The Blessing Of Our Justification – Part 2

Last Wednesday night we looked at verses 1-4. I want to reread those to give us a running start to verses 5-11. Follow with me beginning in Romans 5:1. Paul says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope.”

Way back in Romans 3:28, Paul made this statement. It’s a summary statement on the doctrine of justification. He said, “…a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” Paul’s conclusion: A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. When we come to chapter 5, again this is the question in verses 1-11 that is being answered, there are two questions. First, what are the benefits and the blessings of being justified by faith? By the way, lest I forget, those blessings and benefits of being justified by faith are true of all Christians because all Christians are justified by faith. These are blessings and benefits we have—we don’t have to pray for, we don’t have to seek, we don’t have to ask, we don’t have to be especially holy or devoted to obtain—they come carte blanche automatically the moment I am declared righteous before God, or the moment I’m born again, all of these blessings are mine. I say that and stress that because a lot of Christians go through their Christian lives feeling cheated or second class or that they are not blessed. “Why doesn’t God do something good for me?” They know they are saved, but they are not enjoying their Christian life. I believe that if you read Romans 5:1-11, study and meditate on it, it will bring joy and encouragement to your heart. If you’re lacking in joy tonight, if you’re lacking in enthusiasm or excitement about the blessings of being a child of God, just marinate your mind and your heart in these verses, and they will automatically encourage you.

We looked at four blessings last Wednesday night, verses 1-4, that we possess as believers. The first was peace with God, verse 1. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Every Christian has the standing of peace with God, no longer at war with God but we are at peace with God. The second blessing was in verse 2. We all, as believers, have access to God. Any time, day or night, 24/7, you can come into the presence of God. As His Child you have access into His presence. We also have, verse 2, we “… rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” So, we have peace with God (verse 1), we have access to God’s grace (verse 2), and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Fourthly, (verses 3-4), we rejoice even in our present troubles, trials and tribulations. We do that because we know something. What we know is that tribulation works patience, and patience works experience. Patience is endurance, and experience is proven character. Proven character produces (verse 4) “hope.” We rejoice even in our present trials and sufferings knowing that it brings us hope. We also know, not only do we have these benefits and blessings as believers in Christ, that the blessings we possess are irrevocable. They can’t be taken away. Our security is in Christ, and justification will last. It won’t dissolve. It won’t go away. It can’t be lost. We are secure in Jesus Christ. He moves into three more blessings tonight that again emphasize not only what we possess but how secure we are in Christ.

There are a total of seven blessings. We have taken a couple of weeks to cover them, and I don’t want you to miss this or get confused. Last week we looked at four, and tonight we are going to look at three for a total of seven blessings. Tonight’s three are going to be numbered 1, 2 and 3; however, if you add them they are actually 5, 6 and 7. Have I thoroughly confused you? Okay, forget everything I just said. There are three more blessings, okay? Just write down these three blessings, and when you’re done you’ll have seven of them, if you have last weeks’. If you don’t have last weeks’, shame on you. You should’ve been here.

The first blessing (this should be a whole message in itself), God’s love is poured out into our hearts. Isn’t that great? Isn’t that great? God’s love is poured out into our hearts. Let’s read it, verses 5-8. He mentions hope at the end of verse 4 and says, “And hope maketh not ashamed…,” now in my King James Bible the word ashamed would be better translated “disappointed.” You have a hope that will never be disappointed. Why? “…because the love of God is shed abroad…,” or literally poured out into “…our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for…,” who? “…the ungodly.” Guess who that is? All of us. It’s talking about every one of us before we were saved. Christ died for the ungodly. Then, in verse 7 it says, “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth…,” or displayed or proved “…his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Marvelous, marvelous truths that we possess the blessing of God’s love now poured out into our hearts. As Christians, we can rejoice in tribulations because we know that tribulation works patience and patience works proven character and proven character brings hope, verse 4. Then, I love it in verse 5, he simply says that our hope will not be disappointed.

How many of you have ever been disappointed? If you’re not raising your hand, something is wrong with you or you’re looking at me saying, “I’m disappointed with this teaching right now.” I remember as a young boy my dad used to always say, “John, life is full of disappointments.” I hated hearing that. “John, life is full of disappointments, you know. You’re going to be disappointed by many things.” People disappoint us. If you’re married, sometimes your spouse will disappoint you. You will disappoint them. Your kids will disappoint you. Sometimes you go on a vacation, “How was your vacation?” “Well, it was disappointing.” “How was the baseball game?” “Oh, it was disappointing.” “How was the party you went to?” “Oh, it was disappointing.” We have many things that disappoint us, but there is one thing, and it’s clearly declared here in this text, that will never, ever, ever, ever disappoint you. Do you know what that is? It’s your hope in God, in your heavenly hope. When you get to heaven you’re not going to go, “Wow, I’m disappointed.” Can you imagine that? You finally make it to heaven and you go, “Yeah, big deal glassy sea. Cherubim, seraphim, angels…I thought it was going to be a little grander, you know? I’m kind of disappointed with this heavenly thing. Lord, couldn’t you have done something a little nicer?” I tell you, when we get to heaven, no one will be disappointed! I love that. It will be beyond our expectations, and we’ll realize that our hope will be brought to fruition. When the Bible speaks of the believer’s hope, it is a confident assurance, so our hope will never disappoint us.

What evidence do we have that we will not have a disappointed hope? What evidence do we have in our hope of going to heaven? Do you ever think about that? As Christians, we’re hoping to go to heaven, and sometimes you may get those fears like maybe it won’t happen. Maybe I won’t make it. Maybe this isn’t real. Maybe heaven isn’t really real. Maybe we just die, we just poof and there is no conscious existence after life. How do we know it’s for real? Here is some concrete objective evidence that our hope is for sure and we will not be disappointed. It’s grounded in the love of God, so we can be sure that our hope will not disappoint. How can we be sure that God loves us? Notice verse 5, “…because the love…,” and this is the Greek word agape, “…of God is…,” literally being poured out into “…our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” This is the first time in the book of Romans two important subjects are brought up. The first one is the love of God, and the second one is the Holy Spirit. The first time in the book of Romans you find the love of God mentioned and the reference to the Spirit of God, and they are linked together. Why is it as a Christian you come to know God loves you? Because He pours His love into you. Why is it that as a Christian you can begin to love other people? Because God’s love is being poured into you and you then become a channel where God’s love is shared with others. One of the first conscience experiences that a believer has when they get saved is, “God loves me! God actually loves me! I didn’t love me, and God loves me! Nobody else loved me, but God loves me!” Tonight you can rest assured, God loves you. He absolutely loves you! You know that from experience because He has given you the Holy Spirit.

A couple of quick thoughts about the Holy Spirit—He is the third person, so-called, of the triune Godhead; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Father. The Holy Spirit is not the Son. The Holy Spirit is a separate person from the Father and the Son, but in essence He is one with the Father, with the Son. So we have one God in three persons. You say, “I don’t understand that.” Neither do I, but it’s awesome! God in three persons, blessed trinity. The Holy Spirit is equally God with the Father and with the Son. He is no less a person, and He is no less divine. All of the divine attributes that are possessed by God the Father and God the Son are possessed by God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the source of that love. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we have the fruit of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is love. The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to every believer. Remember, when we started tonight I said these are blessings that all Christians have. I can spend some time on this, and I’m trying to resist doing that, but as elementary and as basic as it is, there are Christians that are sometimes confused or taught otherwise that they don’t have the Holy Spirit. Some Christians are even told you need to ask for the Holy Spirit or pray for the Holy Spirit. I realize that they are talking about a subsequent empowering or filling or experience, but they will use the term “asking for the Holy Spirit.” I believe that can lead to confusion because you already have the Holy Spirit. Here’s the question, does the Holy Spirit have you? That’s the question. Every Christian has the Holy Spirit. How much of the Holy Spirit does every Christian have? All of the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t come in, “Well, I’ll give you three-quarters,” or “I’ll give you a light dose of the Ghost.” “If you’re really good, maybe I’ll give you a little bit more. If you’re really good, I’ll give you another little dose of the Ghost.” I believe all of the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you. It’s Christ in you the hope of glory and God dwelling in you. You don’t have to look for, seek for, ask for, plead for the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, He came to stay. He came in His fullness. We live in the age of the Spirit, so don’t let anyone ever tell you, “Well, you’re a Christian, but you don’t have the Holy Ghost,” or “You’re a Christian, but you don’t have the Holy Spirit.” He is the indwelling gift that every Christian has. If you have not the Spirit, we’ll learn in Romans 8, you are none of His. You do not have the Spirit; you are not a child of God. He regenerates us. He indwells us. He seals us, by the way, unto the day of redemption. He baptizes us into Christ, He teaches us, fills us, leads us, comforts us, and the list could go on and on. Thank God for the Holy Spirit! Amen? You have the Holy Spirit as a child of God.

What the Holy Spirit brings to you is God’s love. I want you to notice in verses 6-8, that the second way we can be sure that God loves us is the objective fact of Christ’s death on the cross. He says, “…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts…,” that literally means, poured out. It’s a word picture of Niagara Falls. I’ve never been to Niagara Falls, but anytime I’ve seen video of it or a movie where you can see it in its volume and its power and hear the thunder of the falls, I’m just amazed. I’m mind boggled. We could use some of that water here in Southern California right now—ship it over this way. The imagery there is that the Holy Spirit is just like Niagara Falls, He’s just pouring into your heart and into your life God’s love. The amazing thing about this passage is that it’s not talking about our love for God, it’s talking about God’s love for us. It’s talking about how when we get born again we come into this fullness of understanding that God loves me! That just changes everything! That God actually loves me, not only does He justify me but He pours His love into my heart and into my life. It’s just an amazing, an amazing truth!

Then in verse 6, down to verse 8, he begins to speak about the proof of that love. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” I’ll talk about this in just a second, but this is so so marvelous! Some of you that are artists, you know that when you paint or use art, or maybe it’s interior decorating or graphic art, you know how to use contrast. You paint a dark background and put a light fixture or image or something in front of it. If you want something to really jump off the page or canvas, you contrast, right? A dark background, light foreground, a dark-light contrast. When are the stars seen best? What kind of a night? A dark night when the moon is gone and you’re away from city lights. The stars shine brighter on the darkest nights. God wants you to begin to understand His great love for you, so you know what He’s going to do? In a couple verses, He’s going to paint a very dark background. We dwelt on that in the early parts of Romans about our sin and our condemnation. I’m so glad to be out of that section. Paul reverts back to that and wants us to understand how unworthy we were and are of God’s love, but yet God still loves us. You’ll never, ever earn, merit, or deserve the love of God, and none of us are worthy for God to love us. None of us are good enough for God to love us. If you want to really appreciate God’s love in its fullness, you need to realize that God’s love is undeserving, yet He still loves you. And, you’re secure in that love. Even when you were a sinner, even when you were in wickedness, God still loved you, and God loves you now that you are His child. How much more is He going to take you to heaven now that you belong to Him? In these verses right now, he’s going to paint this very dark background for us as he paints the light background of God’s love. He wants us to see it in the darkness of our sin and how unworthy we truly are.

Someone has said, “The degree of love is measured partly by the costliness of the gift to the giver and partly by the unworthiness or worthiness of the beneficiary. The more the gift costs the giver, the less the recipient deserves it, the greater the love is seen to be. Measured by those standards, God’s love in Christ is absolutely unique. It is absolutely unconditional. It is absolutely undeserving. For in sending His Son to die for sinners, God was giving everything, His very Self, for those who deserved nothing from Him except judgment.” I read a quote a couple of weeks ago that I grabbed a hold of. It was the first time I’d ever heard the quote and kind of exciting for me because after years of preaching I don’t find many new quotes that I haven’t already read. It was made by a famous preacher of the generation past, his name is Donald Grey Barnhouse. He was the pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. He was a great Bible expositor, and he has some amazing commentaries. He said he could summarize all of Christianity in three statements. The three statements are: I deserved hell. Jesus took my hell. There’s nothing left for me but heaven. Isn’t that amazing? Those three statements summarize the entire book of Romans. What an amazing concept. I deserved hell, Jesus took my hell, and all that’s left for me is heaven.

I want you to note these. Write these down. You’ll see in the text here, this dark background of our unworthiness that God would love us. It says, first of all in verse 6, that we were powerless. “For when we were yet without strength…,” which means that we were helpless in and of ourselves to rescue or save ourselves. It’s an unconditional impossibility, not a conditional possibility. You say, “Well, what do you mean by unconditional impossibility?” An unconditional impossibility means that there is nothing that could happen or change to make it possible. A conditional possibility would be if I owed you $1 million. It is very unlikely that I could pay you back, right? But, if I won the lottery, that’s the condition, I could pay you $1 million. Without winning the lottery, it’s impossible, but if I win the lottery then it’s going to be possible. When it comes to saving yourself, guess what? There’s no condition. There’s nothing that can happen, nothing that can change, nothing that can come along and make it possible for you to save yourself. It’s an unconditional impossibility. No way can we ever, why? Because we were absolutely completely totally powerless or the Bible says that, “…we were without strength.”

Secondly, the Bible says, in verse 6, that we were ungodly. “…in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” That means that we were not like God and that we were in opposition to God. Before we were saved, we were all described as ungodly. We were not like God, and we were in opposition to God. You say, “Well, I thought we were made in the image and likeness of God?” We are, but that image and likeness was marred by sin, not eliminated but marred, yet we were also in opposition to God. We were ungodly.

Thirdly, it says, in verse 8, that we were sinners. “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth…,” or displayed or proved, “…his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners…,” there it is, “…Christ died for us.” We were yet sinners, so we are described here as without strength, ungodly and as sinners, even when we were sinners. When did Jesus die for you on the cross? He died for you before you were saved. Why? Because He loves you. He didn’t say, “You get your act together and I’ll come down and die on the cross for you. You straighten up your life, then I’ll sacrifice myself on the cross for you.” While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. In chapter 8 it’s going to go into it even deeper. If God did that when we were sinners, how much more that we are His people, His children, will He freely give us all things. It’s not over yet.

Fourthly, notice, in verse 10, that we were enemies. In verse 9 he says, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” In verse 7 it says, “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.” We hear stories of where people gave their life for someone they loved or gave their life for someone they wanted to help or someone that was a good person. I heard the true story about two miners that were actually trapped in a mine. There was some poisonous gas being sent into this mine. They both had gas masks, but one of the men had a gas mask that was damaged from the explosion that caused the mine to collapse. He was breathing in the poisonous gas. The man with the flawed mask was married and had children, and the man that had the good mask was a younger single gentleman. He actually said to his friend, “Look, I’m single. I have no family. I can leave this world. You have a wife and kids. They need you.” He forced him to take off his mask, and he took his good mask and put it on him. He died in that act of saving this man’s life. You go, “Well, that’s really an amazing story.” The amazing thing in this text is that God did that for His enemies. He did that for us sinners. He did that for people that were rebelling against Him. It’s a wonderful thing for you to give your life for a family member or friend or loved one but to give yourself for somebody who not only was a stranger but someone who is your enemy? That’s what God did in the person of His Son Jesus Christ.

I want you to notice in verse 9, he argues from the lesser to the greater. He says, “Much more then, being now justified…,” so we have justification, present possession, “…by his blood.” Then he puts the third phase of our salvation, glorification, and says “…we shall be saved from wrath through him.” That will be our next point in just a second, we are going to be saved from wrath. I want you to notice here that we have been justified, and we shall be saved from future wrath. So, we have salvation’s tenses; past, present and future. We’ve been saved, we’re being saved, and we shall yet be saved.

Let me make a couple of statements. I believe that if we think we deserve God’s love, we won’t fully come to value and appreciate it. If you think tonight that God loves you because you’re good looking, smart, talented, an American or because you have white skin or brown skin or black skin, the list could go on and on. If you think that there’s any reason why God loves you, you’re not going to fully completely understand or appreciate the love of God. Do you want to be overwhelmed with God’s love? Accept what the Bible says, that you don’t deserve it. There is nothing in you and there is no reason why God should love you. Now, I know that this is not a popular message. The trend and tendency in our culture is that God loves you because you’re so special, and God loves you because you’re so talented, or God loves you because you’re so awesome. You may be talented or good looking, awesome and all those things, but that’s not why God loves you, which, I believe, is a good thing because you won’t always be good looking, talented and wonderful. When that day comes, you want God to keep loving you, right? When you get married, do you want your husband or wife to stop loving you when you get old, your hair falls out, you gain weight and look kind of funny? You say, “I’ve been married a long time, but I can’t look at you anymore.” Love, true love, does not change when it change finds. It’s unchanging. It’s unconditional. If you can grasp the reality that, I don’t have to perform. I don’t have to try to do something to earn, merit or deserve God’s love because it began from the very start where I was inept and unable. I was weak, sinful, poor, wretched, miserable and blind, yet God set His love upon me, and God will never stop loving you, you come to fully appreciate it. And, if we think we deserve God’s love, we will never really be secure in God’s love. If you think you deserve God’s love, you’ll never be fully secure in God’s love because you’ll never think you’re good enough for God to love you, and you’ll go through life feeling like, “Well, I had a bad thought today, God doesn’t love me,” or “I did something bad, God won’t love me,” instead of just realizing, “I don’t deserve or merit God’s love. God just loves me.” I know that’s hard to digest because we think of a performance kind of a love relationship. That’s not how God works. So, God gave His own Son, in verse 6, it’s unconditional love. God’s love is undeserving, “…when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

In verses 7-8, it’s incomparable. He uses that phrase, “much more” repeatedly in verses 9 and 10. “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled…,” and again, future tense, “…we shall be saved by his life.” There’s the sense in which we are saved, there’s the sense in which we are being saved, and there’s the sense in which we shall be saved.

How can we doubt God’s love if objectively in history God came in the person of Christ and laid down His life upon a cross. The cross is not just a work, it’s a word. Do you know that God is speaking in the cross? If you listen very carefully when you look at the cross, God says something. He says, “I love you.” That’s what the cross says. It’s not just a work where He died for our sins, it’s a word that God is speaking. He’s saying, “I love you.” Do you know it would be hard for me to believe in a God of love in a world of suffering if God was immune from suffering? It’s one of the things that critics of Christianity say, “Well, how could a God of love let suffering, sorrow and tragedy happen?” I don’t know all the answers to that, but I know a God of love came from heaven. He took on the form of a man and was rejected, mocked, crucified, and hung on a cross. Did you know that when Jesus died on the cross He actually experienced pain? He wasn’t immune from pain because He was the Son of God—excruciating pain. When I think of Jesus dying for my sin, I think of the fact that He actually had to endure horrible pain and all the emotion of being crucified publicly, spit upon, mocked and ridiculed, whipped and beaten. Then the pure, holy Son of God had to endure having the sin of the world placed upon Him as a substitute. He did all that because He loves you and He loves me. He died for us when we were still in the state of ungodliness, rebellion, hatred and animosity. We were running from Him. So, how could we ever doubt God’s love? How could we doubt a God of love? If you had been there when Jesus was crucified and you touched the cross, you would’ve gotten slivers in you hands. It was a real cross made out of wood. Jesus suffered and died in time, in space, tangibly, objectively to forever say to you, “I love you. I love you.” So, if you ever feel like God doesn’t love me, or you feel downcast or rejected, just remember the cross of Jesus Christ. Then, subjectively, in our experience, God’s love is poured out into our hearts. That’s just the first blessing for tonight—the love of God poured out into our hearts.

I want to mention the other two and then we’ll go back to build on them more next Wednesday. The second one is in verses 9-10, we’re saved from the wrath of God. So the love of God poured into our hearts, and then secondly, the wrath of God is spared us because Jesus died for us in our place. “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” No wrath for us. I deserved hell. Jesus took my hell, and all that’s left for me is heaven. He goes on in verse 10 and says, “For if, when were were enemies, we were reconciled…much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” It goes from the negative, verse 9, “…saved from wrath,” to the positive, “saved by his life,” for he ever lives to make intercession for the saints. Jesus Christ took our wrath, he took our penalty, and then He saves us by His life. Hebrews 7:25 says, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost…,” or able to save forever, or He is able, once and forever, to save them “…that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” No wrath for us. Jesus took it all.

Here’s the third blessing, verse 11. This blessing is quite unique. It’s rejoicing in God. Now, we learned earlier that we rejoice in our trials. This is why the world thinks Christians have lost something. If you see someone walking down the street smiling today, you actually think that he’s not playing with a full deck of cards, the elevator doesn’t go all the way up, you know, or he’s smoking something. “Smiling…that dude’s loaded. He’s gotta be. He’s lost his mind.” Who smiles anymore, you know? Christians do! Amen? Christians do. My dad was famous for whistling. My dad is just this awesome whistler. He’s still alive, by the way, he’s 90. He used to whistle. One Monday morning he’d go to work, and the men he worked with used to get so mad at him. Monday morning he’s smiling and whistling. They’d say, “Miller, what do you got to whistle about?” He would say, “Cuz, I got Jesus in my heart!” People would say, “Why are you smiling?” He’d say, “Because I have Jesus in my heart! Because I have the peace of God. I have the love of God. I have access to God. I don’t have any wrath waiting for me. It’s understandable you’re frowning. You’re going to hell, and you look like hell right now, but I’m going to heaven! So, I’m smiling!” Amen? What a joy! The love of God is filling our hearts. The wrath of God has been eliminated, and now what do we do? We joy, we exalt, we rejoice in God. Notice in verse 11, “And not only so, but we also joy in God…,” that’s the point. We joy in God, not in our circumstances, not in our manmade produced righteousness, but we rejoice in God, “…through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the atonement,” a better translation is reconciliation. So, through Jesus Christ I have been reconciled to God. We have peace with God, we have access to God, we have the hope of the glory of God, and we have joy in tribulation because the love of God is poured out into our hearts. Remember, when I started tonight I said all of this is true about every Christian. You say, “Well, why don’t I feel this?” Because you’re just not believing it. If you really just accepted it and believed it by faith—God said it, I believe it, that settles it—it would change your attitude. It would change your heart. It would change your life. Now we rejoice in God! We have peace with God, access to God, hope of the glory of God. We have the love of God in our hearts and we rejoice and exalt in God. Why? Because all our blessings are in God, and all our blessings in God come to us because of Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. What a blessing that is! Now we have reconciliation and exaltation.

The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, what is the chief end of man? The answer. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever! I agree. Do you know what the ultimate purpose for your life is? Not to get a big house, not to make a bunch of money, not to take killer vacations, not to go to Disneyland. The number one purpose, goal and intent of your life is to know God, enjoy God and to glorify God forever. That’s what life is about. That is actually the purpose and the meaning of life. You don’t have to take your philosophy class. I answered the question on Wednesday night at Revival, and I didn’t charge you anything. What is the purpose of life? What is the purpose and meaning of life? Why are we here? What is life all about? To know God, to enjoy God, and to glorify God forever! That’s what the purpose of life is, and until we come to know Him, we can’t enjoy Him. When we come to know Him, we glory in Him. What do we glory in? God’s wisdom which is seen in the cross. Romans 11:33, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” God’s grace seen in the cross. Grace is God’s riches at Christ’s expense. Thirdly, God’s power seen in the cross. Fourthly, God’s love seen in the cross.

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell.
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stock on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the oceans dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

The love of God. Paul, in this epistle, is trying to remind us here that this is yours in Christ. This is yours who have been justified by faith through grace—grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. These are your blessings, and they cannot be taken away from you. Satan will do all he can to make you ignorant of them and to keep you from enjoying them. He can’t take them from you, but he can make you ignorant of them. So, you’re to be commended. You’re here tonight. You’re in Bible study. You’re reading the passage. You’ve learned these blessings, and now there is reason for you to joy in God. I hope and pray that the rest of this week you go home and say, “I’m just joying in God! I’m just rejoicing in God because look at all that I have, all that God has done for me; the peace with God, the access to God, the joy in God, and the love of God shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit. Let’s pray.