Romans 5:6-11

Romans 5:6-11

Justice, Reconciliation, and Joy

I.                    Only justification through the love of Christ provides a certain foundation for joy in life; but we must understand who we are to truly grasp God’s amazing love (Vv. 6-8)

a.       As Paul communicates the benefits of justification through the love of Christ, he begins by describing basic human nature as “helpless”, “ungodly”, and “sinners”. The term “helpless” means to be weak, without power, or without ability to escape or change. While we can buff up our external characteristics, try to make choices in life and behavior which are less physically destructive, and work to reason our way through challenges and obstacles in life, we’re all ultimately incapable of changing our fundamental nature. No amount of good choices or hard work will ultimately be capable of meeting our fundamental needs. The term “ungodly” means that our basic nature is to live our own way as if God didn’t exist, or as though we don’t need God. It’s the part of nature which dooms us to building all things on a foundation which will not hold up. The term “sinners”, means to “miss the mark”, and it describes the result of continuing to live in our “helpless” and “ungodly” nature. In the absence of any power to obtain our fundamental needs, and in the absence of God, we must invent our own truth, own morality, own definition of fulfillment, own hope, own peace, and own purpose as we live totally to please ourselves. People are so confident they can accomplish these things, but they only create moving targets which we can’t be hit. These truths seem difficult, and are especially avoided and rejected today, but without coming to grips with the reality of who we are, we can’t truly come to grips with amazing depths of God’s love, or ever expect to truly experience hope, peace, purpose, and fulfillment in life. “But God” demonstrates the depth of His love for us through the sacrifice of Christ! And He did all this while we were still powerless, and at the exact right time temporally and spiritually, dying for us while we were living our own way with no regard for Him and missing His mark continually. He didn’t do it because we deserve it, we worked hard enough for it, are good enough, have so much to offer Him, or because we’re lovely, but solely because He is who He is! We can never love ourselves that much and no other human can ever love us that much. But we can know objectively, without doubt, no matter how we feel, how things appear, or how we’re treated by life and others. that the love of God in Christ Jesus will never fail us! (Vv. 6-8; John 3:3, 16-21; 8:42-45; Rom. 1:18-32; 3:10-18, 23; 8:6-8; 1 Cor. 2:11-14; 2 Cor. 4:3-4; 16; Gal. 4:4-5; Eph. 2:1-2; 1 Pet. 3:18; 1 John 4:9-10)

II.                 Only justification through the love of Christ provides a certain foundation for joy in life; so we must cling to the certainty of God’s love to truly live joyfully today and eternally (Vv. 9-11)

a.       God is complete righteous, just, and equitable. He is compelled by His nature to faithfully and impartially judge all sin. All humanity is sinful by nature, hopelessly separated from God, and justly deserving of His judgment. But because of God’s great love for us, He gave His Son to live the perfect sinless sacrifice we could never live, so that He could die the death which we deserve, taking on the full and just punishment for our sin, and declaring us not guilty. Paul says that if God did that great thing to free us from His just and final wrath, then we must know that He’ll keep us now and eternally. That means that when we are truly in Christ, the difficulties, challenges, and trials we face in this life aren’t punitive, they’re disciplinary and constructive, and if we trust God with our lives, He’ll faithfully bear true fruit and grow us. As we continue to live apart from God in helplessness, godliness, and sinfulness, we rebel against God’s rightful Lordship over our lives through either active hostility or indifference so that we can do what we want without violating our conscience. But in this way we align ourselves as God’s enemies, and He’s bound by His nature to hold His enemies accountable for their rebellion against His Lordship. But even while we were His enemies, Christ died on our behalf, that God might no longer have to pour out His wrath on us as His enemies. Reconciliation is the act of making those who were once hostile enemies into peaceful friends. If Christ died for His enemies, He’ll certainly save His friends! If God will sacrifice so much to secure our eternal relationship with Him, He’ll certainly walk through our daily worries, anxieties, fears, weaknesses, failures, difficulties, and temptations with us. And we can trust that Jesus will faithfully and continually intercede on our behalf, grant us grace for every trial and difficulty, and renew our joy in Him no matter our circumstances! (Vv. 9-11; Luke 23:34; John 3:36; 6:37, 40; 10:27-29; 14:19; Rom. 3:23-26; 4:4-5; 6:23; 8:1, 18-39; Eph. 1:13-14; 2:3-9, 13-22; Phil. 3:15-21; Col. 1:19-23; 3:1-4; 1 Thess. 5:9-11; Heb. 4:16; 7:25; 10:11-14; 13:5b-8; Jas. 4:4; 1 John 1:15-17; Rev. 19:11-15; 20:11-15; 21:1-8)