Joy is a concept that is not foreign to human beings. Every human being pursues and desires the things that make him happy or content. In some instances, the things that we assume will be bring us joy are quite trivial: if I can just eat at this restaurant, if I can just get out from behind this person going 30 in the fast lane, if Tennessee can just beat Florida. Many times we react in these situations as if the achievement of our goal might bring us everlasting bliss. But our desires are not always so trivial. There are times when our hearts think in this way: if I could just get married, if I could just have children, if my children would just obey, if I could just get a job, etc. These are things that are not bad to desire, but the problem is that every one of them – even when achieved – never quite brings the utter joy and contentment that it appeared it would bring when we did not have it.
This concept of wanting to find contentment and fulfillment is just as relevant for Christians as it is for everyone else on the planet. We, as Christians, desire just as much as everyone else to be able to rejoice and exult and be content. If you have a heartbeat, you know the desires that I am talking about. You know what it is that consumes your mind and causes you to think, “If only I could _________, I would be happy. I could rejoice.” And such a desire to be content and to rejoice in something is not wrong. The point at which we go astray is misunderstanding what truly brings that contentment and that joy. And this is the theme of our text this morning.
Having laid out the glorious reality of the gospel in Romans 1-4, Paul uses Romans 5-8 to lay out some of the results that should come about in the lives of those who have believed in that gospel. Specifically, in Romans 5:1-11, Paul is going to lay out some objective results of believing in the gospel. But Paul does not stop at the objective, he presses to the subjective level – the level of each individual heart and its emotions and delights and loves. And, as we look at the text this morning, we might be astounded to see the truth that every Christian on the face of the earth already has everything they need to be fully content and joyful. As we look at the text, we will see words like “rejoice,” and “hope.” These two words dominate our text, because – in Paul’s mind – Christians are already able to rejoice and exult and hope because of what has happened in the cross of Christ. This is the heart of Paul’s text, so let us walk through it together.
Before he starts talking about the way we as individuals should respond to the fact that we have been saved, Paul lays out some objective realities that are true of every person who has placed their faith in Jesus Christ. The first thing he says is “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through out Lord Jesus Christ” (5:1). Now, in the world at large, such a statement might be shocking because people might declare that they did not know they were at war with God in the first place. But, as we have followed the flow of Paul’s thought in the book of Romans, one of the things that he has made clear over and over again is that human beings, by nature, are in direct opposition to God. He made clear in Romans 1 that human beings suppress the truth about God and refuse to worship him in their unrighteousness. He made clear in Romans 2 that the wrath of God is going to be revealed against that unrighteousness. By nature, human beings are at war with God. Later in the text today Paul will say that we were enemies of God before we were saved. And Ephesians 2 makes clear that, as enemies, we were objects of God’s wrath. It is this reality, that we have seen so many times over the last few weeks, that makes this first verse all the more glorious.
After laying out the reality of the gospel, Paul is able to declare that those who have been justified by faith now have peace with God. This is not some ethereal harmony and tranquility in life on this earth. This is not even harmonious relationships with the people around you. This is a restored and right relationship with the God who we had hated and rejected. Once we were his enemies but now we are his friends. We have peace with God. And we have that peace through our Lord Jesus Christ. By his death and resurrection, God’s wrath was poured out on our sins and, by faith, we are counted righteous and the result of all of that is peace with God. We no longer worry about his wrath because he has forgiven our sins. We no longer work as if we have to earn his favor because favor is given through Jesus Christ.
The second objective reality Paul gives is seen in the first part of verse 2. He writes, “Through him [Christ] we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.” Here Paul holds up the ongoing result of what happened when we placed our faith in Christ. Paul has made clear that it is by grace that we were saved. But the glorious reality of the gospel is that it is by grace that we are being saved and will be saved as well. It is not as if the means of our salvation changes once we get in the door. It is by grace through faith from beginning to end. And, just like the reality that we have peace with God, this reality hinges on the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is through him that we have access to this grace. We cannot make the mistake of assuming that salvation is a one time event that occurred at a specific time in the past. Every moment that we are alive is a moment of grace. Even as we continue to struggle with sin, why is it that God does not judge that sin? It is because we stand in grace. Like the high priest who would enter God’s presence one time a year and stand before him - not because he was worthy but because God showed him grace, we stand before the Lord – not because we are worthy but because we stand in grace through Jesus Christ.
So Paul’s first goal is to remind his readers of their standing in relation to God that comes about as a result of their salvation through faith. They (and we), who once were enemies, now have peace with God. And they (and we), who once could not stand in God’s presence, now have access to the grace in which we stand.
Having laid out these objective realities, Paul then moves to a deeper level. He begins to talk about the effect of these objective realities on the hearts of those who experience them. Here Paul begins to use the words we spoke of earlier, words like “rejoice” and “hope” and “endurance” and “disappoint.” These are words of the heart. And Paul is making clear that the objective realities we just looked at – and will look at again – should affects our hearts. Paul writes, “…and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (5:2b). In the structure of the sentence, this is another result of having been justified by faith, but it is clear that there is a substantive difference between this result and the previous results. This result is an emotional reality of the heart. Because we have been saved, according to Paul, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. This idea of rejoicing is one of boasting and exulting. And we do this rejoicing and boasting in hope of something. That something is the glorious day when the glory of God fills the earth as the waters fill the seas. On that day there will be no corner of the earth in which God is not praised and exalted. Paul is making clear that we rejoice as we anticipate and look forward to that day. It is a thought that moves our hearts to joy and delight.
But, even as we read this passage, we might very well question our own hearts because they do not seem to rejoice in the hope of that day in the way that Paul says. No doubt, Paul is holding up what should be the reaction of Christians to being justified. Martin Luther expressed this same hope by saying, “I would not give one moment of heaven for all the joy and riches of the world, even if it lasted for thousands and thousands of years.\" Martin Luther looked forward to that glorious day and recognized that it did not compare to this world. As we will see in Paul’s next statement, we live in a world that oozes suffering. And yet, even in that world, Paul says that we rejoice in hope of the world that is to come. I wonder if we are not moved to rejoice in that world because we do not think of it often. We cannot rejoice in something that we do not think about often. Even as we encounter struggles and afflictions, we should be moved to think of the day when they will cease. Even as we struggle with sin, we should be moved to think of the day when it will be no more. Meditating often on that day will cause our hearts to well up with hope for that day to come, and we will rejoice because we know it is sure to come.
Paul continues this thought in verse 3 by saying “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Paul just laid out that we should rejoice when we think about the good days to come – that reality is not so difficult to understand. But in verse 3, Paul says we should rejoice in suffering! Why is this the case? Paul makes clear that this rejoicing in suffering is not some unstable delight in pain or hurt. Rather, we rejoice in our sufferings because those sufferings produce endurance and character and, eventually, more of the hope that we just spoke about. This view puts a bit of a different spin on suffering. Paul is not saying that suffering is simply to be endured and outlasted. He is saying that suffering should cause us to rejoice because it is an opportunity to throw ourselves on our Lord and prove him faithful once again. You see, to use a phrase from John Piper as he battled cancer, we waste our suffering if we do not see it as an opportunity to cast our cares upon the Lord because he cares for us. Do not wallow in your struggles and sufferings as those who have no hope because you do have hope. As you suffer and persevere in endurance, your character is tested and tried and molded and you become a person who not only knows in their head that God cares for his people but who has felt in the horrible depths of suffering that God cares for his people. We rejoice in suffering because it is an opportunity to boast in our God and watch him prove himself true. And we rejoice in our suffering because it produces hope in our hearts for something better.
At this point in our text, Paul gives the foundations to the things that he has said. He has made clear, so far, that because we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God and access into his presence (5:1-2a). And because of our justification, we rejoice in hope of what is to come (5:2b-4). But, how can we be sure of these things? What if we wake up tomorrow and suddenly we are God’s enemies again? What if we suddenly find ourselves standing outside the gate without access to our God? What if that in which we have placed our faith turns out to be nothing more than a mirage? What if?
Paul now makes clear why these questions are fruitless. And, in so doing, he gives us the foundation of our hope and our joy. The first thing he says is that our hope is sure because God has given us the Holy Spirit. He writes, “…and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (5:5). Paul expresses his confidence in the reality that our hope will indeed prove true. He says that hope will not “put us to shame.” This is to say that we will not appear foolish on that last day when our hope becomes reality. But how can we know? Paul’s first reason is that God has poured his love into our hearts by giving us the Holy Spirit. We cannot underestimate the glorious reality of the gif of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that this wonderful Helper and Counselor would come and we neglect him at our own risk. I am not referring merely to incredibly miraculous manifestations of the Spirit but of the sheer transformative power of the Spirit in the everyday lives of those who have believed: the adulterer who now loves his wife or her husband, the alcoholic who now is filled with the Spirit instead of liquor, the thief who now works to give to others instead of taking from them, the gossip and slanderer who now speaks only that which encourages others. These are realities that only come about because of the Spirit that now dwells within them. God has not only saved us but given us his Spirit to transform us into the very people that we need to be. This Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance (Eph. 1:14) and the seal that marks us as belonging to God for the day of redemption (Eph. 1:13; 4:30). This seal will not suddenly be taken away. Rather, this seal is proof that our hope is not in vain; it is sure.
But Paul goes on to give another similar reason that our hope is sure. He writes, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (5:6-8). Here, Paul grounds our hope in the cross. He reminds his readers that Christ died for them when they were ungodly and unrighteous and his enemies. He points out the rarity of such an act in verse 7. The verse can be a bit confusing, but essentially, Paul is making clear that no human being will die for another – even if that person is righteous. He qualifies this unqualified statement a bit by acknowledging that, in rare cases, someone might die for a good person. But, as a general rule, people do not give up their lives for others – even righteous others. But Christ died for us when we were utter, filthy sinners and this is the ultimate demonstration of God’s love.
This reality, like the glorious gift of the Spirit, should move our hearts to rejoice. Indeed, God sent Christ to die for us when we were sinners and were as bad as we could get. It is sheer grace that God saved us in our sin – when you were an adulterer and when you were an alcoholic and when you were a liar and when you were disobedient to parents and when you were arrogant and rude. In those moments – not after you had time to reform yourself – God saved you. And, knowing that you would be such a person, Christ died for you. This is the glorious reality of the cross. Where is joy? It is in this reality. Where is contentment? It is found in the one who has saved us when we were yet sinners.
But while this reality of the cross may be great now, how in the world does it make clear that our hope is certain? It is to this reality that Paul now turns his attention. He writes, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 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” (5:9-10). Paul’s essential argument is that God will finish what he has started. If we have been justified through the death of Christ that we just looked at, it is certain that we will be saved from the wrath of God. If it were not so, then Christ’s death would be pointless and worthless. Christ’s death is effective and its effects are certain – if they are not all actual realities yet. They will be in time. And Paul argues that if God reconciled us to himself while we were his enemies, surely he will save us on that great and glorious day as his children and his people. It would be like saying, “If so-and-so helped this person who was their enemy, surely they will help that person when that person is a friend. God loved us and saved us when we were his enemies. So we need have no doubt that he will deliver us on that final day in which we hope because we are his chosen ones.
It is this reality that drives Paul’s final statement as he says, “More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (5:11). Here is the culmination of this section for Paul. Because of these realities that we have seen: we have peace with God and access to grace, and because of the certain hope that we have through the death of Christ and the gift of the Spirit, we rejoice in our God through the Lord Jesus Christ. As Christians, our abiding place should be one of rejoicing. This should be our default position. So examine your life – do you rejoice in God through the Lord Jesus Christ? Does joy overflow from your heart? Because we have every reason to rejoice. Contentment does not come from a spouse or a child or a job or money or the praise of men; it comes from being reconciled to God and knowing that glory awaits us and hoping in that reality every day and rejoicing because of that hope.
As we come to the table, we come remembering the sacrifice of Christ that we spoke of this morning. We can rejoice because we have been reconciled through the blood of Christ, so let us rejoice! We can hope and know that our hope is sure because Christ died for us while we were still sinners, so let us hope and know that our hope is sure. As we take this together, let us rejoice and exult and boast in our God and in our redeemer. Amen.