It Is All About Grace - Romans 5:1-21

[See first word in title above] What is ‘IT’? It happens to be ‘salvation’ or ‘being saved’ from eternal damnation and/or eternal separation from God and all that is good. Or the positive picture is one of being forever in Heaven in the presence of God, our creator, His Son Jesus Christ and all of our loved ones who have been saved by Grace, through their faith in His Son. No other inspired writer emphasized this truth more often and more forcefully than the Apostle Paul. There is absolutely no other way to be saved! All mortals who ever become citizens of Heaven will do so because of the Grace of God; and through their active, working faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord. It is not enough to just ‘say’ “I have faith”—faith becomes active and working when you truly believe in the Lord and totally commit your life into his keeping. Example: You can truly believe that a life-raft will save your life from drowning and take you safely to the shore; your belief will only become an active, working faith when you climb on board and fully realize that you are floating safely above the destructive water and breathing life saving oxygen from God’s pure air.

There is a HIGHWAY to heaven! To my knowledge no bible has ever been published with a physical map designating the route one must take but the highway does exist. The biblical map consists of verbal instructions, and the best one is called “The Roman Road” which is found in The Book of Romans, it was written by Paul and it tells us how to get from earth to heaven safely. The first thing we must realize is that we need God’s power [and grace] because we have a problem with sin—“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” 3:23]. “Sin” means we have missed the mark; missed God’s intended destination for us—heaven. No one can reach the destination on our own. Your good works will not save you; however as soon as you are saved, you must go to The Book of Peter and learn what he means when he says that “faith without works is dead.”

We can work and earn money, wealth; but sin earns wages as well, the bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift [grace] of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 6: 23]. A verbal highway to heaven is found in Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” To confess Jesus as Lord involves agreeing with God about your sin and your need for salvation. All must repent of their sin and turn around from the direction they are headed. There is only one highway—it has a destination at each end and your future depends upon the direction you are going. To “believe in your heart” is the act of placing your faith in Jesus, trusting that He died on the cross to pay for your sins. “But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” 5: 8].

This lesson covers chapter five in Romans. The first part elaborates on—or offers a conclusion to—the line of truths found in chapters three and four; and there are two leading thoughts found here. 1. It explains the method of induction into the grace of salvation. 2. It discusses the happy estate of the justified person. There is a doubled-barreled question being answered here. First how do we get into Christ? Then, how does Christ get into you? You can find this concept in John 15-4—“I in you…and you in me” This is where we get the doctrines of Justification through faith…we get into Christ by His grace through our faith. Then Regeneration continues daily because Christ lives in and through us gracefully; we are regenerated, grow, become more Christ-like because He is in us.

The first verse tells us about the happy estate of the justified person. It is very simple “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This peace comes only by faith in Christ and not by works lest anyone should boast. I personally can think of no other condition that can ever surpass the position of any man who has Peace with God.

There appears to be two concepts mentioned in these verses that could cause concern to anyone with a weak faith. The Bible teaches that salvation is a one act seen. We are by grace through faith accepted into the family of God, and Christ says that no one, power or principality can pluck us out of his hand or the hand of his Father. On the other hand we must continue to grow in Christ [we are becoming more like Him]. We are in the world but not of the world. We continually feel the presence of Christ and also the daily presence and pressures of sin. We must realize that only through his power are we able to withstand the darts of the evil one.

Paul started the book of Romans telling strangers that they were sinners because of sin’s nature and origin, and not because God had created them that way. Now in verse twelve today he uses Genesis as his source to remind all of us that sin entered the world through one man and that it has now come to all men, for all have sinned. The most wonderful part of this message is that God also sent the remedy for sin through one man, His Son, Jesus Christ. Just as all men fell because of one man…now all can be saved by faith in what one man [Christ] has done for us. He gave his life’s blood on the Cross so that all who believed in him, repented of their sin, and confessed Him as their Lord would be saved.

We become so discouraged when we realize that trespasses and sin has increased even in our lifetime. What we really should do is rejoice because Paul tells us that when sin increases, God’s Grace Increases even more. We do not deserve it. It is unmerited grace. “Just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Paul gives all believers [all saved people] a sincere warning when he tells us that God’s grace increases even more than sin does. He says that this does not give us a license to sin any time we want to. If one is saved, he/she will not have a desire sin. I realize that it is not ‘politically correct’ for me to tell you this—but if you still have within your heart a true desire to sin—you need to re-examine the experience you had that caused you to think that you were save. [If we say that we do not sin, we lie; the truth is not in us.] However, Christians do not rejoice in their sinning ways; therefore if you do, you are still in a lost condition and have never been saved by grace through faith. The bible exhorts us to examine ourselves and determine which road we are traveling on and which direction we are going.

If you are truly interested in your future and want to find your way, and know what your destination will be—please study the Book of Romans, for it is the best road-map to heaven that has ever been written. There has never been a time in all history when it was more important for people to read God’s Word, study the verbal road map, and start following it daily.