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| Sermon February 3rd 2008 ( In topic form) |
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 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5
The book of Romans is one of the richest theological sources we have in order to understand the riches of God’s grace ,His salvation and divine justice
But, the problem for most of modern ears, is that the gospel is counter-intuitive, that is:
you don’t get right away the real meaning of: “if you want be the first be the last”, “blessed are those who are persecuted”, “lose your life in order to gain it”
But if you think hard enough, under the light of God’s assistance, all of Jesus’ claims will make tremendous sense and will revolutionize your life
by bringing you down to face your real spiritual condition as sinner, only then repentance follows
The same thing happens in the area of working philosophy, and working philosophy is what you live for, what brings meaning to your life
If you believe you have any claim on God’s justice, God’s love will never transform you
Because there will be nothing to repent about, after all, a benevolent God could never cross my will or my lifestyle
The one proof that God is real, is that He contradicts you, and tells you that because He is perfect, He is judge
Would you trust a judge that lets a guilty person walk away free just
because the criminal decided that killing in his concept, was not a crime for him?
And here is the thing: the more I know Jesus, the more that subconscious pervasive feeling of guilt, and moral and justice becomes real and tangible
“that’s awful, that is why religion neuroticizes people, make them feel guilty!!” Freud tried to free men’s mind from that idea of a repressive father
Not the gospel, the more I realize who I am in light of Romans 5,
the more I release or let loose any claims on God’s justice
therefore everything becomes “amazing grace” considering my sinful nature
Why am I prefacing the sermon this morning this way? Because the central point of God’s grace is His salvation in Christ
But, we need to understand what are we being saved from, and why the phrase “Jesus saves” became meaningless to most modern men
At the very onset of these verses, Paul reveals to us how we were perceived by God before our justification through faith in Jesus Christ
We were : “powerless”, “ungodly”, “sinners”, and worst of all “God’s enemies”
Romans 3 says something that will hurt unregenerate men’s self image:
“10 “There is none righteous, no, not one;11There is one who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12They have all turned side; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”
You’ll never understand the love of God until you understand the wrath of God upon sinners
And the highest point of the Bible, is God rescuing His people from His own wrath
The first question that arises is this: why would a loving God judge men?
Paul responds to that inevitable question just a few verses later:
“ Ro 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned”
modern people’s mindset goes like this:
“only I can determine what is sinful or not, good or bad for myself, the way I see things, God accepts every one, and you can’t tell me I am a sinner, and I am under God’s judgment”
under those circumstances, there will be no instance higher than my own heart to judge my behaviorbut even the atheist knows it is not true, deep inside, he knows he became an agnostic, or atheist,
not because of philosophical principles but because of moral premises
Aldous Huxley said: “ I don’t believe there is a God because that could hurt my erotic lifestyle”
as we close, let me say that, why the Bible insists so vehemently that we must be reconciled and justified by Christ?
In the dictionary reconciliation means: “the ending of conflict or renewing of a friendly relationship between disputing people or groups
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My final question, in light of our text is this:
“ Is it possible that a loving God, have wrath? Isn’t that a degenerated human feeling?”
Let answer by saying this: the Bible tells us that the very nature of God is perfect, God doesn’t do righteous deeds because they are righteous
They become righteous because God does it, He is the source of all love and justice
His love and His justice are like a scale, always even, in perfect balance, there can be no
Now think: if God, in His love, paid the extreme price through Christ, to rescue men, thus producing an eternal sinless and joyful state of the soul
His justice couldn’t be of a lower degree, those who refuse to be reconciled with the Father, will endure His justice with the same intensity of His love
If His love is infinitely great, so is His justice, the scale will never waggle, moving up and down
So for those who are still struggling with the gospel, stop being your own savior, stop being your own judge, come to the only one who is able to reconcile men to God
Wayne Grundem says:” In fact, one of the greatest blessings of the final judgment will be that saints and angels will see, demonstrated in millions of lives the absolutely pure justice of God, and this will be a source of praise to Him for all eternity”
The love of God can melt any heart that sincerely seeks Him, Jeremiah 29
“13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD,
And that is why in Hebrews we read:
“7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts
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