2020-7-7

Romans 5:1-21；Romans 6:1-23

The value of our faith in what Jesus had done for us on the cross, not only made us righteous in the sight of God, it also brought us peace with Him.
First, we must acknowledge we are sinners who deserve condemnation, but by the grace of God, our Lord Jesus took our place of condemnation and freed us from the guilt of sin. This empowers us to live for Him. So, even when we suffer and think we could no longer bear it, we must remember what the Lord had done for us. He gave us hope of what is to come- to be in fellowship with the awesome God eternally one day!
Therefore we can rejoice even in our sufferings, knowing that it will not be in vain; for we will one day enjoy the presence of His glory.

This is like an athlete who trains his body daily. The daily grind is laborious and disciplined. The focus is on the prize that will fade away, but Christians are called to fix their eyes on Jesus as their ultimate reward, because our prize will be eternal.

As descendants of our fallen forefather, Adam, we inherited the seed of sin. Sin became part of our nature. For every action or inaction apart from God’s direct command (law) is sin. That means everyone has sinned countless times, with each sin deserving the death sentence! How hopeless are we! Before we start to think if only Adam did not sin, the human race would not have been condemned. The truth is, given free will, we all have the potential to disobey the authority of God as evidenced by the untold sins committed by humanity in the name of “freedom”. Thanks be to God for His abundant grace, the gift of Jesus Christ alone was able to erase ALL sins of those who receive Jesus, just as the trespass of Adam brought us all condemnation.

Romans 6:1-23

Our faith in Jesus is graphically depicted in baptism in that we died with Jesus when we were baptized into His death. Sin no longer has dominion over us. And just as Jesus was raised from the death, we now live a new life with and for Him. Like a master who freed his slave, Jesus freed us from the power of sin. A slave who has been set free shows his love to his master by voluntarily choosing to serve his master even though he is no longer a slave; likewise a truly converted person will live his life for Christ because of his indebtedness and love for Christ.

Sure, Christians may be tempted to go back to our old ways of life, but we no longer enjoy it like before. Therefore, a truly converted person will not live his life taking God’s grace for granted. It would

be a miserable life indeed. Continuing to live in sin, and thinking to oneself God will forgive and accept him is foolishness and deception.

Christians are called to live in faith- in being “dead to sin”, but “ alive to God” (v. 11). We are to say “no” to our evil desires and “yes” to God. We will not live our lives fueling the sinful desires but rather we will offer ourselves to God in the capacities of our being.

The outcome of such living is peace, joy, holiness and eternal life which surpasses the temporary riches, pleasures and glories of this world which ends with the sting of eternal death. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (v. 23). Praise be to the everlasting God for the most precious gift of all- His Son, Jesus Christ!             —- Lai Yee