Romans 5: 11 – 14 And here we are told, “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” What does the word, joy, mean? It is a very interesting word. Let me show you the same Greek word that is translated with another English word in Ephesians 2: 8, 9 and there we read, “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.”
There is exactly the same word. Here God says we are not to boast, but in Romans 5: 11 we also boast in God, we are told to boast. This seemingly is a contradiction, is it not? But not really when we study the context.
1/ This shows us the absolute necessity of studying the context of the Scripture. Let me just state one thing this morning that you might understand it. I am not a preacher to defend the Word of God. God has not called me to defend His Word, but rather to proclaim His Word. His Word is perfect—it doesn’t need defense from me. All it needs from me, is proclamation—I am the one to sound it forth, and of course this is true of you, as well.
There are no contradictions in the Bible. God may have a different program at different times, and this is illustrated in just the point we have here. He says in Ephesians 2: 8, 9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” We are not to boast in ourselves, in our own achievements, but here we are to boast in God. Boast in what God has achieved for us.
2/ Now, let us notice in this same Book of Romans, Romans 3: 27 “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.”
Did you ever see a little boy try to lift himself by his own bootstraps? He takes a hold of his shoes and he pulls and he tugs and he strains and he tries to lift until the veins in his forehead stand out, but he doesn’t lift himself at all, and you say, don’t you understand, young man, that the law of gravity is pulling downward with greater force than you can ever exercise in an upward direction? But it is just as foolish for a man to try to lift himself to Heaven by his own achievement, by his own works.
Psalms 40: 2, 3 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings, and has put a new song in my mouth, even praised unto our God.
And what is that song that the lifted man has learned to sing? Most certainly he is not going to sing—UNTO ME, MYSELF, WHO GOT HERE BY LIFTING MYSELF, BY LIFTING MYSELF BY MY OWN BOOTSTRAPS. There will be no such song in Heaven. The song that the redeemed will sing, will not have any reference to what we have accomplished, but rather it will be boasting in God, what He has accomplished for us.
3/ In Psalms 40: 3 He says, “And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.” If you go over to Psalms 34: 2 you will read, “My soul shall make her boast in the Lord”—that word, boast, comes from the same Hebrew word as the word, praise. They mean the same thing. To praise is to boast, and we are boasting in the Lord, not in ourselves. Boasting in our self is excluded, but boasting in God is the order of the day.
4/ I’d like you to listen to Moses singing after the children of Israel had been brought through the Red Sea. Do you want to see boasting in the Lord? Here it is. Exodus 15: 11 “Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the Gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.” Then listen to Hannah when the Lord promised her that Samuel would be born unto her. I Samuel 2: 1, 2 “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, and then she finishes by saying, there is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside Thee, neither is there any rock like our God.” Moses is boasting in the God of power. Hannah was rejoicing in God and boasting in the God of lowly tenderness. We, too, should boast in our God. Let me show you how we can boast. There is a wonderful thing that is brought out in the Book of Romans.
5/ In Romans chapters 1, 2, 3, God shows us that we are sinners, lost and undone, and we come to Romans 3: 19 “Now we know what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may become guilty before God.” He says sin has stopped our mouths, sin has caused us to be silent in God’s presence. Sin has closed the mouth of each member of the human race for all are condemned. But then starting with Romans 3: 24 “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” We have salvation that God provides for us in Jesus Christ, and when we trust His Christ as our Saviour, He opens our mouths, and the mouth of each believer is opened to shout the praises of Jesus Christ, to boast in Him. The believer is not born a mute. There are not any dumb children in the family of God. We are struck dumb with sin, but God has put a new song in our hearts.
6/ Let me show you something that should cause you to sing. I can’t help but sing about it every time I read this verse. Every time I read it, my heart is filled to overflowing. Romans 5: 20 “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” I am sure you will admit that sin is a problem. If God were to give you some miraculous power that you could look into all the world in a moment of time, and could see all the sin that is being committed at this very moment, I am sure you would cry out in despair—Sin is abounding in this earth—and so it is. But then, God says, in contrast to that—grace did much more abound. And God does not use the same Greek word when He uses the word, abound, for grace. But the word, abound, here is the Greek word for super-abundance—it is a mathematical word which means a number greater than any other. So, he says, sin is abounding all right, but, grace is super-abounding, and he uses much more in front of abound, and this is hoop-pear, and it means, over and beyond, and so it actually means grace has super-abounded upon super-abounded upon super-abounded. In other words, no matter how much sin is in the world, there is enough grace, more than enough grace to take care of it. No matter how much sin is in your life, there is more than enough grace to take care of it. Praise God, there was more than enough grace to take care of the sin I had in my life. This causes me to boast in God, not in myself.
7/ Now we come to Romans 5: 12 – 14 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.”
Here Paul introduces us to another truth. This truth is not known in the Book of Romans up to this point. Notice, he says, “Wherefore by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men.”
This is rather hard to understand I will admit it. But it is this, that men die, not for their own sin, but because Adam sinned. If the members of the human race died just for their own sin, then babies wouldn’t die, for they have committed no sin. This is what we call the truth of REPRESENTATION. The whole human race is represented in One. I can hear you immediately say—is it fair the whole human race is to be in Adam? Is it fair that in Adam all are sinners? It is not for you, and it is not for me to argue with God. God says it is so and He says it is the truth.
8/ Now let us notice something else in this portion of Scripture, look at the 12th Vs. “Wherefore by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned, for until the law, sin was in the world, but sin was not imputed when there is no law.”
Down to Moses, there wasn’t any law. Down to Moses, God hadn’t said to the world, “Thou shalt not kill.” He had given to Moses after the Flood the power to impose Capital punishment, but that was the only thing that was given from Adam to Moses. God had not said to the human race, “Thus shalt not lie, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet.” Men were sinning, but if they were sinning, there was no penalty for sin, for God had not pronounced a penalty. Then, you say, why did they all die? They died because Adam sinned. As he tells us in the 12th Vs. “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” In Adam all die even if they have not sinned, because Adam died, all must die. Because Adam sinned we are all sinners, and therefore we die.
9/ Again, you say, is this fair? Yes, it is, for let me show you the glorious part of this plan. God had a plan in ages past—it was a glorious plan, one that we should understand today. God had a plan that all should be lost in one, and they all could be saved in One. What do I mean by that? Vs. 14 “Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression who was the figure or type of Him that was to come.” Don’t you see if everyone would die for his own sins, then Christ would have to die over and over again for each person—only then could everyone be saved. But if the race is lost in one, then the race can be saved in One. Adam is what we call our federal head, God put the whole race in Adam, for this whole race was in the loins. And when Adam sinned, the race sinned, and the whole race fell. But God has a plan whereby the whole race can be saved in one Man—Jesus Christ.
10/ Romans 5: 19 Please notice this wonderful chapter. “For as by one man’s disobedience, that was Adam, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.”
So, the whole human race fell in Adam, and all men are sinners. Even little babies die, and it isn’t because of their own sin. It is a question with a lot of folks, what about the babies being in Heaven? I have had a lot of people ask me about that. Jesus Christ died for the whole human race, and all men are lost, and the only reason they are lost is because they won’t have Christ Jesus. That is the only reason men are not saved. You come to the Great White Throne Judgment, and you are cast into hell—it won’t be because of your sins, but because of the question, what have you done with Jesus Christ?
Children cannot receive the Lord Jesus Christ, and God, the Lord Jesus Christ has died for their sin, and until they reach the age of responsibility, they are saved, but after they reach the age of responsibility, then we must lead them to Jesus Christ. They say, in China 51% of babies die in their first year. I know in Haiti, I think something like 8 out of 10 die in the first year. These children go to Heaven. Of course, they don’t stay as children in Heaven. They are not in infancy, they become adults.
11/ But the question is today, are you trusting Jesus Christ? He is the answer to your sinful condition—all in Adam have sinned but all in Christ can be made alive.
12/ John 16: 7 – 11 Notice, “When the Holy Spirit is come, He will reprove (or convict) the world of sin. Of sin, because they believed not on Me.”
This is the damning sin. You say, what about the millions who have never heard of Jesus Christ? That is why we have missions, that is why it is our job to get the Gospel out that these folks might hear this wonderful Gospel.
13/ Did you ever turn to the Book of Ephesians and read it, and notice how wonderful it is that Paul keeps talking about being in Christ? We were born in Adam but when we are saved we are in Christ. Ephesians 1: 3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ.”
Notice, all blessing in Christ. What did you get when you were born into this world? What did you get from Adam when you were born—Sin. And you have to die. That is all you get—you don’t get anything else from Adam but sin and death. The question is whether you have been taken out of Adam and put into Christ.
14/ Colossians 3: 1-3 Here we are told, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”
So, the difference between a saved individual and a lost individual is that we are in Christ. No wonder we boast in the Lord. We have something to boast about. This is what Jesus Christ has done for us when He paid the price of sin on the Cross of Calvary, and no wonder it leaves out our boasting in our own achievements, in what we are or what we have done.
AMEN
Ref: 08/30/1964/ 278 - WHEN GOD LOVES BOASTING / June 7, 2020
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