Introduction
It’s been a heavy couple of weeks—grief mixed with hope. Grief because of the tragic violence in our land: the murder of Charlie Kirk, the shootings in Dallas, and so much needless bloodshed… and so much of it celebrated by the godless. But the godless celebration of the death of the righteous shouldn’t really surprise us. As we know, it’s good or evil, Christ or chaos. You’re either with Christ or you’re against Him… And if you’re against Him you are godless and evil, and that tends to show up in one’s behavior.
As Voddie Baucham once said, “Neutrality is not an option. So many Christians are under the deluded impression that if we just keep our head down, if we just go to church, if we just practice our faith in our home they’ll leave us alone. But they won’t. Because they don’t think it’s enough for you to just refuse to be hostile, it is now demanded that you bend the knee [to their evil beliefs and agenda].” Charlie refused, and it cost him his life. And the wicked rejoice over this because his faithfulness was a threat to everything they are and do. But all of that has caused us much grief. And now, as if all of that wasn’t bad enough, in the midst of that loss, our beloved brother Voddie himself has died. He wasn’t murdered, but you can be sure that the wicked rejoice that a godly man like him is out of the fight. Yet for us, to lose such a faithful man causes great grief. No doubt, our loss is his gain, but it is a genuine loss here. And it is enough to make your heart literally ache.
And yet, in the midst of all this sorrow, in the midst of all this grief there has been real joy. At Charlie’s memorial, the gospel of Jesus Christ was proclaimed again and again—to over 100 million people—by leaders bold enough to say that Christ alone is Lord, and that the only hope for this nation and this world, is not bending the knee to the will of the evil one, but bending the knee to King Jesus. Christ and Him crucified is our only hope. As Frank Turk said there, “Charlie is not in heaven because he sacrificed himself for his Savior. Charlie is in heaven because his Savior sacrificed Himself for Charlie.” That is the truth that shaped Charlie’s life, and it must shape ours as well. As Voddie also once said, “The gospel is not just about how we go to heaven—it is about the work of Christ saturating every aspect of our lives.” And when that happens things will truly begin to change.
And this is exactly what Paul has been telling us in Romans, and what he’s going to stress all the more today. There is no neutrality. We were weak, dead in sin, evil, godless, enemies of God—but Christ died for us. And by grace through faith in Christ we are now justified, we are united to Christ and stand under God’s grace in Christ. He reconciled us to God when we were at our worst. And if He did that then, how much more will He hold us fast now that we are His people, standing in His grace? Because Christ has died and risen for us, God is totally for us. He wastes nothing, not even our sufferings. Every part of our lives—the good, the bad, and the ugly—has been ordained by Him and works together for our good and His glory. Christ redeemed us for God, and now our whole lives belong to Him. So no matter how hopeless things may seem, no matter how painful our circumstance, or how grievous our suffering, since God is for us, nothing and no one can stand against us. It’s all for our good and His glory. And come what may, we have great cause to rejoice, because we have God and He has us.
So with that in mind, let’s look together at Romans 5:6–11.
Context
As of late, in our series through Romans Paul has been beating into our heads and hearts the doctrine of justification by faith alone. He’s told us that we are justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, but that saving faith does not stay alone. It is obedient faith that bears fruit in keeping with repentance. It is a faith that looks forward in hope, and works through love. A faith that is so hopeful and so loving that it turns the world upside down for Jesus.
But Paul knows that life in this broken world is hard, and that we all walk through sufferings and trials of numerous kinds. So he told us last week that since we are justified by faith we are in a gracious standing with God, and since we are at peace with the sovereign God of the universe every suffering and every trial, indeed all things work together for our good, even strengthening our faith and hope, and growing us in Christlike character. And in our passage today it seems that Paul thinks that the grief and sorrows of this life, along with our own struggles with sin are going to make us prone to doubt this great gospel reality, so he drives home the point even further by pointing us back to the cross.
Romans 5:6–11
Notice how Paul begins in verses 6-8, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” No doubt, Paul points us to the cross of Christ because in the death of Christ we see the greatest evil and the greatest good all in one event. Because there is nothing and no one better than Jesus, the perfect Son of God in the flesh, there is nothing worse than murdering the Son of God. And from one perspective that’s exactly what happened.
In Acts 2:23 Peter tells the Jews that they crucified and killed Jesus by the hands of lawless men, meaning the Romans. But he is most certainly charging them with sin and calling them to repent. Indeed, from an earthly perspective, he’s calling them to repent of the greatest sin; the murder of Jesus is the greatest evil to ever happen. But what others meant for evil, God meant for good. Which Peter also says in Acts 2:23. Not only did the Jews have Jesus crucified and killed, but Peter says that ultimately Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. As Isaiah 53 says, “It was the will of the Lord to crush Him.” And God always accomplishes His will. This was all a part of God’s grand plan of redemption that happens by God’s sovereign grace. In and through the greatest suffering, the seemingly greatest injustice, and in and through the greatest sin and evil, in and through the death of Jesus—a murder committed by evil Jews and lawless Romans—God brought about the greatest good, magnifying His glory and love through the redemption of His people. So if we ever find ourselves doubting whether God is sovereign enough to work great good in and through great evil, or to bring about great joy through great suffering, we need only look to the cross.
God is sovereign, and man is responsible. God is good and man is evil. But God is too good to let evil happen for a bad reason. He is always working everything together for His glory, the good of His people, and the life of His world. And as I often say, when you can’t trace His hand, trust His character. Because His character is good. But if you find yourself still struggling to trust Him, look to the cross. There His sovereign grace and goodness are on full display.
And notice what God did in and through the cross, notice what great good He brought about through great evil. Christ died for us, that is, us ungodly sinners. As I just said, man is evil. God’s Word teaches us that no one is good but God alone, and no one is righteous but Christ alone, and those who are united to Him by faith. Some might be willing to die for God the Father or God the Son, and some might even be willing to die for God’s people who are righteous in Him. But Paul pushes beyond what any human might do and points us to what only Jesus—truly God and truly man—did do.
While we lacked the moral ability to believe, while we were dead in our trespasses and sins, while we were evil and ungodly sinners who not only wanted nothing to do with God, but who were actively opposed to Him, at enmity with Him… At that time, when we were at our worse, when we were at war with God, Christ died for us. Christ died for the ungodly.
Back in Romans 3:23 Paul told us that all—both Jew and Gentile—have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. In and of ourselves we are all glory thieves who have fallen infinitely short of God’s standard, living for sin and self instead of God’s glory. There is no distinction. This is true of all of humanity outside of God’s grace in Christ. But in Romans 3:24-25 Paul said, all who receive Christ by faith are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Or as Paul said in Romans 4:5, “to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”
We were weak and ungodly, which doesn’t mean we were sick and frail, but as Calvin puts it, we were helpless, destitute of any power to do good, unable to keep the law or obtain righteousness, and were actually dead set against Him. We were slaves to sin, slaves to self, and slaves to Satan. “But [as Galatians 4:4 says] when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”
As Paul said in Romans 5:5, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Therefore, by the Spirit, we are no longer slaves, but children of God, who can, by the grace in which we stand, actually love God and love people, and walk faithfully with great hope and joy come what may. But less we doubt that reality because the idea of God’s love being poured into our hearts seems too subjective, Paul points us to the objective reality of God’s love on the cross. God shows, He displays, He magnifies and demonstrates His love for us in and through Christ dying for us while we were still sinners. When all we deserved was death and hell, Jesus took both of those for us.
As Ephesians 2:4-5 says so beautifully, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” God’s great love for His people, for us, is rooted in Him and His abundant mercy, in the great riches of His grace, not in our worth or works. And that’s really what the cross of Christ displays. Salvation is all of grace. It’s the person and work of Christ, the worth and work of Jesus that saves us, not ourselves. We may not feel loved, we may not feel saved, but the cross is an objective reality, it is the proof of both on display, regardless of how we feel.
Now, this objective reality is only true for those who believe. Christ died for sinners. And while His life, death, and resurrection are sufficient enough to save everyone if He so chose, the person and work of Christ is only efficient for those who believe. We are justified by faith. And faith too is a gift of God purchased by Christ on the cross. So understand, Jesus didn’t die to save everyone, but only those who have faith. But also understand that we were weak and unable to believe until God poured His love into our hearts and gave us the ability to actually trust Him and love Him—to have faith. Therefore, Jesus didn’t die to merely make salvation possible, He died to make it happen. And that’s what He does. “Christ loved us and gave Himself for us” (Ephesians 5:2).
Jesus said in John 10:14-16, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” Christ’s flock is made up of every nation and generation, and many have yet to come into the fold. But by God’s sovereign grace they will. The atonement of Jesus is definite. He took names to the cross. As AW Pink said so beautifully, “It wasn’t the nails but the strength of Christ’s love for the Father and His love for the sheep that held Him to the cross.” And His love doesn’t fail. It accomplishes exactly what God means it to. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection were sufficient to redeem His people, and provide everything we need to be saved, including, and especially our faith that unites us to Christ and the righteousness and redemption He supplies.
Salvation is not universal. The condition of God’s Covenant of Grace is faith. But God gets the glory for that as well, because, as Ephesians 2:8 tells us, we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, but even that faith was a gift of God. But again, what Paul is doing here is stressing that this is an objective reality. If we are seeking to trust and obey God’s Word, if we are seeking to follow God’s ways and not our own, then we are showing ourselves to be of those for whom Christ died, even if our feelings don’t always line up with this reality. We must trust in Truth, not in feelings or emotions.
The world today is so hung up on feelings. Just before Voddie died I heard him talking about the way the ungodly, like the guy who killed Charlie Kirk, think. Basically he said that people today identify themselves by what they feel. “I feel, therefore I am.” And because their identity is so wrapped up in whatever they feel, they have no interest in facts, truth, or debate. Their truth is whatever they feel, and that’s all that really matters. And when someone like Charlie challenges that by presenting facts and questioning what they perceive to be reality, they perceive it to be verbal violence because they feel as though their very identity, the core of who they are is being attacked. And in their mind this justifies physical violence, because they are simply defending themselves at that point. Does that sound crazy to you? I hope it does.
But friends, we are no better, we are just as crazy if we are allowing our feelings to guide us instead of God’s Truth, instead of God’s Word. More often than not, our feelings are affected by our circumstances… And our circumstances are temporary and always changing. We must be guided by what is eternal and what doesn’t change. So when your circumstances or your feelings make you doubt God’s love, look to the cross and be assured—God’s love is sure and demonstrated irrefutably in and through the cross of Christ. Look to Jesus. Look to God’s Word. Look to the Truth. That is where love is found. The person and work of Christ control reality, not our feelings. Hope is found in Him, not our circumstances. As RC Sproul once said, “My confidence in the future rests in my confidence in the God who controls history.” And that’s exactly what the cross proclaims—God’s sovereign grace and love, God’s covenant faithfulness. Which, as the old hymn says, gives us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
Now, Paul has already told us that we will suffer in this life, but our suffering is not meaningless—it produces patience, endurance, and hope. It strengthens our faith and grows us in Christlikeness. Elisabeth Elliot said it well when she said, “God will not protect you from anything that will make you more like Jesus.” But even if we know that, and even if we believe that, it doesn’t mean that we feel that. God grows us in Christ, through Christ, and for Christ in and through all things, even and especially our suffering. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t hurt when we go through those things. And all of that pain often tempts us to doubt His great love for us. Like the Psalmist, we find ourselves feeling forsaken by God in our sufferings, instead of sanctified by God. But notice what Paul says next.
In verses 9-10 we read, “9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” Paul has just told us that Christ died for us while we were helpless, hopeless, enemies of God. We were weak and ungodly, yet God loved us and gave His Son for us. Christ loved us and gave Himself for us. And now that we are justified in Christ by faith, how much more so shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God… Our circumstances, our feelings, and the enemies of God might tell us that God doesn’t love us, but the cross demonstrates that He does. And if He loved us while we were at our worst, how much more so will He love us now that we are reconciled to Him?
Notice what verse 9 says: we were saved from the wrath of God… we were saved from God. Our main problem when we were in our sin was not sin, it was not self, nor was it Satan. Our main problem was that we were at enmity with God. We were God’s enemies rightly deserving of His wrath—His holy hatred of and righteous anger toward us for our sin. Every sin we’ve ever committed is an act of cosmic treason against the infinitely glorious God of the universe that fully deserves His infinite wrath. But Jesus, the eternal and infinite Son of God satisfied God’s wrath on our behalf. He lived the perfect God-glorifying life that we have failed to live, and died a sacrificial wrath-absorbing death (the death we deserve to die). And we know that He was successful in satisfying the wrath of God, because as Romans 4:25 says, He was raised for our justification. Jesus wrote a check for our redemption, for our justification with His life and death… And we see that the check cleared in and through His resurrection. On the third Day He rose from the grave in victory, justifying, freely forever all those who will look to Him by faith… And after His death defeating, justifying resurrection, Jesus then gloriously ascended to the right hand of the Father where He ever intercedes for His people.
Jesus, the Son of God, saved us from God and reconciled us to God. We were saved from God, by God, for God. And Paul’s point in bringing this up is that if God did all of that while we were weak, ungodly, sinners, how much more so will we be saved by the eternal resurrection life that our glorious Lord and Savior now lives, in which He rules, reigns, and ever intercedes for us? If His life on earth accomplished our justification, how much more so will His life as the risen Lord in heaven accomplish our sanctification and glorification. If His life and death on earth saved us from God’s wrath, how much more so will His life now at the right hand of the Father save us from anything and everything that means us harm, especially now that we are in the realm of God’s grace as God’s children? Indeed, as Romans 8:31 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Answer: Nothing and no one. By God’s sovereign grace all things now work together for our good. So we now have hope in every circumstance, because though God may not protect us from the pain and suffering, He doesn’t waste it, or allow it to have the final word. He uses it to help us know Jesus, love Jesus, become more like Jesus, and be with Jesus forevermore. Because of the person and work of Christ, we have hope come what may. Because of our victorious Lord and Savior, we have victory in all circumstances.
But you may be thinking, it’s all still too hard. This broken world, the pain and suffering of life, the temptation of sin, the grief, and the like… it’s all too much. Christ tells us to die to self, pick up our cross, and follow Him. And the cross has proven to be rugged and heavy, and it all just seems too hard. Even though the gospel should give me hope, even though God has promised great things, has been doing great things, and has even promised to use all the bad things in great ways for our good, it’s still too hard to live with hope and joy in this broken world. If that’s you, if you’re tempted towards doubt and despair, if you find it hard to so lean on the promises of God that you are filled with hope and joy, then pay attention to the last verse in our passage.
In verse 11 Paul says, “More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Notice those first three words, “More than that…” More than the hope and the joy that we have in God’s good promises and God’s good sovereignty… More than the hope and joy that we have in the gospel itself… More than anything God has promised to do or give… Above all of that is the reality of Romans 5:11.
“We rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” When all else fails we rejoice in God. When all else succeeds we rejoice in God. Come what may we rejoice in God because through our Lord Jesus Christ we have now, already, received reconciliation with God. The same cross that displays God’s great love for us has also brought us into right covenant relationship with God.
The greatest blessing of the gospel is fellowship with God. We see this in Jesus’ prayer to the Father in John 17:3, when He says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Knowing God, being reconciled to God and in right covenant relationship with the triune God is what eternal life is. To know God here means to be loved by God and to love God… To be in true covenantal union with God. To be in Christ, and to have Christ in us. And to know that, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1), because God is totally for us in Christ Jesus.
What Paul is telling us here is that, if God is so for us that He works all things, even our great sufferings for our good, then He does so because we are truly reconciled to Him in and through Jesus, which means He has us and we have Him. It’s like what Paul says in Hebrews 13. Speaking to Christians under great persecution and trials, experiencing far greater suffering than any of us, but who are still tempted towards great sin, just like all of us, he says, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me’” (Hebrews 13:4-6)?
Do you see what Paul’s getting at there? They can resist sexual sin, they can be content with what they have, because God has promised never to leave them or forsake them. Therefore, come what may, God has them and they have God. So what can man do them? They have absolutely nothing to fear because the sovereign Lord of all is their helper… He is for them and on their side, and always will be. He will not abandon them, but will back them up until the very end. And so it is for us.
If we find it hard to live with hope and joy in this broken world, if we find it hard to resist sin, if we find it hard to be faithful and consistent in our walk with Christ, if we find it hard to be content in Christ come what may, we must realize what we have in Christ, and let the great gift of God Himself cause us to walk in joyful faithfulness. As Paul will say later in Romans 8:17, we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. Not only do we have the unchangeable and unshakable Truth of God’s promises that have been given to us in and through Christ, but we have the unchangeable and unshakable God of the universe given to us in and through Christ as well. God gives us Himself in Jesus.
Jesus said, “The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44). The man can joyfully give up all that he has because the Kingdom is better than all that he has. And that’s ultimately true because the King is better than all that he has. And so it is for us, beloved. Our great God and Savior, King Jesus, is infinitely better than anything this world could give us or take away from us, so if we have Him and He has us, than we always have great cause for hope and joy. We always have cause to resist sin and to be content come what may, because He will not leave us nor forsake us.
I wonder, how are you doing at living out this reality? Are you fleeing sexual immorality, pornography, and the like? Are stewarding your money well and giving sacrificially? Are you resisting sin of any and every kind through contentment in Christ, or are you discontent, and giving way to such things? We often disguise envy and discontentment as godly ambition. And though godly ambition is a good thing, so is faithfulness in the little everyday things. And if we can’t find contentment with the little everyday things, we will not be content with more, because ultimately contentment is found only in Christ. Comfort, ease, ambition, recognition, and the like will never lead to true contentment, because contentment is found in Christ alone. As Augustine said, Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him. But in Him we can truly rest, we can truly rejoice, we can truly hope, come what may, because He is our joy, He is our hope, He is our everything, even now.
Conclusion
Beloved, our passage concludes not just with promises, but with a Person. Not just with the benefits of salvation, but with God Himself. “More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” That is where your hope rests. Not in your feelings. Not in your circumstances. Not even in the strength of your faith. But in God Himself, who has given you Christ and poured out His Spirit into your heart. In Christ who has given Himself for you. Our hope, our joy, our faithfulness is all ultimately tied, not to our sacrifice for Christ, but for Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
So what does this mean for you on Monday morning?
First, it means you can, and you must, stop doubting God’s love. The cross is proof. He loved you when you were His enemy. He reconciled you when you were ungodly. How much more now that you are His child? When Satan whispers, “God has abandoned you,” you can look to the cross and the empty tomb and say, “No—God is for me. Nothing can snatch me out of His hand.”
Second, it means you can rejoice in suffering. Not because pain is pleasant, but because pain is purposeful. Christ’s death shows you that God never wastes evil—He bends it for redemption. If He turned the worst evil—the murder of the Son of God—into the salvation of His people, then you can trust Him with your suffering. Even the things you would never choose, He is using to make you more like Jesus. So be patient and kind, and rest in God’s good sovereignty. He knows what He’s doing, even when you don’t.
Third, it means you can live boldly for Christ. If God is for you, who can be against you? This is not the time to shrink back into a “safe” private Christianity. Neutrality is not an option. Your neighbors, your coworkers, your children need to see that Christ is Lord of all. Stand for Him with courage in the public square, in your home, and in your heart. Fight to be content in Christ and to be hopeful and rejoice in Him at all times, in all places, in all things.
Finally, it means you can rest. Augustine was right: our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God. And in Christ, you have Him. You are reconciled. God is your joy. That means you can let go of the idols of comfort, success, or recognition and find true contentment in Him. You can forsake sin and self and cling to Christ, for He is far greater than anything anyone could give you or takeaway from you.
So here is God’s call to you: rejoice in God. Rejoice in Christ crucified and risen. Rejoice in reconciliation. Rejoice because nothing—no sin, no suffering, no enemy—can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Beloved, you have God and God has you. That is enough. That is everything. The Father’s love for you is deeper than you could ever imagine. But if you ever doubt it, you need only look to the cross. So rejoice in Him come what may.