6For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
This emphasises the point of the law: to show you that you have no strength. To show you that you could never achieve righteousness on your own. Because you could never achieve it on your own, Christ died for you. He died in your place, becoming your sin, taking your death, bearing the punishment that should be on you. How wonderful!
7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Before you ever tried to do anything good, before you ever prayed, before you ever fasted, before you ever read your Bible, before you tried to walk in love, Christ died for you because God loves you. Never, ever doubt the love of God for you: while you were still unrighteous and while you were cursing His name and disrespecting His people, He sent Christ to die for you. He loves you. He loved you when you were a rebel. Now you have tried and failed, do you honestly think he doesn’t love you anymore? He loves you. He adores you.
You determine God’s love for you not by your feelings or experiences. If you try that you will be a yo-yo Christian up and down with your moods and your feelings. You determine God’s love for you on whether Jesus died or not.
You commit a sin. You don’t feel loved by God. Did Jesus die for you? Yes – then God loves you.
You do something great. You feel loved by God. Did Jesus die for you? Yes – then God loves you.
You try to do something and make a mistake. You feel unloved. Did Jesus die for you? Yes – then God loves you.
You have a row with someone. You disobey the Holy Spirit. You let everyone down. You lose control. Did Jesus die for you? Yes – then God loves you!
9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Follow Paul’s argument here because it is so powerful and will bring you so much confidence and peace. Paul is saying that when you were a sinner and a rebel and there was nothing good in you, God loved you so much that He sent Jesus to take your sin and swap it for His righteousness.
Now you have believed in the love of God and the death and resurrection of Jesus you are righteous. If God loved you when you were a sinner, how much MORE – now you are justified (made righteous) by Jesus’ blood – are you saved from His wrath. God will never punish you for sin.
Do you understand that: God will NEVER punish you for your sin. You could go out and sin right now and God will not punish you for it. You are righteous because of what Jesus did and are completely free from the wrath of God.
The wrath of God is the element of God’s justice and goodness that demands God punish sin. Now when you were unrighteous, you were what Ephesians 2 calls “a child of wrath”. Your whole nature was unrighteous and you deserved the judgment of God. You lied, you stole, you blasphemed. You were selfish. When you died and were judged by God you would have gone to hell.
Now, because of your faith in Jesus you have been given a new nature. You are not unrighteous anymore, but righteous: this change in your spirit is so monumental that Jesus Himself calls it being “born again”. God punished Jesus for all your sins and He died on a cross taking your death. He descended to hell, suffering your punishment. Now you are now made righteous when you believe in Jesus.
Because you are righteous, you are not under the wrath of God. In fact, it would be wrong of God to punish you for your sin. God has already punished Jesus fully for every sin you have committed or ever will commit. If God punished you for your sin, He would be unjust. If Jesus has legally taken all the punishment for every sin you have ever committed you are not under the wrath of God.
Put in simple English: God is never going to punish you. He is not mad with you. He is not angry with you. You are righteous. The Lord God loves you.
Isaiah 54.9 says: For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
Ask any Christian: do you believe that one day there will be another worldwide flood? They will tell you not a chance – God has promised He will not judge the world with water again. Ask any Christian: do you believe that God will ever be angry with you or rebuke you again? They will most likely say: probably lots of times.
Why? They are basing God’s love for them on their performance and not on the work of the cross and the grace of God. Read Isa. 54.9 again carefully: as surely as God has promised that there will be no more worldwide floods, He will NOT be angry with you or rebuke you. Ever. That is what the Bible says.
You are righteous. You are right with God. You are at peace with God. God is not angry at you. Stop running away from God, He loves you. He is not judging you for your sin, He is not holding your sin against you – He already held it against Jesus. You are free and delivered and safe from the punishment of God.
This is the good news of the gospel!10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
If you realize this, you would joy in God too. When you were God’s enemy and you hated God, He didn’t wipe you out: He sent His Son to die for you. Now you are God’s friend, you shall be saved by the life of Jesus. Jesus lives in you, and God loves you as much as He loves Jesus. You should be shouting about now if this is sinking in.
We have now received the atonement. Atonement is a terrible translation of the Greek word katallagē. It should be translated: exchange or reconciliation.
You have received the exchange: Jesus took your sin and gave you His righteousness. Say it out loud. Get used to thinking that you are righteous with the righteousness of God. That is the truth. God is not angry with you, God is not going to punish you because you have received the exchange – the greatest exchange in history. His righteousness for your sin. God will never, ever deal with you according to your sin. Most Christians don’t believe that, many ministers don’t preach that but it is the message of the gospel.
You have received the reconciliation: you and God are no longer at war. The sin issue has been dealt with by Jesus. You and God are at peace. God is not about to punish you or rebuke you and that is sealed in the blood of Jesus.
So start to joy in God. The word for joy here in verse 11 means to boast gladly about. Boast gladly that you are saved, not because of yourself, but because of Jesus. Boast gladly that God will never punish you, not because of yourself, but because of Jesus’ blood.
Praise His name forever,
Ben
Tree of Life Blog 