Topic: Reconciled to God
Reading: Romans 5:6-11
Introduction and Overview
From the time that man fell from the grace of God due to the sins of Adam and Eve, God has been putting in place a means of reconciliation. God does not want man in a sinful state, but wants man to be in the state that God made us. He wants mankind to be perfect as He is perfect so that we can live with Him and each other in peace.
But the obstacle that has stood in the way since the fall of Adam and Eve, is sin. It is sin that makes us imperfect and removes us from the presence of God. Sin is the “black mark” that prevents us from living and being in the presence of God.
This is why God defined the process of reconciliation through Jesus Christ. In His death and resurrection, God reconciled us to Himself, not counting our sins against us, so that we could once again stand in perfection with Him. The process was defined in Jesus Christ, and over the next few chapters of Romans, we will see how it works.
Key points from reading:
- Christ died for us even though we were unworthy and enemies of God
- We are justified, or made righteous, by the blood of Christ
- Through the death of Christ we are reconciled to God
Discussion:
- Scripture: Romans 5:6-7
- Mankind is weak because we are driven by the passions and desires of the flesh that lead to temptation, sin, and death. And there is nothing we can do of and by ourselves to overcome this weakness in our nature. We are born with these factors in us, and it is because of them that we sin and die.
- We learn from the story of Adam and Eve that the penalty for rejecting God and sinning is death. We die because we sin, and death is the “payment” or penalty we pay to be released from sin. But once we die and are no longer on this earth, it is too late.
- God in His mercy defined a way for us to overcome all of these weaknesses and pay the debt of sin BEFORE we have to die. He did this by offering His son, Jesus Christ, so that we could begin again and learn His ways to overcome the passions and desires of the flesh that lead to sin.
- Scripture: Romans 5:8
- We have been greatly blessed in the love of God and Jesus Christ, because Jesus died for us while we were ungodly and enemies of God through sin.
- The fact that God defined this method, and the fact that Jesus was prepared to come to the earth specifically to die so that we could have a chance at life, is testament to the great love that God and Jesus have for us. God did not want His Creation to perish and reject Him. He wants all of mankind to come to a knowledge of the truth and to follow Christ and so be saved.
- The love of God for all people is so great that He has made allowance for us to be “born anew” through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We get the opportunity to start over as new creations, so that we can learn to live in the ways of God. This is how great His love is for us, that He reconciled man to Himself in Jesus Christ.
- Scripture: Romans 5:9
- God’s wrath is coming upon all who are disobedient to His word. The whole world will suffer the wrath of God because they have followed the ways of sin. You need only look at the prophecies of the end times, especially in Revelation, to see how devastating the wrath of God will be when it comes upon the earth.
- But through the redemptive power of the blood of Christ we have been redeemed from this world to become children of God, and will be saved by Christ from God’s great wrath. Even now we are protected by God from the many ills and evils of this world, but even more so as the end approaches.
- It is by faith in the power of God and through the redeeming power of the blood of Christ that we have been saved. As mentioned, death is the penalty for sin, and even under the Old Testament processes, sin was atoned for by the death and the blood of animals. But in Christ we see His death and Hos blood are the perfect sacrifice for sin because He was perfect, having never sinned while on this earth. Thus we are now saved by His blood sacrifice, given for us and accepted by faith and the grace of God.
- Scripture: Romans 5:10-11
- When we lived as the rest of the world does, we were enemies of God through sin. But now that we have entered into the death and resurrection of Christ, which we will see in coming chapters is via water baptism, we are reconciled to God and our sins are taken away and not counted against us.
- We were all once enemies of God, and it is only by God’s great mercy, grace, and love that we have been redeemed and reconciled through the blood of Christ Jesus. Now that we are reconciled to Him, we are saved. This is the essence of salvation in Jesus Christ, and it is by this salvation we are reconciled to God.
- Furthermore, this is a great reason for rejoicing. In Jesus Christ we are redeemed and reconciled, which could not and cannot be done apart from God and Jesus Christ. Our destiny before coming to Christ was eternal death. But now we have a destiny of eternal life, salvation and more. All of this became possible only by the redemptive power in the blood of Christ and the process of reconciliation in the grace of God.
Key Takeaways:
- God has redeemed us and saved us from His wrath that is coming to the whole earth, through the redemptive power of Jesus Christ’s blood
- Through Jesus we are now reconciled to God and is restoring us to the state in which He originally intended man to be.
- Through the great mercy, compassion, grace, and love of God we can now rejoice because He has allowed us to be reconciled in Jesus Christ.
Prayer Points
- Pray and thank God for the redemption and reconciliation He has given to you through the death of Jesus Christ.
- Seek in prayer what you need to know to progress in this walk with Christ to find the fulness of all that God offers.