Romans 5:1-11 (Wednesday Evening Bible Study)

Romans 5:1-11

• Do you think many Christians struggle with issue of assurance of their salvation? Many Christians when asked about their salvation may respond, “I hope I am.”
• Context:
  • We are in Romans 5 tonight. This chapter starts off with the all-important word “therefore.” The word “therefore” connects what Paul is about to say with what he’s already said. So far Paul has said we are all sinners deserving of God’s judgment with no hope of ever helping ourselves. However, there is hope. Our sin problem can be taken care of through faith in Jesus, because in Jesus we are justified.  Romans 5 gives us assurance concerning our personal salvation.…that doesn’t mean in the future you will remain faithful but can have assurance in the present.
  • Look at the “we have’s” in these verses. See verse 1-2-5-9-11.  The Lord has given us much so that we  may be  saved.
• Romans 5:1-2
• Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
  • What is the first thing we see justification by faith does?
    • It brings peace with God. Our peace with God then is not obtained on the basis of what we do but on the basis of what Christ did for us. It is in His work, not ours, which we depend for eternal life. 
  • Is there any way to have peace with God separate from Jesus Christ?
    • No
  • What did we have with God before we had peace with Him?
    • Hostility… I think many of us have never thought of not having peace with God. Because we were raised in the church and have always believed in God and the death of Jesus for our sins, we’ve never thought of ourselves as enemies of God. But that’s how the Bible describes us prior to coming to our personal faith in Jesus Christ.
  • What would you say to a Christian, who feels they don’t have peace with God?
    • Do you have faith in Jesus and what He did for you? Do you think you need to do something to earn God’s approval? 
  • Consider what is means to be justified and have peace with God:
    • We no longer have to worry about being good enough.
    • We no longer have to worry about earning God’s approval.
    • We no longer have to worry about God’s Judgment.
  • Where are those who have faith in Christ now standing?
    • See verse 2 In Grace…the idea that this is our continuing abiding place…Picture a room and that room is grace and the door to that room is Jesus Christ…this is where we live.
  • Because of our justification in Christ what can we boast about?
    • Hope in the glory of God…Back in chapter 3 Paul told us that we are always falling short of the glory of God, but now because of our justification we can boast in the hope of the glory of God. In other words, we can boast in all that God has for us in the future. This hope is a confident expectation of God’s future for us.
• Romans 5:3-5
• 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
  • Because we have been justified by faith what else can we glory in?
    • Our Sufferings. The word here for “suffering“ means all kinds of suffering not just persecution, but all the experiences of life that might bring suffering to us. It is not that God causes us to suffer but rather suffering is present in the world.
  • Is Glory the first thing you think of when you are going thru suffering?
    • How do we rejoice in the negative things of life?
  • Why can we glory in suffering?
    • Because God is able to use it in a way to help us grow in faith. We don’t rejoice because we are having problems, we rejoice because of what these problems will teach us and because of how God can use them. I am reminded of… Romans 8:28 28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
  • In Christ we are able to move from suffering to what?
    • We move from suffering to perseverance…then to character and then hope means we have to be depending on the Lord thru it all. Suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
  • The next 6 verses give assurance showing how God loves us.
• Romans 5:6-8
• 6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
  • What were we according to these verse?
    • Powerless or helpless)- ungodly- sinners.
  • Who would you be willing to die for?
    • People die for others all the time…1st responders are often killed trying to save others…often those are heat of the moment decisions. But what if it was a planned out choice would you die for your child or spouse?  What about the president?…a stranger?…a criminal?
      • God’s plan-For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.  God planned for a long time to send His son to die for you and me! This should amaze us.
  • How is God’s love demonstrated for us?
    • Christ’s death on the cross…while we were sinners.
• Romans 5:9-10
• 9 How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.
  • If God went to the trouble to justify us based on faith in the sacrifice of Jesus, do you think we will be saved from God’s wrath?
    • Absolutely
  • We are not only justified we are also what?
    • Reconciled to God. 
  • What did God consider us, prior to accepting by faith what Jesus did for us?
    • His enemies. Which means not only were we against God, but He is against us. But even in the face of mutual hostility, God took the initiative to bring about reconciliation.
      • So we move from enemies (past), to reconciled (present), to saved (future).
  • NOTE- God’s wisdom and His love are able to make a way to give expression of His wrath against sin and sinners and at the same time offering reconciliation to sinner who have repented and have faith. The way is Jesus Christ.
• Romans 5:11
• 11 And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
  • Why can we boast in God?
    • Now we boast in glory, or take joy in God. 
  • Why?
    • We do so because of all that God has done for us. Bringing us to reconciliation. This is Christians’ present reality.
• TAKE AWAY:
  • Can we be assured of our salvation?
    • YES! It is not based on us…but rather our faith in what Jesus and what He has done. In Christ we have been justified. 
  • If you are concerned about you salvation consider the following:
    • Do you believe what Bible tells us about God and Jesus?
    • Do you believe Jesus died for your sins on the Cross and resurrected from the dead 3 days later?
    • Are you trusting in what Jesus has done for you. He died for your sins.
    • Have you confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, your Lord and Savior?
    • Have you repented from your sin?  This will happen often in our lives as we recognize our sin and seek to turn from it and turn to the Lord.
    • Have submitted to be immersed in water into in the name of Jesus Christ.  There is nothing special in the water but Jesus commands us to do this. Paul was told it was washing sins away, when he became a Christian.  Jesus said water and the Spirit we involved in being born again.
    • This looks like a check list but our faith in Christ must stand behind all these or it counts for nothing.
    • If all these things are true for you be assured of your salvation of the present. We still must live each day out and remain faithful and steadfast to the Lord.
  • What can we glory and boast in?
    • In our God and Savior
  • What can we do in our trials and suffering?
    • Glory or boast…because God can work our good in them.
  • For us to have peace who must first have peace with who?
  • All of these should add to our assurance…of our salvation which is all wrapped in Christ.