Made Righteous – Romans 5:12-19

Romans 5:12-19

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all 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 those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

Welcome back to Delving into the Scriptures! Today, we will look at what appears to be quite an involved section of scripture – and whilst there is truly a lot in there, there is a very simple message to come out of it.

• Everyone has sinned – personally.
• Through Adam, we also all inherited a sinful nature
• The result? Judgement and condemnation

Don’t stop here! That is just the first part of the message! The key here is everyone has sinned – both through personal sin, and by inheritance of the sinful nature that has existed since Adam sinned. There is no escaping sin. And even before the ‘law’ was given with Moses, sin still abounded (for example, look at the passage about Noah and the people of his time). There was not yet an express commandment to break (ie, Law), but the sinful nature of man was in full swing. So, we have established (again) that all have sinned – there is no one who can claim to be sinless (Jesus excepted).

So what is the second part of the message?

• Jesus died on the cross to save ‘all men’
• That death gained us justification
• In turn, we will be made righteous

So now we come to it – it’s the same message as we have been getting up to now in Romans. Jesus died for our sins, and we are now clean of them! And even as I type it, it remains amazing to me…

So lets cover one little tidbit in here,  ’the free gift came to all men‘. What does it mean? Is everyone saved? The quick answer – No! But can everyone be saved? Yes! The free gift is available to anyone who wants it. And it is just that – an undeserved gift that we had no right to expect or ability to gain on our own. But yet it is ours if we just ask for it.

And that, is the amazing summary of not just the book of Romans, but of the core message of the Bible. Keep it in focus always!

Lord God, continue to teach us to understand Your message to us – that of Jesus. Teach us in some way to know what it truly means, and how we can respond. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Yet while we were enemies – Romans 5:6-11

Romans 5:6-11
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Welcome back to Delving into the Scriptures! This is the fourth (and last – though we could certainly go more!) post on this paragraph in Romans. In case you haven’t followed along, here are the first three -

At the Right Time
The Record is Clean
Saved from Wrath

Today we will cover Verses 10 and 11. Verse 10 is basically a redo of Verse 9, from a different viewpoint.

For if when we were enemies…. Jesus came to save us from our sins – when we were in sin, and in a position of eternal separation from Him. We were  enemies of God – we were certainly objects of displeasure, as we had all sinned, and we all went our own way, contrary to what we were created for. Yet while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God!

God loved us so much, that despite our position with Him, he went out of His way to make us friends again – to put us back in right relationship with Him. I am sure you could also think of many parallels in our own lives, but focus on this – while we certainly didn’t deserve it, Jesus went out of His way to find you and make you right with God.

So since that was done while we were enemies – how much more will it be completed now we are not! For if He would do that for an enemy, for one who truly deserved nothing but ‘wrath and punishment’ (see the saved from wrath post), what will He then do for us who are friends?

Another way to look at it also is that Jesus death on the cross resulted in our Justification – resulted in the record being wiped clean for those that accept Jesus – but His resurrection to new life guarantees and completes our salvation. It not only proved He was who He said He was – but it completed the work that had to be done for us.

So onto verse 11 – what is our response? To rejoice in God through Lord Jesus Christ! It means our response to our reconciliation with God is one of thankfulness and one of worship. Every time I think of the effects of Jesus death on the cross – that of our salvation – that despite our previous lives, despite the things we have done, our record of sin is clean and we are right with God – that brings amazement and worship. For me – it is an act I cannot comprehend – the depth of that one act to reconcile us while we were in the wrong, is just beyond my earthly abillity to comprehend. I know what it means, I know it’s effect, and I thank God for it – but I still cannot be anything but amazed as it is beyond my comprehension!

So to summarize where we have been over the past few weeks

- Jesus came at the right time for us to be saved

- His work on the cross Justified us – that is, our record of sin is gone, we are once again right with God

- If while we were enemies God still went to make things right for us – how much more will he complete it now we are friends!

- And finally – our response. Thankfulness. Worship. Pure amazement!

I pray that God will one day help me understand truly what happened 2000 years ago, even give me a glimpse of understanding into what that truly meant – but I know enough now to know I am saved and to thank God. And that, for now, is enough.

Lord God, give us revelation into the work you did for us on the cross, into our position with you now that we are saved, teach us not to take this for granted but continue to be amazed and thankful. In Jesus Name. Amen

Saved from Wrath (the reality of Hell) – Romans 5:6-11

Romans 5:6-11
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Welcome once again to Delving into the Scriptures! After a short 2 week break we are back, still focussed on this section of scripture from Romans.

Last time we focussed on vs 9, and how we have been ‘justified’ – and that our record of sin is clean – not punishment completed, but as if we have never sinned! I am still amazed when I think about that fact – that it is as though our sin never occurred. It is almost beyond comprehension!

But moving on to the rest of the verse, ‘we shall be saved from wrath through Him‘. Firstly, just remember it is through Jesus Christ we are saved from wrath. But what is God’s wrath that we are saved from?

Simply? It is that place we call hell. Hell is not some fictional place that funny little pointy eared devils with tails run around with pitchforks prodding people. It is nothing comparable to anything on this planet, anything that we experience (though I sure that there are some things that come close). In fact, if you were to compare references of heaven to hell in the New Testament, you would see that hell is mentioned more times than heaven - if you believe in a literal heaven, then you have no choice but to believe in a literal hell.

So, what is this place called hell?

It is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12)

It is a place where people scream for mercy, have memories, are tormented, feel alone, cannot escape (Luke 16:23-31).

It is a place of darkness (Revelation 9:2)

It is a lake of fire (Revelation 20:15)

It is a place of everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

This is just a small selection of scriptures to summarize. So hell does exist, and it is eternal – and this is God’s wrath. Based on the description above, I am pretty keen to not end up there! I am sure we could do a pretty long study of hell and God’s wrath, but I think that’s enough to get the general idea and make sure we don’t end up there (see Philippians 2:12)

So hell is a real place – real, eternal and not somewhere you want to be – but we are saved from that through Jesus Christ. And that again is something we can be thankful for!

Lord Jesus, I pray that you will teach us your Word, teach us the reality of heaven, and the reality of hell, that we might be reminded not only of what would have awaited us, but of what we were saved from. Teach us to be thankful!In Jesus Name, Amen.