The Benefits of Justification by Faith - Part Two (Romans 5 1-11)

The Balance of Gray
God, doubt, and proof walk into a podcast... it goes better than you’d expect!

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Chapters

• 13:24 [Ad] The Balance of Gray
• 14:12 (Cont.) The Benefits of Justification by Faith - Part Two (Romans 5 1-11)

Transcript

The Benefits of Justification by Faith - Part Two (Romans 5 1-11)

Transcript - Part Two.

Do you have any doubt about this are you wondering can we be really sure about this? 

Paul even answers this, verse 5: “Because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”

Listen carefully friends this verse says that when we are saved, we receive the Holy Spirit, and at that moment, we realize that God loves us and died for our sins, we receive the Holy Spirit. 

That is true salvation, and it will bring us a greater awareness of God’s love. But Paul is saying something even deeper here. 

He confirms that the Holy Spirit was given to us at conversion—past tense—but in the context of this passage, he is not merely referring to the initial realization of God's love. Instead, he is speaking of a deeper realization that comes after enduring trials.

As a Christian who trusts in God in the midst of suffering we begins to understand that trials can actually be manifest in our lives as an opportunity to experience God’s love at an even deeper level. 

For unbelievers every hardship in life probably seemed like evidence of God's anger. 

But for the believer, carrying suffering takes on a whole new meaning. 

You now stand in a position of favor with God. Any trials are not punishments; they can be for your benefit. And that is why you can choose to glory them. I am not saying it is easy, but I am saying that you can now look at your struggles and say, "God loves me—He has sent these challenges my way for my good."

It’s like a loving parent who pushes their child to grow, challenging them because they care. This is exactly what God does. The Spirit of God helps us to realize that even in our suffering, God’s love is present and active.

Paul then gives us a stunning example of God’s love in verse 6:

 " You see, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”

When we were weak, when we lacked the ability to obey God, when we were helpless, When we did not know or even acknowledge God Christ still died for us. 

He then emphasizes this even further by saying: "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." In our worst state, in our sinfulness, when we were completely undeserving, God even then loved us enough to send His Son to die for us.

That is the ultimate demonstration of His love.

The Paul makes an important contrast to illustrate the depth of this. 

He notes that someone might consider dying for a righteous person, someone who does everything right the law and tries to do what is good all the time. Perhaps, for such a person—someone who actively does good for others some might consider them worth dying for without unnecessarily doing it..

But who would die for a worthless, sinful person? Who would sacrifice themselves for failure, a rebel, a "nobody"? 

Yet that is exactly what Christ did for us. He gave His life for us while we were completely undeserving.

And here’s the incredible truth:

It is in the midst of trials, when we are weak, when we fail, when we struggle, that the Holy Spirit reminds us—God still loves us. 

He loved us when we were sinners, and He loves us now. 

Even when we don’t handle trials perfectly, even when we feel overwhelmed, God’s love remains constant.

This understanding, if you take it on bard can transform our attitude to suffering if we let it. Instead of being discouraged, we can glory in our trials because we know God is using them to shape our character and deepen our understanding of His love.

This is the supernatural aspect of the life of a Christian. 

If you start rejoicing in trials, if you walk around with joy in your heart, you might just find yourself pushing open the door to a life of peace! 

Because no matter what challenges come your way, you can confidently say: "God loves me. I know I have problems, why should I worry God loves me.

I now know God will use them to develop my character. He is smiling upon me. I stand in His favor. So, I can rejoice."

One of the privileges of being a child of God and being justified by faith is the ability to boast—not only in future glory and present trials but also in present salvation. 

Paul introduces this final aspect of boasting in verse 9, where he states:

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

Paul further explains:

For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

(Romans 5: 10-11)

To simplify, Paul presents three key aspects of boasting when examined across the full span of the passage tells us:

·         Future glory (verse 2)

·         Present trials (verses 3-8)

·         Present salvation (verses 9-11)

Paul teaches that we can rejoice because God is saving us now. 

Notice the structure of verse 9: "Having been justified... we shall be saved." This distinction is crucial. Many mistakenly reduce the concept of salvation to the moment of conversion alone. However, from a biblical perspective, salvation unfolds in three dimensions:

·         Past: I have been saved from the penalty of sin.

·         Present: I am being saved from the power of sin.

·         Future: I shall be saved from the presence of sin.

Romans 5 demonstrates that justification and salvation are distinct. 

We have been justified, but we are still in the process of being saved. 

Paul is not referring to salvation from the penalty of sin—that has already occurred. Instead, he is either referring to salvation from the power of sin and one day in the future salvation from the  very presence of sin.

Many Bible teachers interpret "wrath" in verse 9 as future wrath, referring to hell. However, I hold a different position. Nowhere in the Bible do we see wrath explicitly used as a reference to eternal damnation. Instead, the New Testament presents two forms of wrath:

Present wrath: The ongoing judgment of God revealed against sin in our lives in the form of consequences to sinful decisions made as a result of our free will (Romans 1:18).

Future wrath: A reference to the coming tribulation period.

When Paul states, "We shall be saved from wrath," I believe he is speaking of salvation from the power of sin in the present. This interpretation aligns with the broader themes of Romans that will come in the next few chapters.

In Romans 6-8, Paul will expound on how believers are being saved from the dominion of sin through Christ's resurrection life.

The logic of Paul’s argument is simple yet profound:

If God reconciled us while we were His enemies through the death of His Son, how much more will He save us now that we are justified? 

If God did the harder thing—saving us when we were rebellious—how much more certain is it that He will continue to save us from the power of sin through the risen life of Christ?

Justification is the one off free gift, but salvation from the power of sin is part of an ongoing package of gifts.

Consider this analogy: If someone gives you a valuable gift inside a beautifully wrapped box, the gift naturally comes with the wrapping. Likewise, if God has given us the gift of justification, He will also provide the ongoing work of salvation from sin’s power, the gift within, the gift that keeps on giving..

Thus, as believers, we rejoice—not only in our future glorification and our present trials but in the assurance that God is actively saving us now. This is the fullness of our salvation in Christ.

So let me try and sum up what I believe this passage is saying. 

Paul is clearly speaking about the benefits of justification, and he highlights three key benefits.

·         First, I have peace with God.

·         Second, I have a position of favor with God.

·         Third, we have the privilege of boasting/glorifying in what God has done in our lives.. 

It is this third point that Paul elaborates on in depth. 

As a justified believer, I can boast in future glory, I can boast in present trouble, and I can boast in present deliverance from sin. Ultimately, one of my greatest privileges is that I can boast in God.

Let me finish this lengthy discussion by making two very practical applications.

First, learn to glory in tribulation. This passage instructs us not only to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God but also to glory in tribulation. 

Paul states this in the indicative, while James states it in the imperative, commanding us to do it "count it all joy when you fall into various trials" (James 1:2). If you are facing trouble, let me tell you how to handle it—glory in it and recognize that God still loves you.

Over the past few years, myself and my family have faced many challenges. Some have asked me, "Why did God allow this?" And on all occasions, I simply try and tell them I grasp hold of the truth and declare that these things happened, "Because He loves me." 

Sometimes I can’t see it in the day to day reality, I certainly didn’t feel it at times. But I always believed it.

The truth is, a loving Father shapes His children. God permits trials to refine our character, and He reassures us throughout that He loves us. We are indeed blessed by living lives of free will but sometimes affected by the free will decision of ourselves, Band others.

Troubles are not evidence of God's neglect but of His deep care and intention to mold us into His likeness.

Second friends, try to learn to glory in God,always, what he has and what he has promised to do.

Consider again this passage.

In verse 3, Paul says to "glory in tribulations." By verse 11, he says to "rejoice in God." This teaches us a progression: we begin by glorying in the hope of future glory, we then learn to glory in tribulation, and ultimately, we come to glory in God Himself.

Paul expresses this ultimate goal in Galatians 6:14: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." This is the highest aim—not merely to glory in God's blessings, gifts, or even trials, but to glory in God Himself.

As a little boy I received many Christmas presents and delighted in playing with them. But after some time, a frightening short period of time sometimes, I grew tired of playing with them. But I never got tired of climbing into his mother’s lap, and glorifying in the fact that my mother loved me.

I get tired of playing with the gifts, but I never got tired of being with the mother whose love those gifts represented.

In life we too often, we become enamored with God’s gifts—our health, our families, our successes, and even our spiritual experiences. But the ultimate goal is to move beyond these gifts and glory in the giver.

We should want to glory not just in the gifts but in the one who gives them

But here is the really prefund bit in all this We should glory not just in the good things but also in the trials that will shape you

Glorify not just in the blessings, but in the One who blesses.

That is the ultimate in life is to glorify the giver of the gifts, not the gifts themselves.