Romans 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE ATONEMENT. At-one-ment, i.e. reconciliation. This — 1. Supposes that there must have been some disagreement; not so now. Mark the aggravating circumstances with which man's rebellion is characterised. It is — (1) Most unnatural rebellion; it is the rebellion of children against the parent of their existence. (2) Most ungrateful; it is the rebellion of children that have been nourished and have been brought up. (3) Most hopeless. Rebel man could not reconcile himself; he could furnish no consideration sufficiently valuable; his fellow man could not help him; an angel's arm could not rescue him from impending ruin. 2. Divine in its appointment. (1) To the Divine Father it belonged to say what should be done on this awful emergency. It was His sovereign will and pleasure that Jehovah Jesus should assume our nature, and that in our nature He should live, and die, and that His death should be a proper atonement for the sins of our guilty race. "It became Him, for whom are all things," etc. Did it so? Why, there are many so-called Christians who will not hesitate to affirm that it became the Divine Being to do no such thing. But "let God be true, though every man be a liar." Jehovah alone was competent to say what it became Him to do. And He who alone was competent to say what ought to be done, and what became Him to do, had alone the right. What! had man at the bar the right? Would this be allowed in any well-regulated government? 3. Complete in its nature. (1) Those typical atonements, which shadowed forth this great sacrifice, were imperfect — (a) In their nature, because in the mere blood of an animal there was no real intrinsic worth. (b) In their very design. They were only intended to be shadows of better things to come. (c) In the fact of their repetition; because if one had been complete why then repeat the sacrifice? (2) But we are told that Christ was offered "once for all," and once offered, it was complete; eternal redemption was procured. The sufferings of our Saviour were intense; but yet without the dignity of Christ as a Divine person, they could have been of no avail. That is the point that stamped His sufferings with infinite value. Hereby justice receives its demands; the holiness of God is preserved untarnished; the wisdom of God is testified in devising such an expedient; the inviolable truth of God is preserved; the Divine penalty of the law is inflicted; sin becomes remissible; the greatest hatred to sin is expressed, while the greatest compassion to the sinner is manifested. 4. Unchanging in its efficacy. There are some remedies that are efficacious for a time only; but this sovereign remedy has not lost its power through the revolution of years. II. WHAT IS IT TO RECEIVE THE ATONEMENT? 1. It must be received by an act of the mind, on conviction that it is the truth. 2. But it may be admitted by the understanding, where it is not cordially and experimentally received. And no man will ever experimentally receive the atonement till he has received another great truth antecedent to this — the universal depravity and guilt of man. These two things are connected together. If I am not a sinner, or if sin be a very trivial thing, where is the necessity of atonement? But if I am a sinner, and if the demerit of sin be beyond all that I can conceive, why, then, there must be an atonement, or I am undone. 3. It must be practically received. That man does not truly and really glory in the Cross of Christ who is not, by the Cross of Christ, crucified to the world, and the world crucified unto Him. III. WHERE THE ATONEMENT IS THUS RECEIVED, GREAT WILL BE THE JOY. 1. We have joy. Before you received the atonement you had sorrow. At last you were directed to the atonement, and you ventured on it; you received the reconciliation, sorrow fled away, and joy sprung up in your heart. 2. We "joy in God." We do not merely joy in justification, nor in this reconciliation, nor in introduction to the throne, nor in the prospect of glory that awaits us yonder, nor tribulation, and (vers. 1-4) although there may be grounds of joy. No; if any man joy or glory let him "glory in the Lord."(1) "We joy in God Himself." He that has received the atonement "dwells in God, and God in him." And where he dwells he joys. "He joys in God," in all He has — in His wisdom to guide and direct, in His power to guide and defend, in His grace to renew and save. (2) But how can we thus joy in God? "Through our Lord Jesus Christ." Fallen man, even from the first moment of his apostacy to this hour, has never approached his Creator with success, but through the intervention of blood. "I am the way," etc. 3. How rational is this joy. Not like the joy of the wicked, for which no reason can be given. 4. How pure. Those who dwell here dwell in a sacred and holy atmosphere; there is nothing to defile. Not like the polluting joys of sin. 5. How lasting. Not like the short-lived joys of the wicked, which are "like the crackling of thorns under a pot."Conclusion: Learn — 1. How vital to evangelical, saving religion, is this great doctrine of the atonement. 2. That this life-giving religion is a joy-producing religion. Religion is the life of all our delights, and the soul of all our joys. 3. That this life-giving, joy-producing religion may be ours even now. "We have now received the atonement." 4. That we who have realised this religion will not wish to monopolise it ourselves. Monopoly in religion is the worst monopoly of all. (R. Newton, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. |
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