Romans 5:6-11

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 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. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

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Transcript

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Hello, this is Dr. Bill Branks, author of Love the Word. I'm reading today from Romans 5 verses 19 to 26. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 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. God's plan of salvation for you and me was never random, urgent, impetuous, or desperate. He had a plan from the beginning. He did not create robots that mindlessly followed orders. He created human beings who could choose whether or not to worship him. For those who recognized him as holy, benevolent, and omnipotent, he desired repentance, willful submission, and devotion for salvation. So at the right time, by his will and his way, a detailed plan of salvation was put into place. We can't fully understand this because trusting him for the unknowns is essential to a trusting relationship with him. Imagine giving your life to save the worst person you can think of, murderers, persecutors, or rapists, or any vile sinner who would be pardoned because of your voluntary death. We might die for those we assume are righteous, but not for a despicable, ungodly person. It's unthinkable. Yet, we are ungodly, unrighteous sinners ourselves, and in a sense we are the worst kind of person that God can think of, and yet he died for us. He died when we were hopeless sinners too weak to help ourselves or comprehend our standing before God. The amazing blessings that are poured out upon us as redeemed children of God should be meditated upon until joy overflows in our hearts. Verses 9. He justified us, making us righteous in the Father's eyes. Before we had a chance to try and be good enough, he sacrificed himself, knowing our helpless state. He justifies us, the least worthy to be pardoned. Verses 9. We escape the guilt of our sin. We are guilty. We are born sinful and sin by choice, and God is right to find us in the wrong. There is no leniency on the punishment, no overlooking our sin, no lighter sentence out of mercy. Any of that would have lessened the severity of our offenses. So Christ took the harsh punishment for every sin. Every single sin. Verses 9. We escape the wrath of God. We are all enemies of God and must be reconciled by having our sins forgiven and guilt eradicated. Once reconciled, we are saved from God's wrath. When we say we are saved, what we should mean is not from hell, although that's part of it, but we are spared God's wrath, something we desperately want to be saved from. To say Jesus, save me from my sins is to suggest my sin was my biggest problem. No, our biggest problem was the wrath of God that would be directed to every hellbound, unreconciled enemy of God. Hell is real. Matthew 25 verse forty one, Romans 2 verses 6 to 8, Hebrews 10 verse 31, and we dare not dwell on its terrifying details. But wrath, rage, fury fit well into God's frightful response to man's rebellion. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew tense twenty eight. Once enemies, we are now reconciled. Everything was dark and ominous, and as unredeemed sinners, we were enemies of God. There was no relationship, just a dark abyss that separated us, warning us of imminent retribution. But that darkness and wrath were moved to the cross and laid upon the Savior. The storm passes, and our adoption as a child begins. No longer enemies, but adopted children of a loving, gracious God. Verses 11. We rejoice. We have firsthand knowledge of all we have received and all he has done, and our joy is even better than the reconciliation and rescue from wrath. More than anything, we rejoice. Paul encourages us to remember that our joy in salvation will be preeminent throughout eternity with Christ.