Romans 5
Romans 5
[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome to God's plan, your part year two, where this year we're reading through and studying the entire New Testament one chapter at a time. Thanks again for joining us in discovering God's plan and your part in it. Today, we are looking at Romans chapter five, but before we go there, I want to invite you to check out.
The other podcast that I've been working on, God's Whole Story, you can find it anywhere you find podcasts. We had a new episode come out yesterday looking at Genesis 11 through, I think, 33. But if you've been enjoying this podcast, kind of digging into a chapter every day, I think you will enjoy that one as well.
Uh, Chris and Chelsea and myself will be digging into Genesis, trying to help you understand what's going on there. And really, I think this podcast works together with that podcast, uh, to give you a whole or picture of what God is doing. Holder a better picture of what God is doing in his word. It'll help you understand the Bible a little bit better.
It'll help you understand God a little bit better. I think it's super valuable and I'd love it if you would check it out and give it a listen. Yeah. And I think it's important to note as well, they are really [00:01:00] emphasizing on the God's Whole Story podcast, the beginning of the Bible. So we're talking old Testament there.
I think you guys are working your way through and it's entirety, but it's kind of cool to hear some of like those foundational books. Mm hmm. In conjunction with what we're talking about here, because funny thing, we're talking about Adam to Moses today in this chapter. And it's pretty interesting to, to even consider the fact that, Hey, you could get like a full fledged outlook on what we're even talking about as sin entered the world, the world through Adam.
So I'll leave a link for that in the description. You just click it, head over there, check it out. Uh, let us know what you think. I'll be looking forward to what you have to say. So today's chapter, although very short, uh, Paul has this way of like, I think he kind of gets into his little groove of saying his cool little pithy saying, and then he just keeps at it.
So the second part of the chapter is definitely about, or definitely like that. Yeah. Uh, he likes this one little like word equation that he keeps using over and over, but [00:02:00] before that, the beginning of the chapter, it is what we were saying yesterday, we're talking about. Um, having faith, and that is what will bring righteousness.
You have faith in God, uh, works do not define who you are in Christ. Like, faith is what comes first, and works are just like a byproduct of, of that. So, coming off of that, um, It's just I don't know these first couple of verses felt really packed full of things that are like I don't know kind of hitting me on like a personal level right now.
Yeah verses three and four really Kind of hit home with me just talking about how there are trials There are things that happen in your life and because of those things Because we have faith in God Um, we can rejoice in the things that are, um, I guess they call it rejoice in suffering, knowing that this suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been [00:03:00] poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us.
So it is, I don't know, for me it's like we have this faith and we are not promised an easy life. We're not promised that everything's going to go the way that we expect and I certainly have been feeling that way. This past week, um, and it's helpful to know like, Hey, all of these things come up like to be expected.
Our, our ultimate hope is not for these trials and sufferings that we're going through. It's eternal glory with God. We've had a couple bumps over the last couple of days. You know, like the ones where you spill your coffee on your lap. It's like that. Um, what's interesting is, uh, right before we. We were sitting out on the back porch, just kind of talking through life.
We put the kids down and then we get a little bit of time to ourselves. Um, it's funny to talk through some of the huge bumps in our lives that we've had and how. You know, we're a couple of years removed from a lot of them and it's like, [00:04:00] wow, that was like a crazy disaster. There were like times we couldn't sleep and there were like days where we weren't sure what we were going to do.
And actually God cared for us through all of them to the point that we're like on the back porch drinking coffee, laughing about, you know, honestly laughing about some of it. Like, wow, that was really crazy and how faithful God has been to us, uh, through it. And, and hopefully, my hope is that these verses are true for us.
Um, I hope that if you're listening, these verses can become true for you. I don't want to be irrational and be like, Hey, when you're going through suffering, everything's fine. Like that's, that's not great. But I would say like, even this, this last week for us has been Bumpy, like you said, like to put it in nice terms.
Um, but what is interesting about this thinking back to other times where we have felt similar tensions, maybe not to the extent we've felt before, but, um, it's interesting that although we feel. Like, I don't know if suffering is the right word. Blindsided, confused. Yeah. Although we feel a lot of those [00:05:00] tensions, I don't know that we feel as knocked off our chairs as we would have in the past.
Yeah. Um, definitely uncomfortable and just like, okay, God, like obviously you know what's going on. You've known what's going on the whole time and through this suffering, through this hardship, that will in turn produce More endurance to get through these kinds of things again, which will produce more character, um, in us knowing that God has it under control and ultimately a hope for like a, a future with God outside of even these sufferings.
So I think I have definitely been frustrated this past week, but I also. feel like it has not knocked me off so much like it has before because I can feel that endurance. I can feel that character that may not have been there before. Same disappointments, kind of things like that. Um, but it's [00:06:00] interesting how I have noticed in myself a change.
I don't want to minimize any kind of suffering that other people are experiencing. Right. Um, I don't, I don't know your story if you're listening. I don't know, you know, Exactly what you're going through. I know what I'm going through and there are, there are difficult things. Ours is not necessarily any more difficult than yours, whatever.
But it's interesting to think through how God has used suffering in our lives. And I think we, we certainly, we can speak as authorities on that. Um, God has consistently used suffering no matter how big or how small, uh, to do exactly what these verses say. Um, to produce stronger character in ourselves, to produce endurance in ourselves, to ultimately glorify.
God, like, it's interesting how God uses suffering in the lives of people who are following him to draw them closer to himself. You can read that in all the stories throughout the Bible. Um, you can find that in the stories of people who are faithfully following Christ today. And I'm sure if you're listening, you've, you've seen this in your own life.
And I would love it. Like, if, if you are going through [00:07:00] something, let us know. There's actually a link in our show notes. Every single day where you can just text us, uh, let us know what you're going through. We will pray for you. We stop and pray before we record every episode. We will definitely pray for you if you send us something.
Um, but it's, it's interesting how many times in our lives you want to avoid suffering at all costs. We just want to be comfortable. And I'm, I'm obviously that's not a bad thing. Like you know, when you're, when you're comfortable, it's wonderful, but one of the things we just talked about out on the back porch, uh, listen to the birds was like, you know, we actually felt like we were really comfortable.
And now we're not. And, um, I think God's going to use it to draw us closer to himself. I don't know how things are going to work out. And like, I mean, I guess to be frank, like some of it is like stuff I'm experiencing in my own job. Like, I don't want to keep you guys like, Oh, what's going on with them?
It's just like job stuff. And it's not, it's not, I don't know. You know, it feels unsettling. Um, but I think God uses. Different kinds of suffering. And I guess I also want to recognize like suffering to the Roman Christians was like [00:08:00] intense suffering. Like it was way bigger than job stuff. I don't want to make it seem trivial.
And Paul saying, Hey, God uses this to draw you closer to himself because ultimately we have hope. Produces character and character produces hope and that hope is that eternal hope that like we're not actually destined to live this life Anyway, we are destined to live eternally to rule and reign with Christ and what a wonderful Fantastic thing to look forward to just as like a valuable cross reference I'm sitting here thinking of James 1 verse 2 count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds For you know that the testing of your faith Produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.
And then it goes on to talk about the value of wisdom. So it does feel to me like probably someone out there listening is going through some kind of a trial, some kind of a struggle, probably worse than the one we're going through. Uh, I just want you to be encouraged if I can speak into whatever it is, um, be encouraged.
[00:09:00] Uh, keep your faith in Christ, know that he will pull you through, keep your eyes on him. Know that there is an end to your suffering. And what's crazy is that Paul was telling them that there was end to their suffering either in this life or the next. And so that's what we look forward to. Like some of us are destined to live pretty difficult lives, but honestly, all of us are called to glorify Christ and in so doing receive our reward at the end.
Well, and it says in verse five, um, this hope does not put us to shame. No. Because, and I think a lot of times, I hear the word hope sometimes, and I get really cynical. Yeah. Um, but this word hope, it says you're not put to shame because God poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
So I was reading through one of these, um, commentaries. And it kind of segues then into the next part of the chapter where it's like, so God poured out his love for us, uh, gifting us with the Holy Spirit, um, and because of that, [00:10:00] It kind of like goes into the whole thing of like how he, how he did it. Like he was so generous in giving his son.
Um, so that we do have, I mean, they had a hope before because like they trusted and had faith in God. Um, but then like God was so generous to giving his own son and that, That hope as well is just like, Oh, okay. It is not for nothing. It is not for our shame. Like it is like essentially it's just this gift for us.
Um, so yeah, I thought that was kind of interesting. So speaking of the rest of the chapter, and it is fairly short, like Paul's going to make another example, basically comparing and contrasting two individuals that have affected our lives in incredible ways. Basically the little, the little saying equation, like it's comparing the life of Adam and the effects of Adam's life.
To the life of Christ and the effects of Christ's life. And what he teaches here is original sin. It's important that you catch this. If you haven't been around church theology or God for a long time, you need to understand this concept. Adam sinned, Adam rejected [00:11:00] God's command. So God gave him basically one rule that was don't eat the fruit from a certain tree and Adam disobeyed God.
And by disobeying God, Adam allowed sin to enter the world. And we have all inherited sin. From Adam. So I don't care how good you've been. I don't care how precious your little baby seems. Like all of us are affected from sin. All of us have inherited sin. All of us live lives impacted by the sin of Adam.
And he basically paints this picture that like we have, we live lives affected by sin because of one man's decision. All men suffer. And then he talks about the life of Christ, because of one man's obedience, all men now have access to the father in an incredible way that they never did before. And we know that Jesus is not just one man, Jesus is also God himself.
So God, um, God sacrificed his own life, the life of Jesus, the blood of Jesus on the cross poured out for our sins, [00:12:00] satisfied the wrath of God. And because of that sacrifice of Christ, we now have access. to God because God also didn't stay dead. Jesus rose again, conquered sin and death. The wrath of God was satisfied and just like, uh, Adam's sin affects all men.
Jesus sacrifice affects all men. The one difference is that all of us are descendants of Adam, everybody. But the, the descendants, the offspring, the result of Christ, you have to opt into. And so when we opt in to accepting Christ, we accept the sacrifice that was given and through one man, one God, man, obedience and faithfulness, we now have right relationship with God that is available to all so that we can actually receive that glorification that has talked about in the beginning of chapter five.
Well, there's a lot of this as one. Trespass led to condemnation, [00:13:00] then one act of righteousness leads to all justification. So just this constant back and forth, back and forth between Adam and Jesus, Adam and Jesus, Adam and Jesus, which if you're not careful, you just keep hearing the same thing over and over again.
Well, I did. You know, I, I see Paul building this incredible case and ultimately what I would love for you guys to look for is what do we learn about God in Romans chapter five? And what we learn about God is that one, he cares for us through suffering. That's the part that we're kind of resonating with, but to, uh, a really powerful, very popular verse is in verse eight, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Uh, we've been justified by his blood. You can read the verse for yourself, but God didn't wait for us to be good enough. God didn't wait for us to get his attention. He saw the, the, the sin in our lives and sent Christ to die for our lives. And while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So God willingly gives himself up.
Even when we don't [00:14:00] deserve it at all, we've already covered that. None of us are righteous. Everyone has sinned. Everyone falls short of the glory of God. Now we also know from Romans five that while we were still sinners, God sacrificed himself, Christ gave his life so that we can have right relationship with God.
So. In Romans five, we learn that God didn't wait for us to be good enough. He pursued us while we were still far from him and through his obedience, through his sacrifice, through the satisfaction of his wrath, we now have access to him again, the way we were designed to be from the very beginning. If you read this chapter thinking like, what is God like?
God is incredible because he didn't have to do any of that. He could have just poured out all his wrath on all of us. But he didn't because he desires relationship with us. He wants us to come to rep Reconciliation and repentance because he is a loving God that desires relationship with us We have to take steps towards him like it just doesn't happen by the push of a button like we have to step towards him and [00:15:00] Um, and accept him and, and follow him.
But it, it really is like, God is just so incredible and loving and gracious and merciful. And we can be really thankful for it. So what would we say is a year apart? I think you kind of tapped into the year apart just like as an overview of what this chapter is, but essentially just like, I don't know, looking at situations as like hope building opportunities to like continue to build your faith and hope and in God and his plan.
Um, and ultimately. Like, it is for God's eternal, like, for our eternal glory with God. To tie these two thoughts together, we talked about God bringing us through suffering. We talked about God, um, allowing us access to Him and Him designing a relationship with us. Try, I, I have experienced, like, I've gone through difficult things where I resent God.
Try really hard not to do that. Um. If you do do that, be honest about it. Be open about it. But it really is incredible how [00:16:00] God brings us through very difficult things and he stays faithful to us and loves us and cares for us when we are going through trials and struggles and difficult things. And like I said, everybody goes through different levels of difficult things.
Your difficult thing might not be mine and Mine might seem silly to you and yours might seem silly to me, but they're difficult things. And God loves us and cares for us and watches out for us the whole way through it. Because, because he is an incredible, loving, providing, um, caring, merciful, just father.
So don't resent him, uh, come to him and seek him and trust him, um, because he's not going to let you down. We'll be back again tomorrow, uh, with Romans chapter six. We'll see you then. Thanks for joining today's episode of God's Plan, Your Part. As always, please consider partnering with us as we are a listener supported podcast that we hope to continue to grow with support from listeners just like you.
We've made it super easy to partner with us, and you can support us by following the link in our show notes below. Or [00:17:00] our description, you can support us with as little as 3 a month. Every little bit of this helps so much. And we're so thankful for your support with that in mind. Here's today's reading Romans chapter five.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
And 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. For while we were still weak, at the right time, we were Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die.
But God shows his love for us, in that while we [00:18:00] were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of Christ. God. 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.
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned, for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law, yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who sinned.
Sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the [00:19:00] grace of God and the free gift, by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ, abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin.
For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, As one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now, the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.
So that, as sin reigned in death, grace [00:20:00] also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of God's Plan, your partner. Don't forget, you can find us on just about every social media platform and YouTube. Let us know what you thought of today's episode, and if you have any questions, go ahead and post them there.
You can also reach out to us directly at godsplanyourpartatgmail. com. As always, if you don't have a Bible, or if you'd like to use the one that we use, reach out to us via email and we'll be happy to send one to you. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you again tomorrow.