The Gift of Righteousness

Romans 5:8

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. (Romans 5:9-11)

All three members of the Trinity are involved in salvation.  The Father loved us so much that He sent His Son to bridge the gap between us (John 3:16).  The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to fill our lives with love and to enable us to live by His power (Acts 1:8).  With all this loving care, how can we do less than serve Him completely!

We were weak and helpless because we could do nothing on our own to save ourselves.  Someone had to come and rescue us.  Not only did Christ come at a good time in history; He came at exactly the right time - according to God's own schedule.  God controls all history, and He controlled the timing, methods, and results of Jesus' death.

While we were still sinners - these amazing words.  God sent Jesus Christ to die for us, not because we were good enough, but because He loved us.  Whenever you feel uncertain about God's love for you, remember that He loved you even before you turned to Him.  If God loved you when you were a rebel, He can surely strengthen you, now that you love Him in return.

Christ died for sinners; not only such as were useless, but such as were guilty and hateful; such that their everlasting destruction would be to the glory of God’s justice. Christ died to save us, not in our sins, but from our sins; and we were yet sinners when he died for us.

The carnal mind is not only an enemy to God, but enmity itself (Romans 8:7; Colossians 1:21).  But God designed to deliver from sin, and to work a great change. While the sinful state continues, God loathes the sinner, and the sinner loathes God (Zechariah 11:8).  And that for such as these Christ should die, is a mystery; no other such an instance of love is known, so that it may well be the employment of eternity to adore and wonder at it.

Again; what idea had the apostle when he supposed the case of someone dying for a righteous man?  And yet he only put it as a thing that might be. Was it not the undergoing this suffering, that the person intended to be benefitted might be released there from?  But from what are believers in Christ released by his death? Not from bodily death; for that they all do and must endure. The evil, from which the deliverance could be affected only in this astonishing manner, must be more dreadful than natural death.

There is no evil, to which the argument can be applied, except that which the apostle actually affirms, sin, and wrath, the punishment of sin, determined by the unerring justice of God.  And if, by Divine grace, they were thus brought to repent, and to believe in Christ, and thus were justified by the price of His blood shedding, and by faith in that atonement, much more through Him who died for them and rose again, would they be kept from falling under the power of sin and Satan, or departing finally from Him.

The love that caused Christ to die is the same love that sends the Holy Spirit to live in us and guide us every day.  The power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that saved you and is available to you in your daily life.  Be assured that having begun a life with Christ, you have a reserve of power and love to call on each day, for help to meet every challenge or trial.  You can pray for God's power and love as you need it.

God is holy, and He will not be associated with sin.  All people are sinful and so they are separated from God.  In addition, all sin deserves punishment.  Instead of punishing us with the death we deserve, however, Christ took our sins upon Himself and took our punishment by dying on the cross.  Now we can "rejoice in God."  Through faith in Christ's work, we become close to God (reconciled) rather than being enemies and outcasts.

The living Lord of all will complete the purpose of His dying love, by saving all true believers to the uttermost.  Having such a pledge of salvation in the love of God through Christ, the apostle declared that believers not only rejoiced in the hope of heaven, and even in their tribulations for Christ’s sake, but they gloried in God also, as their unchangeable Friend and all-sufficient Portion, through Christ only.

Father God, it is my prayer this morning that whoever reads this post will cry out to You for forgiveness and accept Your Son, Christ Jesus, as their Savior and Lord.  My precious and Holy God, I want to thank you for all of the blessings you have given too me.  It is hard to comprehend the love You have for a sinner like me.  Lord Jesus, I want to thank You for having mercy on my soul and giving me the gift of eternal life which I could have never received on my own account.  Thank you Jesus for taking my place on that cross.  I pray this all in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

I want to personally wish each and every one of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR and may God bring showers of blessings upon you and your families.

References:  NKJV Holy Bible, Life Application Bible (NIV), and the Nelson Study Bible.