"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. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
Romans 5:10-11

Grace lovers everywhere, hear this: God’s grace brings about obedience. Not only that, but our joy is wrapped up in this divinely empowered obedience. Indeed, it is a sweet and praise-worthy thing that we are not condemned by our sin, but there is something even sweeter—namely, we are free to enjoy our God.

Look at the progression here in Romans 5:10-11. We start with the glorious fact that we were reconciled to God while we were His enemies. What’s interesting is the start of the next phrase: “much more.” What could possibly be sweeter than being reconciled to God when we were enemies? What could be sweeter than this salvation? Not only did Christ’s death reconcile us, but what’s more is that His life will save us. We have been reconciled to God, and Christ is the living God, who is right now interceding for the saints and faithfully saving us out of sin and into faithfulness.

But this is not the end! We have at the beginning of verse 11 the phrase “More than that.” Even more than being saved by His life, we are saved into rejoicing in God through Jesus Christ. The one leads to the other. This is the foremost position of the grace of God in a Christian’s life. Through Christ, we are enabled—because of our reconciliation and salvation—to rejoice in God!

This is the kind of God we have. Our greatest command, and the end of all that God has done for us is that we would get to obey God by experiencing supreme enjoyment of our supremely good God. Praise be to Him!