Romans 5 v 1 – 11
1Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die– 8but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.
10For 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. 11More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (ESV)
What it means that Christ died for the ungodly:
1. We are nothing like God, falling short of His glory because of sin.
a. God has made us rational beings being able to communicate with Him, but we have lost it because we wanted to be gods.
b. His image was not totally destroyed in us, but was seriously desecrated due to sin.
2. We don’t really love God, being unable to love Him.
a. We are by nature opposed to God.
b. We hate Him and His holy Law.
3. The whole world is ungodly. Every man or woman who is now saved was once ungodly.
4. The real test whether we are godly is whether we only rely in Christ who died for the ungodly, not trusting in anything good in ourselves.
5. There is no such thing as a naturally godly human. We need a God who loves the ungodly and died for them.
6. It’s not the good in us that took Christ to the cross, but the bad. He came to call sinners to repentance, not self-righteous people – He died for hell-deserving sinners.
Christ died for us when we were dead in sins – not when we could hold up something good to Him. God proves His love for you in that while you were still like that – when you deserved the very wrath of God in His justice and banishment out of His sight – God sent His Son to die for us. If that doesn’t prove God’s love to you, nothing ever will. It’s only when we appreciate and realize this that we have true assurance. Does that bring joy to your heart?