Lesson: Romans 5.1-10

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INTRODUCTION:

1. It was found inside a greeting card for a graduating senior.

1. The line was: "Some days you're a pigeon. Some days you're a statue."

2. There is some humor in this rather pithy saying.

3. You need to imagine the statue after the busy pigeons have finished.

1. I have seen flocks of pigeons eating the offerings of tourists in San Marco Square in Venice.

2. I have also seen multiple statues old and new.

4. I would not want to be a pigeon.

1. Slang. One who is easily swindled; a dupe.

5. Neither am I a statue.

6. A memorial to someone with an historic past.

2. My desire is to be a, life-receiving, life-supporting, life-giving Christian.

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MAIN BODY:

1. In this passage of scripture Paul writes about the two-sided coin of our salvation.

1. We are justified by faith.

1. ¹Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

2. The temptation would be to spend all our time this morning on the doctrine of justification.

3. There is no doubt that we ought to have a better understanding of this teaching.

2. But then Paul writes about suffering

1. ³And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

2. Life is not without suffering.

3. So we could speak of the source and benefits of suffering.

4. This also would prove to be very helpful.

3. In verse 6 Paul gets to the heart of the matter for this morning.

1. He reminds us of the necessity of the death of Christ and the reasons and benefits.

⁶For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. ⁸But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. ⁹Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.

2. We are reconciled to God through the death of Jesus on the cross.

4. But it is verse 10 that ought to intrigue us and cause us to pause and think about that Paul is saying.

1. The first part of verse 10 is what we have always heard and we believe.

¹⁰For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled,

2. It is the second part that we need to take some time with to understand what Paul is seeking to communicate and how it applies to our lives.

will we be saved by his life, (Romans 5:1-10, NRSVA).

5. We will be reconciled by the cross

6. We shall be saved by his life.

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2. Does this mean his life now or then.

1. For what is the cross without the life?

2. Of what purpose has the life without the cross.

3. So the two of them go together.

4. I have heard so much emphasis on the cross that Jesus life was taken for granted.

5. There is a song, "In the Cross of Christ I Glory," but what is a cross without a life?

Words: John Bowring, Hymns by John Bowring, 1825.

There is a story (probably apocryphal) about the inspiration for these words. The tradition is that Bowring was sailing past the coast of Macao, China. On the shore were the remains of an old, fire gutted church. Above the ruins, he saw the spire still standing, topped by a cross. The title of this hymn was carved on Bowring's tombstone.

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

When the woes of life o'ertake me,
Hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me,
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.

When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more luster to the day.

Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

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3. What about Jesus life NOW and THEN!

1. His life now.

2. Jesus is pictured at the right hand of God.

3. What is he doing there?

1. ⁸Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. ¹⁰But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. ¹¹Then they secretly instigated some men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God." ¹²They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council. ¹³They set up false witnesses who said, "This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law; ¹⁴for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us." ¹⁵And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel, (Acts 6:8-15, NRSVA).

2. ⁵⁵But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶"Look," he said, "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" (Acts 7:55-56, NRSVA).

3. ³⁴Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us, (Romans 8:34, NRSVA).

4. ²⁰God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. ²²And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, ²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all, (Ephesians 1:20-23, NRSVA).

5. ¹So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, ³for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory, (Colossians 3:1-4, NRSVA).

6. ³He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, (Hebrews 1:3, NRSVA).

7. ¹Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ²a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent that the Lord, and not any mortal, has set up, (Hebrews 8:1-2, NRSVA).

8. ¹²But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, "he sat down at the right hand of God," ¹³and since then has been waiting "until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet." ¹⁴For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified, (Hebrews 10:12-14, NRSVA).

9. ²looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God, (Hebrews 12:2, NRSVA).

10. ¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,...²¹And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you--not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,...²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him, (1 Peter 3.18, 21-22, NRSVA).

1. We rejoice and are glad that all these provisions have been made and are being carried out for each of God's children.

2. It makes it possible to endure the suffering.

3. To see a higher purpose in it.

4. To make some sense of it.

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4. His life before.

1. Romans 5.10. ⁽¹⁾

1. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being now--"having now been"

2. reconciled, we shall be saved by his life--that is "If that part of the Saviour's work which cost Him His blood, and which had to be wrought for persons incapable of the least sympathy either with His love or His labors in their behalf--even our 'justification,' our 'reconciliation'--is already completed; how much more will He do all that remains to be done, since He has it to do, not by death agonies any more, but in untroubled 'life,' and no longer for enemies, but for friends--from whom, at every stage of it, He receives the grateful response of redeemed and adoring souls?" To be "saved from wrath through Him," denotes here the whole work of Christ towards believers, from the moment of justification, when the wrath of God is turned away from them, till the Judge on the great white throne shall discharge that wrath upon them that "obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ"; and that work may all be summed up in "keeping them from falling, and presenting them faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24): thus are they "saved from wrath through Him."

1. Jesus sinless life.

1. Tempted or tested in every respect like we are and still without sin.

2. We are encouraged, no, urged to live the same kind of life.

2. This is the whole purpose of the "Good News," no matter where you find it.

1. The Sermon on the Mount.

2. The Parables.

3. The Miracles.

4. The Teachings either by experience or by example.

3. We need the total package!

4. Jesus, the Sun of righteousness, Malachi 4:2, is the fountain of all spiritual and eternal Life.

5. His light brings life with it, and they who walk in his light live in his life.

6. This sentiment is beautifully expressed and illustrated in the following inimitable verse (all monosyllables except one word) of that second Spenser, Phineas Fletcher. Speaking of the conversion of a soul to God, he says:--

"New Light new Love, new Love new Life hath bred;
A Life that lives by Love, and loves by Light:
A Love to him, to whom all Loves are wed;
A Light, to whom the sun is darkest night:
Eye's Light, heart's Love, soul's only Life he is:
Life, soul, love, heart, Light, eye, and all are his:
He eye, Light, heart, Love, soul; He all my joy and bliss."

Purple Island, Can. I. v. 7.

1. "The Purple Island. (Or, The Isle of Man)," an allegorical poem in twelve cantos first published in 1633, describing the body and mind of man, and the conflict for his soul between the powers of good and evil.

2. The body is described under the form of an island, its rivers, caves, and mountains (Cantos I-IV), the mind, by an account of the island's governor and his counsellors (Canto VI), and the contest for the soul, by an allegorical siege, led by the World, the Flesh, and the Devil with their trains (Cantos VII-XII).

3. The influence of Spenser's Faerie Queene is obvious throughout.

4. The "Isle of Man" is called purple because it was formed by the Creator out of purple dust taken from the new-born earth.

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CONCLUSION

1. I would not want to be a pigeon.

1. Slang. One who is easily swindled; a dupe.

2. Neither am I a statue.

3. A memorial to someone with an historic past.

2. My desire is to be a, life-receiving, life-supporting, life-giving Christian.

1. I am not perfect.

2. I am justified, being sanctified, living with trouble and suffering, hoping for a better tomorrow that may not come until Jesus comes.

3. But in the meantime?

Christians - By Maya Angelou

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'."
I'm whispering "I was lost,
Now I'm found and forgiven."

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
And need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
Who received God's good grace, somehow!

Amen!

1. JFB Commentary, Database © 2000 iExalt, Inc. iExalt Electronic Publishing, Austin, Texas

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