One of the marks of the believer’s life is Joy:  rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God, rejoicing in our tribulations, and rejoicing in the God who has reconciled us to Himself.

Transformed By A New Joy

Romans 5:1-11

It was the Winter of 1980. I was a brand new Christian and was driving from Fresno to Sacramento to visit my family. I remember turning up my cassette player which was playing some praise and worship songs and singing at the top of lungs because of my new joy in God. On other occasions I remember walking down a street and just lifting up my arms in praise and shouting joyful praises to God. Often when a person has been newly born again, they experience a great rush of spiritual joy. It is one of the first emotions of the new spiritual life they have entered. This is exactly what we would have expected from the Gospel, which is Good News. Wouldn’t you expect Good News to produce joy? You wives, if your husband went off to war, and was captured by the enemy, when you got the good news that he was released and headed home on a plane at that very moment, wouldn’t it produce joy in your heart?  On August 14, 1945 when President Truman proclaimed the good news that Japan had unconditionally surrendered, and the war was over, there was rejoicing in every city in America. The entire city congregated in the streets, jumping up and down for joy for hours on end. Good News produces great joy.

No wonder then, that the angels told the shepherds that they brought good news of great joy which shall be for all the people (Luke 2:10). Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Mt.13:44).  Paul said that “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). In Acts 13:52 we read that the “disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” Further, in Galatians 5:22 we are told that joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. The apostle Peter says, “though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Pet. 1:8).  I hope you see from this sampling of texts that joy should be the fruit of a believer’s life. Joy is produced by the Good News. Joy comes as we see the value and worth of Jesus Christ. Joy is a defining characteristic of those who are in the kingdom of God. Joy is a fruit produced in us by the Holy Spirit. And this joy is so wonderful that it is inexpressible and full of glory! Wow!

My aim this morning is to create in all of you a yearning to experience more and more of this wonderful, spiritual, inexpressible joy!

In Romans 5:1-11, the apostle Paul is describing our experience of joy. Actually he calls it “exulting.” Paul describes 3 things in which we exult: we exult in hope (5:2), we exult in tribulations (5:3), and we exult in God (5:11). The word “exult” is that which ties verses 1-11 together. In this paragraph Paul is describing the fruits of our justification. Now, that we have been justified, what is the result? His answer is JOY! Actually, the word “exult” has a slightly different meaning than the word “rejoice”. The word exult means “to be extremely joyful; to leap for joy.” This is no ordinary rejoicing. This is extreme rejoicing. I’m sure you have heard of Extreme Sports, where people do crazy things like doing a handstand on the handlebars of your motorcycle while it is flying through the air. Well, this is Extreme Joy! It carries the idea of a triumphant rejoicing. The Greek word is often translated as “boasting” or “glorying”. So we could say that Paul is boasting and glorying in his hope, in his tribulations, and in his God.

In our Gospel in Romans series, we have seen our need for the gospel – because of our total depravity. We’ve seen how God accomplished the gospel – through the Righteousness, Propitiation, and Representation of Christ. We’ve also seen how God applies the gospel – according to His Sovereign Choice, according to His Irresistible Call, and according to His Invincible Goal. Well, today I’m going to bring the first of 5 messages on how God transforms us through the gospel. He does it through a New Joy, a New Union, a New Master, a New Husband, and a New Power. This morning, then, let’s think about how God transforms us through a new joy.

1.  We Rejoice In Hope: 5:1-2

What is this hope that produces joy?  The glory of God. Paul says in Romans 9:23 that there are  vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory.  In Romans 8:18 – “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”  Paul is referring to heaven, the perfect final state.

Now it’s important to understand that when we find the word “hope” in our New Testament, it doesn’t mean what it often means to us. We use the word to describe a wish. “I hope I marry a millionnaire when I grow up!” “I hope I win the National Banjo Championship.” No, the Biblical word “hope” has the meaning of a confident expectation. It’s not a wish, but something that we fully expect to happen in the future. And what does Paul fully expect to experience in the future? He expects to share in, enjoy, and experience the glory of God. Now, we need to ask ourselves why Paul expected to share in the glory of God. Actually he has already told us. He possess this hope of enjoying the glory of God because of 3 things he has said in Romans 5:1-2. Let’s take a look at them.

We Rejoice In Hope because we have been Justified! 5:1. Let’s refresh our memories as to what justification is all about. Justification is really the exact opposite of condemnation. When a person is condemned he is pronounced guilty. When a sinner believes he is justified and pronounced righteous. Justification is not making a person righteous. That is sanctification. It is declaring him righteous, even though he is a sinner. How can God remain just and still justify a sinful person? He does it through the perfect life and substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. Jesus lived a perfect life which God gives you credit for having lived. Jesus also died in our place, bearing the penalty for our sins. The death of Jesus wipes out your sin debt. The life of Jesus grants you His positive, perfect righteousness. Being justified is much more than being forgiven. Remember the story of the woman who amassed a great debt at a department store that she could never repay. It would be a wonderful thing for the store owner to forgive her that debt. However, even though she was no longer liable for the debt, she would always have a feeling of personal discomfort about the whole thing. If the store owner changed his mind and decided to sue her, he would be seeking justice. If however, while she was waiting for the trial, she married a millionnaire who paid her debt for her, there would no longer be any legal claim against her any more. If the case ever got to trial, she could claim “not guilty” because her debts had been fully paid by her husband. When God justified us, He didn’t just forgive us. He paid all our debts through the death of Jesus Christ His Son, and put His righteousness to our account.

We Rejoice in Hope because we have Peace with God!  The moment the sinner believes, God justifies him. And now, that he has been justified he discovers that he has peace with God. If the sinner does not have peace with God until he is justified, what does that tell you about his condition before he was justified? That’s right – he was at war with God. He was the enemy of God. He was hostile to God. These are all things that Paul tells us elsewhere in Romans. In Romans 5:10 Paul writes, “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” In Romans 8:7 Paul writes, “the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God.”  In Col. 1:20-21 Paul writes that Christ made peace through the blood of His cross. Formerly we were alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds. Jonathan Edwards wrote a paper called, “Men Naturally God’s Enemies.”  Now, of course, if you asked the person on the street if he was God’s enemy, he would be offended that you even asked the question. He thinks that he and God are buddies, and that the “man upstairs” will take him to heaven when he dies, because he’s a “good person”.  However, that’s not what the Bible says. Before we are saved, we are rebels, enemies, hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds.  However, when God justifies a sinner, he is instantly at peace with God. There’s no more war. It was our sin which created the war with God. But in justification, God has dealt with our sin, putting it away forever. Suddenly, there is nothing to sustain a conflict with God any longer. Since our sin has been dealt with righteously, we are at peace with God! When Japan unconditionally surrendered on August 14, 1945, the United States went from a state of war with Japan to a state of peace with Japan. We put down our weapons and stopped bombing Japan. So too, once God has brought us into a state of peace with Him, His wrath no longer abides on us. He is no longer against us. Instead He is for us!  What a tremendous blessing!

We Rejoice in Hope because we Stand in Grace!  Justification not only results in us being at peace with God, but also results in us standing in grace. That word “stand” is very important. It carries the idea of permanence, being firmly fixed, and immovable. Once we are justified, we obtain a permanent and eternal standing in grace. We don’t slide in and out of grace. No, we stand in grace. In Romans 14:4 Paul writes, “To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”  Do you see how Paul uses the word “stand”? It is in opposition to falling. We are not slipping and falling in grace. We are standing in grace. We are not standing in our sin. Neither do we stand in our own righteousness. We stand in grace.

Now, consider what it is that we stand in.  We stand in grace! I love that word grace. It is God’s undeserved kindness and favor to hell-deserving sinners. It is unearned, undeserved, unmerited, unbought, and unsought. How does Paul think of God’s grace here in the book of Romans? Well, let’s take a look.

In Romans 5:21 Paul writes, “as sign reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Paul understood grace as something that reigned, like a king. In other words, grace is not just a nice proposition. It is a power! It is God’s omnipotence in operation in saving sinners! Grace is God’s infinite power which is no longer against us, but is now for us! Look at what Paul says in Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Believers are under grace. What does Paul mean by that? He means that we are under the dominion and rule of grace. Grace reigns in the believer. We are under the sovereign sway of God’s omnipotent grace. We have been saved by grace, and we stand in grace. The same grace that sought us out, convicted us of sin, revealed to us the glory of Christ, is also the same grace that enabled us to lay hold of Christ by faith, and to repent of sin, and to follow Christ in obedience. The same grace that saved us is the same grace that will sanctify us, preserve us, and glorify us together with Christ in heaven!  Grace is like a King who rules over his subjects.

Now, how do these 3 precious truths cause us to have hope in the glory of God? If God has justified you, that means that He no longer views and treats you as if you were a guilty sinner. Instead He views you and treats you as if you were as righteous as Jesus Christ. You now have the confident expectation that God will continue to regard you as righteous, not temporarily, but forever. If you have peace with God, you now confidently expect that you are at peace with God, not just temporarily, but forever. And if you stand in grace, you confidently expect that you will continue to stand in His grace, not temporarily, but forever! If your justification, peace, and standing are permanent and eternal, then the logical conclusion is that you confidently expect to enjoy God in all His glory for all eternity!

Let me ask you – are you exulting in the hope of your eternal enjoyment of God and His glory? When you think of worshiping at His feet, basking in His glory, getting to know Him better and better for all eternity, does that fill you with great joy?!  Oh, allow yourself to be swept away in this great truth. You are going to heaven to bask in God’s glory because of His grace!

2.  We Rejoice in Tribulations: 5:3-5

You might say, “I can understand why we would rejoice and boast in sharing in God’s glory, but why in the world would someone rejoice in their tribulations?”  Well, according to Paul, tribulations bring about perseverance, and perseverance brings about proven character, and proven character brings about hope. Did you notice that we have come full circle, and we are back at hope again? We exult in hope, and we also exult in tribulations because they make our hope even stronger.  How so?

Tribulations.  The Greek word means “pressure.” It carries the meaning of sufferings, afflictions, or distresses. So, what do these painful trials bring about?

Perseverance. When the believer who has been justified, is at peace with God, and is standing in grace encounters tribulations in his life, he perseveres. When a false convert encounters tribulations, he falls away (Mt. 13:20-21). The fact that you have not fallen away when you have gone through sufferings, but have persevered in faith through them reveals a lot.

Proven Character.  Perseverance through tribulations produces proven character. One of the reasons God brings suffering into a Christian’s life is to produce character. Remember from Romans 8:29 that those whom God set His love on before time began, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. That is God’s great goal for you. And one of the ways He does it is through suffering. As you persevere through suffering, slowly but surely, character is being formed. God is producing trust, patience, contentment, submission, and hope in your life. Just like one of those beautiful cypress trees in Monterrey, the winds of adversity are causing your roots to go down deep into the soil of God’s grace.

Jesus says in John 15 that the Father prunes every branch that bears fruit, that it may bear more fruit. Now, if you happened to be that vine, I think you would find the snipping away of fruitless branches a very painful experience. But what is the result? Greater fruitfulness. My brother has collected dozens of arrowheads over the years. Well, in order for an Indian to create an arrow that would be a useful too in his hand, he had to chisel away at the flint until it was just right. Even so, in order for God to make you and I into useful tools in His hands, he must chisel away on us. God’s chiseling is painful, but it is needful.

Somebody once said that a diamond is just a chunk of coal that made good under pressure.    Basically diamonds are nothing more than coal which has undergone tremendous pressure over very long periods of time. Folks, we are just chunks of coal. But God is bring pressures into our lives, not to destroy us, to make us objects of exquisite beauty. When those tribulations and pressures come into our lives, persevere. God is building you into objects of great beauty in His sight!

Hope: Now, how do we know that our hope in sharing God’s glory forever won’t disappoint us? Verse 5 says it is because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Paul is pointing to an experience the believer has which proves to him that his hope is not just some pipe dream, but is a future certainty. This is a supernatural experience. The Holy Spirit pours out in his heart the love of God. Now, this is not talking about our love for God, because verse 8 tells us that “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” So, what is this experience like? It’s very difficult to describe, because it is probably different for each person. Paul speaks about it again over in Romans 8:16 when he says, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”  This “pouring out of the love of God” is not a deduction we make based on argument. It is immediate and direct. It is experiential. You know it when it is happening. Further, you can’t make it happen. The Holy Spirit makes it happen. But when it happens, it brings with it assurance that your hope in sharing God’s glory will never be disappointed.

Who experiences this? Well, according to verse 5, every true child of God experiences it, in some measure. All those to whom the Holy Spirit is given experience a pouring out of the love of God within their hearts. I’m not talking here about concluding that you must be saved, because the Bible says “he who believes in Him is not condemned”, and you believe in Christ, therefore you must not be condemned. No, I’m talking about you feeling in your heart and emotions as well as knowing in your mind that you are loved by God because the Holy Spirit reveals to you the greatness of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

So, not only do we greatly rejoice in our hope of sharing in God’s glory, but we also greatly rejoice in our tribulations. Why? Because they prove that our faith is real, and therefore our hope is real. Do you rejoice in your tribulations?

3.  We Rejoice in God: 5:6-11

This is the highest and greatest object of our joy. This is the apex of all or our joy! We rejoice not just in going to heaven, or that our tribulations prove our faith is real, but we rejoice in God Himself!

What is it about God that we rejoice in?  According to 5:11, it is that He has reconciled us to Himself. We were estranged, distant, separated from God, but He took the initiative to remove our sin, producing peace, and drawing us back into relationship with Himself.

How did God reconcile us?  Through the death of Christ. Paul mentions Christ’s death 6 times in verses 6-10! That was the only way that we could be reconciled to God. Only the death of Jesus Christ could pay the penalty our sins deserved, and remove them from us as far as the east is from the west.

What Condition Were We In when Christ Died for Us? 

While we were still helpless:  Some of the newer translations say “while we were still weak.” That is not really a good translation. The verse literally says, “while we were yet without strength.” Paul is saying we didn’t have strength to do anything to save ourselves. We were helpless, powerless. We were like a turtle turned upside down on its back. The idea is not that we were weak, but could still pull this thing off. No, the idea is that it was impossible from a human point of view.

While we were ungodly: We were utterly unlike God. God is holy, just, good, kind, merciful, gracious, righteous. We were unholy, unjust, bad, unkind, unmerciful, ungracious, and unrighteous!

While We were yet sinners: Our lives were characterized by sin. Like a fish living in water, we lived in sin. We were happy and comfortable living in sin day after day.

While we were enemies:  We were hostile and antagonistic towards God and His holy law.

This was our condition when God sent Christ to die for us! Many Christians believe that the greatness of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross points to how valuable we are in God’s sight. They say that the greatness of the price paid shows our worth and value to God. I see it a bit differently. If you committed multiple rapes and murders and the judge set your bail at 10 million dollars, and your parents graciously paid your bail, what would that prove? Would it prove the greatness of your worth and value? No, it would point to the greatness of your parents’ love for you in spite of your utter depravity. Folks, the greatness of the sacrifice which Jesus paid points to the greatness of His love for unworthy sinners!

What Did Christ’s Death Accomplish For Us? 

Justification: 5:9 says we have been justified by His blood. But wait a minute! Verse 1 says we have been justified by faith. Which is it? Are we justified by His blood or justified by faith. Both! Faith is the instrument by which we are justified. His blood is the basis upon which we are justified. The death of Christ wipes out our debt of sin, and then faith lays hold of that great truth.

Reconciliation: 5:10-11 mentions our reconciliation. Christ’s death brought two enemies together in peace. When 2 parties are at enmity with one another, a mediator is required to bring them together. Christ is the Mediator. In His death, He brought these 2 opposing parties together again and reconciled them.

Salvation: 5:9-10. Notice that our justification and reconciliation have already taken place, but our salvation is yet future. Here Paul is speaking about the future and final state of salvation which will take place on Judgment Day. When God summons all human beings before His great throne to be judged, only those who have taken refuge in Him will be saved from His wrath. All those who are not in Christ will have God’s almighty wrath poured out upon them. Remember, that we must stand where the fire has already been, if we don’t want to be consumed in the fire. The fire of God’s wrath has already been poured out upon the Son of God. We must flee to Christ and stand in Him on that day.

Not only do we rejoice greatly in the confident expectation of sharing in God’s glory, and in our tribulations which prove to us that we are real and will share in His glory, but also in God Himself who has done this great work of reconciling us to Himself. God did it when there was nothing attractive in us. We were utterly repulsive to Him – helpless, ungodly, sinners, enemies. Yet, in spite of who and what we were, Christ died for us, demonstrating God’s great love. Through His death, God has declared us righteous, reconciled us to Himself, and will rescue us from His wrath in the day of judgment.

Application

A new believer’s life begins to be transformed by an implanting of a new joy – a new boasting – a new glorying. He is not transformed by turning over a new leaf, or pulling himself up by the bootstraps, or trying harder. It begins with God planting a new, spiritual, joy in his heart. In the early 1800’s Thomas Chalmers preached a sermon entitled, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection.”  The title says it all. As believers we have a new affection for God, which spills over into joy. And this new affection and its joy expels the power of our previous affections. What is this joy based on?  He is going to heaven! His trials only make his hope of heaven stronger! His God has justified him, reconciled him, and will save him from wrath on Judgment Day.

Notice the 2 little “much mores” in 5:9,10. What do they teach? If God has done the really difficult thing of dying to justify and reconcile us, we can be even much more confident that He will do the easier thing of saving us from wrath. How will He do this? 5:10 – by His life. It took His death to reconcile us. Now that that has been accomplished, all it will take Him is His life to save us from wrath. He lives! He has been raised! He has ascended! He is at the Father’s right hand! He ever lives to make intercession for the saints! He will own us as His own on that final Judgment Day!

This whole section is really all about Assurance. We have assurance we are going to heaven. We have assurance our trials will only speed us on our way to heaven. We have assurance that God’s wrath will not bar us from heaven. Why? Where does that assurance come from? Our faith (5:1). God’s love (5:5). The Holy Spirit has created faith in our hearts, and the Holy Spirit has poured out God’s love in our hearts. When you find yourself trusting in Christ alone, and experiencing the love of God, it leads naturally to assurance. Do you have assurance of salvation? Do you experience the Spirit pouring out God’s love in your heart? Do you truly trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation? If you are one of His, you have experienced this in some measure!

Do you exult in hope? Do you exult in tribulations? Do you exult in God through Christ? If you are one of His, rejoice! Boast in Him! Glory in your God! Delight yourself in Him! Leap for joy that you have been saved from wrath and are headed for eternal glory in the presence of your Great God!! Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!

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