Romans 5:1 "Therefore (because of what we’ve just been reading in chapter 3, that we’re a fallen race, we are in total depravity and bankrupt, but) being justified by faith, (not by works but rather by simply trusting His Word) we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" How does peace with God come? By a death of our old nature having a changing of direction in our thinking from the heart, to awake back into a divine spiritual life again as at the first, placing us into the same state that Adam had before sin and death begin, justified. The secret of the cross and our being counted in Jesus, in His suffering, death, burial, resurrection into the regeneration into a new spiritual being by redemption and our salvation, ascension back to glory. The old Satanic nature put to death in two areas one our flesh and second in our flesh. For mankind is a procreated being and as such is receptive of one master, at natural birth Satan's nature is our nature but when we hear the true Gospel and it is received it awakens the seed hidden deep in our soul, the very seed of woman as found in Genesis 3:15. Its this seed that destroys Satan within us and becomes our way to the New Life through the same process which Israel was to have acquired New Life but failed to do so.
Now stop and think a moment. You know we’re surrounded by people that are just bound by works, religion and a twisting of the scriptures into what is called a bless me, prosperity religion. The bondage that so many people are in with a works-oriented or prosperity religion. They are both just in constant fear that maybe they’re not going to be able to work enough. And on top of that there is never any joy, there is never peace with God, because it’s depending on their works. Or doing what they consider the "doing of the Word". Now that’s an awful place to be. They're under the same kind of priesthood of materialism or the external ministry of the Hebrews under Aaron's order. My, that’s horrible. The Bible makes it so plain that when we come to redemption, not resting on our works, or our self sufficiency but we’re resting on what Christ has tasted for every man, and we can have peace with God. There’s no wondering, "I wonder if I’ll make it, I wonder if I’ll get to heaven or bless me because I'm so deserving of more stuff, I've given my tithes to my church etc.." No, we don’t have to wonder, because we have this wonderful Grace. Now back to the text in Romans 5:1
Romans 5:1 "Therefore being justified by faith, (not works or self sufficiency but our trusting Him) we have peace with God…" Alright we want to stay with this whole concept that "Christ died for us." So now staying in Romans chapter 5, come on down to verse 6. And remember this is all going back to that verse in Hebrews where "Christ tasted death for everyone." No one can ever say, "Well, He didn’t do enough for me." Oh, yes, He did and more.
Romans 5:6 "For when we were yet without strength, (we were hopeless, beggarly and bankrupt) in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Not for good people, but He died for the ungodly, those without God (Psalms 1: 1; 1 Timothy1:9-10) . Now verse 7.
Romans 5:7 "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die." Yeah that could be possible. Here is a fellow who is so admirable and so looked up to, and he suddenly gets framed of a crime or whatever, and someone might come along and take his punishment, that’s a possibility. But for a no good, a reprobate, who would want to die for that kind of a person? Well, you’d probably say, "Nobody would, it’s probably good riddance." But you see that’s what we were, and Christ the Creator God, died for us. We've all been born into darkness and slavery to the spirit of the world though we've been ignorant of our condition, all of our natural life we've had one foot held by hells fire. Now verse 8.
Romans 5:8 "But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." So this is the whole idea of Hebrews. Yes, that which was in the past: Judaism, the Levitical Law, the Temple Worship, it was good. After all, God ordained it - but everything now on this side of the Cross and especially after the revelations of Paul’s mysteries, we now have something that is so much better. The comparison throughout the Epistle of Hebrews is that Christ is better and higher than the angels and that the New Covenant of God's Grace is based upon far Better things than the old. And that one thing and another is better than that which went before. As the old was based on mans performance and the external, materialism of works-oriented religion of legalism called Judaism which many churches have copied in some form as worship.
The Apostle is showing the epitome of Christ and Who He really is! How that He was the Son, and, how that He was the One Who will one day rule and reign on a new inhabited earth. (That was in verse 5.) Now we have been showing in the last couple of verses in chapter 2, how that even though He was the Creator God, He was the Ruler of the universe - for a little while He took His position lower than the angels. In other words, He became man. This is what we are looking at now in these verses, how God the Creator in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth – the Man, Who has accomplished everything that needed to be accomplished. And in His death, He not only tasted death for us, as believers, but for every human being who has ever lived. Let’s move on into verse 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment