Will it Hold Me?
Will It Hold Me?
Romans 5:1-11
Will it hold me? A simple question that I have had to ask more than once. The Lord blessed me with big bones, or girth as my freshman football coach used to say, and because of my size, I have often had to ask, “Will it hold me?” Now, this is more of an experiential question for me because I have learned that many things won’t hold me.
For example, the time when we were on vacation at Edisto Beach and the porch swing didn’t hold me. That was embarrassing and painful. Or the time I applied for a job running a group home for teenage mothers and their children. I was trying to swing with my then one-year-old daughter on the wooden playground set, but the top bar snapped, destroying the playground equipment and necessitating a very awkward conversation. Or the time when I set up a hammock between two trees only to crash to the ground when the rope didn’t hold. Or all the times I have sat on a chair only to feel it buckle under the pressure of my big bones. The most memorable of these times was when I was in a crowded computer lab surrounded by college friends. “Will it hold me?”
Friends, I have had too many experiences to not to ask the question, “Will it hold me?” Am I secure? Is it safe? I hope you haven’t had to experience breaking chairs and swing sets, but I am sure you have asked the same type of question about your faith. “Will it hold me?” Am I secure? You may not have big bones like me, but you may have big sins and struggles that cause you to doubt the assurance of your salvation. It may be the slowness of your sanctification or the repeated sin that you just can’t seem to overcome. It may be chronic physical suffering or unanswered prayers for a relationship or a child. “Will it hold me?” is just another way of saying, “Does God really love me?” “Will God really come through?”
I pray that Romans 5:1-11 will remind you that your faith is strong enough to hold you because it really isn’t your faith that holds you up. Since you have been justified by faith given to you by God, in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are secure. You are safe. No matter what you face, the rope will never break, the foundation will never crumble, the house will always stand.
What is Justification by Faith? (v.1)
In Romans 3, Paul laid out his case for justification by faith, and in Romans 4, he gave Abraham as an illustration of justification by faith. Now, Paul will make the implications of justification by faith.
First, what is justification by faith? Lets go to Romans 3:21, and the greatest paragraph ever written.
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:22–23
The righteousness of God is offered through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. The key component of righteousness for the believer is faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation is not through anything but faith in Jesus Christ. It’s not in Jesus Christ and church membership. It’s not in Jesus Christ and your giving. It’s not in Jesus Christ and your personal devotions. It’s not in Jesus Christ and anything else. Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Christianity is different from any other religion because the emphasis of salvation is not on what we do but what God has done. Paul tells us why Christianity is correct, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Every single person, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, old and young, have missed the mark. Everyone has sinned. Everyone has missed the glory of God. Everyone lacks the glory of God because they have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature over the Creator.
Adam and Eve, our human forerunners, were made in perfection. They walked with God and experienced His glory. They were made in the image of God and were able to stand before His glory as ones who reflected His glory. But when they sinned, their image was marred, their perfection was lost, they no longer reflected the glory of God. They lost the glory. They fell short. Friends, we have all sinned, just like Adam and Eve, and fallen short of the glory of God. This means we all have a glory problem. We have all exchanged the glory of God for lesser things. We all lack His glory and, therefore, we can’t stand before His glory. We need His glory, and that is exactly what God provides for us in Christ Jesus.
Paul now provides the meat of the gospel. He shows how sinners can have the righteousness of God. Romans 3:23–24
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
This is the first time in Romans that the word “ justified” is used, and Paul uses it here in a very specific way. He does not mean to make righteous in an ethical sense or to be treated as righteous even though one is not righteous; instead he means to declare righteous. It is a legal term. It is a declaration of innocence. To be justified is to be declared “not guilty” in God’s eternal courtroom. Notice that it is a passive verb, meaning someone else has declared us not guilty. We cannot do that ourselves. God alone justifies and declares that we are not guilty. How does this happen? It happens by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
First, it is by His grace as a gift. We can do nothing to earn it. Grace, by definition, is not earned but given. Grace is not a wage that we receive because of our labor. Grace is unmerited favor. It is so hard for us to fully understand grace. It is hard because deep down, we know we deserve nothing, but something in our hearts wants to grab on to what we deserve.
Friends, we are justified by His grace as a gift. We did nothing to earn it and we contributed nothing to it. I rarely cook. Ellen has always been the one in our family to provide our meals. Sometimes, I walk into the kitchen when the cooking is nearly done, add one shake of salt to the pot, and say to the kids, “Mom and I cooked dinner for you.” I feel like we want to do that with our salvation. God does everything. He bought the ingredients, He made the meal, but we want to take some credit for it. Friends, it is by grace. We can’t even add one shake of salt to it. It is already fully complete. It is by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
“Redemption” is an Old Testament word that refers to how God rescued His people from Egypt.
“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (emphasis added) Deuteronomy 7:6–8
“Redemption” means liberation through payment of a price. In the first century, it would have referred to a payment in the slave market. A ransom had to be paid in order to liberate a slave or prisoner of war. Paul reminds the Romans how God redeemed His people from Egypt through the blood of the passover lamb in order to show that He now offers redemption through the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus Christ was provided as payment in order to redeem, or purchase, His people from slavery.
This is why the cross is central to the Christian faith. Jesus purchased our freedom through His blood. We were bought with a price. Jesus said this was His purpose,
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45
Paul also says very succinctly in I Timothy 2,
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:5–6
Jesus Christ gave His life on the cross. He gave up himself as a payment for everyone who would repent of their sins and trust in Him. We know God accepted His payment because after Jesus was dead and buried, God raised Him from the dead. The ransom was paid to God, and God accepted the payment and released those who were in slavery. We are now free in Christ and free from the fear of death, and if we share a death like His, we will certainly share in a resurrection like His.
Beloved, let us never get over the redemption we have in Christ. When we had no hope, God saved us. He offered Himself to us. Bryan Chappell tells this story that happened in his hometown:
Two brothers were playing on the sandbanks by the river. One ran after another up a large mound of sand. Unfortunately, the mound was not solid, and their weight caused them to sink in quickly. When the boys did not return home for dinner, the family and neighbors organized a search. They found the younger brother unconscious, with his head and shoulders sticking out above the sand. When they cleared the sand to his waist, he awakened. The searchers asked, "Where is your brother?" The child replied, "I’m standing on his shoulders."
One is saved. One dies. Friend, the only way we can experience salvation is if we stand on our elder brothers, the Lord Jesus, shoulders. Hebrews 2 says that Jesus is not ashamed to call us ‘brothers.” He took on flesh and blood so that he—through His death—might destroy the one who has the power of death—that is the devil—and deliver all those who were subject to lifelong slavery. Jesus is our elder brother, who died to deliver us from slavery to sin and death. He is our ransom. We stand forever on His shoulders. This is how we have been justified. Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. This is justification by faith.
Why does it matter? Or The Implications of Justification by Faith
Now, in Romans 5-8, Paul outlines the implications for our lives in light of being justified by faith.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1
With his opening words, “since we have been justified by faith”, Paul summarizes that argument he’s been making for the last two chapters. Then he goes on to make implications based on that reality.
Implication # 1 - We have peace with God.
The first being we have peace with God, which is both an objective reality and a subjective feeling, and the second being that we have access to God
First, notice that Paul is writing in the past tense–since we have been justified by faith. Since we have been declared righteous by God on the basis of the sacrificial atonement of Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead, we have peace with God.
Peace is both an objective and subjective reality. It is an objective reality in that it isn’t dependent on how we feel. When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are saved. We are justified. We are declared not guilty in God’s eternal courtroom. The verdict has been decided. It is a done deal. God has made peace with you; hostility no longer exists. He has made a truce with you on the basis of Christ Jesus.
We have assurance in our peace because the peace comes from God. God has sent peace in the person of Jesus Christ. He lived and died and was raised. Who is there to condemn you? It is God who justifies. It is God who gives peace. I believe Paul’s primary emphasis is the objective reality of peace, but I do not think he means to undermine the subjective reality of peace. The subjective reality is the feeling of peace we have with God. It is the feeling of a restful heart and quiet conscience. Like a calm sea or a quiet sunrise, we have peace with God.
Implication # 2 - We have access to grace (v. 2a)
Paul continues to unpack the implications of justification by faith by highlighting how we have obtained an entrance to God.
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Romans 5:2a
Here, Paul uses the word “grace”, not as a means for salvation but as a state or realm. We are no longer under the domain of darkness and the law; we have been transferred into the kingdom of the beloved Son in whom we have redemption and forgiveness. We have obtained access to a life whereby the dominant characteristic is grace.
Paul shows that grace is more of a state or realm by highlighting that it is in this grace that we stand. We stand securely in this grace because of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us, therefore we will never fall. This week, a brother reminded of the closing verses of the book fo Jude, which read,
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jude 24–25
God will keep from you stumbling or falling because He is praying for you. You will not stumble out of grace. Consider Jesus’ words before Peter denied Him three times on the night of His crucifixion,
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:31–32
Beloved, your ability to stand is given to you upon justification. Since we have been justified by faith,we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand. Our ability to stand is not a result of our effort but because Jesus is holding us fast. Because Jesus is praying for us, our faith will not fail. It will hold you up and keep us from stumbling.
This doesn’t mean that you won’t have times of struggle. It doesn’t mean you won’t fail or stumble at times. It does mean you won’t stumble or fail utterly. You are safe. You may trip from time to time, but you trip under grace and not under the law. And this makes all the difference. You are forgiven and safe in the Father’s hands, and no one can snatch you out.
Implication #3 - We boast in his coming glory (v. 2b)
The news just keeps getting better. Justification by faith is not only a blessing in this life but also in the life that is to come.
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:2
We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. The word that Paul uses here for “rejoice” can also be translated as “boast”. We boast in the hope of the glory of God. In Romans 3:27, Paul showed that justification by faith excludes human boasting. We do not boast in what we do because our works cannot justify us before God. Here, in Romans 5, he is showing we how and where we should place our boast–in the hope of the glory of God. This is the future reality of our destiny: to live in God’s presence and enjoy His glory for all eternity.
It is a sure and steady hope. It is not the hope of today that looks like wishful thinking and says “I hope the Panthers finally make it to the playoffs.” or “I hope my kid has a great day at school.” It is a sure hope. It is solid. It is confirmed. Boasting in our future hope is one of three times Paul mentions boasting in these eleven verses. Beloved, we never are without hope. Justification by faith gives us hope even though it seems impossible that sinners can be forgiven and reconciled to God.
In Romans 4, Paul showed that God did the unbelievable by giving a child to Abraham and Sarah in their old age. In fact, when Sarah heard she was going to have a child, she laughed.
The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” Genesis 18:13–14
Nothing is too hard for the Lord. Sarah bore the son of promise.
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:25–26
Nothing is too hard for the Lord. With man’s efforts and works, salvation is impossible, but with God, justification by faith allows us to boast in hope in the glory of God.
Friend, is there anything you don’t believe God can do? Is there anything you think is beyond His ability? Maybe you think your sins are too great and too many to keep you from God. The hope of the Gospel is hope for everyone who repents and believes in Jesus. Believe in Jesus, and He will save you.
Paul takes a sharp turn in verse 3, and it almost appears like he is changing the subject completely. However, he is actually providing a reason for how and why we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 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. Romans 5:3–5
Implication #4 - we boast in our suffering (v. 3-8)
We rejoice in our sufferings. We boast in our sufferings. It seems out of place. When we suffer, we often think that the rope of faith is breaking. In these verses, Paul is attacking a common Jewish idea that suffering happens as a result of punishment. Remember the question the disciples asked when they saw a man blind from birth?.
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” [3] Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:2–3
Not all suffering is a result of sin, but that the works of God might be displayed.
We, as Christians who boast in the hope of the glory of God, can boast in our suffering because we know our suffering has a purpose. Nothing happens to the Christian by accident. Everything is under God’s sovereign control. Beloved, pay attention. I do not know what will happen in your life. I do not know what phone calls you will receive. I do not know what trials you will face. But you need to know that, as Christians, we can boast in our suffering because it has a purpose.
In these verses, Paul notes a “chain of suffering” that ultimately leads to hope. Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope, 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.
The chain of suffering for the Christian leads us to God’s love. As Christians, when we take suffering to its logical conclusion, it leads to the salvation we have in Christ. No one wants to suffer. No one wants to experience pain and sorrow. I am walking with several folks in the body who are facing the crucible of suffering. As I walk with them, my heart is heavy with their sorrow and pain. I want their suffering to end. Yet, I know God has purpose in it. I know God is using their suffering to refine and strengthen their character. Like steel strengthened and hardened by intense heat to prepare it from wearing down and corroding, believers’ suffering strengthens their faith and leads them to experience the love of God through the Holy Spirit. Our suffering reveals our faith as genuine and authentic.
Notice how Paul describes God’s love. He says it is poured into our hearts. It is not merely given, it is poured out in abundance into our hearts. Like a waterfall filling a water bottle, God’s love overflows to us, so we know our hope will not put us to shame.
When we hope for something and it is not realized, it can humiliate us. True hope will never humiliate us because our hope will be realized. We know this is true on the basis of what God has done for us in Christ.
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. Romans 5:6–8
During World War 2, Ernest Gordon was a British captive in a Japanese prison camp by the River Kwai in Burma. In this camp, the POWs were forced to build a “railroad of death” to transport Japanese troops to the battlefront. They were tortured, starved, and worked to the point of exhaustion. Nearly 16,000 prisoners died. Gordon survived the horrors of that experience and wrote,
At the end of a workday, the tools were being counted before the prisoners returned to their quarters. A guard declared that a shovel was missing. He began to rant and rave, demanding to know which prisoner had stolen it. Working himself into a paranoid fury, he ordered whoever was guilty to step forward and take his punishment. No one did. “All die!” the guard shrieked. 'All die!” He cocked his rifle and aimed it at the prisoners. At that moment, one man stepped forward. Standing at attention he calmly declared, “I did it.” The Japanese guard at once clubbed the man to death. As his friends carried away his lifeless body, the shovels in the tool shed were recounted––only to reveal that there was no missing shovel.[ii]
The man’s friends survived because he was willing to lay down his life for them. What incredible courage! Now, imagine it’s the next day. After finding out a prisoner had been killed, the general comes and asks who killed the prisoner. Do you think any of the men who saw their friend beaten to death would be willing to step forward and say, “I did it,” to save the life of the guilty soldier?
While we were yet sinners, Jesus came and said, “I did it,” taking the place of those who rightly deserved to die. Jesus Christ stepped forward and gave up His life to satisfy God’s wrath and save sinners. We can comprehend someone dying for a spouse or child or friend, but for someone to willingly die for the ungodly is beyond understanding. Yet that is exactly what Jesus Christ did for us. We sinned against a holy God, but instead of leaving us in our sin, God sent Jesus to be delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
This is how we endure suffering. We boast in our suffering because Christ suffered for us. He was beaten and mocked. He hung on the cross with nails in His hands and a crown of thorns on His head. He was laid in a tomb for you, a sinner. Then He rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and now He sits at the right hand of God. He also sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to be poured into your hearts, so that you can be justified by faith and be saved from the wrath that is to come. Because of this, we can face suffering with hope.
But the suffering chain does not end at verse five. In the beginning of verse six, Paul goes on to connect our suffering to the Gospel with the word “For.” Sometimes, we need to be reminded of the purpose in our suffering. Other times, we need to be reminded that we deserve much worse. Every time we are suffering, we need to fix our eyes on Jesus, who endured great hostility from sinners, so that we do not grow weary and lose heart. Because you have been justified, you can and should boast in your afflictions because they will lead you to clearly see and experience the love of God in Christ Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.
As Paul continues his argument, he repeats nearly the exact same sentence he used in the beginning, with one key change.
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Romans 5:9
Our justification by faith is the result of God’s initiative to make peace through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. If He has justified us by His blood, how much more will He save us from the wrath to come? Paul is making a greater- to-lesser argument.
Implication # 5 - We know we will be saved from the wrath of God (v. 9b)
If we have been justified–that is declared not guilty and righteous on the basis of the blood of the eternal Son of God–how much more will He save us from the wrath of God? Will His blood hold us up? Absolutely. If we are justified now, we will be saved on the last day.
Implication # 6 - We can trust him with the anything in life (v. 10)
Paul makes another greater-to-lesser argument by reminding us that when we were saved, we were His enemies. He writes,
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. Romans 5:10
If God was willing to reconcile us through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus while we were still enemies, how much more will we be saved by His life now that we are friends? In both of these statements, Paul is demonstrating the utter ridiculousness of doubting our salvation. Will your faith make it? Of course it will! It is based on Christ and His work. It does not depend on us. John Piper has a helpful illustration for us.
Children, you move with your parents into a new neighborhood. And during the first night a fire breaks out in your house. Your neighbor - let's call him Mr. Peterson - sees the smoke, calls the fire department, breaks a window, wakes everybody up, crawls inside, gets your mom and dad to safety, but they have passed out. He hears you calling from an upstairs bedroom before the fire fighters arrive. He dashes up the stairs, wets a blanket in the bathtub, plunges through flames in the hall, wraps you in the blanket and brings you safely outside with terrible burns on his arms and face.
Over the next months you become very close friends with your Mr. Peterson and visit him in the hospital. One morning after he gets home, you ask him, "Mr. Peterson, will you come over this afternoon and show me a new trick with my yo-yo?" Mr. Peterson says, "Sure, I'd love to." But during the day you start to wonder if he will really come. And you say to your father, "I'm not sure Mr. Peterson will come this afternoon. He might forget, or maybe he really doesn't care about a little kid like me."
And then your father says, "You know what? If Mr. Peterson was willing to run through fire to save you at the risk of his own life and getting terrible burns, then how much more will he be willing to come over and show you a new yo-yo trick this afternoon! If he did the hard thing for you, then all the more surely, he will do the easy thing."
How often are we like this child with the Lord? He has done so much for us. He has justified us by His blood. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness. He has conquered death and the grave for us. Yet we don’t trust Him to help us find a job, or give us friends at church, or stop lusting, or save us when we die. Beloved, He met your greatest need when you were His enemy. How much more will He do for you now that you are one of His children?
We all have different personalities, and we all face suffering differently. Some of you need to hear a rebuke. You need to stop complaining that life is not challenging, and start doing hard things and fix your eyes on Jesus. Some of you need a tender word. You're tired and weary, and you need to remember that Jesus is close to the broken-hearted and contrite in spirit. He does not snuff out a smoldering wick. He is patient with you, and He loves you. Fix your eyes on Him. Maybe you need a combination of the two. Regardless, you all need to know that with justification by faith comes great joy and peace.
Implication 7 - We boast in our reconciliation with God (v. 11)
Paul ends this section with one last boast.
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:11
Beloved, this is far more than we deserve. As one scholar notes,
Believers boast in the present, then, not only because of their future hope of sharing in God’s incorruptible state of glory (5:2) or because present suffering is instilling patience, character, and hope in them (5:3–5) but also because they presently possess reconciliation with God. This reconciliation comes at God’s initiative, and therefore believers boast not in themselves or that they, and not others, are the ones reconciled (cf. 11:18) but in God who initiated and achieved the reconciliation (cf. 1 Cor 1:29–31).
It is astounding. God not only sent Jesus to die for us so we don’t have to pay for our sins, but He also restores us to a deep, sweet, sincere fellowship with Him. We are His friends. We are His children. Our relationship has been restored.
I’m sure you all have experienced conflict with people in your lives. Sometimes, you get past the conflict but the relationship still seems awkward or cold. The issue is resolved, but the relationship is not restored. That’s not the way things are with God. When we repent of our sins and trust in Him, we are justified by our faith and fully reconciled through His initiative and the blood of Jesus Christ.
Implication 8 - Justification by faith will hold you
All that to say, justification by faith will hold you up. You can be assured that your salvation is secure, your future is safe, and your relationship has been reconciled. Yet, we will all have days when we ask, “Will this faith hold me?” Brothers and sisters, I pray that when that day happens, you turn to Romans 5:1-11 and boast in the hope of the glory of God. I pray that you will boast in the knowledge that through your sufferings, you will know the love of God in Christ and that you will freely and confidently boast in God through the Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now been reconciled. You never need to ask, “Will this faith hold me?” because it already is holding you. You are safe and secure because Jesus is holding you, and He will hold you firmly until the end.