Romans 5: 9
Our Security As Believers In Christ

I wonder if you have ever met someone who seemed to be one of the nicest persons in you memory: gifted, clever, witty, kind -- or with similar qualities; and then when you got to know him or her, he or she was despicable, unlovable and without character or redeeming quality?  The ranks of famous personages, rulers, movie actors and "mail-order brides" (or husbands) are apt to have specimens of these types of people in fairly high percentages.  A study of the kings and dictators of history will yield many examples, especially among those who had absolute power.

I am sure that this has been true in your observation experience and from your reading of the kind of news that specializes in talking about seedy people.  The profile I speak of may be a bit overdrawn, as far as your experience is concerned, but it is a regular disappointment to find people who are poorer than they seemed to be at first glance or meeting.  And I bring up the issue to ask the question: How do we know that God won't have this kind of rude disappointment with us?  Certainly, all of us have had reason to be tempted to think that God might be dissatisfied with us and our performance in his service.  So often, that commitment we made to follow him in the midst of adversity, trouble, persecution, hard times, sorrow, etc., was much more heroic in its intention than we have shown in our actual following. Even at this present time, the idealism sometimes grows dim. How do we know that God will not behave like an angry business man might be with an unproductive and uncaring employee, and just dump him, as a project that never worked out?  Well, this passage gives us an answer to that troubling question!

I. FIRST NOTE THAT CHRIST DIED FOR US WHILE WE WERE LOST IN OUR SIN.

1. We are described as once having been lost and as being ungodly and helpless.  You don't get the idea here that God saw some special value in us and consequently decided to save us.

In the front hallway, by the grandfather clock, there is a little love seat made out of the headboard of a handmade walnut bed which I bought at an auction for $7.00.  When it was auctioned, the auctioneer called it "a piece of junk."  "What will you give me for this piece of junk," he said, asking for a starting bid.  But I had seen that it was hand-made out of walnut wood and perhaps something useful could be made out of it.  In some other cases I have bought something like that, and I ended up with a genuine white elephant that had no value and no sensible use and eventually it had to be thrown out or sold in a yard sale.  But on this one, I guessed correctly.

But this is not the case of God with us.  He bought a pile of junk when he bought us.  But then he made something wonderful out of the junk.  God had no vested interest in Christ dying for us, personally.  It was only a piece of "junk," theologically speaking.  But he purposed to do wonderful things with his purchase -- to make it into an object of usefulness and beauty.  It was only an act of his inexplicable, unfathomable love, not to say also, of his sovereign, divine craftsmanship.

You know, of course, that the magnificent sculpture of David as a youth, now residing in the city of Florence in Italy, and which was said to be carved by Michelangelo out of a discarded block of marble, thrown away by another sculpturer.  And he made it into what is thought to be one of the finest sculptures in the history of the world.  God did this when Christ died for you and he began his work on the masterpiece which he has created, making you into a child of God, a reflector of the divine light, a vehicle of his glory and a contributor to his praise.

II. THE PASSAGE BEFORE US TAKES THE POINT OF VIEW THAT GOD JUSTIFIED EACH ONE OF US AT THE HISTORICAL TIME OF OUR TRUE CONVERSION.

1. Even though you can find passages which suggest that God can see things in different ways -- and in some cases, it might seem that our justification was in eternity past, since God always knew that he would justify us and that all things are immediately present to him.

But this verse seems to be the normal way to look at it: that is, from the temporal viewpoint, that at a particular time in history -- a moment in your lifetime -- God justified you, he imputed your sins to Jesus and Jesus' own personal righteousness to you.  And he pronounced you " justified!" -- absolutely perfect from the standpoint of his court of justice.

2. And as we have seen before, He made you -- not in your own person, but in your representative, Christ's person; he made you sinless in his sight, insofar as he is your Judge.  But more than that, he did not just make you sinless before him as your Judge!  He made you delightful and valuable, before him, both as your judge and as your dear Heavenly Father!

III. NOW, THE ARGUMENT IN V.8 IS BASED UPON THIS "JUSTIFICATION" AND THE PREVIOUSLY-MENTIONED ATONEMENT.

1. If God the Father loved you enough for the Son to die for you, he will certainly accept you at any future date and for eternity -- now that you have been justified.

2. The argument is a compelling one in v. 7.  Note the difference between a "righteous" man (or woman) and a "good" one:

"One will hardly die for a "righteous" man- though perhaps for a good man one would even dare to die."

3. That is certainly great grace when one person dies for another.  But it is definitely a sidelight; the real light of the passage goes on to explain, that, in contrast to the data in v. 7, which displays uncommon grace on the part of one who gives his life -- in some desolate human situation, in the case of God, it is a matter of unthinkable, unbelievable, immeasurable grace. v.8:

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."

4. And the thought proceeds in v.9:

"since , therefore, now that we are justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by his life" -- and in v.10:

"For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life!"

The passage depicts the continuing ministry of our Savior in the presence of the Father, with the Father, continually, eternally, crediting the atonement on our behalf.  It is a vestigial teaching of that great theme in Hebrews which speaks of Christ's presence with the Father, as an eternal priesthood in our behalf:

Each year, the Jewish community celebrates Yom Kippur, or "Day of Atonement" (as it is called in the English Bible), on which, originally, the High Priest went into the Tabernacle, before the Lord, into the Holy of Holies -- the very, symbolic presence of the Lord -- and he liturgically atoned for the faithful, who were standing outside, worshipping.

But the true reality of this Old Testament symbol and liturgy is that Christ stands eternally in the presence of the Father, in our behalf.  And though the unchanging God could not change the fact of our justification, once declared, the ever living Christ, at the right hand of "the Majesty on High" is the symbol and guarantee of that changelessness and faithfulness of God to his covenant.

Because of justification, salvation is not just your "hanging on" to God.  It is God's "hanging on" to you, and continually extending his persevering grace to you . v.10, again:

"We are now justified by his blood. Much more we shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God!"