Romans 5:1-11
The Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Rome contains what may be the single most important verse in the entire Bible. From a faith standpoint anyway. Chapter 5, verse 8 say this.
“…but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
In other words, while mankind has willfully chosen to disobey God, rebel against God, reject God, malign the Word of God, and just like in Old Testament times, “provoke the Lord to anger”, God chose to send His Son whose mission in life was to let us know that through His death we are redeemable. Restorable. And although we’re in no way worthy of His grace, He pours it out for us for no reason other than His great love for us.
Now you think about how many people you have in your life who you really don’t care for. How hard is it for you to even show tolerance towards that person, let alone love? Not an easy hurdle to clear, right? Well, look at the state of the world today and the infinite number of ways that we have pushed Jesus into a corner. Think of the heartache our sin and our immorality cause Him. Think of the burden He takes on when He sees Christian fellowships divided over a desire to accommodate sexual sin and other spiritual compromises?
And yet…God chooses to show His great love for us anyway. And the way He does it is by the precious blood of His only Son. The sacrifice Jesus made on that cross sets us free from bondage of sin. But…you gotta have faith.
The New Testament Book of Hebrews tells us that, “…faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Biblical hope, “New Covenant Hope” is different from the kind of hope we refer to in our daily life. The hope we have in Jesus, born in faith, never disappoints. If we’ve placed our faith in Him, then we live with the hopeful expectation of eternal life. It’s an assurance, not a possibility. Faith tells us that when Jesus returns to reclaim His church and bring with Him a new earth and a new Jerusalem, we will share in that moment of glory with Him. In fact, we will become glorified ourselves.
Another faith fact that Paul blesses us with here in Romans may be my personal favorite. It says in Romans 5:6 that, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”
This is the other beautiful realization about Jesus that we gain through an abiding faith. His timing is perfect. That means that even when you are at the lowest level of rock bottom He will find you there, meet you there and light the pathway out of there.
There may be a process involved – I was sober for ten years before finally surrendering to Jesus – but even if you face an extended period of struggle, when Jesus does move, it will bring you more joy than you prayed for. But…you gotta have faith.
Perhaps the greatest source of joy we can find in these verses from Romans comes in verse 11. Jesus’ death restored our ability to fellowship with the Father.
“So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship (Fellowship!) with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends with God.”
And folks, being “friends with God” is the only reality in life you want to know you’re assured of! Always remember that steadfast faith in our Savior leads to joy and never disappoints!