Romans 5:1-11 – Peace Through Christ
Since
we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through
Jesus. We have gained access by faith
into this grace in which we stand. We
rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
(Rom. 5:1-2)
What does
having peace with God mean? Before
we were justified through faith in Jesus, we were God’s enemies. Being at peace means instead of being at war
with Him, we are at peace with Him. We
are truly resting in God while all around us there is war. We now have a friendship with God. We have unity with Him and have the presence
of the Holy Spirit. Because of His
grace, nothing can separate us from God’s love.
What is
the hope of the glory of God? Christian hope is different than the hope we
usually talk about. It’s not wishful
thinking. Hope in God is that He will do
everything He promises. It’s the hope
that one day we will see God Himself – that gives us hope. Sin has spoiled our glory, but one day God
will change us and we will be a part of His glory. That’s hope.
Paul
says we also rejoice in our sufferings.
This suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and
character hope. (Rom. 5:3-4)
How can
we be glad that we suffer? I
don’t know any suffering that is joyful.
Do you? Paul says suffering does
something and accomplishes something.
It’s productive and has value. We
know it works and that is what makes us rejoice. It’s like a woman in labor. She suffers during child birth, but she knows
it produced something worthwhile.
I think
he might also be talking about the suffering we endure as Christians. Matt.
5:11-12 Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people
insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because
of me.” As Christians we are attacked
for our faith and belief in Jesus. When
this happens, we are sharing what Christ’s suffered. He too was attacked and mocked. When we suffer because of our faith, we
become stronger. It develops our
character and strengthens our faith.
Principle: Being justified through faith brings hope and
peace with God.
Hope
does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by
the Holy Spirit. We see just at the
right time when we were powerless that Christ died for the ungodly. God demonstrates His love for us that while
we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom.
5:5-8)
God
will never disappoint us. He has given
us the Holy Spirit who helps us know God loves us. God has proven His love by giving us His Son,
Jesus to die on the cross. He chose to
rescue us just at the right time. While
we were sinners and powerless, He died for us.
There was and is nothing we can do to save ourselves. He died for all sinners then, now and those
in the future.
Have
you accepted Jesus as your rescuer?
Since
we have been justified by His blood, how much more can we be saved from His
wrath. We were God’s enemies, but were
reconciled to him through the death of Jesus.
Then how much more can we be saved.
We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus through whom we have now
received reconciliation. (Rom: 5:9-11).
We are
considered righteous because of Jesus’ death made us righteous and God has
forgiven our sin. We will not suffer
punishment. Our salvation is
complete. We were His enemies, but are
now His friends.
If you
have been reconciled to God, do you rejoice, really rejoice?
Romans 5:12-21 – Life Through Christ
Sin
entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and this death came
to all men because all sinned. Death
reigned from Adam to Moses. Adam was the
pattern of the one to come. Many died by
the sin of one man, then God’s grace and gift came by the grace of the one man,
Jesus that overflow to the many. His
gift is not like the sin. Judgment
followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many sins and
brought justification. By the sin of one
man, death reigned so those who receive God’s provision of grace and gift of
righteousness will reign in life through one man, Jesus. The result on one man’s sin condemned all
men. The result of one act of
righteousness was justification bringing life for all men. The
law was added so that the sin might increase.
Where sin increased, grace increased.
Sin reigns in death and grace reigns through righteousness to bring
eternal life through Jesus. (Rom. 5:12-21).
Adam
sinned because he didn’t obey God’s command to not eat from one special tree in
the garden. If he did, he would
die. Adam didn’t listen and he disobeyed
so death was the result of his sin and then sin both physical and spiritual
came to all people. Everyone has the
same nature as Adam so everyone has a tendency to sin. There was sin in the world even before the
law was given to Moses. The law just
made people recognize their sin.
Adam
chose to do what he wanted. Christ’s
gift came because He loves us. Many died
because of Adam’s sin and many people received the gift of life because of
Jesus. Adam’s sin brought God’s
judgment, but the death of Jesus was sufficient to make people righteous. His death was the perfect sacrifice for sin
and He had to die only one time for all people.
Adam’s sin makes everyone guilty, but the righteous act of Jesus can
make everyone righteous for those who will invite Him into their lives. People became sinners because Adam did not
obey, but many became friends with God because Christ obeyed.
There
is a lot in these verses and Paul seems to be repeating himself and sometime it
seems he is going around in circles and sometimes he is hard to understand. I think it is because he wants us to understand
exactly why we must be justified by faith.
He wants us to realize that this gift of grace that Jesus gives us is
the most import gift we will ever receive.
The
lesson for me is that we should watch our behavior and the choices we make,
because they affect our children and others who are watching. Our choices probably won’t affect the entire
human race like Adam, but our conduct will affect others.
Some
people believe we are born a good person and just do bad things. That is not what the Bible teaches. We are sinners even from the womb - Ps. 51:5; 58:3, Rom. 3:10; 3:23; 5:12, 1
John 1:10 – just to mention a few.
We are born selfish and self-centered.
Just look at a baby and how he cries to get wants he wants. Because we are born of the flesh, we are
united with Adam because of our sin. We
are enemies with God and are separated from Him, because we are sinners. We must accept and believe in Jesus to
forgive our sins, and then we will be united with Him and reconciled to God.
Are you
being deceived into thinking you are a good person and have nothing to worry
about?
Have
you repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus as your Savior?
Principles:
Through
Adam’s sin all were condemned, but through Christ’s righteousness all in Him
are justified.
The law
is necessary to expose and convict us of our sin.
There
is abundant grace for sinners who have trusted in Jesus.
There
are 2 kingdoms that reign – the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. Those who belong to Satan’s kingdom will
suffer permanent death and eternal destruction.
Those who belong to the Kingdom of God will have redemption and forgiveness
and eternal life.
To
which Kingdom do you belong?
Next time
we will study Romans 6. Have a blessed day and thanks for visiting my
site. Hope to see you here again. -- I
encourage you to trust in Jesus.
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