Justified by faith in Christ
Romans chapter 5:1-11
I am certainly glad that we are able to get together as we take a look at God’s Word together.
Prayer-
This morning Lord, would you speak to your servants through your servant so that we might sense your presence and sense what you want to do in our lives. May you draw close to us and prepare us for what you are doing so that we are ready to receive it with gladness and expectation of a new and exciting thing being done. In Jesus Name! Amen.
Have you ever thought you were not good enough?
Wither it be in a sport, at work, at home among your siblings, feeling not worthy to have a spouse or someone to love you?
Not worthy to have a friend that would not dessert you or take advantage of you?
I think it safe to say we have all felt that way in our life about one or more of those things.
But have you also taken those feelings and looked at your relationship with God as not measuring up?
Do you feel on the short end of the stick as you try to measure up to God to be pleased with your life and your actions?
Romans chapter 5:1-11
The book of Romans is a tough book for new believers to understand and believers who struggle with their identity in Christ.
It is a complete book in that the first 8 chapters talk about our problem with righteousness.
9-11 deals with the Jews thinking that they were the chosen people alone, their problem with letting the Gentiles to also enjoy the Lord and His salvation.
The last chapters deal with practical living for a believer.
Roman takes a hard look at our life and where it stands with and without God.
Romans a book that convicts and draws you close to the Lord (because you respond) or pull away from the Lord (rebellion) and want to do things our own way.
One way draws you close and one way pulls you away.
The desire of the Lord is to draw us close to Him.
The desire of the flesh is to pull away from anything or anyone that tells us we are wrong or that we have to live with guidelines.
When I first came to Christ, I struggled with two things-
That I would not do enough- “doer of the word”
I struggled with my sins that were behind me and what was still in me. For me it was in a church in Corpus Christi Texas that as the preacher was speaking that God spoke to my heart that Jesus is enough- It is not Jesus plus anything. Jesus is enough! Repeat.
We are not good people needing lucky charms, we are sinners in need of a savior. That will preach, tweet stand tall on Instagram.
We can be justified by faith only after we have put our faith in Christ. In Christ alone are our sins forgiven.
Jesus is enough
The struggle today is putting God in His rightful position as Lord of our lives.
We want a savior to save us but we don t want a Lord telling us what we can and cannot do.
We want the strength and protection of a mighty God but only when we need Him.
We want the peace and comfort of God that won’t leave us or forsake us.
We also want a God that forgives us even for things we know to be wrong.
We struggle that God has to be first- He does not take second place and we think it okay to give him a participation trophy of our lives.
Christians use the phrase Jesus is enough, but what does it really mean?
Jesus is “enough” for what?
Jesus is enough to save us. Jesus has “by one sacrifice . . . made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:14). Peter preached that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the only name that can take away our sin and save us—the “Name of Jesus” representing all that Jesus Christ is and does. There is literally no one and nothing else that we could add to Christ to aid our salvation. He finished the work on the cross (John 19:30), and what He did is enough to save us.
Jesus is enough to provide for us. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:19, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” This echoes Jesus’ words about God’s care for His creation: the sparrows and grass do not worry or toil for food or clothes (Matthew 6:25–31). It follows that, since God cares for such lowly things in creation, He will also take care of His people. Jesus has the ability and the desire to supply every need we have.
Jesus is enough to bless us. Paul said that God “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3). He didn’t say a “few” spiritual blessings; he said “every” spiritual blessing. Since we can’t add anything more to “every,” Jesus is truly enough for every spiritual need we have.
Jesus is enough to equip us. We have the promise that God’s “divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3, AMP). Once again, the language here shows we cannot add anything more: absolutely everything is all-encompassing. Nothing but Jesus is needed to equip us for living a life that pleases God.
Jesus is enough to strengthen us. When Paul prayed three times to the Lord to remove the thorn from his flesh, the response was “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Even when we are weak, Jesus’ strength is enough to carry us onward. In fact, our weakness only perfects His power, which leaves no room for adding another power source.
Jesus is all we need; there is nothing and no one to add to Christ.
He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). He is the only one who can save, provide, bless, equip, and strengthen.
Having faith in Christ involves trusting in His complete sufficiency.
We by faith in Christ are justified to have our sins forgiven.
We by faith in Christ realize that He will provide what is needed in our lives.
We by faith in Christ ask our savior to equip and strengthen us in our weaknesses that we live by His Spirit dwelling in our hearts.
We by faith in Christ gain access to Him by His Grace.
Jesus is the bridge
He is the bridge from where we are and where we need to go.
‘While we were powerless” to change our future because of our past- Christ died for our sins and changed our destiny from ungodly to a child of God. Amen.
The gap from where we are lost in our sins and Jesus and His Grace is only bridged by what Christ has done for us- not what we can do for ourselves.
Scripture says-
Rarely will someone die for the behavior of another. Christ while we were yet sinners, died for us so that we can change our destiny because of what Christ has done for us.”
By his blood, we are saved from the wrath of sin which is total separation from God for eternity. We are saved from the wrath of God and can enjoy the blessing of God because we are reconciled to Him and we are no longer enemies of God because of our sins.
God had a plan for mankind and did not let sin stop what He had planned.
He desires that all would know Him as savior and enjoy the benefits of the cross instead of the wrath of not knowing the Jesus of the cross.
Yet when you were in the womb, I knew you- I will never leave you or forsake you. I am everything that you need today, tomorrow and forever.
I am the alpha and I am the omega- and everything in between.
The decision we make holds eternity for us. The Lord works in our lives to allow us to walk with him. It is only after the decision to follow Jesus, that we begin to see God hand in our lives. Before that, we are searching for what we know instead of what the Lord is showing us in His word or in our private time of speaking with Him.
Justification-“Just as if I did not sin” does not happen by anything that we do.
It is totally on what Christ has done for us.
God first loved us and poured out his love unto us by His Holy Spirit speaking and dwelling within a believer.
Jesus is hope
Hope does not disappoint because our hope is in Jesus.
Perseverance-Character-Hope
Hope brings the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit into our lives.
I want to be justified in Christ instead of petrified of my sins.
I am not good enough in myself for salvation but Jesus is more than enough.
Last Scripture-
Genesis 28:10-15
“Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (ESV)
Jacob is running scared from a brother who threatened to kill him. Even so, God in his grace reveals himself to Jacob.
Jacob did not DESERVE to see God. He was a cheat and a liar. That’s what got him in trouble with his brother in the first place.
Jacob did not DESIRE to see God. He wasn’t necessarily looking for God at this time. He was just running away from home, and yet, God in his grace makes himself known to Jacob.
God doesn’t show up because Jacob was a good boy. No! God presents Himself to Jacob purely out of grace, and God gives him a wonderful promise – a promise of land, seed and blessing.
Jacob’s father had already blessed him, passing on the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant. Now, God Himself blesses Jacob directly with those same blessings! And on top of it all, God promises Jacob His protecting presence: “I am with you,” God says in verse 15. “I will watch over you.” “I will bring you back.” And “I will not leave you.”
Those words must have brought comfort to one who had never been away from home before.
Jacob’s brother was the hunter in the family, used to the outdoors.
Jacob was a mama’s boy, used to helping mama at home.
Now, Jacob is all by himself, out in the middle of nowhere, 70 miles away from home, without even a tent over his head.
That’s when God meets with Jacob, and that’s when God wants to meet with you.
When you’re running scared, God in his grace reveals himself to you.
When you least expect it, sometimes in far out-of-the way places, and often in times of fear,
God shows up. Even when you’ve made a mess of things, even when you don’t deserve it, like Jacob, or don’t even desire it,
God comes to offer His blessing and the promise of His presence forever.
That’s how Jesus came into this world. In a time of Roman oppression and fear, in a far out-of-the way place called Bethlehem, located in a small Roman province of little consequence, God revealed himself in the flesh as a little baby, whose name was Jesus.
Then, 30 years later, when he began his public ministry, he declared to his followers, ““Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:51). Jesus was telling them, “I am the stairway into heaven that Jacob saw.” “I am the way, the only way, to heaven.” “If you want to get there, you have to come through me.”
You need to do is trust Him with your life.
You need to do is “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:32).
If you’ve never done it before, I invite you to trust Christ with your life today.
Call upon the name of the Lord and ask Him to save you from your sins.
Then you too can have the assurance of eternal life and God’s protecting presence forever!
Let’s pray-
