The Epistle to the Romans
Lesson 10
Our Inheritance in the Gospel

Reading Assignment: Romans 4

Introduction
We are still considering Paul’s teaching in Romans regarding justification resulting from imputed righteousness. We have noted that the GROUND for justification is the grace of God (Romans 3:24), the MEANS of justification is faith (Romans 3:28), and the ASSURANCE of our justification is the resurrection (Romans 4:25).

We shall see that the PRICE of our justification is the shed blood of Christ (Romans 5:9), and the SOURCE of our justification is Almighty God (Romans 3:26, 8:33).

This lesson will be devoted to the RESULTS of our justification. It will cover Romans 5:1-11 where we shall see our seven-fold inheritance as justified believers. This passage of Scripture would be an excellent answer to Peter’s question in Matthew 19:27 when he said, “…Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?”

Importance of this Lesson

• Many Christians live like spiritual paupers, failing to understand and appropriate the riches they have, resulting from their justification. We all need to possess our possessions in Christ and it is important that we know what those possessions are.
• This lesson provides the answer.
• Furthermore, Romans 5:1-11 presents an excellent answer to the unsaved that honestly ask, “What does Christianity have to offer?” May the Holy Spirit make this lesson a special blessing to your heart and life.

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The Lesson

RESULTS OF GUILT AND OUR GREAT INHERITANCE IN THE GOSPEL

1. Romans 5:1 – Therefore… – stop right there! The word cannot be understood unless you are fully aware of what we have been studying. A “therefore” means the argument is settled; the evidence is in, proof is conclusive.
2. Romans 1-4
1. In Romans 1-2:16, Paul exposes the guilt and sinfulness of the entire Gentile world.
2. In Romans 2:17-3:8, the Jewish world is declared guilty for their rejection of and failure to keep the Law.
3. In Romans 3, Paul declares that no one is good, no one is righteous, that the entire world is guilty before God and that by the deeds of the Law not one soul can be justified in God’s sight.
4. In Romans 4, we saw that his works did not justify Abraham, by any religious rite or by the deeds of the Law.
3. THEREFORE, since all men are totally sinful, since all the world is guilty in the eyes of God, since religion cannot save, since no one is righteous, since none can do that which is good and since by the works of the Law not one soul is ever justified: justification is and must be entirely by FAITH.
4. All the blessings these verses reveal to be in the possession of every justified believer are possessed and enjoyed entirely by faith.

I. FIRST RESULT OF OUR JUSTIFICATION AND OUR FIRST INHERITANCE AND POSSESSION: We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1)

1. Now you can begin to celebrate and leap for joy. The battle has been won – the war is over. An armistice has been signed with the blood of Jesus.
2. “…righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psalm 85:10). God’s righteousness has been satisfied in the death of our substitute and we are at peace with God.
3. Remember, we were once …alienated from the life of God (Colossians 1:21). Our natural, carnal minds and natures were at enmity against God (Romans 7:7).
4. But now, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). Now we can sit down with God at the peace table. Now, we who were alienated and were enemies are “…made nigh…” to God (Ephesians 2:13). The barriers are broken. The enmity has been dissolved. We now can have sweet and blessed communion with God. What a glorious, incomparable possession!
5. Remember: no one has to make his peace with God. This is the believer’s inheritance. It is a gift of God’s grace. It is free “through our Lord Jesus Christ,” who “…made peace through the blood of his cross…” (Colossians 1:20).

II. SECOND RESULT AND SECOND INHERITANCE: We have obtained an entrance into God’s grace (Romans 5:2)

1. By whom (Christ) also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand…
   1. By whom… – Remember, we are justified… through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood… (Romans 3:24-25). He paved the way and paid the way into God’s grace. He opened the door! He is the door into all that grace is and does. By Him we have “access INTO this grace.”
      1. Think of a man dying of thirst suddenly having access to an artesian well.
      2. Think of a pauper waking up to the fact he had inherited a gold mine!
      3. Think what it would mean if you had the tickets and full privilege, with guaranteed front-row center seats to attend all the greatest political, social or sporting events of this world.
   2. None or all of these things together can compare with the glorious privilege of our free access to the riches of God’s infinite grace! Think of the treasure of His wisdom, joy, peace, and power. You now have access to it all!
2. …wherein we stand… – Remember, we are acceptable to God only “in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). Our position, our standing and our acceptance are BY Him and IN Him.

   “O Lord I come, I have no worth to plead,
   I have no offering but my sinful need,
   But, O, to Thee who hath the way supplied.
   I only say, ‘Christ died.’”

III. THIRD RESULT AND THIRD INHERITANCE: We have received strength to delight in our difficulties (Romans 5:3)

1. And not only so…– that is, our hope of sharing the glory of God is not our only source of rejoicing.
2. …but we glory in tribulations also… – That may shock and surprise you. You may find this a bit difficult to accept and understand.
   1. Remember: no one in this world is exempt from trials, suffering, adversity, sorrow and disappointment. Jesus said, "“In the world ye shall have tribulation…” (John 16:33).
   2. Though saints and sinners experience these things, only Christians justified by faith and drawing deeply on the grace of God can actually rejoice in them!
   3. Also, we are not to simply rejoice WHEN we are experiencing fiery trials because we find grace to sustain us in them, but we are to actually rejoice BECAUSE of them! They become a source and cause of our rejoicing. In them we say, “Well praise the Lord, anyhow!”
   4. This is possible only by the possession of supernatural grace! Only thus can we “…count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations…” (James 1:2).
3. WHY is this so? “Knowing that tribulation worketh….” Christians KNOW that trials and testings are good for them. “Tribulation worketh.” That is, it goes to work on you. It accomplishes and generates great things. Difficulties develop character. A great Christian is one who has whetted his character on the grindstone of adversity.
4. Note these three things from Romans 5:3-4.
   1. …tribulation worketh patience… – That means that trials develop steadfast endurance.
   2. And patience, experience… – The thought here is integrity developed by trial. Think of the experienced, dependable saint who has been through the fire and passed the test.
   3. …and experience, hope… – Have you noticed that the patient, tried and proven believer is always filled with hope?

IV. FOURTH RESULT AND FOURTH INHERITANCE: We have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5)

1. The verse begins with the interesting phrase, And hope maketh not ashamed…. The meaning is that the hope we have in Christ is never a disappointment. It never lets us down. We are never embarrassed by it or ever put to shame.
2. WHY? …because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost… That is at the very moment of severe trial, when our life in Christ is being sorely tested, the Holy Spirit literally pours out the love of God, flooding our hearts with a deep sense of it. In other words, during a time of trial, the Holy Spirit makes God’s love a vivid reality and we are comforted.

V. FIFTH RESULT AND FIFTH INHERITANCE: The Holy Spirit is given to us (Romans 5:5)

1. Introduction of the Holy Spirit
   1. This is the first mention of the Holy Spirit in Romans. Paul has been writing of sinfulness and of guilt and of our justification through the redeeming blood of Christ.
   2. But now he introduces the Holy Spirit. What a glorious announcement. The justified believer has received the gift of the blessed Holy Spirit.
2. Every believer on the Lord Jesus Christ possesses the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9, “…if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” 1 Corinthians 6:19, “…know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you….” Note also Galatians 4:6, Romans 8:16, John 7:37-39.
3. Think deeply on this amazing fact in relation to power (Luke 24:49), the rivers of living waters mentioned by Christ (John 7:38), and the fruit listed by Paul (Galatians 5:22-23).

VI. SIXTH RESULT AND SIXTH INHERITANCE: We inherit the promise of deliverance from the wrath to come (Romans 5:9)

1. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, (the PRICE of our justification), we shall be saved from wrath through him.
   1. No, we have not forgotten Romans 5:6-8. These wonderful verses explain WHY we have been delivered from the wrath to come.
   2. Romans 5:6-7 – “…Christ died for the ungodly” – Christ suffered the wrath we deserved. “In my place, condemned He stood.”
   3. Romans 5:8 – God’s love was manifested in that “…while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
2. What does this really mean?
   1. It means that believing sinners, justified by faith through the grace of God, have, by the substitutionary vicarious death of Christ on our behalf, escaped all further judgement involving the wrath of God.
   2. The tribulation period, between the Rapture of the church and the return of Christ in Glory, will be the time God pours out His wrath (Revelation 6:16,17; 15:1; 16:1-21).
   3. To insist that the church is going to go through this terrible time of judgment is to impugn the doctrine of justification by faith. Note Romans 8:1; John 5:24; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 5:9.
      • In Romans 5:9-10, Paul used the phrase “much more.” It actually means “made easier.” It will be easier for God to deliver us from wrath than it was for Him to justify us by the blood of Jesus.

VII. SEVENTH RESULT AND SEVENTH INHERITANCE: We were reconciled to God (Romans 5:10-11)
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement.

1. What does this mean? If God is able to reconcile us to Himself by the death of Christ when we were His enemies, surely, much more easily He can now keep us. Christ died to save us. He lives to keep us day by day.
   • Reconciliation is Christ’s work manward on God’s behalf just as propitiation is Christ’s work Godward on man’s behalf. God never has to be reconciled. Man must be reconciled to God. Through Christ’s death all the enmity, all the guilt and power of sin, all the roadblocks to fellowship with God are broken. See 2 Corinthians 5:18-20
2. For “saved by His life,” see Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 2:1; and 1 Peter 1:5.
3. Some translators prefer to translate this phrase “saved IN His life.” Both concepts are precious and acceptable. We are accepted and secure IN Him and saved BY Him. We now rejoice in God before Whom we once stood condemned, because through Christ we have “…received the reconciliation.”

(Learn the 7 results of justification and where they are found.)

Examination

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