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The Crown Jewels of the royal family in the UK are estimated to be worth 4- 6 billion dollars. They are only worn by the royal family or the head of England’s armed forces or the supreme governor of the church of England. I don’t think that any of us qualify. You can however see them if you go to the Tower of London.
But I wonder if you had grown up in the royal family whether those jewels would become old hat to you? You’ve seen them often and have probably been able to actually touch them and maybe even wear them in private. Maybe at some point you become even jaded towards them. They’re okay but no big deal.
We have been studying the crown jewels of the gospel of grace in the book of Romans. In chapters 3-5 (including our text today) Paul continues to dig deeply and mind the riches that come to us through the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus.
And as we examine these riches, jewels in our text this morning we should keep the following in mind:
First, these riches point to the greatness of our salvation. The royal family of England has nothing on us! Nor do Warren Buffet, Bill Gates or Elon Musk. I am quite serious. We sing the lyrics: “in the arms of my dear Savior O there are 10,000 charms”. I’m not sure what the hymn writer meant by 10,000 charms but there are vast riches in the arms of our dear Savior - in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And today we will discuss the riches of justification, propitiation (saved from the wrath of God) and reconciliation with God,
Christians are people with a great inheritance. Paul declares in Ephesians 2 writes that in the coming ages he will show us the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. These riches are rooted in the hope of eternal life with the Lord but they are also very much tied to our lives right now. They give us grace to live lives of joy and peace and strength in the midst of the challenges of life.
Secondly all of these jewels/riches come to us through the life, death and resurrection of Christ (our dear Savior). Throughout the New Testament we are continually informed that we have received these riches through Him, by Him, because of Him, in Him (Christ) through our union with Him. These benefits and their connection to Christ Jesus are to be a source of gratefulness, love, exaltation and worship of the Son of God. We are to boast in Him and what He has done for us.
And third we should realize that one of the ways that we fight against the temptation to grow bored or jaded towards the riches of the gospel is to handle them. To put them on. To wear them. To sing of them. To think deeply of them. To speak to ourselves and remind ourselves about them. May the Lord help us to prize these riches above earthly possessions. .
My three points have to do with the following 3 riches: Justification, Propitiation: Saved From The Wrath of God; Reconciliation: No Longer Enemies of God
This is the picture of the Saint Edwards Crown
Named after Saint Edward the Confessor, versions of it have traditionally been used to crown English and British monarchs at their coronations since the 13th century.
Justification is not only a jewel or one of the riches of the gospel it is the very crown that all the other riches of the gospel are mounted on. It is the crown of the Christian. Why do I say that?
The words Just/Justify/justification/justified are listed 17 times in the book of Romans. All the other benefits or riches of the gospel such as propitiation or reconciliation are not named nearly as many times.
Second, it’s part of what is known as the golden chain of salvation in Romans 8. This chain describes the outworking and process of our salvation: 5 links
Martin Luther the great church reformer said of justification:
This doctrine (justification) is the head and the cornerstone. It alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves and defends the church of God and without it the church of God cannot exist for one hour.
— Martin Luther
And our text tells us this in verse 9: Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. In other words if we have been justified or made right with God through Christ then how much more or how could we not be saved from His wrath. Theologian Douglas Moo says it’s a greater to less argument. Concerning this phrase much more and its meaning John Stott puts it this way:
If one thing has happened, much more, will something else take place.
— John Stott
If justification has happened then all kinds of gospel riches and benefits are going to be added to the believer.
Here is one of the best definitions of justification:
How are you righteous before God? A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.1 Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments, of never having kept any of them,2 and of still being inclined toward all evil,3 nevertheless, without any merit of my own,4 out of sheer grace,5 God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ,6 as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, and as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me.7 All I need to do is accept this gift with a believing heart.
— Heidelberg Catechism
Justification is when God credits the righteousness of another to our account (Jeff Bezos-think about it-all the righteousness of Jesus-that’s what He did for us at Calvary) It’s being counted righteous when you’re really not righteous! Justification is one of/if not the most wonderful/important truths in Scripture and I think one of the reasons that it is the crown of our salvation is because justification is the definitive truth about how God views His people. If you are a Christian and you wonder how God thinks about you this is it. He accepts you fully in Christ. You are righteous through Christ.
(And that comes withNo buts: But I don’t feel that way, but I still struggle with sin, but I’m a lazy Christian… ) I’m not saying you might not need to repent in certain areas but for the Christian there are no buts attached to how God views you through the eyes of justification.
And one of the things that we must grow in if we are to walk in the joy of the riches of justification is to recognize the voice of condemnation. There are many voices in the world and there are many voices in our minds. We must learn to silence most of those voices - such as guilt, fear and shame or temptation or distraction. They all conspire to bring condemnation into our minds and hearts. Sometimes those voices may be loud and clear (you remember this sin) and sometimes very subtle (just under the surface of our thoughts).
One of the famous lines from the movie Elf is when Buddy tells the fake Santa “You sit on a throne of lies.” That’s a pretty good description of Satan. And one of his main lies is that you are not accepted fully by God because of your sin.
Condemnation is the one of the roots of a lack of peace and joy in our lives. especially not knowing how to address it Justification should be the great silencer of those voices but we must actively affirm this truth over and over again.
Luther said
Every week I preach justification by faith to my people, because every week they forget it.
— Martin Luther
And it’s not only Luther’s church that struggled with remembering justification. It’s us as well. I think as Christians we should remember the following two truths all of our lives. One is to have the heart attitude of the tax collector in Luke 18 God be merciful to me a sinner. As you get older as a Christian even though (you’re hopefully growing in your faith) you’re very aware of all the ways you fall short of the glory of God.
We will go to the grave knowing we are sinners but we should allow that to drive us to rest in Christ alone which is the second truth, the one we should build our house upon. Justification is like coming home after a tough day at work. It’s a place of refuge and security and peace. It’s a place where we hear All Is Well from God the Father. You are completely accepted in My Son. You have His righteousness. Rest in that!
Make it a habit to regularly run home in your mind and heart to God and hear him say that. And you may say how do I hear him say that. It’s in his word that is the major way you hear him speak to you.
Our second point or the second riches of the gospel is propitiation. This is the truth that we were saved from God’s righteous wrath by the death of Christ. Now the word, propitiation, is not mentioned in our verses but we are told in verse 9 that “much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God by the blood of Christ.” That describes the work of propitiation. The word propitiation is used in Romans 3:
Romans 3:24–25 (ESV) — and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
Propitiation means “averting the wrath of God by the offering of a gift.” It refers to the turning away of the wrath of God as the just judgment of our sin by God’s own provision of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
— Ligon Duncan
Now one may ask, why does God’s wrath need to be averted or turned away? Can’t He just live with it? No, because He is a holy God. As Christians we know that God is holy but we don’t really know how holy He is. His holiness is rooted in His absolute purity, justice, righteousness and truth. God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.
The sun is an amazing source of life to us which daily gives us light and warmth and pleasure. But the closer you get to it the more intense it is and it would not take long for one to be consumed the closer they get to the sun. At its core it’s 27 million degrees. Is this not a picture of our God in His holiness.
The truths of the gospel become jewels to us the more we look deeply into them. So often we just skim the surface of truth. But we are called to think deeply about God, about His holiness and what that really means. Or to think of truths about God and His holy, just and righteous wrath against sin. Those are thoughts that we normally don’t like to think about.
But when we realize that by the death of Christ we have and will be saved from the wrath of God those truths become a great source of joy and peace. To be saved from the wrath of God is one of the riches of the gospel. The fact that the Son of God took our place (He died our death) and took the righteous, holy anger of God against sin - this should be a source of amazement to us. What strength, what love, what mercy, what glory did Christ reveal as He took and absorbed the righteous wrath of God. Hebrews speaks of His indestructible life. This is the Son of God in all His glory. Hallelujah what a Savior!
Our text tells us that we will be saved from the wrath of God. So are we saved now from the wrath of God or saved in the future? Yes! John 5:24 tells us this:
John 5:24 (ESV) — Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
This is one of the most precious gospel riches right from the lips of our dear Savior. To both the Christian and the non-Christian. If you’re a believer then this is a source of great assurance and peace. If you are not a Christian then this verse offers you a great promise of not coming into eternal judgment on the day of judgment. If you will turn to Christ and put your trust in His saving work upon the cross you will be saved from the wrath of God now and on judgment day.
And this is why I think Paul states in verse 9 that we shall be saved from the wrath of God. Because there is a day coming when Christ comes again with his holy angels. Scripture says on that day there will be a great dividing. The righteous and the unrighteous. Those who are in Christ and those who are not.
1 Thessalonians 1:9–10 (ESV) — For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
We must be a people of truth. We adhere to the truth of Scripture that God is holy, just and will punish and judge sin.
Colossians 3:5–6 (ESV) — Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
This is a good passage to stress yes we are justified by grace alone but the grace that saves us calls us to a holy life. And if one’s life doesn’t change in these very clear areas one should question whether they have saving faith. For saving faith is accompanied by repentance, a turning from sin to God. Not in perfection but a clear turning from that type of sinful lifestyle.
As we think about the wrath of God we should tremble and be grateful that our God is also merciful and made a way for us to be saved from His righteous wrath. John Piper writes the following concerning preaching the gospel to himself. :
That’s end-time wrath. And I’ll tell you, there are times, even after being a Christian for well over sixty years, it scares me to death. And I have to fight for faith that I’m saved. I wake up in the morning and I feel vulnerable. I feel inadequate. I feel guilty. I have to preach the gospel to myself. It’s like the devil specializes in morning arrows. It’s a terrible thing, the wrath of God, and you will need the covering of the cross till the day you die.
— John Piper
This is why justification is the foundation of our faith. It speaks to us loudly, clearly and assuredly that all who put faith in Jesus will be saved from God’s wrath. Justification is a one time occurrence - the day we put our faith in Christ we are justified. But it is a truth that will need to be affirmed again and again as we battle the enemies of condemnation and fear.
Our last point seems to be the main focus of the text and that has to do with the riches of our reconciliation with God. In verse 10 we see again that the riches of the gospel (reconciliation) is connected to the work of Christ.
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.
Justification is a legal term. It declares in the court of eternal justice that we are righteous before God. It’s not only that we’re not guilty but that we’re also righteous!
Reconciliation describes what took place in our relationship with God as the result of justification. Justification leads to reconciliation. Or maybe it’s better to say it flows from justification. It’s hard to say because Scripture doesn’t seem to separate them much in the sense that they both happened as the result of Christ’s work at Calvary. I think it’s accurate to say that God was reconciling us to Himself by making us righteous through the work of the Son.
In Ephesians 1 we read about this reconciling work of the Father:
Ephesians 1:8–10 (ESV) — which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
It was part of God’s eternal plan to reconcile Himself perfectly/completely to His people (and His creation) through the work of His Son. That will ultimately come at the return of Christ, in the new heavens and the new earth where there will be no sin but only peace and joy and the glory of God’s presence.. But for now we can rejoice in personally being reconciled to God as our father.
The word enemies in verse 10 helps illuminate the benefit of this word reconciliation. It wasn’t as if we were already in a relationship with God as Father and we just had an argument. And then later were reconciled. No we were hated enemies - there was enmity between us and a holy God.
We hated Him (even by indifference, our total disregard for Him and His glorious being; the fact that we were created by Him to live for Him and we rebelled against Him and His holy love) and He in a just and holy way hated the sin we were living in. We were like the people in the parable that Jesus told who said we do not want this man to rule over us.
The Greek word here for reconciled primarily means to reconcile or to restore a relationship to a state of harmony. This reconciliation involves a change from enmity to friendship, and the removal of the barrier of sin and the establishment of peace. It is a change where one goes from dread or hatred of God to delight in knowing Him as Father.
Our first feeling towards God, after we have found peace with Him. is that of clinging gratitude for so costly a salvation; but no sooner have we learned to cry, Abba, Father, under the sweet sense of reconciliation, than “gloriation” in Him takes the place of dread of Him, and now He appears to us “altogether lovely!”
— Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary.
Later in Romans 8 we learn that
Romans 8:15–17 (ESV) — For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Remember Paul is writing to both Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians in the church in Rome. Though he had intended several times to visit them he had never been there when he wrote this letter. I think that both sets of Christians would have amazed at the glorious gospel specifically this benefit that states assuredly that we have been brought into a loving relationship with the Creator God. Sure the Jewish believer knew of Yahweh the One who had given the Torah. But they were always falling short in their obedience to the law and thought of God more as their Judge then their loving God.
And the Gentiles had heard of the Jewish God and His call of holiness but they were unclean heathen, far away from God at least that’s what the Jews told them. But now both Jew and Gentile believers were coming to faith in Christ and marveling at Paul’s gospel teaching of reconciliation with God as their Abba Father.
So how can we hold fast to this jewel of reconciliation with God. First by remembering.
When David became king he wanted to show kindness to his covenant friend Jonathan who had died in battle. Jonthan had a son who a disability in his feet. He name was Mephibosheth. And David restored all that belonged to King Saul’s house to him. But he also insisted that Mephibosheth alway dine at the King’s table.
2 Samuel 9:8 (ESV) — And he paid homage and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?”
May we like Mephibosheth always remember we were dead dogs. But now we are eating at the King’s table. We were enemies of God but now we are sons and daughters of God.
In John 12 we read how Mary, anointed both the head and feet of Jesus and that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Jesus’ response to those who witnessed this was Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
This was act of worship and devotion to the Saviour. Worship is one of the means of grace where we recount the riches of Christ, the riches of the gospel. We sing of them! We rejoice in them as Paul does in verse 11. We think deeply about them as we cherish them and sing praises back to God. Singing is one of God’s love languages!
Is worship a part of your life outside our meetings. I encourage it to be. It is connected to the Spirit filled life in Ephesians 5
Ephesians 5:18–20 (ESV) — And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
And the third area is live and share it.
2 Corinthians 5:18–21 (ESV) — All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
And we are called not only to walk in that reconciliation with God but to spread it. We do that first through common grace, that is among all people regardless of the situation. Scripture calls us to strive for peace with everyone, to pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding and If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Blessed are the peacemakers.
But we know that true reconciliation with God is only possible through the gospel. And here is the challenge. We must respectfully tell non-Christians that their sins have actually made them enemies of God. That there’s a separation between them and God because of their sins that can only be broken through Christ. (cannot remove the offense of the gospel)
Here are some other recent messages.
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