Romans 5:1-11 It is very important that you read the passage of scripture before reading any comments on the scripture to be sure it is not taken out of context, and construed in any way or manner. This chapter has been considered as one of the most difficult portions of the New Testament to understand...that is the doctrine of living by faith. The previous chapters have clearly shown that all men under Adams race, because of the fall, is guilty of the nature of sin, and (past tense) has sinned. No man is guiltless before God, except through the doctrine of justification through faith! Paul has fully established men were under the condemnation of sin; that this guilt extended to both Jews and Gentiles alike; that there is no way of escape, except through the doctrine of pardon by grace; this plan was made known by the Gospel of Christ; and this is no new doctrine, but was by which Abraham and David were acceptable to God. Therefore, through faith, being justified...justified meaning to be cleanse of all unrighteousness, and stand as (guiltless) just-as-if-Ied never committed those things; we have peace with God. Before this justification, we are enemies with God on every point and aspect of life. Whatever God wants us to do, we naturally rebel and do the opposite. But, through justification, we choose to do things that are aligned with the wishes and plans of God, thereby having an indescribable peace down deep in our souls with Him, our Justifier! True Christianity is often described as having peace with God. Galatians 5:22 gives us the markings of a true Christian. This peace comes from not being enemies with God. The plan of salvation reveals our God is ready to pardon, and to be at peace with mankind. There are four steps for a sinner to be justified. First, he must recognize his sinful state, being alone without God. Second, he must confess his sins before God and third, repent with sorrowfulness of the committing these sins against God. Fourth, he must be willing to strive to live by Godly principles. In doing this, he experiences such a joy as told in I Peter 1:8, and Phil. 4:7. Such wonderful promises God has for the repentant one who has come to Him. Then, Jesus Himself is our High Priest; through Him we have access to the throne of God! What a privilege the saint of God has. Jesus is our only hope through faith to this grace wherein we stand. He is our only hope for the glory of God. We are regarded by God as righteous. We are admitted into His favor, and abide there. We have the hope of still higher riches in the fullness of His glory when we are admitted into heaven. Hope is the desire and expectation of something unseen, and the expectation of obtaining it. The glory of God referred to here, is our triumphant end in the completion of our work; and be freed from sin, pain, and tears, and permitted to have a part in the full splendors that encompass the throne of God in heaven! What a glorious time that is going to be; when we see our Heavenly Father with Jesus Christ, our Saviour, sitting at His right hand, who made intercession for us while on this earth! Lord, except for the demise of lost friends, I would You could come today. We are to glory in tribulations, also? So, we are not to glory only in times of prosperity and health, but also in times of tribulations? Yes, Jesus directed His followers to rejoice in persecutions Matt. 5:11-12. If we dont have any spiritual mountains to climb, our faith, our spiritual muscles, wont have any reason to grow strong. We have to have some battles along our Christian life so we can learn and enjoy the vastness and strength of our Lord! If we dont have hard places that make us depend on Him, how would we ever know that His grace is sufficient for ANYTHING we can go through? The three Hebrew children would never have known that Jesus could walk with them midst the fire with all four being untainted by the heat and the flames, if they had not been able to trust their God to deliver them! You dont feel like you have enough patience? Dont pray for it; there will be enough problems for you to gain patience as you walk through life without asking God for more! Experiences bring forth patience; and hope is gained from those experiences. Christian hope is based on things desired before God. This hope will not return to us as shame, nor embarrassment, for what we have hope for through Jesus Christ will not come back unfulfilled; it will not disappoint; what we hope for will be fulfilled. Now, dont be in a hurry for answered prayer. It will be answered in Gods time; in the proper and fulfilled time for your hope to be answered. It might even be a couple of years after you have died and gone to heaven. But, when the time is right, God will give the answer to our hope. It is because of His love given to us through the Holy Ghost, that we can count on these things to come about. For when we were without strength; when we were unable to pay our own debt for sin, when we owed such a great debt of sin we were unable to pay the price for it instead of suffering the consequences of it, Jesus had such a great compassion for lost humanity, He offered, He volunteered to leave the Trinity in heaven, come to earth in the form of a human baby with a Divine Father, and become our perfect example for living, and our perfect blemishless sacrificial Lamb for slaughter, so His blood would be sprinkled for the remission of sins; not only for thus, but to be the fulfillment of the sacrificial Old Testament Law for once and for all; the Perfect Sacrifice for all the sins of the world from the beginning of time. Yes, when He was on the cross, He showed compassion to a criminal beside Him who confessed, and asked Jesus to remember him in Paradise; but He also saw down through the ages to come to you and me; loved us enough to go through the agonizing feat of Calvary so you and I could be justified, and live with Him throughout eternity! What a mighty, awesome, loving God He is! It is rare for a man to be willing to die in the place of a righteous man, let alone a wicked one. But it is possible for a good man another might find a reason to be willing to take his place. But this would be a rare thing! However, God showed His love toward us, yea, such an extraordinary love, in that while we were yet a wicked unjust people, His personal enemies, His only begotten Son died for us; that we might not have to die, but have ever lasting life with Him. Oh, but such love is that! Because of His love for us, He removed nearly every obstacle in our way to make Him accessible to us. The only obstacle now, is our choice! Even while we were His enemies, He overcame all that was in our way of our salvation. Being now justified, pardoned; accepted as friends! And to think we are now saved from His wrath, through His precious blood. Think about this for a moment. If, while we were yet enemies and servants of His arch enemy, He reconciled us to Himself through the death of His Son; much more so, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life! After the price He was willing to pay for your and my soul, there is no way we can be obedient and disobedient at the same time. That is simply a paradox; two opposites! And not only so...here Paul states another effect of justification. We joy in the hope of the glory of God. We rejoice in God Himself; in His existence, His attributes; His justice, holiness, mercy, truth, and love. Christians find joy in knowing the universe is under His supervision and administration! Through our Lord; by meditating on Jesus, who has revealed the true character of God, and by whom we have been reconciled to Him. We have now received atonement; the ability to accept justification and grace from our Father through Jesus the Christ. Friend, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, the Triune God-head, is the only, yes the only, completely awesome thing in existence today! There is none other like Him. He created man and made woman for the purpose of having fellowship with Him; when Adam and Eve rebelled in the Garden of Eden, God made a way for us to regain that level of sweet fellowship by walking with Him in the cool of the evening once again. The Son was willing to lay aside His glorious figure and take on the form of a man for eternity to re-establish that amazingly wonderful relationship between He and mankind. All we have to do is to make a conscious choice to repent for our sinful actions, trust in Him for forgiveness, and walk with Him instead of Satan. IF you havent made that choice today, will you? There are only two places to spend eternity: heaven or hell. Heaven is a beautiful place prepared for those who love the Lord, a place where pure gold is only the value of asphalt! Hell is a place prepared for Satan and his angels; but man who chooses to follow him will also spend eternity there, in a place that is a lake of infernal flame, where even the worm dyes not! It is your choice; and we are not promised tomorrow. A man once asked me jokingly how far away is eternity? I told him to feel his pulse; if his heart misses three beats, and there is no one to give him aid, he is there! It is only by Gods grace we take our next breath. What is your choice today?
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 12:21:18 +0000
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