(Romans 5:10) “For 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.”
“In reconciliation, the sinner stands before God as an enemy and becomes a friend.”
We have talked about justification: “In justification, the sinner stands before God as the accused and is declared righteous.” When God justified him by faith, that does not mean that he is not guilty of sin. It means that in grace, God has given him forgiveness of his sins.
Then we talked about redemption: “In redemption, the sinner stands before God as a slave and is granted freedom by a ransom.” When one is justified, he is declared righteous. When one is redeemed, bought, or ransomed out of slavery to sin, he can become free of the penalty of sin.
After we are justified and redeemed, then we can be reconciled to God. You see that when one is a slave of sin he is an enemy of God so that he needs to be reconciled to God.
We are justified, redeemed, and reconciled to God by the same means and at the same time.
The way that God justifies us, and redeems us, and reconciles us to Himself is the death of his Son. God does all of this when we have faith in God’s Son.
I want to talk about being an enemy of God. The first thing I want to say is that God is not your enemy, for He made you and me and He loves us. (John 3:16) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
It was not God that caused Adam to eat of the tree that he was told not to eat. It was Adam’s lust that caused man to disobey God so that it was man himself that caused him to become an enemy of God.
In a real sense, God is not your enemy, but you are God’s enemy. God is not the enemy of man, but man is the enemy of God.
If God were the enemy of man, He would not give us his grace so we can be reconciled to Him. (Romans 5:1-2) “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
Note that those who are justified by faith have peace with God. If we have peace with God that means that we have been reconciled to God. Because of God’s grace, we have hope, we have expectation and anticipation of obtaining the thing that God has promised so that we ought to rejoice in God’s promises of life after death.
*Devotional written by Ralph Williams, retired pastor and member of One Hope Mobile.
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