning of this briefly in our series on give peace a chance and if you remember what he's talking about here is not the feeling of peace as much as the fact of peace.

It's not a subjective peace that you feel inwardly as much as it is an objective peace that is a fact whether you feel it one day and don't feel it the next day it doesn't matter. The fact is at one time you were at war with God every every unbeliever is every unbeliever is at war with God every unbeliever the Bible says is at enmity with God hostile toward God. Now a person hears and goes well wait a minute I'm not a believer in Christ I have nothing against God.

That's not the point. God has something against you. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 48 there is no peace says the Lord to the wicked. See what do you mean God has something against me I thought you always say God loves me he does love you he wants to remove that which is against you the impediment he wants to cleanse you of your sin and justify you he wants to declare you righteous and treat you that way but he can't unless you admit that the condition he says you have you say you have sometimes people say well why do I have to tell God I'm a sinner doesn't he know I'm a sinner yes he does believe me he does but he wants to hear you say it he wants you to confess it and when you admit it when you confess it that's the first step you acknowledge the bad news and when you acknowledge the bad news you are now open to receiving the good news the gospel. So having been justified by faith we have peace with God there's no more war with God the peace treaty has been signed at the cross we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So again I remind you of chapter 1 verse 18 where Paul started taking this whole thing downhill in that verse chapter 1 verse 18 of Romans he says for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven from heaven and then he paints a picture of that wrath now he's taking it back up to the grace of God saying opposed to the wrath as opposed to the wrath of God or over against the wrath of God you and I we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ so that's that's the first benefit.

The second benefit is in verse 2. Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. The word access is a very important word it means that you have the ability to come before God even though God knows your natural condition as opposed to him you you are granted access to the holy one of the universe. Now it's it's an interesting word because Kenneth Wiest who's a Greek scholar said that it was a word used in ancient times of an individual who would introduce a person to a king who would who would open up the door or grant an audience have the ability to grant an audience with grant an audience with with a monarch with a king and and he would take a person into the king's presence but he would first get the person ready prep the individual and give the individual the right clothing to wear. You know you're not going to stand before a king in a t-shirt and blue jeans you're going to stand before a king in proper attire and so this individual who would grant the access would ready the individual would ready that person and give the person the right word wrote which is a perfectly fitting word for the work Jesus has done. We are clothed in his righteousness God looks upon us as if we are like Jesus he gives us access into his presence not just one time not just at the cross now he sees us as his children but because we still have a sin nature we need continual access so he gives us the card key into God's presence and I love the scripture and lamentations that says his mercies are new every morning. I know that to be true because I use them all every morning I use whatever's there it's like good fresh batch good I need it Lord forgive me here I come again and that's the interesting thing when you are related to the king you can come before the king at any time you don't just come once but you keep coming back and even though a son of a king got all dirty and muddy because he's the son of a king he can go into the king's presence you're a child of the king you now have access not just the first time but continually so that's why it says in Hebrews that we come boldly before the throne of grace that we might receive mercy or obtain mercy and grace to help in our time of need so we have peace with God we have access to God and look at verse three and not only that here's another benefit of justification justification but we glory in tribulation now wait a minute Paul what do you mean glory in tribulation we endure tribulation we put up with it we will get through it but we actually glory in it well why would he say that he says not only that but we also glory in tribulation because we know something he said knowing that tribulation produces perseverance the old translation says patience how many times have you asked God for patience a lot have you ever done that anybody here on a show of hands have ever ever prayed for patience okay good thank you for the honest um a poll there now because you have prayed for patience don't be surprised if God answers your prayer by sending you what tribulation and you you're you're standing over there going wait a minute God I didn't ask for a trial I asked for patience well tribulation produces patience perseverance and perseverance character and character hope as I look back to on on the trials on the trials in my early Christian walk compared to my trials the last decade if I would have had in the first year of my Christian experience the trials that I've had in the last decade of my Christian experience it'll wipe me out I couldn't have made it but what those early trials did and all of the tribulation throughout my walk is give me a level of patience perseverance that developed within me character and an ability to endure and not just endure but endure with hope and here's the hope if God has been faithful as I look back on my life and he has I can count time after time after time where God has just been so faithful I have hope because it must mean God's going to be faithful in the future whatever comes that's quite a benefit because what what it shows me is that far different from somebody who does not know the Lord yes I have trials yes I have tribulation but my trials my tribulations are productive trials and tribulations they produce something and he lists what they produce perseverance character hope verse five now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us this is why we always have to be careful when we say why would God allow that bad thing to happen to me a good person first of all be careful when you call yourself a good person because Jesus said nobody's good but God so you need a new definition of good okay why would God allow that bad thing to happen to me one of God's children okay you are God's children fair enough but be careful when you call something bad because that I actually might be good for you you remember Joseph all the trials he went through unfairness he could have been very bitter when his brothers finally showed up and Joseph revealed himself to them and they're freaking out because they think Joseph's going to kill us he's this he's brought us into his lair and now he's going to drop the hammer and he basically said relax bros what you meant for evil God meant for good to save many people alive I'm I'm here by God's grace to come up with this plan to save the world from a famine now think back before that little revelation when Joseph's brothers first came to Joseph not knowing it was Joseph in Egypt he was the prime minister of Egypt this is the time they did know it was Joseph they need grain he gives them grain sends them back but then says when you come back if you come back again bring your other brother that you left at home little Benjamin because they said well we have a guy Benjamin but dad won't let him out of his sight because his other son Joseph got killed and so he won't let Benjamin so well listen if you want grain again you bring Benjamin this time so they went back home told dad and dad said well Benjamin's not going but the famine got worse and worse and worse finally dad said look you know we're gonna sit here and die unless you go back and get grain in Egypt and I guess you're going to have to bring Benjamin but then Jacob said something he said all things are against me everything's against me well Jacob you can't say all things are against you because you just don't know all things and it's really not against you because even though he thinks the worst is happening to him he thinks he's lost his son Joseph he thinks he's about to lose his son Benjamin and he says all things are against me this is horrible he can't imagine the good things God has prepared for him he can't picture the day when Joseph is going to say I'm your boy and he'll be able to hug his son Joseph again and be reunited with the person he thought was dead and gone so again Romans 8 28 all things work together for good to those that love God who are the called according to his purpose so yes we have trials yes we have tribulation but one of the benefits of justification is that those things are productive in our lives I've always loved a little well I've always loved the writings of Samuel Rutherford Samuel Rutherford if you've heard me talk about him was a Scottish pastor in Anwath Scotland a very tiny little town small congregation but he was very faithful to the gospel and thus outspoken for the gospel for Christ and in some cases against the government it landed him an exile he was exiled in Aberdeen and forbidden to do ministry but he could write letters and he writes there's a whole book called the letters of Samuel Rutherford I commend it to you if you want good wholesome correspondence that will edify you but he writes this great little poem though it's not it doesn't rhyme but it's it's it's a little work that he talks about trials and he says this why should I tremble at the plow of my lord that maketh deep furrows in my soul in my soul can you picture it can you picture the analogy here's a farmer digging deep furrows in the soil to plant a seed why should I tremble at the plow of my lord that maketh deep furrows in my soul and then Rutherford said for he is no idle husbandman he purposes a crop he's not some farmer who's just willy-nilly digging furrows in the ground he's digging that furrow deep because he's going to plant something awesome he wants a crop to come out of this he's purposing something great some fruit to happen that wraps up Skip Heitzig's message from the series expound romance right now we want to share about a great resource that will nourish your soul with God's amazing truths joy in the midst of hardship is a hallmark of the Christian life but is it really possible here's Lenya Heitzig sometimes what starts out as the happy trail turns into a really daunting road and we have to figure out how to navigate a lot of times God's purpose in allowing trials is to give us opportunities to grow to the point where we genuinely experience joy in the midst of trials learn how to face trials with courage wisdom and yes joy with Lenya's booklet happy trials and when you give twenty dollars or more today to help keep this bible teaching ministry on the air we'll send you a special bundle of three booklets by Lenya happy trials don't tempt me and speak no evil get your bundle of three booklets for a gift of twenty dollars or more by calling 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer that's connectwithskip.com slash offer tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares about the condition of your life before and after Jesus so a person born into this world is born under the wrath of God separated from God God is at enmity with him if a person says I believe in Jesus Jesus is the sufficient work God makes a declaration that you are right before him just before him righteous before him and he treats you that way. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.